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Save our orcas! A sanctuary, not China!

Save our orcas! A sanctuary, not China!

Save our orcas! A sanctuary, not China!
07.12.2019
Save our orcas! A sanctuary, not China!
Dolphinariums

Inouk, Wikie, Moana and Keijo, four orcas born into captivity at Marineland of Antibes couldbe transferred very soon to China. But once there, they would be exploited without mercyuntil their last breath because there is no law that protects animals. We will not give up thefight! We are asking the President of the Republic to act, we are calling for a mobilizationand gathering of our allies, experts and NGOs in the fight towards the closure ofDolphinariums. Save our orcas, they need to be transferred to a sanctuary and certainly notto China!

In the far east, the construction of ponds and breeding parks are multiplying visibly and in monumental proportions. The manufacturers at the head of these companies are ready for anything, not hesitating to provide “even at the source” to fill these pools, as in Russia…

The captive industry: ready for anything

But Western countries are in the midst of changes towards the captivity of wild animals. Thus, Vladimir Putin, after consulting with orca specialists accompanied by NGOs including One Voice, has courageously ordered the ban on the sale of orcas and belugas captured in Russian waters. All were released. A dead loss for the Russian billionaires at the head of this business: each living orca selling for a million dollars. And a lack of animals to exploit for this booming captive industry in China. The publicity campaigns and the disaffection of the public for these “shows” today has pushed Marineland to get rid of its orcas while still reaping the benefits.

The group Parque Reunidos which owns, among others, Marineland, is one of those structures that are developing in this part of the world. We have just learned that it should make a transfer of orcas from France next January.

Hell is a dolphinarium pool in China

What awaits them in China is constant reproduction, the separation of Wikie and her sons Moana and Keijo, who is only 6 years old. Remember that in the wild, orcas live together in family groups all their lives… To this we can add exposure to diseases consistent with the decline of the immune system due to living in captivity, insanity resulting in self-harming behaviour, and death from exhaustion. In China, many captive cetaceans disappear without a trace, in total impunity…

Save our orcas!

But Inouk, Wikie, Moana and Keijo are orcas born in France. Marineland are responsible for them, if only on a moral plane. These are “our” orcas! We ask the President of the Republic to intervene, as his Russian counterpart did. We wrote to him, as well as the orca specialist, Dr. Ingrid Visser.

A sanctuary, not China!

We saw Valentin die during the storm of 2015 and rallied together for Inouk. The park is not in compliance with current regulations. Year after year, we are present alongside the orcas. We also demand relentlessly that the Ministry of Ecology rewrite the 2017 decree in the same manner and urgently so exchanges between parks can be stopped and also reproduction in captivity! Meanwhile, for more than two years, breeding has been in full swing for dolphins in French dolphinariums and orcas may see their conditions of their hellish detention worsen. They need to be transferred to a marine sanctuary! Parque Reunidos, listed on the stock exchange, has ample means to invest in the establishment of a space where they can live far from the public gaze, in semi-freedom and together. Please sign the petition!

Shouka, Inouk’s beloved big sister, sent to the United States in 2002 and kept alone for more than ten years in an empty pool, is currently circling the pools of Seaworld in California. After years of isolation that led to her madness, she has had her misery slightly lifted thanks to an older captive orca like herself. Shouka would also be involved in the transfer to China. She will certainly be forced to reproduce in addition to being indecently enslaved to amuse the crowd like the others. So, it is the five “French” orcas that will disappear forever if we allow the captivity industry to continue to operate.

Glue hunting: would the public rapporteur of the State Council finally lean in favour of birds?

Glue hunting: would the public rapporteur of the State Council finally lean in favour of birds?

Glue hunting: would the public rapporteur of the State Council finally lean in favour of birds?
19.11.2019
Glue hunting: would the public rapporteur of the State Council finally lean in favour of birds?
Hunting

Wednesday, November 20th, 2019 will mark a turning point – hopefully, decisive – against hunting with glue, cruelly trapping small birds by this method which prevents them from escaping free, forces them to panic, injure themselves or even die. Never before had this happened: the public rapporteur is preparing to conclude the referral of all ministerial decrees on the hunt with glue, which we attacked at the State Council in 2018. Before this it was the court of justice of the European Union, and for that, it takes up the argument that we had developed against the decrees of 2019.

Editorial at November 20th 3.00 p.m.

At the hearing, the public rapporteur asked for the cancellation of the “wild geese” decree 2O19 and the referral of the “hunting with glue” decrees 2018, which we attacked at the State Council, before the court of justice of the European Union by taking up our arguments against the 2019 decrees. Delayed, response in three weeks.

Unsurprisingly, the public rapporteur confirms in his conclusions the suspension of the decree on the extension of the 2019 wild geese hunting season by asking for its cancellation once and for all. So obviously, we absolutely do not prejudge the final decision of the judges of the State Council, but the function of the public rapporteur is to indicate to them the ins and outs of the appeals and to advise them on a direction.

Coincidence?

At the same time as we filed the appeals on the 2019 decrees, the Ministry of Ecological and Inclusive Transition expressly asked all the Prefects concerned to carry out checks on the quotas of birds hunted. Why? Because we asked for proof that the birds hunted are in small quantities, since this is what the ministry claims … How many, where, when and which birds are trapped, which ones are released? Since we are told that the traps are selective, the minimum would be to be based on facts! And to say that the defenders of the planet and of animals are often considered at best as just dreamers, at worst as ridiculous ultra-sensitive … But as soon as we demand accountability, we realize that there is none! Who is rational in history?

The interest of hunters is not the general interest

Biodiversity is depleted, birds disappear while they are part of the common heritage of Humanity. The interest of hunters has for too long been confused with the general interest, namely the conservation of our heritage, and therefore of the individuals who compose it. The fact that the European Commission has given France formal notice confirms the non-selectiveness of the glue hunting, as well as the lack of supervision and control by the authorities, which gives us good hope for a probable end to the glue hunting in the medium term. Even more so (other «traditional» hunts, the lengthening of the duration of the hunting of wild geese, etc)!

We await with determination the audience of Wednesday, November 20th and the decision that will follow for glue hunting and that of wild geese, as well as the repercussions of the formal notice of France by the European Commission, a procedure in will failure be triggered? For the other traditional hunts such as that of the falling wire traps, netting on land and on the lakes, we will continue to systematically attack those arrested and who have targeted small birds.