Micha, Glasha, Bony, Mina…: the overwhelming evidence of inertia shown by the Prefecture of Loir-et-Cher
Micha, Glasha, Bony, Mina…: the overwhelming evidence of inertia shown by the Prefecture of Loir-et-Cher
28.11.2019
Loir-et-Cher
Micha, Glasha, Bony, Mina…: the overwhelming evidence of inertia shown by the Prefecture of Loir-et-Cher
Exploitation for shows
In the case made available to us by the Orleans Administrative Court, the evidence is overwhelming against the Poliakovs, but also against the authorities who have pointed out the dysfunctions year after year without ever taking the measures required by the law. They finally acted due to the revelations that we published about the dreadful conditions these animals were kept in. Under the duress of Minister’s and the generalized stigma attached to such a publication did something happen.
For animal welfare, it is not enough just to order visits!
In summary, at each inspection, the non-conformities are repeated again and again, but nothing happens in the way of sanctions against the Poliakovs. Since their authorization to open, and the first check in 2010, when they do not have the correct papers in good order for their two dozen animals, they are simply asked to apply for them. These animals could come from illegal channels, or even stolen from private individuals, no investigation is carried out.
An aviary took twelve years to be finally built, so the birds had to live in tiny cages filled with droppings and food, left in the darkness at the bottom of a trailer. Again, the administration did not act as it should have. The bear den and their enclosure took a decade to be partially- built and is not maintained properly … Again, despite the notices piled up on the Prefecture shelves, none of this is followed up. Reading the documents in the file, it is impossible to follow the animals since they are not declared or disappear (a doe, a monkey), their health leaves something to be desired (horses and ponies with untrimmed hoofs that are too long, a mare covered in abscesses, a dromedary which died without an autopsy in a climate of mistreatment …), nothing happens. The years pass without the slightest sanction. And yet the suffering continues.
These bears have a miserable life
The bears have been living in a partitioned cage inside of a truck trailer since at least 2004, the year of our first investigation. At the time, the Poliakovs hired their services to circuses. But it was not until 2011 that the administration gave them four months to complete a building with an enclosure to house the bears, because they were in breach of their authorization to open in 2007. In the meantime, the bears survive in a 4 m² space.
In 2017, the facility was built and in order, the bear’s health was declared satisfactory … But after our complaints, in September 2019, change of tone in the reports: the cells required the removal of rats and the windows have never been finished, the troughs are non-compliant. In November 2019, when Micha had just died, veterinary experts had finally attested to what our experts had denounced as «the presence of nauseating stagnant water in the bowl of the female Glasha», that Bony and Glasha’s teeth are causing chronic pain and that she had developed a tumour so large that it forms a mass near her eye.
The veterinary certificate is superfluous
At the beginning of September, unaware that images had been filmed a few days before, and whereas Micha should never have been trained or moved (his papers were in order for the category of « zoo » and not for a « traveling show ») a veterinarian certified that the bear was in good cardio-pulmonary health and that its weight was correct, the only point to review according to him being the length of its claws. He therefore gives his authorization for Micha to be shown in public. We now know that the bear was beaten and invaded by ubiquitous tumours that were even in the brain, that cartilage had blocked his nostrils, that his larynx was deformed by the chain by which his captors held him, that he weighed two thirds of the weight of a healthy bear and that maggots gnawed at him from the inside of his legs … a strange certificate. But this one does not concern the Prefecture… until it needs to clear itself.
Mina, 6 years old in a 50 cm2 cage in the dark
The papers of Mina, the little Guenon monkey have never been in good standing since at least December 2010. Where does this monkey come from? Is there any evidence that it belongs to the Poliakovs? Yet it will never be removed. Another monkey disappears, without consequence. In 2011, the inspector wrote that Mina was detained in the bear truck, in a 50 cm by 50 cm cage, in the dark, in « unacceptable » conditions. The inspector asked for a place to be built for them to live in. Four months later. When finally, in 2017, the monkey has a space of adequate size, it is empty of enrichment though, requested by the authorities only after our complaints were filed in September 2019. Similarly, the stinging nettles and waste left on the ground are not identified in the last reports …
In September the tone got tougher, but in November it was time for a pass through
In the month of November 2019, when Micha’s death had wrenched our hearts out and checks are finally diligent, we observe once again that the Poliakovs benefit from a strange benevolence from the authorities: many points were raised during the time the inspectors were on site or were not respected because they had “not read all the terms of the order”… You think to yourself that you’re dreaming when you read this. Dirt and rubbish still lie in Mina’s enclosure, they will be removed in front of the inspector. She still has no papers in good standing; however, she is still used for films or reports. And the Prefecture gives them a few more days to comply! A Parrot’s papers are also not compliant, they don’t have the right ones. The report suggests that the steps were not taken properly, since 2007. Who in our society benefits from such delays in getting things compliant?
We are entitled to wonder why captive wild animals are not better protected by the authorities who should guarantee them this. It is not enough to order checks. Penalties must be punished. Micha’s withdrawal, and then Bony and Glasha’s withdrawal order are proof that this is not impossible to order. You still have to want it. We demand accountability from the Prefecture of Loir-et-Cher this Thursday, November 28th 2019 at 2 p.m. at the Administrative Court of Orleans.
