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Sixteen dogs miraculously saved from the clutches of a mistreating hunter from Perigord

Sixteen dogs miraculously saved from the clutches of a mistreating hunter from Perigord

Sixteen dogs miraculously saved from the clutches of a mistreating hunter from Perigord
14.02.2020
Sixteen dogs miraculously saved from the clutches of a mistreating hunter from Perigord
Hunting

After our investigation and the dissemination of our successive images on the deleterious conditions of dogs detained at Richard Mandrals place, a hunter based in the Dordogne. We were able after taking legal action to force the Prefect to act, we were then allowed to save sixteen of them.

They are called Heroes, Ondine, Inano, Xena, Léonie, Plume, Rosalie, Mimi, Freya, Napoleon, Ido, Hiti and Gascogne. There are also three puppies that Richard Mandral didn’t even bother to name, care for or identify, we called them Theo, Lina and Axel. They are dogs and bitches who, unlike their comrades who stayed with the hunter, have the chance to find a loving home, a warm family, who will not treat them like machines, some for hunting and others for breeding.

Thursday February 6th 2020, the hunter gave up these unfortunate sixteen, under the eyes of the DDSCPP. Our relentless checking and follow-up had increased the pressure, and they had to keep their commitments to the judge.

Each dog was installed in a transport crate, after the very natural first worry, most of them fell asleep, those who had never known the reassuring and soft sensation of a warm blanket under their aching bodies…

After a few hours of travel, they were all taken to vets. The accounts are unequivocal: worms, fleas, ticks, nodules, lesions, conjunctivitis, dental abscesses, ear infections, bedsores, mastitis, vulvar oedemas, hernias, lameness, etc. How long have they lived with a stomach ache? With painful paws, eyes, teeth and ears? How much pain is still going through those who have not yet been saved?

«The result is a threat to the life of these animals, because some of these pathologies (parasitism, infections, uncontrolled reproduction, etc.) can lead to serious general disorders, which can possibly lead to death.»

Extract from the veterinarian’s certificate

Then, it was the discovery of loving, warm people. They savoured the first real caresses, felt the fresh grass under their paws, they who for the most part had known only the law of the strongest to survive … They began their treatments, and the puppies, of which we did not know if they would survive, are already in better shape.

Obviously, this is not the case for all of these dogs who are on the verge of thinness with cachexia, and some have serious health problems resulting from obvious carelessness. When we know that for the DDCSPP, there is “no reason” to remove all of its animals from this hunter, it has shocked us. Many of them are not identified, some do not even belong to him!

We are going to need you to rehouse these large dogs who are waiting for a loving home to flourish, and long daily walks to discover a taste for life, as well as the comfort that should have been offered to them in the past. About seventy-five dogs are still there, we will do everything so that they are saved in turn. As for this hunter without conscience and the authorities who have lets this happen, we will not stop there.

In the case of “hunting” dogs, who are they kidding?

In the case of “hunting” dogs, who are they kidding?

In the case of “hunting” dogs, who are they kidding?
13.02.2020
In the case of “hunting” dogs, who are they kidding?
Hunting

Inspection after inspection at the home of a Dordogne hunter, the reports written for the prefecture are worse than the previous ones. However, the Prefect refuses to impose measures that would allow the dogs to benefit from appropriate care. We lodged a summary of complaints with the administrative tribunal of Bordeaux. Once again, the Prefecture of Dordogne has been seeking to counter us instead of putting the interest of the animals into the foreground. These animals are in obvious suffering at the home of Richard Mandral. But exactly as for Bony and Glasha, as soon as our summary was filed, the Prefect ordered measures, and therefore the court rejected our requests pending the application of Prefectural measures. We will see what happens after the deadline for the Prefectural decree, and we will not let go.

Inspections by the DDCSPP, the state veterinary services, at the Dordogne hunter’s home, concluded that the situation was worse than the previous one, and the prefect did not, however, order measures commensurate with the problem.

What pressures are at work? Those of hunters?

At this point, our images released months apart prove the situation is dire and the authorities are not doing anything tangible. Why do they prefer to protect the hunter rather than the dogs, who are clearly victims of mistreatment? For months, we have been investigating and broadcasting videos of the kennels of this Perigord hunter who breeds in total violation of the law, and in which the dogs do not benefit from care, are tied up or in large starving packs where the law of the fittest reigns.

We have provided the proof through the images of cannibalistic dogs, puppies, tethered adults, sick dogs and even abandoned corpses. However, for the authorities: “no reason” to take away all the hunter’s dogs. There is no emergency or abuse. A simple quota is enough. No coercive measures have been put in place to improve the situation! The inspections of the veterinary services of the Prefecture go in our direction, but the Prefecture refuses to take adequate measures for these dogs, which are nevertheless under its responsibility.

How far does the power of hunters extend in our country, those who make us live in many regions in areas of lawlessness? What makes these dogs so different that they are not protected like other dogs?

A situation that worsens from inspection to inspection without any consequences …

In June 2018, state services counted 112 dogs instead of the 45 authorized. The problem was not new … On this occasion, they mentioned the non-compliance of the conditions for storing food for dogs, protection against bad weather and excessive temperatures, as well as those of places of detention (the presence of old agricultural equipment that can cause injuries, animals injured or without care, lack of veterinary follow-up, unsuitable accommodation with dogs kept tethered outside all year round, etc.). And in the formal notice, the problems of identifying dogs, their watering, attacks between congeners, known as “hierarchical conflicts”, are already mentioned …

Since then, inspections have followed one another and have shown that the condition of these animals is worsening without anything being put in place by the state to enforce the application of the regulations! Worse, he allowed the situation to escalate and left dogs suffering, at least one of whom has died.

«The administration therefore argues that it has not been inactive in this case and that it has carried out five inspections. However, these steps are the consequence of the complaints filed and the images published by the requesting association! Moreover, while non-conformities persist throughout inspections, no effective sanction has been taken for almost two years to protect dogs and stem births.»

Extract from the One Voice summary

Wild breeding and dog trafficking

The authorities hide behind the rustic appearance of the place, and the fact that they are “hunting dogs”, but as our lawyer writes:

«There are no specific regulations for hunting dog packs. Therefore, it is the law concerning dogs that applies here, in other words that of pets of domestic species. No one can believe that Mr. Mandral’s 100 dogs, who is on his own to care for them, can receive the same attention and care, or that he hunts daily with such a large pack.»

All dogs – regardless of how humans use them – should receive the same care, protection, and respect! There, the holes dug in the ground by some dogs held in tether around their kennels testify to the restriction of their movements … The others get bitten in the common enclosures, and die there…

The summary judge refused to order the Dordogne prefecture to identify, withdraw and carry out a clinical assessment of the dogs held by this hunter, and to monitor the animals transferred to an animal protection association, pending the end the application of the prefecture’s measures. We will always be there after!

Our country must urgently turn the tide when it comes to animal welfare and the conditions in which they are kept. To note that there is a double standard between the so-called hunting dogs and the others in the eyes of the authorities is more than worrying. Turning a blind eye to the unhappiness of these poor sick animals is unacceptable. The neglect and rustic appearance of a property should not blind the authorities, let alone the judges! We will not let go, the dysfunctions in animal protection are alarming. The death and suffering of these poor dogs will not go unpunished.

Behind the brambles and the brick walls, there are nine tigers

Behind the brambles and the brick walls, there are nine tigers

Behind the brambles and the brick walls, there are nine tigers
30.01.2020
Picardie
Behind the brambles and the brick walls, there are nine tigers
Circuses

For over a year now we have been investigating these tigers, held by circus trainer Mario Masson. A stone’s throw away from the amusement parks of Saint Paul and Saint Léger, between the four walls of an abandoned factory in Picardy, we discovered that the nine tigers were locked up all year round in a lorry cage. They have no real protection against bad weather, with barely enough room to go around in circles. We are pressing charges against this trainer who has already been in trouble with the law.

For over a year our investigators have been monitoring the tigers of Mario Masson. Barricaded in the heart of a village, behind the thick protection of brambles growing over large brick walls that run along a national road. The trainer protects his tools of work from view. Behind a used car for sale business, the nine tigers that serve as his livelihood are pacing around, locked in a lorry cage, whether it is raining, windy or in temperatures where the thermometer reads 40 degrees Celsius. Sultan, Begel, Junior, Hashley, Tara, Ima, Houna, Hister and another whose name we don’t know. Very rarely are they allowed outside of their cages and when they are it’s to obey and undergo a life of stress under the threat of the whip.

Abused from birth

At the Saint Paul amusement park Mario Masson shows off his trained tigers, then offers spectators to hold a baby tiger in their arms while being photographed, all with cash subsidies. The show is accompanied by a speech that is only propaganda against those who defend wild animals that are exploited by circuses.

All these tigers were born in captivity and were then torn from their mother at an early age. They are the subject of wild genetic experiments to obtain inbred individuals with coats of white or orange with ochre stripes, deformations and with notorious genetic diseases. In addition to this the potential underlying traffic of lion cubs and tigers it allows the working season to gain access to young cubs, available at any time. Their manipulation by humans is nothing more than mistreatment. We have publicly denounced these acts – common in this environment – and attacked the park, as well as more recently the ministerial decree on captive wild life and facilitating unsupervised farming.

Locked up all year round …

This summer these nine adult tiger products have appeared six times in public within four days during the circus festival, daily life couldn’t be less rosy. We are revealing today the reality of their daily lives: they are locked up all year round, except on the rare occasions for (shows, short films or photos in magazines) …

The winter quarters are just a name, our investigators have seen them on the spot each time they went there. Both in the hot summer, weather in the region of Picardy is changing and, in the fall, and winter when the cages are battered by the wind and the freezing rain during those wet and cold seasons. They were photographed and filmed locked inside these caged compartments which is no more than a heavy-duty trailer for up to six days in a row. During the six days the tigers were held in confinement and were filmed, they had but two brief periods where they were allowed out, this being observed and filmed under great risk…

Protected animals, in danger of extinction, here they are enslaved

No enrichment or stimulation is offered to these tigers to break the monotony of the passing hours. The (minimum) regulations require that they can stretch their legs daily in an exercise space, which is the approximate size of a circus ring and that they have access to a swimming pool. Once again, all this was absent. At most, they change compartments when their litter is cleaned.

Female or male, in the wild each would reign over a territory of several thousand hectares of tropical jungle … Here, only Sultan benefits from an individual cage (but without a roof!). The others are crammed in four by four. They who enjoy independence more than anything, are more stressed than ever, enslaved and forced to live with their fellow tigers, under the eyes of their jailers. In the evening, they have to fight to get their food, water which is vital, is only distributed to them sparingly. Then, the walls of the truck are closed, this is their misfortune, the truck becomes a dark box…

For these reasons and in addition to recording such revolting images of these nine convicts locked up day and night and then made available to the public, we are pressing charges for ill-treatment committed by a professional, placement or maintenance of a captive wild animal in a habitat, environment or installation can be cause of suffering, and irregular operation of establishment. We propose to take charge of these tigers and place them into one of the sanctuaries of which we are a partner.

Dogs are being mistreated training clubs: justice warrants an investigation

Dogs are being mistreated training clubs: justice warrants an investigation

Dogs are being mistreated training clubs: justice warrants an investigation
16.01.2020
Dogs are being mistreated training clubs: justice warrants an investigation
Domestic animals

One Voice leads a nonviolent fight to defend animal rights and respect all life forms. The organization operates independently and is thus free to speak and act freely.

Following our 2014-2017 investigation into dog training, we received a complaint from several clubs. Did they feel targeted? Yes. And to hear them and with the whole profession behind them. They demanded the total withdrawal of our investigation and the corresponding online content, a publication in the national and local press, as well as damages … On November 5th 2019, the hearing took place in the Valencia court. The verdict has just been passed: these dog training club officials were dismissed of all their requests. They were even ordered to reimburse our defence costs!

In 2017 when we published our investigation on dog defence training, the hidden camera images brought out the truth: we saw poor dogs receiving smacks from whips, wearing electric or spiked collars around their necks, while orders were yelled in their ears. Fear and cruelty along with weapons were the only methods used by these trainers, aggressiveness on command the only option for the Malinois and German shepherds who will become weapons by destination. What future then for these dogs who have become dangerous? Competitions for the best, the role of a working tool for security guards for the better of it. All of this along with the suffering that we know of.

Freedom of expression wins!

On the one hand, the managers of these training clubs claimed that we had cast a shadow on the entire profession of dog trainers, by generalizing our remarks. This was rejected by the court! We only used our free expression, without ever naming either the places where the practices we denounced took place, or the people. In fact, several hundred dog trainers, like us are promoting non-violent methods of communicating with dogs. They have launched a petition to distance ourselves from our attackers and are supporting our approach.

Neither unfair competition nor collective slander

As well the court also rejected « collective slander » because we obviously did not benefit from any unfair competition. This is what was put forward by our opponents. We have always valued nonviolent practices, and have never benefited from doing so, except for the joy of knowing that we are actively participating in and improving the consideration of these Malinois and German shepherds concerned.

«By publishing […], in accordance with its purpose and in a desire to inform and raise public awareness of canine education practices and methods that may resemble acts of animal abuse, the results of investigations and testimonies following reports […] without providing any information likely to allow the identification of canine clubs or professionals concerned, and by promoting methods and practices of canine education presented as non-violent and more respectful of the property -that being the animals, the One Voice association used means commensurate with the aim sought and […] did not abuse its right of free expression.»

Extract from the judgment of January 14th 2020 of the Valence court

This judgment strengthens our determination to defend victims of violence

This court decision fills us with joy. It strengthens our determination in the fight that has always been ours to defend those who do not have the floor to be heard, as well as our choice to go and seek the evidence where it is hidden, by means of risky investigations… Because they expose serious facts, which no one dares to denounce.

Canine educator’s adept at a non-violent method know this: too many trainers still act today by using terror tactics, including among the humans around them and whom they train. We therefore sincerely thank these courageous people who alerted and supported us in this fight to denounce the violence suffered by these dogs in such clubs of shame. In the face of injustice and cruelty we have never been silent, and we have no intention of starting tomorrow!