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Stop construction of new dolphinarium in Bulgaria!

Stop construction of new dolphinarium in Bulgaria!

Stop construction of new dolphinarium in Bulgaria!
05.06.2020
Bulgaria
Stop construction of new dolphinarium in Bulgaria!
Exploitation for shows

For several years, The Last Cage has been working towards closing down Bulgaria’s only dolphinarium, in Varna. However recently, the plan to build the country’s second, in Burgas, has emerged. Let’s join forces with the Bulgarian organisation to stop this marine animal prison from coming into existence.

Photo: Juanjo Tugores/Fotolia.com

As in France, mayors in Bulgaria think purely from an economic perspective. Only jobs matter, even when created to the detriment of wildlife and when biodiversity is plundered and destroyed forever.

The latest major project for the large maritime city of Burgas, Bulgaria, is a marine park with a dolphinarium. The Bulgarian organisation, The Last Cage, is urging local politicians to get involved so that they too can take a stance against this backward project. Penguins, seals, dolphins and thousands of fish will be imprisoned there for life. Dolphinariums are insatiable, always leading to more wild animals being captured.

The industry of captive animals – a permanent threat to nature

The pandemic impacting us now is undoubtedly associated with animal exploitation. It has led to the confinement of more than half of the human population. Yet, there are those who still do not grasp that, as far as imprisoning animals in the post-pandemic world is concerned, enough is enough! The construction of marine sanctuaries is what we really need.

Together with The Last Cage, let’s call upon the project heads and Bulgaria’s elected representatives, namely their Minister for the Environment and the Mayor of Burgas. Sign their petition en masse to stop this project from ever seeing the light of day!

Translated from the French by Mahersh Shah

Calls for global closure of mink fur farms as Dutch government confirms they could act as reservoir for COVID-19

Calls for global closure of mink fur farms as Dutch government confirms they could act as reservoir for COVID-19

Calls for global closure of mink fur farms as Dutch government confirms they could act as reservoir for COVID-19
04.06.2020
International
Calls for global closure of mink fur farms as Dutch government confirms they could act as reservoir for COVID-19
Fashion

Vannes (4 June 2020) – The Dutch government has ordered the culling of thousands of mink on nine fur farms from Friday this week, following advice from a team of veterinary and infectious disease experts that mink fur farms could act as a reservoir for SARS-COV-2, allowing it to remain in circulation for a long time.

Crédit photo: Ongehoord

Fur Free Alliance & One Voice urge governments to close mink farms in all countries

Dutch MPs were notified of the cabinet decision in a letter sent last night by the Dutch Agriculture Minister and the Minister for Public Health, Welfare & Sport. The investigation by the Dutch Zoonoses Outbreak Management Team follows the Dutch Agriculture Minister’s statement on 25th May that it was ‘extremely likely’ that two fur farm workers in the Netherlands had contracted COVID-19 from mink infected with SARS-CoV-2.

In response to the Dutch government’s findings, the Fur Free Alliance is calling for the global closure of mink fur farms as potential reservoirs for COVID-19 and other novel infectious zoonotic diseases.

Mink fur farming was banned in the Netherlands in 2013 with a deadline for complete phase out by 2024. The Netherlands farmed around 4.5million mink in 2018. The Fur Free Alliance is supporting calls by Dutch animal organisations for the closure of the approximately 128 fur farms that remain to be speeded up in light of the COVID-19 risk.

Joh Vinding, Chair of the Fur Free Alliance, said:

«Fur farms typically contain thousands of mink in rows of cages in unsanitary, crowded and stressful conditions not unlike the wildlife markets at the centre of global concern. In addition to being inherently cruel, the potential for zoonotic disease spread, and for mink fur farms in particular to act as reservoirs for coronaviruses, incubating pathogens transmissible to humans, is an unavoidably compelling reason for the world to call time on fur farming. The Dutch government, and all fur-producing countries like Denmark, Poland, France, Italy, China, Finland, Spain and the United States, should commit to end this inhumane practice and protect public health.»

SARS-CoV-2 was first identified on two mink farms in Netherlands on 26 April, and then subsequently on two more mink farms in Noord Brabant on 9 May. By 15 May SARS-CoV-2 had also been diagnosed in three living at a mink farm, and on 19 May Dutch Agriculture Minister Carola Schouten told MPs that mink to human infection was likely. When a second farm worker subsequently contracted COVID-19, the Minister confirmed, on 25 May, that transmission from mink to humans was now “extremely likely”.

The Ministers’ letter to the Dutch Parliament notes that more infections are expected to be detected in the coming weeks, and that as human-human infection rates decline, mink-human infection could increase the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 in humans. All fur farms in the Netherlands are now undergoing mandatory screening, and measures have been put in place including a restriction on both farm visitors and the transportation of mink.

Non-infected farms will be required to continue to follow current measures and to submit carcasses of “naturally” deceased animals each week. The Ministers’ letter states that the Dutch cabinet is considering whether and how to support fur farms to voluntarily terminate their businesses before the 2024 deadline.

The Fur Free Alliance and One Voice are deeply concerned about the welfare of the mink who contract this potentially fatal virus. Research from the farms in the Netherlands has shown that symptoms can cause “digestive and respiratory” issues and can prove fatal for the animals. Mink can also experience the virus without showing symptoms.  Therefore, in addition to calling for a complete ban on fur farming, the organisations are also calling on France government to take immediate steps to investigate the potential spread of the disease on farms in France, including mandatory testing on all mink farms with the publication of the results as soon as possible, plus the introduction of measures already undertaken in the Netherlands, such as a ban on any movement of mink, including international imports and exports, the restriction of visitors to the farms and the use of PPE for all staff and visitors.

Mink fur farms and COVID-19 timeline

The other main species reared on fur farms – foxes and raccoon dogs – are known to be able to become infected with SARS-CoV-related viruses, with the potential to act as intermediate hosts to pass viruses to humans. Raccoon dogs and foxes in wildlife markets in China were both found to have been infected with SARS-CoV.

Fur farming has been banned across the UK since 2003, and has been prohibited and/or is in the process of being phased-out in the following European countries: Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Croatia, Macedonia, the Netherlands, Norway, Luxembourg, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and most recently the government in Ireland has committed to ending fur farming.  Bulgaria, Lithuania, Montenegro and Ukraine are also presently considering bans on fur farming. In the United States, California became the first US state to ban fur sales in 2019 following similar bans in cities including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Berkeley and West Hollywood. In 2020, legislators in Hawaii and Rhode Island introduced fur sales ban proposals, as have cities in Minnesota and Massachusetts.

Fur farming, however, continues in other countries with China, Denmark, Finland and Poland being the biggest producers, and globally an estimated 100 million animals are killed annually for their fur.

Latest available figures show approximately 35 million mink were farmed across twenty-one countries in Europe, including Denmark (17.6m), Poland (5m), Netherlands (4.5m), Finland (1.85m), Greece and Lithuania (both 1.2m), in 2018.  Figures for the same period show that mink were farmed for their fur in China (20.7m), the United States (3.1m) and Canada (1.7m), bringing the total to approximately 60.5million mink.

“Imprisoning animals is cruel, whether it’s tigers or orcas”

« Imprisoning animals is cruel, whether it’s tigers or orcas »

“Imprisoning animals is cruel, whether it’s tigers or orcas”
04.06.2020
Alpes-Maritimes
“Imprisoning animals is cruel, whether it’s tigers or orcas”
Exploitation for shows

John Hargrove is a former SeaWorld senior orca trainer and supervisor at Marineland in Antibes, France, and The New York Times bestselling author of ‘Beneath the Surface.’ This op-ed was just published in a national paper in the United States. John Hargrove updated it for One Voice to include Marineland Antibes.

Like the recent op-ed from Valerie Greene (“’Tiger King’ showed two sides of animal activism, » May 14) I considered working at SeaWorld my dream job. I fell in love with orcas on a family trip to SeaWorld when I was a kid. My career began in 1993, when I got an apprentice position at SeaWorld at the orca stadium and worked my way up to the highest-ranking senior trainer position at Shamu Stadium.

During my 14-year career, I worked with 20 killer whales in three different marine parks.  Two years of my career I was a supervisor in charge of the orca stadium at Marineland in Antibes becoming the first trainer in the world to get in the water with those orcas.  My responsibilities were to train the orcas all the spectacular stunts in the water and perform with them in the water during shows in the newly built stadium.  And it was my love for these animals that made me hand in my resignation after asking myself the paramount question: Is having killer whales, or any animal, in captivity for profit the right thing to do?

I came to realize that watching orcas and dolphins do tricks doesn’t do anything to foster respect for these animals, much less contribute to their survival in the wild. Instead, it glamorizes abuse and dehumanizes these highly intelligent animals. I loved the orcas more than anything, but I finally had to admit to myself that my love was not enough. It became clear that we could never come close to meeting their true needs.

For orcas and dolphins forced to perform at SeaWorld or Marineland, for elephants bracing themselves for the whack of a bullhook in the circus, and for tigers exploited by the likes of “Joe Exotic,” it’s a one-way street. The animals are not willing participants; they are captives who comply or go hungry (I was required to withhold food from orcas who didn’t perform — sometimes up to two-thirds of their daily rations), get beaten, or even worse.

At least five tigers were shot to death at “Joe Exotic’s” roadside zoo. Nearly three dozen elephants, including five babies, died at the hands of Ringling Bros., and more than 40 orcas — including many of those whom I worked with — have perished in SeaWorld’s cramped tanks. Four of the seven orcas I worked with at Marineland in Antibes are now dead. Despite Shouka being the first successful orca calf to be born at Marineland, I could not stop them from taking her away from her mother Sharkane and selling her in 2002 to a marine park in the United States. Shouka suffered the next ten years of her life in a tank a fraction of the size of Marineland and in solitary confinement.  This is not conservation. This is carnage.

I don’t regret my years at SeaWorld or Marineland in France because if I hadn’t had the career that I had, I would never have been able to expose the captivity industry by providing direct testimony from more than a decade of hands-on experience as a senior orca trainer and supervisor in the documentary Blackfish and all the media interviews that followed. I was also an expert witness for both the federal government and for the California legislation that now protects captive orcas and forced SeaWorld to heavily restrict the way it uses them for « entertainment.”

Most important, it forced the company to end its breeding program and separating mother orcas from their calves. I will never forget the enormous amount of medication that I gave out every day to so many orcas, or how I rationalized away all the sickness and disease that killed them prematurely so I could toe the company line. The PR spin, repeated ad nauseam, “world class veterinary care” and “our animals are healthy and thriving,” is demonstrably false.

Of course, I also lost my friend Dawn Brancheau and colleague Alexis Martinez. As if their deaths weren’t traumatic enough, those of us who worked with them and cared about them had to listen in silence as SeaWorld management found a way to blame her for being dismembered. For Alexis, SeaWorld has still to this day never even said his name publicly in their attempt to distance themselves from his death. They shamelessly denied, under oath, that they even knew it was dangerous for trainers to work in the water with, or in close proximity to killer whales. One federal judge after another saw through their lies and publicly called them out for it in their scathing written decisions highly critical of the way SeaWorld treated both their orcas and their orca trainers.

As society has evolved and become more educated, I’m glad so many are now asking important questions: Why are these animals in captivity? How, exactly, do captive orcas help to conserve wild orcas? Are they simply here for profit?

For me, loving the orcas meant walking away and no longer being complicit in their abuse and exploitation. Ensuring that animals of all species continue to thrive means protecting them in their own natural habitats, not imprisoning them for entertainment.

Fox cubs dug up: undercover infiltration

Fox cubs dug up: undercover infiltration

Fox cubs dug up: undercover infiltration
28.05.2020
France
Fox cubs dug up: undercover infiltration
Wildlife

Our investigators infiltrated at the center of the digging up process. In France, foxes can be dug up and slaughtered all year round, including during the breeding season. This sadistic practice leaves animals no chance. Their status as a species likely to cause damage, decided by the Ministry of Ecological and Inclusive Transition, thus allowing hunters specializing in “underground hunting” to go and get them with their large pincers, with dogs. To open the burrows like trenches several meters deep, cut tree roots with an axe … for the pleasure of occupying their Saturdays off by killing foxes with iron bars or by ordering their dogs to rip them to pieces on the spot. The images we have reported are chilling.

It is eight o’clock in the morning and the digging crews are on the warpath. After a round of surveillance to see which fox and badger burrows are occupied in anticipation of the opening of the badger hunt, they choose a red fox burrow on the land of an owner who wants to get rid of it, accompanied by the local president of the federation of hunters.

At the edge of the burrow, a specific sweet and sour smell, that of urine, humus and the undergrowth. If you don’t know the smell of foxes, you might think it’s the forest that smells like that. But here one has taken up residence, a fox family. Besides the birds chirping in the treetops, there is silence around. The wood is peaceful, the roads, the fields and the houses are far away.

Three new-born babies killed in front of children

Underground, the three little ones are waiting for their mother to return to eat. They sleep peacefully when they hear the first muffled barks. These are disturbing voices. The ground trembles several times, other cries creep into the galleries, which relaunch the barking. The little ones call the vixen to their rescue, without success. The barking is coming closer, yet still out of reach.

Then the dogs burst into the corner of the den where their mother had hidden them. In the blinding light, they will be pulled out with pliers or gripped by the jaws of the dogs. They will suddenly experience a stabbing pain to the head, then a secondly, they will feel the blood flow from their noses, their bodies will begin to shake with spasms, until they finally lose consciousness, one after another suffering in agony, exposed and vulnerable to their attackers …

In another country, exposing children to this would be the subject of a report by the child protection agency

As our investigators have reported, a very young adolescent and a child as young as five were exposed to this hunt and the killing of these cubs. Even worse, the preteen was pushed to kill them. An initiatory practice for the young “apprentice”. He will prove to be too squeamish in the eyes of his elders. The heavy pliers were torn from his hands as the rest of the underground hunting crew assisted in the killing of three fox cubs, barely a few months old, with heavy blows to the skull. For some time still, their little bodies will twitch with spasms … under the eyes of the child still in kindergarten …

One Voice is seeking the intervention of the Defender of Rights. We express our concern about the deleterious effects on the physical and psychological development of these children exposed to such violence.

The bodies of foxes thrown away along with the cigarette butts

The last fox cub will die before even discovering the rays of the sun, shaken between the clenched jaws of the hunting terrier, trained to kill and himself exhausted. Finally, the legal mischief is celebrated with a satisfied handshake. The small cubs are photographed, their murderers smiling around their corpses, the bodies are then thrown into a hole and buried along with dozens of cigarette butts smoked during the six hours of digging.

Decrees are stopped but then they are renewed

While these three young foxes lost their lives, the federations of hunters are pressuring the Prefects to obtain more and more orders making it possible to treat foxes as pests to be killed all year round, day and night, by trapping, shooting, hunting with hounds… to have the pleasure of killing even when the hunting season is closed. Because foxes, in addition to other animals, are being stripped of their status as sentient beings, denied their essential role in the biodiversity and even the right to exist. We are constantly attacking the Prefectural decrees (often published against the public’s opinion), and justice has proven us right. With rare but notable exceptions the foxes are spared because the justice system has seized in urgency and intervenes when necessary, vis-a-vis the hunters and the Prefectures. But more often than not, and this is why it is so important for the law to change, justice does not change its decisions when the foxes are already dead. Proving us right against the Prefects, but too late.

That’s enough! Let’s ban the practice of digging up!

We are fighting tirelessly to ban underground hunting with the support of more than eight out of ten French people and all other “traditional” forms of hunting. Support our actions to save the foxes.

They must be removed from the list of animals considered to be pests (likely to cause damage) established by the Ministry of Ecological and Inclusive Transition.

I love foxes! Let’s write en masse to the Minister of the Ecological and Inclusive Transition!

Hundreds of thousands of foxes are slaughtered throughout the year because they are considered pests by @Ecologie_Gouv. @Elisabeth_Borne, ban the sadistic practice of underground hunting now! #ILoveFoxes #JAimeLesRenards #RenardsNuisiblesVraiment https://www.jaimelesrenards.fr

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Digging up of these foxes and put to death in front of children! @Ecologie_Gouv @Elisabeth_Borne, remove the foxes from the list of “pests” and ban underground hunting! #ILoveFoxes #JAimeLesRenards #RenardsNuisiblesVraiment https://www.jaimelesrenards.fr

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Badger hunting: hell underground

Badger hunting: hell underground

Badger hunting: hell underground
28.04.2020
France
Badger hunting: hell underground
Wildlife

We are launching a vast campaign based on our high-risk infiltration into the world of underground hunting to denounce this despicable hunt which subjects’ badgers to the worst ill-treatment. Together, let’s ban this abomination!

When it comes to cruelty, hunters have never lacked inspiration. And among their worst ideas of hunting, there is one in particular which is quite monstrous: the underground venery. This perfectly legal practice consists in harassing an animal to the bottom of its burrow to subject it to hours of terror and pain before its last breath. Followers of this « leisurely past time » are oh so joyful and relentless in their pursuit, especially on badgers … You know, these shy and harmless little mammals. What could be better than persecuting defenceless beings to savour the pleasure of seeing them suffer and then congratulating oneself on being « the strongest »?

A high-risk infiltration

At our own risk, we managed to infiltrate the extremely closed environment of these hunts involving the digging out of a badger. For years, we have been trying to get inside this circle to expose these horrors. It took a lot of courage and self-confidence of our investigators to covertly integrate these « crews » without being exposed, to rub shoulders with these sadists pretending to be fellow hunters, to witness the massacres without flinching and document them to advance the cause of badgers. If the members of our team succeeded perfectly and returned from it physically unscathed, they were nevertheless very affected morally by these unbearable scenes which they had to witness. It is enough to look at the images they took, which are unpublished in France, to measure the level of violence and crass imbecility which is reached during these « hunting parties ».

An armed and alcoholic gang against a sleeping family

It is with their dogs and armed with shovels, pickaxes, axes, digging pliers, sawed-down firing rifles and packs of beer that groups of diggers hunt down their victims. They know where to go. The burrows are well known. Drunken parties of diggers make a « tour » regularly outside the hunting season to locate them in advance and know where to go during the season … The catch promises to be good and the carnage tasty! As soon as they arrive on the scene, they plug the exit holes of the burrows using pieces of wood or shovels planted vertically, in order to prevent their prey from escaping through holes other than those from which the dogs have entered. It’s the beginning of spring, the badger couples have given birth to their young and the families are still sleeping peacefully at the bottom of their homes. But suddenly, their world is torn apart…

Pain is good, the longer the better

They have taken up residence under a large oak tree, whose majestic roots form the structure of their burrow. Between them, the burrow cannot collapse. Both natural protection and columns between which the corridors can extend. But now the openings in their burrow close one by one, blocked by shovels or branches.

Suddenly thunder rises above their heads. Shovels strike the ground, or the trees overlooking their burrow and explode like the sound of many detonations. It’s panic. A badger cub painfully wakes from his sleep and sees his parents panicked.

The couple do not know which direction to take to shelter their little one: the exits are closed, and intruders have entered the burrow. Meanwhile, they must face the barking and the fangs which approach, the cries of humans on the surface intoxicated by alcohol and the smell of blood. The badgers howl, imploring, overwhelming, but only laughter responds to their pleas.

The badger parents then sought to prevent the dogs from accessing the underground room where they had taken refuge, right under the oak trunk. To do this, all the conduits must be closed as quickly as possible, to create an airtight pocket for the rest of the burrow, the last resort in case of threatening intrusions. And it is surrounded from all sides that the terrorized animals will helplessly put up for almost five hours, with this relentless demolition of their only refuge.

The diggers, armed with probes that they push into the ground to the tunnels, then ears pressed to the ground, listen to where the cries of the animals come from, estimate the depth of the burrow and the most strategic place to dig. But there, it seems that the oak tree stands between them and their future victims. Never mind: armed with an ax, they will take turns cutting one of the three main roots of the tree, measuring over twenty centimeters in diameter.

Lacking air, the father will try to allow his little one to breathe by opening the protective pouch a little. It will not take more for the dogs to manage, after hours of research, to locate them. The father, trying to save his baby is bitten and utters a heartrending moan. Suddenly, metal pincers come in, searching. His baby is grabbed by the abdomen between the iron pincers and then torn from the hole. The unfortunate one will thus be «presented» in its extreme distress to the hunters and their fans in jubilation… The shot will ring out. The badger freezes, then convulses for some time. A huntsman then begins a little dance, and sings « pointed like a knife, sharpened like a blade ». A few moments and another shot ring out, the adult male will in turn be shot, directly in his hole, after a fight which will cause one of the exhausted dogs to lose an ear tip. His body will join that of his son, abandoned on the ground. As for the mother and the other badger cubs, protected by the remaining roots, the « tired » hunters will leave them in their ravaged burrow, without failing to fill the trench, so that they die asphyxiated there …

The corpses will then be dragged through the woods to the trailer used to transport the dogs, where they will be thrown unceremoniously.

More damage in a day than badgers in a year!

The hunters will leave behind a bereaved and traumatized badger mother with potentially other cubs, an amputated oak, dozens of buried cigarette butts. Not to mention the damage caused to crops in the field adjacent to the wood, much greater than that which a family of badgers can do in a year, by dint of going back and forth to fetch who a tool, who additional drinks…

Abolish this sadism!

How many thousands of corpses and vile images will it take to rally the public and politicians to the cause of these martyred animals? This scandal must be banned, badgers must be protected. Everyone must open their eyes to the shameful realities of underground hunting, as it is done in the secret of the undergrowth. And face the magnitude of this badger tragedy.

Everyone must open their eyes to the shameful realities of underground hunting, as it is done in the secret of the undergrowth. And face the magnitude of the tragedy experienced by badgers.

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Badgers, these discreet heroes

Badgers, these discreet heroes

Badgers, these discreet heroes
28.04.2020
France
Badgers, these discreet heroes
Wildlife

With their little Zorro mask, badgers are easily identifiable. But few are lucky enough to be able to observe these shy and reserved mustelids. A portrait of enthusiastic, united and peaceful workers who deserve all our respect … rather than being murdered in the bottom of their burrows.

When we come across an individual after dark, pointing his nose out of his burrow, we think we are dreaming. The timidity of European badgers (Meles meles) is such that they prefer to stay looking pretty if they spot the slightest danger thanks to their highly developed sense of smell. It is not for nothing that they choose to spend more than half of their lives in a safe place in their home.

Responsible architects

Outstanding diggers and earthmovers, it is underground that they become seal off. But their shelters are nothing like simple caves, dug anywhere in a hurry! As good engineers, they do not choose their addresses at random. When they have the possibility and the environment is not too heavily anthropized, they prefer discreet environments (undergrowth, thickets, hedges), set back from human activity. Their real preferences go to the soil, which is both soft and resistant and if possible, sloping (slopes, hillsides, etc.) which will facilitate mucking out and drainage. They also ensure the structure of the surrounding vegetation whose roots will guarantee the sustainability of their works, as well as the presence of water and sufficient food resources for all of their small community.

Tireless builders

Once the location of their future home has been identified, work can begin. And they can count on their endurance, their courage, their ardour and the prowess of their paws to design real crypts worthy of those inside cathedrals! Thus, some burrows sometimes extend over several hectares. It must be said that with badgers, one takes care of the family heritage. Their homes have grown over the generations, with a tangle of galleries buried up to five meters deep! Each serves floors and rooms intended for specific uses: dormitories, birthing room and even latrines! Very keen on the comfort and hygiene of their home, the kings of the household regularly clean their interior, ventilate the litter boxes and even renew them, returning from surface expeditions loaded with moss and armfuls of dry grass or ferns.

Group spirit

Each of the adults occupying the household takes part in domestic chores. Here, the females do not have to complain about the males to support them! And there is always a lot to do within collective housing which brings together an average of ten individuals, young badgers included. Very close-knit, the family clan shares everything, including the same smell with which it blithely marks its territory. In addition to olfactory markings, badgers also communicate by suing a wide range of sound signals ranging from purrs to howls, including groans, squeaks, bleating, and other grunts. And when the little ones have fun together in the fresh spring grass, they are cheerful cheers! Including when they play with their neighbours the pups, whose parents squat part of their vacant burrows, without anyone being offended!

A false reputation

So, badgers have nothing to do what so ever with these abject monsters so portrayed and who are slaughtered by hunters. Underground and careful night owls, they suffer from their discretion and the ignorance that surrounds them. At least since the Middle Ages, they have been criticized of wrong doing, their smell, their darkness, and why not go ahead, their masked faces … Today, their detractors are trying to justify the hatred they have for them by accusing them of stealing a few ears of corn in cultures, to be vectors of diseases, sometimes to jeopardize the urban infrastructure. So many exaggerations, even fallacious arguments, illustrating above all the inability of some humans to bear the presence of wildlife alongside them, even when it’s, they who invade it! In this unequal and unfair fight, badgers look like perfect scapegoats. We can assume all types of misdemeanours about them, which in their defence is completely unfounded! Only those who are interested in badgers will discover a high level of sentience of these extremely endearing animals and their considerable role in preserving biodiversity. They notably contribute to soil aeration and the dissemination of seeds in their excrement. Let them live in peace, that’s all they aspire to! And if their customs and their faces still conceal a part of a mystery, it is undoubtedly that they reserve their precious secrets only to a few insiders …

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Coronavirus: Faster than animal experiments

Coronavirus: Faster than animal experiments

Coronavirus: Faster than animal experiments
24.04.2020
Union Européenne
Coronavirus: Faster than animal experiments
Animal testing

Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 became a pandemic within a few weeks. We all hope for a fast development of vaccination and antiviral drugs. History has taught us that animal experiments are not the right model to achieve this goal but it is human nature to repeat past mistakes. When will the world finally realize that human-relevant model systems need to be promoted and adequately funded if we want medical research to be effective and fast?

It is a well-known and major drawback of animal experiments: They are slow – too slow in times of a pandemic such as SARS-CoV-2 that we are currently facing. It has long been criticized by scientists and NGOs that medical research based on animal experimentation is inefficient – in particular when it comes to disease modelling and drug development. Also, it has been discussed for years with numerous stakeholders that human-relevant model systems have to be established, optimized and validated. Many advanced research models have already been developed such as 3-dimensional cell models of the human lung and of the immune system or advanced organ-on-a-chip approaches.

Still, research funding is largely assigned to projects involving animal experiments whereas very little is invested in the optimization and establishment of human-based technologies. Shifting our scientific paradigm towards animal-free research would be wise in order to have human-relevant research models available for future pandemics which will certainly come. Such in vitro models are faster and more efficient compared to animal research because they do not face the problem of species-specific differences. Countless animals are currently suffering in animal experiments related to COVID-19 in order to find “the right animal model” for studying the virus and its infectious properties. Ferrets are now claimed to be an excellent “model”, because they get infected by SARS-CoV-2. However, ferrets do not develop any symptoms of the disease as observed in humans making the approach a dead end road.

This phenomenon is a long-established strategy: Results from animal experiments which will most probably never apply to humans are presented to the public as great success stories. Other animal species are used for COVID-19 research although they do not even get infected, for example mice. Genetically modified mice that have previously been developed to study other corona viruses are now sold as special “tool boxes” to try out if they might be useful for SARS-CoV-2- research. Further approaches include the generation of humanized mice in order to make them susceptible to viral infection upon insertion of human genes into the mouse genome. Apart from a very low chance to succeed, such attempts are unethical and extremely time-consuming. Simply the generation and breeding of genetically modified animals take months, the in vivo experiments span several months or years and the chance to finally obtain human-relevant experimental outcomes is very low.

History taught us many times that animal experiments are not suitable for successful development of vaccines. The regular process of vaccine development spans many years with costs amounting to hundreds of millions of euros or even more. For numerous viral diseases such as HIV, MERS or other SARS viruses, we failed to develop effective vaccines to date – despite years of extensive research.

Each pandemic like the one we are exposed to now, is a chance for politicians and decision makers to learn from past mistakes. The next pandemic will come one day and we should be prepared with human-relevant research models that enable a fast and reliable drug development process. For the sake of human safety and for the sake of so many animals which suffer for a research that does not live up to its promise.

Joint statement on COVID-19 from the ECEAE

A year of being undercover and observing in order to be able to offer freedom to Baby!

A year of being undercover and observing in order to be able to offer freedom to Baby!

A year of being undercover and observing in order to be able to offer freedom to Baby!
16.04.2020
France
A year of being undercover and observing in order to be able to offer freedom to Baby!
Exploitation for shows

We have investigated for months and have documented to the maximum the conditions of detention to which Gilbert (alias Yeuk) Bauer has kept Baby, an elephant which he has exploited for more than thirty years. We denounce him and his organisation, we want to free her from this life of hell! But to obtain a seizure, and to be able to place her in a sanctuary, justice and the authorities have always asked us for more evidence on what we are demanding. Violations, reports … nothing ever seems to be enough. So here is the account from a year of diligent investigation, during which we crossed France to follow Baby and her days of confinement. Between the years, we have been monitoring and reporting, tailing her and continued to pursue our undercover work…

Since our meeting over fifteen years ago when she was exhibited alongside Micha, Bony and Glasha, we have been following Baby. Since her capture in Kenya when she was barely two years old and the certain massacre of her family, she has been dragged by force from circuses to animal parks. She has been exploited under marquees, at fairs, village festivals, advertisements and television and radio broadcasts, historical re-enactments and even films…

She is forced to obey, under penalty of being beaten with an ankus or even being deprived of a meal… Worse still: she complies obediently, because getting out of the truck, her prison cell, is still her only relief, even if it is only to take a few steps. At least she is able for a few minutes, to feel the fresh air circulating around her numb body … Even if means that you have to perform painful poses under a noisy marquee.

This is what her life and her future will continue to be reduced to if we do nothing. Because we have done the math: Baby spends 96% of the day in the truck during performances, and 100% the other days. This truck which barely allows enough room for her to turn around on herself.

From April to November 2019, when « freedom » rhymes with dungeon

Since our last procedure, we wanted to show as many people as possible the ordeal that is Baby’s life. Two steps from Saint Paul Park, where Kid Bauer also exhibits his feline babies, and from the village where Mario Masson’s ten tigers are kept, Baby has suffered for months.

In April, May, August and September, our investigators went to Kid Bauer’s Parc Saint Léger, from where they returned, stunned: alternating between tigers and babies being photographed with the public, Baby is also part of the program for the opening season, at the rate of one hour a day per show, when the park is open. Planned at the end of June 2019 near 1000 km from this park, Baby’s trained act in an ancient festival will be cancelled thanks to the mobilization of animal defenders under the impetus of the Code Animal.

On the park map is the elephant enclosure. On the spot, however, one finds there only waste ground, with a wire  as a barrier, badly attached to the trees at the edge of the forest. The pamphlet states that she is walking « free » in the park, where she can be seen after the show. And indeed, after the show, Gilbert Bauer walks for a few minutes, Baby breaks branches by his side, it is the illusion of freedom. It is even possible to approach her; no security barrier is in place. Only the presence of the trainer appears to be enough for the authorities…

For several months, a daily danger!

Her freedom stops there: even in this animal park, everything is just glitter and pretence! In seven months, she has never set foot in the “elephant enclosure”. Because while the park promises mountains and wonderous things, we who have been hidden for days on the edge of their property have been able to observe Baby’s real daily life. On the other side of the road, the poor elephant with fragile feet remains confined in the truck which serves as her dungeon.

When the park does not open – in other words every day except weekends and school holidays – or when the performance is cancelled, for lack of customers or if the weather is not suitable, Baby doesn’t go out either. At most Gilbert Bauer opens one of the rear flaps of the truck so that she has some light and air. But she’s not even allowed to stretch her legs. And having access to water to drink only during the morning and evening cleaning time, she spends rainy days searching the roof of the truck with her trunk for something to drink. The rest of the time, she turns on herself slowly, taking care not to bump into the walls, or sways from right to left, as do all captive wild animals to express their suffering.

In December, the park closes before the scheduled date and Baby disappears: no trace of the trailer. A phone call tells us the park next year will no longer feature wild animals in their shows. Following repeated comments from customers and « pressure from animal rights groups it appears the park has got the message”. However, at the end of February 2020, the Bauer couple’s truck and caravan are back on site …

Go to Aubevoye, March 11th in an emergency

While we were on the point of proving Baby’s presence on the park, we were contacted urgently on March 11th to go to the Cirque de Paris to determine which elephant was part of the show in Gaillon. Was it Dumba, « rented » several times by this circus? In the ring, no doubt, it’s Baby. She runs around under the gaze of the spectators, oblivious to her misfortune and the danger: many of them take pictures of her during the intermission or follow her after the show to her truck.

For several days in a row, Baby will remain confined to the interior of the truck. And as always, she will only be allowed to walk outside of her tin box once a day to … go to the marquee. Lockdown and submission, same old routine, she’s grown sick of it.

Undercover tracking enlivened at the start of confinement!

In March 16th, the circus was preparing to break camp. So as not to lose track of Baby and to know where she will be during confinement, the extent of which we don’t know as yet, we are organizing the emergency tracking of these trucks. For hours, Baby is tossed around inside the trailer. The convoy eventually stopped at nightfall near Vierzon on a circus field. A new location? Should the undercover tracking continue the next day? Certificates must now be produced to justify our trips … The choice is made to stay nearby, at least until the next day, as long as it is possible. In the early morning, the convoy leaves. After a few hours on the road, they have stopped for inspection, we lose sight of the truck. We end up finding them and follow until they arrive at a property in the South of France … The trailer truck is parked in front of a hangar. Up until we left, Baby did not get out of the truck.

We had everything planned to follow Baby again, a trained elephant in great suffering, subjected to a life of slavery. As this confinement drags on, it forces us to postpone this painstaking work which consists of accumulating clear evidence of the mistreatment of which she is the victim. But our team is more determined than ever. We will not stop as long as Baby is in the hands of her trainer! Her place is in a sanctuary.

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Baby, the perfect little elephant

Baby, the perfect little elephant

Baby, the perfect little elephant
16.04.2020
France
Baby, the perfect little elephant
Exploitation for shows

Captured in 1985 when she was very small, Baby delighted circus spectators and television audiences. Wise and responding to commands from a finger and the eye, the elephant is well-known… You can even hire her services for your living room! This « impeccable education » is none other than the reward gained from years of training and abuse… Stop mistreatment under the guise of moral lessons!

We can ask her to do anything! Go forward, backward, get up, go to bed, kneel, look “beautiful”, sit on a stool, climb on it, balance on three legs, then two or even one, dance around, hit a balloon! … When the act approaches the end, it then serves to draw her by one of her “tusks” which are of no longer of any use and then lead her to meet the public. Strokes and little affectionate “pats” on the head are waiting for her at the end of the chain! The “lucky” ones can take it in turns and keep a photo souvenir. Polite, she will wave goodbye to everyone with a white handkerchief before leaving … How touching! Baby is wise, Baby is well “educated”, Baby is as flexible as plasticine … Baby is a circus elephant.

Like a robot

Of course, her trainer watches over everything. Always the ankus and a pack of treats in hand. Between the two, Baby knows which one to choose. From experience, she knows that it is better to be docile. She is ready to accept anything. Besides, she will show this to us. Whoever sequesters her, she who has endured hell for many years, to even be used as a bench to sit on if he wants! Then he sits upon her side and swings his legs with contentment. Slumped to the ground on command, humiliated to the extreme, like a statue, she bears as much the weight of this humiliation as that of her «master». Not an ounce of reaction, not a whisper… Only a dumbfounded look can be seen in her eyes, though it’s thought she’s not even aware.

Spotlights in the dungeon

Baby is used to it. Baby has been perfectly formatted. Baby has become listless. It has been more than thirty years since she was captured in Africa when she was a baby. For all these decades, she has been performing in all kinds of shows, without ever flinching. One can even rent her “to create surprise and intrigue”. But do TV stations, movie stars and other fans of unusual events care about knowing at what price this elephant has become so obedient and servile? Do they really care about their daily life when “the party is over”?

We’ve been following Baby since 2005, we’ve seen the worst. Far from the limelight, the poor slave spends most of her time in a truck like prison cell. Its “owner”, who prides himself on loving her very much, has no qualms about leaving her locked up night and day! Sometimes he takes out his living toy to expose it to admiring onlookers. Without any precaution, he then makes her cross roads, in defiance of the animal’s safety as much as that of vehicles and pedestrians! Our investigators have collected dozens of videos, each more outrageous than the other. All of them reveal the horror of Baby’s existence.

“Destiny” has even led her, in the past, to cross paths with the Poliakov bears. Co-detained on the same fairground, each behind the bars of the cages belonging to their respective trainers … Everything is linked …

For Baby, the ordeal is not over. We have gathered enough evidence now of poor welfare, improper care and ill-treatment to enable us to file a complaint against the trainer who holds her! Please help us to deliver this

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Cetaceans also die from coronaviruses: let’s close the dolphinariums and ban their export to China!

Cetaceans also die from coronaviruses: let’s close the dolphinariums and ban their export to China!

Cetaceans also die from coronaviruses: let’s close the dolphinariums and ban their export to China!
06.04.2020
International
Cetaceans also die from coronaviruses: let’s close the dolphinariums and ban their export to China!
Exploitation for shows

As humans around the world try to cope with the coronavirus pandemic, and that at least one of the seven tigers and lions coughing at the Bronx Zoo has just tested positive for covid-19 after human contamination, expert scientists who specialize in orcas, dolphins and belugas, with whom we have worked with a long time, have called on us to help alert people to the fact that cetaceans can also contract this type of virus. They can contract it, pass it on and die from it.

Long before the parks were closed, which was imposed by the French government on March 14th and 15th of 2020. International cetacean experts had written to Emmanuel Macron and to the ambassadors of China, the United States and France, to inform and urge them to immediately ban imports and exports of cetaceans (especially outside of France) to China. To date we have not received a reply, they remain silent…

The international experts with whom we have been working for many years are concerned about the transfers of free and captive orcas and other cetaceans to China, especially those who are detained in French dolphinariums.

Indeed, these experts have shown that cetaceans are affected by forms of the coronavirus. Several dolphins in Hong Kong, in particular have never shown symptoms, which in itself is very worrying because they were therefore « healthy carriers ». A beluga, meanwhile, died with serious liver problems associated with this virus.

Experts also noted that the captive industry (dolphinariums, aquariums and zoos) is keeping the cause of many deaths a secret, which is really problematic in terms of public health – as this makes it impossible to assess the extent of the coronavirus in cetaceans. Many others may exist, and they are not made public by the parks.

Obviously, by preventing the captive industry from bringing in more orcas, dolphins and belugas from the wild, the authorities would limit the reservoir of viruses that could potentially be transmitted to humans. By prohibiting their transfer from one country to another as well.

In support of our campaign, experts have alerted the authorities of the concerned countries

Several weeks ago, these experts, in support of our campaign, wrote to the ambassadors of China, the United States and France who are based in China as well as to Emmanuel Macron. It was important to inform them of these risks of zoonoses between orcas, belugas, dolphins and humans, first of all; ask them to close dolphinariums and zoos, places of interspecies contact; and also to ban the sending of orcas and other cetaceans, particularly to China, because of the risk of transmission of the virus. The authorities of these three countries have not bothered to reply, the problem is very worrisome.

We had already campaigned against the transfer of the orcas detained in Marineland following confidential information which we had received late last year. But since the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic, the problem has widened further.

A few weeks ago, China and Vietnam announced that they would stop exporting wild animals. In reality, this ban is very incomplete: no mention is made of cetaceans.

Dr. Ingrid Visser, biologist specializing in cetaceans (Orca Research Trust, New Zealand), Dr. Naomi Rose, PhD, scientist specializing in marine mammals (Animal Welfare Institute, USA), and Muriel Arnal, founding president of One Voice (France), in a joint text, call on the authorities:

«As concerns grow over the risk of spreading COVID-19 through large gatherings of people, a number of scientists, veterinarians and advocates have alerted relevant Ambassadors to the potential impacts that dolphin shows at aquariums and zoos might have. The stadiums for such shows are similar to sports stadiums, concentrating audiences in a single location. The group of experts explain that <strong>in the past, a number of whales and dolphins have been treated for respiratory diseases and died, and that the aquariums have typically failed to release details of the diseases involved. The few details which are available indicate that the diseases are often drug-resistant and some are also zoonotic (transferable to humans)</strong>. Graphic photographs show the extent of some of the diseases. The experts note that at least two species of whales and dolphins have been documented with their own coronavirus and they are calling on the Authorities to ensure that the wildlife trade ban implemented in China includes whales, dolphins and porpoises and for the shows to stop.»

Since the writing of this text, forced by the government to avoid transmissions of the virus between spectators and dolphinarium staff, Marineland Antibes has closed its doors, as well as SeaWorld in the United States.

These closings have occurred very late and seem weak, given these overwhelming elements at the moment. The authorities must go further: prohibit the reproduction of wild animals in captivity and their transfer and importation from one park to another. In France, the publication of a ministerial decree would suffice for this.