News Archive - Page 83 of 148

Feedback on the three Poliakov hearings in Orléans

Feedback on the three Poliakov hearings in Orléans
29.04.2021
Loiret
Feedback on the three Poliakov hearings in Orléans
Exploitation for shows

Since the triple administrative hearing in Orléans regarding the animals kept by the Poliakovs, the official case officer dismissed the three cases. In other words, she requested that the court dismiss our request to remove the animals remaining with the trainers and their permit to open, as well as the damages relating to the fact that the authorities have been so slow to act in the interest of the animals. But she also dismissed the request put forward by the Poliakovs to get Bony and Glasha back. The final decision was made by the President on 29 April 2021: to reject the three cases.

On 15 April just gone, the Orléans Administrative Court has looked at three cases concerning the animals kept by the Poliakovs.

We have requested the withdrawal of the trainers’ competency certificates, of their permit to open their establishment, as well as the removal of the animals remaining there: Mina the Barbary monkey, rare parrots, horses, and donkeys.
In the second case opposing the Prefecture of Loir-et-Cher, we requested damages and compensation for detriment concerning the fact that the animals have not been rescued by the Prefecture, who is responsible for doing so, prior to our on-site investigation and our warning. These two requests were rejected… until 12 May coming up.
Finally, we voluntarily intervened as a private party in the case opposing the Poliakovs against the Prefecture, because we wanted to insist on the fact that the Poliakov-Bruneaus would not one day be able to get Bony and Glasha back, which was something that they asked for. In this case, the Poliakovs’ request was rejected, thus we were successful in this instance.

Our lawyer is dotting the i’s

Our lawyer responded to the scathing comments made by the two other parties on the videos put on file, described as “unlawful” (even if the Prefecture recognised the “whistle-blower of the association’s work”), by insisting on the fact that One Voice were specifically forced to do this to show the reality of the prison conditions and the health of the animals kept at the Poliakovs’. However, isn’t it the Prefecture’s role to protect them and to act proactively?

Our lawyer has underlined the inconsistencies between all of the documents, reports, inspections, and veterinary boards arranged by the Prefecture over the last thirteen years at least: some warned of problems, shortcomings and discrepancies; others seemed to say that everything was fine. As a tragic example of this grotesque situation, our images of Micha with maggot-infested paws and severe breathing difficulties were answered by a video from AVES [A Voice for Endangered Species] France which showed him 700 kilometers away from the jails a few days later. Between these two instances, a veterinarian had permitted the Poliakovs to put her into a truck and to make her balance on a ball! Micha was in perfect health according to them.

The Prefecture put before the court that a legal attachment was in place concerning Mina and four birds; we had to correct this error. As the attachment was administrative, supervised by the Prefecture, the animals remained there in the trainers’ hands. We requested a legal attachment which would have allowed the animals to finally get out of that place.

The cherry on the cake was that the Prefecture failed to carry out a check on these animals since the end of 2019 because the trainers opposed it. The State’s services did not use the legal documents that would have permitted them access, despite them being widely used for controlling animals. In fact, the Prefecture argued that they should be in good health since the detention facilities now met the standards and seeing as the last check had taken place in November 2019 following the circulation of our images… surely health cannot deteriorate in seventeen months.

«If the Association had not sent investigators to climb on the roof of this establishment and into the jails, where we saw the true state of the bears, which effectively were ablaze with social networks and resulted in Ms Borne [Minister of Ecology at the time] to intervene directly, what would have happened? It was Ms Borne that sent a clear message to the commissioner telling him: “You must intervene for these bears”; it wasn’t the commissioner who took the lead! If the One Voice Association hadn’t produced 200 hours of video, if they hadn’t increased their efforts, these three bears would still be over there, and they would probably all be dead.»One Voice’s lawyer during their speech at the hearing on 15/04/21

Lastly, even beyond animal wellbeing, which is essential in our eyes, these animals are of remarkable heritage from protected species. The trainers have repeatedly reiterated that they are attached to them. But what is this attachment that has pushed them to keep the bears in unsanitary jails, with Mina in a cage measuring 50cm²and the birds in a dark shack? No one forced them to be responsible for animals!

A Prefecture on the defensive, to arguments that don’t carry

What a surprise! At the hearing, the Prefecture announced having suspended the permit to open the Poliakov establishment until June, awaiting the decision of the court which will convene in Blois in May. Since we requested this suspension: They have only just admitted “perhaps being delayed” to act on the inspections and formal warnings.

Lastly, the fact that the animals remaining are still there in custody of the Poliakovs doesn’t pose a problem to them. “We have no reason to believe that they could be unwell, in the sense that they are in enclosures which are now compliant, and furthermore the last report from the November 2019 visit does not report sick animals, apart from the bears.” For the Prefecture, “there is no need to do more at this stage”.

An unclear role…

A comment on which the Prefecture and the Poliakov’s lawyer agreed on, nonetheless without making an argument or drawing a definitive conclusion, is the role of the Poliakovs’ previous veterinarian, having attested to the bears’ heath in the past and then criticised Micha’s detrimental medical condition once they became the veterinarian for La Tanière Association.

The trainers’ lawyer depicted a “drained” and “completely exhausted” couple and recalled that Micha had been taken to La Tanière “voluntarily” by Mr Poliakov, without specifying however that he would have been forced to do so a few days later if he did not provide her with care… For him,

« the autopsy report was extremely clear: the bear was operated on at La Tanière and died as a result of the operation, not because of medical negligence. Quite simply, because of the realisation that this bear had laryngeal cancer. This wasn’t the Poliakovs’ fault either. And it was during his extubation, during the operation, that he died. So, it was neither the Poliakovs’ fault, nor entirely La Tanière’s fault. We are being told today that he died of mistreatment, which is false. » The Poliakovs’ lawyer during their speech at the hearing on 15/04/21

These three “very sad cases”, as the Chairperson concluded on the day of the hearing, leave an unaccomplished taste in our mouths. We celebrate the fact that the Poliakovs cannot get Bony and Glasha/Franca back. But concerning the trainers’ permit to open their establishment, halted by the Prefecture, and the fate of the other animals, we are impatient to be in Blois on 12 May for the case pertaining to acts of cruelty and mistreatment.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Two hearings in Périgueux against the breeder of “hunting” dogs

Two hearings in Périgueux against the breeder of “hunting” dogs
28.04.2021
France
Two court appearances in Périgueux for the gundog breeder
Wildlife

We will be in Périgueux on 28 and 30 April for the hearings, at which Mandral, the hunter and breeder of gundogs, will be made to face up to some of his actions. We filed criminal complaints against him for his refusal to comply with instructions from the authorities. At the first hearing, he is accused of not having reduced the number of his dogs below the authorised limit of 50 (operation of a notifiable classified facility for the protection of the environment not in compliance with a formal notice). The second concerns his failure to stop the dogs breeding. Our complaint on acts of cruelty and mistreatment committed by an operator is still in progress.

Since early 2019, we have repeatedly complained about this breeder who mistreats and, we hold, is guilty of cruelty to his dogs. We have supporting images from our investigations. When we rescued 16 dogs in February 2020, it was very obvious. Some of bitches were cowed by fear and suffering from serious untreated health problems. The puppies were infested with worms and fleas.

Richard Mandral will therefore appear in Périgueux twice this week: on 28 April at 13.30 at the criminal court (tribunal correctionnel) and two days later at 09.00 at the police court (tribunal de police).

This breeder was already in the news in the 1980s for trafficking dogs to laboratories. He now risks a year in prison and a €15,000 fine for the offence of failure to comply with a formal notice to satisfy a regulatory requirement in relation to his business as a breeder; and a fine for the second, summary, offence of intentionally continuing to breed dogs, although he was well aware of the limit on the number authorised. The dogs were kept in unacceptable conditions. We paid veterinary fees of over €13,000 in 2020 for the 16 dogs we rescued. We are asking for €1000 in damages.

Richard Mandral has been summoned by the public prosecutor to appear before the court for operation of a notifiable classified facility for the protection of the environment (ICPE) not in compliance with a formal notice. As we filed the complaints, we have joined the proceedings as a civil party.

Richard Mandral kept his dogs tied up in bare kennels, in yards where the water freezes in winter and evaporates in summer. He neglected them and left them to die, to the point where they were eating each other. Not content with this, he enclosed females and males together in cages and vans, for mass-breeding, when he already had over a hundred dogs! It was our complaint, accompanied by the images we published, which enabled the prefecture to issue a formal notice to comply with the regulations on breeding facilities, followed by a referral to the public prosecution service for criminal proceedings against the breeder, who refused to comply.

For One Voice, this is not just about failure to comply with ICPE standards. It is above all about the ill-treatment suffered by the dogs.

Our January 2020 complaint on abandonment, acts of cruelty and ill-treatment committed by a breeder is still in progress. No hearing has yet been fixed.

Translated from the French by Jo Durning

At Loro Park, Ula goes from bad to worse… and it’s the dolphinarium that says so

At Loro Park, Ula goes from bad to worse… and it’s the dolphinarium that says so
26.04.2021
Spain
At Loro Park, Ula goes from bad to worse… and it’s the dolphinarium that says so
Exploitation for shows

At two and a half years old, the state of health of Ula, the daughter of Morgan, already born with a deformity and several ailments at Loro Park, has just deteriorated. For several days, and it is the dolphinarium of the Spanish Canary Islands which announced it, the very young captive orca has been ill. Worsening of mood, intestinal problems… and on top of that – at the moment – they have not found where the problem is coming from, with blood tests to support this.

Loro Park, whose tragic death of Alexis Martinez and documentary Blackfish served to establish its sad worldwide recognition, has already dismissed the sustained concerns for little Ula. Of course, these warnings came from experts who were not in favour of the captivity of cetaceans. The park now prides itself on making ‘the best international specialists’ available to the sick. How cynical this is, when we know how much the news of the poor health of an imprisoned animal is never a good sign in this industry. Just this year, we remember the bitter taste left by the Parc Astérix regarding Femke… and saw what followed.

The mother and daughter are separated. If it was free, an orca of this age would never leave its mother. The park has therefore isolated Ula to fend for herself, which can only be a source of additional stress. And as we know, that proved to be harmful to the immune system of these beings which are so sensitive. Let’s hope that she doesn’t end up like Aïcko, the young dolphin which lost weight day by day at Planète Sauvage and which, force fed with whole fish, ended up drowning at just six years old, its larynx dislocated during one of its ‘forced feeding’ sessions… But he also wasn’t well according to the institution and as usual, we were the chief extremists and alarmists…

Translated from the French by Sophie Martin

Three court hearings in one day for the Poliakovs’ animals

Three court hearings in one day for the Poliakovs’ animals
14.04.2021
France
Three court hearings in one day for the Poliakovs’ animals
Exploitation for shows

For years, One Voice has fought for the case concerning the animals being kept and used by the Poliakovs to be put before the court due to them being victims of mistreatment. Investigations and legal proceedings have been carried out. Almost two years after our on-site investigation, the time for justice is finally coming to a head with three court hearings at the Orléans Administrative Court on 15 April at 11am acting as a warm-up before the criminal prosecution in May.

Edit on April 22nd

The Court decision is expected on April 29th.

Like a bolt from the blue, our 2019 investigation revealed how two trainers were keeping bears: in nefarious prisons. Micha’s paws and airways had been eaten away by maggots, her body scarred from beatings she’d received in the past; there were also untreated lumps around Glasha’s eyes. What would have happened to Bony if, without our footage, he had been kept in these prison conditions? Élisabeth Borne, Minister for Ecological Transition at the time, was personally invested in the matter. Micha died after having experienced a few weeks of respite. What happened to Mina, the little Barbary macaque who was imprisoned in what seemed to be a mini dump site at the property? And the birds, several macaws and cockatoos among them, the donkeys, and the ponies?

At the time, we submitted multiple administrative appeals because, from our point of view, the Prefecture of Loir-et-Cher should ultimately take responsibility: namely ensuring the well-being of wild animals kept in captivity. How do you explain that the crimes unveiled at every veterinary examination for more than ten years have never been followed up with any sanctions?

On 15 April 2021 at 11am, three hearings will take place at the Orléans Administrative Court.

Request to withdraw various authorisations

The first is our request for the withdrawal of the certificates that verify that the trainers can keep and use wild animals, the cancellation of the opening order for the establishment belonging to the Bruneau-Poliakov couple, and the capture of animals. Without a response from the Prefecture of Loir-et-Cher, we pushed for their implicit denial to carry out these withdrawals. For us, there is no shadow of a doubt that the acts of cruelty and mistreatment exist.

However, for the Prefecture, the bears’ prison conditions, shown by our investigation, aren’t sufficient for them to remove the other animals, especially because the trainer duo are likely to be very attached to their animals; in other words, Micha, Bony and Glasha lived as sub-beings, but the Poliakovs had built palaces for the other animals elsewhere at their property… who can really believe that for a moment?

Wishing to proceed with an inspection in January 2020, the Prefecture’s services were denied access, but did not insist, despite being permitted by law to do so. Therefore, no one could say in what state Mina the little Barbary macaque is currently living, or the birds, or even if they are in good heath or still alive! Mina has been kept illegally, without authorisation, for over ten years. Is that the way the law is implemented when endangered animal species are concerned?

Request that Bony and Glasha should not be handed over to the trainers before their trial

We voluntarily became involved in the withdrawal procedure and the immediate and temporary care of Bony and Glasha (now called Franca), the two bears who survived Micha. Their care has been arranged by the Prefecture at the request of the Minister for Ecological Transition; one at the Alternative Wolf and Bear Park in the Black Forest in Germany and the other at L’Arche Animal Shelter in France. We want to make sure that they will never be given back to the Poliakovs. A mere doubt on the prison conditions would be sufficient for the Administrative Tribunal to prevent them being given back to the Bruneau-Poliakov couple between now and when the court rules on the charges against them.

Request that the authorities pay for their inaction and shortcomings

We have highlighted the serious shortcomings of the State committed by the Prefecture of Loir-et-Cher in their mission to protect wild animals kept by the Bruneau-Poliakov couple. For this we requested 50,000 euros in compensation for moral harm in November 2019. Since then, the Prefecture has confirmed receipt of our request and since 29 January 2020 we have pushed for their implicit denial to pay these damages. This will be the subject of the third hearing.

On 15 April in Orléans, all of the hearings that we have requested will take place so that the Prefecture can finally face up to their responsibilities. The power to protect wild captive animals sits with their department. For us, this responsibility has not been taken on correctly in the past and still now continues not to be.

The plight of Bony and Glasha is still hanging on these decisions; nothing has been resolved for Mina or the birds. Worse still, we don’t know what state they are in. We are now justified to expect that the actions of the State will be faultless.

In addition to these hearings, the trial of the couple themselves is scheduled at the criminal court on 12 May in Blois for severe abuse, acts of cruelty and mistreatment, and the care or maintenance of an animal in an environment that can cause suffering.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

New investigation! Penned hunting infiltrated by One Voice

New investigation! Penned hunting infiltrated by One Voice
13.04.2021
France
New investigation! Penned hunting infiltrated by One Voice
Wildlife

Hunting animals in pens allows them no opportunity to escape. In fact they are shut in and have nowhere to escape to. Our investigators infiltrated the hunters in the winter of 2020-2021. Despite Covid-19 hunting parties continued. Euros poured into the coffers of the breeders, owners or tenants of enclosures. These are hunting reserves where clients pay by the day and/or per animal shot. The animals are slaughtered without pity, day after day, by groups of hunters for whose pleasure everything is laid on. We are urging the Ministry of Ecology to put an end to it.

Using the images taken during the winter season just ended by our investigators who had infiltrated the hunters, we can shed even more light on the extent of the horror suffered by the animals targeted by this merciless type of hunting, which even some hardened hunters disapprove of. One of these is the president of the National Federation of Hunters himself, Willy Schraen, who expresses some previously unheard of thoughts during filming by our undercover investigators. The horror of penned hunting has already been written about in the French media and by ASPAS, the first association to have unmasked it.

Muriel Arnal, Chair of One Voice, declares: « Penned hunting is canned hunting made in France! Our investigators who infiltrated the hunters saw them in pursuit of animals that were almost tame, unsurprisingly since humans raise them and feed them, only to sell them to the guns. The final betrayal! Pregnant sows are hunted down mercilessly. Roe deer, does, fallow deer flee in terror from the bullets. Orphaned piglets are left to certain death. Trap shooting using live animals ended more than a century ago because it was deemed to be shameful. We are asking the Ministry of Ecology for an immediately ban on penned hunting. »

Wild boar fœtuses emerge from the sows at the celebratory meal at the end of the drive

Humans raise them, release them in enclosures surrounded by walls or wire fences and organize hunts from which they can never come out alive. What our investigators heard is revealing.

“In any case, the animals are shut in. The aim is to satisfy everyone.”And: “There are enough fine wild boar in the enclosure to keep everyone happy”, and “If the tally this evening includes a pregnant sow weighing 130 kilos, it’s not a problem. It calls for a celebration. If she’s in the enclosure she’s there to be killed. Today all the sows are pregnant, so it goes without saying that if there is a sow that’s pregnant it’s not a problem. There’s no fine, no slaughter tax, nothing like that. It is your day, full stop.” Because “if there are any sows there, in the enclosure, it’s because we breeders don’t want them any more … So we have them killed.”

And in fact our investigators were able to film sows being cut up at the end of the day, immediately after being killed, their amniotic sacs intact and containing several fœtuses.

Not everyone is in favour of penned hunting

The organizers who stand in front of the board showing the tally for the day are not making a mistake in insisting: “No photos on the Internet, I don’t want any on Facebook“. They also ask that faces not be shown either, on the orders of Willy Schraen, president of the National Federation of Hunters. These hunts and in particular the displaying of the corpses are not acceptable to the public at large, and quite rightly!

The hunters don’t even use the pretext of regulating numbers, they just kill purely for pleasure! These animals, who regard humans as sources of food, having been reared in or near the enclosure where they spend their last hour, are given no quarter.

The young ones, unable to look after themselves, are left to die

The young wander through the wood at random, alone, with no chance of surviving. Wandering about in search of their mothers, who have been killed, they will become dehydrated and will die in agony. Knowing how intelligent, aware and sensitive pigs are, how important family ties are to wild boar, provides a glimpse of the extent of the massacre.

An organizer explains: “At nightfall, what a noise those little ones make, oh!” “They are crying for their mothers.” And in the case of those who don’t find them, “I have some in the room over there, every three hours they have to be given a drink, you know, otherwise they die.”

An agonizing death for the babies.

A hard life for the dogs

At the beginning of the day one of the organizers warns, because it often happens: “Watch out for the dogs when they’re among the wild boar. You don’t just shoot anywhere, anything, anyhow.”

One of the hunters explains, about one of his dogs, who had previously had twelve stitches and had just been wounded in the leg: “That dachshund over there, as soon as he gets close to one he goes for it! Little fucker! The little ones can get their faces ripped off.” Transformed into weapons, they are used as tools or hunting accessories, just like rifles or camouflage jackets, put away after use and thrown away when they become useless.

After the drive they are shut up, squashed together in a dark trailer where the largest cannot even stand up.

The hunters who adapt the regulations to suit themselves

In the midst of the Covid pandemic no precautions are taken during the drives nor at mealtimes. No social distancing, no hand-washing … and the few masks one notices are, at best, worn under the chin. Finally, discussions about ways of contravening the curfew reveal how little attention is paid to the public authorities and to the general interest. They always expect special privileges.

To get penned hunting banned we have written to Barbara Pompili, the Minister of Ecology. Please sign our petition and let’s appeal to the Ministry! Urge them to put an end to it!

Translated from the French by Patricia Fairey

Penned hunting is like a lottery win!

Penned hunting is like a lottery win!
13.04.2021
France
Penned hunting is like a lottery win!
Wildlife

There is hunting, its millions of victims, its devastated countryside. And there is worse: penned hunting. Animals that are fenced in cannot flee. It takes only a few hours and even less effort for their killers to have a big win. Those who like quick wins are 100% satisfied.

Do you know what penned hunting is? Our investigators were able to go behind the scenes. This very specific pastime consists in the serial killing of all sorts of animal that have no chance to escape. Trigger-happy hunters gather for the occasion on private property surrounded by fences and, in unison, strafe the wildlife caught in the trap.

Bloodbath guaranteed

On these properties everything is designed to guarantee the hunters a maximum of ‘trophies’. Concentrated on a few hectares, their prey have no alternative but to attempt in vain to flee and take their last breath backed up against a wall or wire fence more than two metres high. ASPAS was the first association to denounce this system . Amongst the main victims are ‘fur’, one of the terms used by the ONCFS (Office National de la Chasse et de la Faune Sauvage – National Office of Hunting and Wildlife), in other words those that can’t fly: rabbits, hares, does, red deer, fallow deer, mouflon, inter alia. And of course wild boar! You know, those public enemies number one that apparently destroy crops. For those fond of penned hunting there are never enough. They are even willing to spend astronomic amounts of money to feel the thrill of massacring them by any means possible: rifle, spear, pack of starving dogs…

Masters of their domain

Therefore anyone lucky enough to own a dwelling with a fully enclosed piece of land attached to it may, if in possession of a hunting permit and the required insurance, shoot anything that moves on it. For such people there are no quotas, no hunting plan nor hunting season to comply with for fur animals and no limit on feeding. They do whatever they want without breaking any rules! In law, mammals in an enclosure are deemed to be ‘res propria‘: ‘things belonging to a person‘. And if those persons want to kill them, they can go right ahead! They may even invite as many friends as they like to join in the carnage provided they too have valid permits. Destroying the wildlife is not a problem: the breeders are there to top it up. A simple prefectoral order, is sufficient to obtain the release of deer, rabbits, pheasants, ducks and partridges reared in captivity that will be used as the next targets.

It’s only one step from enclosures to enclosed hunting estates

Obviously one could reassure oneself by thinking that this type of practice is merely anecdotal. You don’t have to own a grand country house or even a house with a large piece of land attached to it: the law also caters for ‘poor’ hunters who own ‘only’ a small piece of land. They may, if they fence it properly, turn it into a ‘hunting enclosure’. There are no exemptions for them and they are subject, as are EPCCs (see box), to the opening and closing dates laid down in the regulations. In theory. Because how is it possible to monitor what really happens behind those walls, which are too high for anyone to climb over? In the opinion of Jean-Noël Rieffel, Regional Manager of the French Office for Biodiversity in Centre-Val de Loire, quoted in the newspaper La Montagne: « The right of the inspectors of the French Office for Biodiversity to enter hunting enclosures remains limited. » A very interesting, albeit not exhaustive, register gives details of almost 150 enclosures and hunting estates in France, thus providing some idea of how many there are. And how many corpses are there still to go? Please sign our petition!

Death can lead to big rewards

Many have smelled the money and are managing hunting enclosures for a living. In this case they are deemed to be EPCCs (établissements à caractère commercial en terrain clos – establishments of a commercial nature on enclosed land) and therefore can no longer claim exemption from regulatory hunting seasons. On the other hand, since the French Office of Biodiversity (OFB) was set up, amending the missions of the federations of hunters and strengthening environmental policy, they have had the ‘privilege’ of being allowed to release wild boar, which is prohibited in non-commercial hunting enclosures. The only constraint on these structures is not to exceed more than one hoofed animal per hectare, otherwise ‘the enclosure’ would no longer be an ‘enclosure’, legally speaking, and would be deemed to be a livestock farm. Hunting is prohibited on farms because it is deemed to be an ‘act of cruelty’. Thus, in the eyes of the law, the concept of ‘cruelty’ is measured in figures: the area of the piece of land and the number of animals on it. Never mind the wire fences, the wildlife shut up behind them, the bloodbath of victims. No doubt these are merely ‘details’.

Kludsky escaped French law and sent Dumba to Germany

Kludsky escaped French law and sent Dumba to Germany
02.04.2021
International
Kludsky escaped French law and sent Dumba to Germany
Exploitation for shows

Barely more than forty-eight hours after the publication of our article announcing that we were initiating new legal proceedings and that we would be going all the way, Dumba’s trainer took off abroad. We followed Dumba’s truck on 20 and 21 February to a zoo which exploits elephants in Germany. Our legal proceedings continue in France and we are initiating others in Germany.

Photo : Maimona Bakkioui – Facebook

Leaving at dawn on 20 February, Dumba was confined and driven more than a thousand kilometres almost without stopping, until reaching another country.

Circus workers make it their speciality to escape the law

We emphasize what we have been denouncing from the start: circus workers escape the law of one country to another, without letting it overly bother them.

But they don’t know us if they think they can get away with it that easily: we followed their truck until their final destination, a zoo-type park, run by circus workers, where the elephants were shown to the public and forced to do so in large numbers. In short, Kludsky the trainer fled France for Germany and abandoned Dumba – who was for sale, let us remember, and returned to Spain to be left alone. Well that is what she thought.

The legal proceedings in France have implications everywhere

Having been issued with her proficiency certificate in France, our legal action continues to get it removed from her. Even in Germany, she will therefore no longer be able to exploit Dumba.

New legal proceedings in Germany

We are initiating legal proceedings in Germany. Whichever country it is, Dumba should not have to be exploited. The day before she arrived, 30 centimetres of snow had fallen in the park.

New regulations are underway

In France, what is being prepared is the legalization of these animal parks kept by former circus workers with more flexible laws than zoos, allowing the animals to be exploited again until they die. It is unacceptable.

For Dumba and all other animals in the hands of circus trainers, we will go to the end of our fight.

Sign the petition for Dumba

Translated from the French by Sophie Martin

Endless agony for macaques in laboratories

Endless agony for macaques in laboratories
30.03.2021
Europe
Endless agony for macaques in laboratories
Animal testing

Holes drilled into their skulls, force-fed drugs, eyes and tissues removed… Long-tailed macaques are subjected to barbaric experiments in European laboratories. First confined in breeding centres in Mauritius or Vietnam, they are then flown to France in the cargo holds of planes. Their final destination? The scalpel and death. One Voice is launching a petition to demand more transparency in research and the systematic replacement of animal experimentation with non-animal alternatives.

Free access to information on experiments

Details of research published online and in scientific journals carried out at European laboratories are chilling. For example, research involving long-tailed macaques kept at Covance Laboratories GmbH in Germany and Silabe-Adueis in France was published and can be accessed freely.

In this experiment, 24 macaques were killed just to remove their eyes to obtain anatomical data on a specific area of the retina called the fovea. The researcher state that only 24 eyes were used, so it is unclear what happened to the other 24 eyes No details were given. Were the macaques killed only for their eyes or were they used for other purposes? . But what we do know is that the macaques were killed deliberately, for obscure research purposes and after years of confinement, stress and pain.

Another experiment carried out at Covance in Germany, was published on this website.

There were at least 34 macaques, perhaps more, who underwent survival surgery on the operating table. Cannulae were inserted into their eyes, in order to cause the retina to detach and inject a test substance. All the animals were then killed to obtain the eyes.

In this same laboratory, researchers injected a test compound subcutaneously into pregnant adult females in order to study the effects on their infants. The infants were observed for about 10 months before being killed in order to obtain their tissues.

France at the heart of this trade

Forced to swallow drugs , injected with substances, having holes drilled in their skulls … the list of the horrors suffered by macaques used in experiments in European laboratories sends shivers down the spine, all the more so when we know how young the macaques used in experiments are and how much they need their mothers! It’s shameful that France is at the heart of this terrible trade!

The law is changing but what checks will be carried out ?

European law stipulates that primates used for scientific purposes should come exclusively from breeding establishments or colonies maintained with no introductions of animals taken from the wild. As from 10 November 2022 laboratories will therefore no longer be able to use them. Monkeys used in experiments will have to be second generation after capture. But what checks will be carried out ?

These young monkeys need us!

We maintain that the lack of transparency in the trade in monkeys used in experiments is unacceptable. Why are France and the Silabe establishment a regular staging post for the trade in monkeys?

Please sign our petition for total transparency about animals used in experiments, the financing of non-animal alternatives and the systematic and exclusive use of such alternatives where they exist!

Translated by Patricia Fairey

Charles Vinick, a man doing his bit for orcas

Charles Vinick, a man doing his bit for orcas
21.03.2021
International
Charles Vinick, a man doing his bit for orcas
Exploitation for shows

This environmentalist, a specialist in the marine world, was still young when heanswered the call of the sea and of orcas. Having had the opportunity to roam theoceans freely, he feels privileged in comparison with cetaceans held prisoner indolphinariums. Today he works for a better future for them. We have recorded histestimony, which is fascinating

The sea is where he feels most at home. For twenty-five years Charles Vinick roamed the oceans with Captain Cousteau and his son Jean-Michel. Alongside them, he encouraged exploration of the marine world. Subsequently his skills led him to carry out many missions, all of them dedicated to the sea and the creatures living in it.

A real expert

Amongst the many hats he has worn have been those of adviser to and cofounder of the Cousteau Centres; Vice-Chairman of the Institut Jean-Michel Cousteau and of the Ocean Futures Society, which have produced educational resources and films about the ocean and the environment; President and CEO of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound; Chairman and CEO of two environmental technology societies, in Florida and Santa Barbara. Charles has also been Chairman and CEO of the Santa Barbara City College Foundation, director of training and development at TRW Inc. and executive director of adult education at the University of Southern California.

Founder of a sanctuary for captive cetaceans

Today, still full of boundless energy, Charles Vinick provides his services to the cetaceans suffering in dolphinariums. He sits on the boards of directors of Heal the Ocean and the Ocean Futures Society and in mid-2016 joined the Whale Sanctuary Project as executive director. The aim of this amazing project is to set up sanctuaries on the coasts of North America for orcas and belugas held captive by the leisure industry.

It’s the incredible members of the team he led who really did ‘Free Willy’

It’s an enormous challenge. Whereas numerous sanctuaries provide homes for terrestrial animals liberated from circuses or zoos, there is as yet nothing comparable for marine mammals. But Charles Vinick is no novice when it comes to rehabilitating former captive cetaceans. In 2019 he took part in the scientific expedition to save the orcas and belugas held in the Baie of Srednyaya, in Russia. We immediately answered the call to help him. It must be said that Charles acquired extraordinary experience with Keiko, the most famous male orca on the planet and better known by the name of Willy in the film Free Willy. It was he who accompanied the animal, who had been snatched from his family when very young, on the long road back to the wild. An astonishing adventure, stranger than fiction… Charles told us about it in detail in this interview, which is essential listening.

translated by Patricia Fairey MCIL

Glue-trap hunting: the Court of Justice of the European Union comes to the rescue of birds!

Glue-trap hunting: the Court of Justice of the European Union comes to the rescue of birds!
17.03.2021
Europe
Glue-trap hunting: the Court of Justice of the European Union comes to the rescue of birds!
Wildlife

We were at the Court of Justice of the European Union on Thursday, November 19, 2020 to hear the submissions of the assistant public prosecutor following our complaint to Europe as part of our appeals to the Council of State on the 2018 and 2019 glue-trap hunting in France. Today, Wednesday March 17, the European Court handed down its decision, and it goes our way: it supports the birds! They needed it so badly.

End of playtime for blackbird and thrush gluers!

A great victory! Following in the footsteps of Spain, Malta and Cyprus, where the tradition of glue-trap hunting was also firmly established, the European Court of Justice has ruled that glue-trap hunting must come to an end in France too, and not just by reducing the quota to zero.

According to the European Court of Justice, “A Member State cannot authorize a method of capturing birds which results in by-catches if it is likely to cause other than negligible damage to the species concerned. The traditional nature of a method of capturing birds, such as hunting with glue, is not in itself sufficient to establish that no other satisfactory solution can be substituted for it”.

“For the hunters who had fun gluing robins, blackbirds and song thrushes to eat them, it’s the end of playtime! This magnificent victory shows just how important it is never to give in to this lobby, which is so entrenched in its cruel and destructive practices. The fight for birds is not over, they remain threatened by other traditional hunts. We’ll be there! » Muriel Arnal, President of One Voice

As we’ve explained many times over the years, hunting with glue is cruel, because the birds are stuck to the branches where, in panic, they struggle, plucking feathers and breaking limbs. It is also non-selective, meaning that it traps all birds that land, and not just those of the species that the hunters want to capture to make them endure a life in captivity as decoy-birds.

A “cultural importance” that just doesn’t measure up

The Court did not follow the opinion of the assistant public prosecutor. For the European Court, “It is very likely […] that the birds captured will suffer irreversible damage, the birdlime being, by its very nature, liable to damage the plumage of all the birds captured.”

In this decision, the gluing process is clearly condemned. Regional tradition is therefore not in itself a criterion for derogating from the European Birds Directive. Capture with glue damages the plumage of the birds captured, and is therefore prohibited. The EU Court of Justice does not require certainty: the very fact that this hunting method can kill or cripple them is sufficient. In the end, the technique is condemned as much as the tradition.

We’ll soon be before the Council of State again

We said it was up to the hunters to prove that glue-trap hunting did not harm birds. In the end, the hunters’ argument that they were releasing birds of non-targeted species was swept aside… Because, in fact, glue does not make any selection between birds! So there is real hope for birds affected by other types of hunting, particularly traditional hunting!

Now it’s up to the Council of State, a national jurisdiction, to take a stand.

Read the press release from the Court of Justice of the European Union