News Archive - Page 97 of 144

Prada stops using fur while in France we continue talking…

Prada stops using fur while in France we continue talking…
22.05.2019
Prada stops using fur while in France we continue talking…
Fashion

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

While One Voice has been present for several weeks at the meetings held by the Ministry of Ecological and Inclusive Transition to discuss animal welfare and in particular mink farming, the Prada group announces that it will stop using fur.It is one of the fastest labels known so far to adopt the stance of the Fur Free Alliance, thanks to our unprecedented mobilization!

A campaign that hit home!

We
campaigned along with the public right up to the door steps of the
Prada stores, during the Fashion Weeks of Milan, Paris, London and
New York last September. We were present on the side-lines of the
fashion shows while the biggest names in fashion presented their
spring-summer collections. Our simultaneous campaigns all over the
world had challenged the leaders of the Prada group on the need to
follow the international movement of ethics and respect for animals.

At the announcement of the
talks between the Prada group and our Italian and American partners,
the LAV and the Humane Society of United States, we stopped all media
coverage. The change was underway, it was only a matter of time. Last
October, during the biannual FFA meeting in Stockholm, discussions
were going well, we knew that the brand agreed in principle. Only the
logistical details and the deadlines for setting up remained.

It is now official: at Prada,
we will no longer wear fur for the 2020 women’s winter collection, in
other words, right now!
What a huge victory for all of us at the Fur Free Alliance! Because not only Prada, but all of the
other group’s brands are committed. So Miu Miu, Church’s, Car Shoes
and others are committed!

Muriel Arnal, Founding
President of One Voice, announces:

«The Ministry of Ecology is still looking for ways to improve the operating conditions for mink in less than a dozen farms in France while a new big brand in the fashion world is clearly positioned against fur! Again, and again, where are the positive actions from the ministry for the planet, biodiversity and animals ?»

Citizen
engagement has shown its strength. It is high time that our
decision-makers finally realized that producing fur at the cost of
sacrificing sentient beings and nature is unacceptable.

Departmental Discussions on the Welfare of Caged Mink

Since
the launch of the working groups at the Ministry of Ecological and
Inclusive Transition, we fear that the discussions will be sterile,
while wishing them to be constructive. If it is once again a question
of modifying the size of the cages and not putting an end to the
breeding of mink for coats, in France, we will let everyone know that
this is a complete farce.
We
are determined, because both the cruelty of breeding and that of the
killings must be exposed.

We did this in 2016 in six French farms. What we found there is no exception, it’s the norm!
Stress, misery, soil pollution, biodiversity tragedies, etc. The
farms must close, in no way must they multiply or be enlarged. Foxes,
chinchillas, minks, rabbits and our fellow citizens deserve better! A
program of permanent shutdowns must be implemented in the form of a
ministerial decree this summer!

Call
for a ban on the breeding of animals for their fur in France ! Please
sign our petition !

Prada Group joins the Fur Free retailer program

Prada Group joins the Fur Free retailer program
22.05.2019
World
Prada Group joins the Fur Free retailer program
Fashion

Today, the Prada group announces that it will no longer use animal fur in its creations or in its new products, in other words from the SS2020 (spring-summer 2020) women’s collections. Currents stocks will continue to be sold until all relevant stocks and quantities are exhausted. The Prada Group’s announcement follows a collaboration between the luxury brand and members of the Fur Free Alliance (FFA), a coalition of more than 50 animal welfare associations in more than 40 countries.

« The Prada Group is focused on innovation and social responsibility and our fur-free policy-launched as a result of a constructive dialogue with the Fur Free Alliance, and more specifically with LAV and the Humane Society of the United States. It is an extension of the commitment », said Miuccia Prada. « Refocusing on innovative materials will allow the company to explore new frontiers in creative design while meeting the demand for ethical products. »

For Muriel Arnal, president and founder of One Voice and the French representative of the Fur Free Alliance, « The commitment of the Prada Group will certainly give a boost to other brands. It’s a great victory for citizen engagement at a global level, and a very encouraging sign that times are changing for the benefit of animals. What a great victory that Prada is embarking on the path of ethics and innovation! »

« The Fur Free Alliance congratulates the Prada Group for giving up fur, » says Fur Free Alliance President Joh Vinding. « The Prada Group, with its brands, is now joining the growing list of fur-free brands that respond to the changing attitude of consumers towards animals. »

Brigit Oele, program manager of the Fur Free Alliance, explains: « The Prada group was one of the fastest companies to give up using fur once a constructive dialogue started with our coalition, there has barely been more than a year. The Fur Free Retailer program involves a thousand companies, which indicates that this global movement is rapidly gaining momentum. Thus, there is very little chance that fur will once again become acceptable. It’s a great day for animals! »

Samba: the tragedy has lasted long enough!

Samba: the tragedy has lasted long enough!
20.05.2019
Bouches-du-Rhône
Samba: the tragedy has lasted long enough!
Exploitation for shows

Since 2002, One Voice has been fighting to have Samba’s suffering recognized. Captured in Kenya when she was a baby, this elephant is enduring an ordeal in a French circus. It must stop! We are initiating legal proceedings against the Prefecture of Bouches-du-Rhône so that it can assume its responsibilities and no longer tolerate such cruelty in an establishment that is attached to it.

How far must an animal have to be persecuted for humans to admit that it’s suffering? How far can trainers go without curbing their violence? It’s been 32 years since Samba was born, almost as long as she has had to endure this hell. For 17 years since we met this elephant kidnapped by a French circus, we have been fighting to save it.

Investigations, expert reports, reports, petitions, demonstrations, legal action, creation of a support committee, raising awareness to the public and to the authorities denouncing this daily mistreatment. The infamous conditions of detention that do not respect this elephant’s most basic needs… We are carrying out this fight relentlessly, but the exploitation of Samba continues to be tolerated, applauded even during the shows she performs under the threat of the ankus hook. Her drama drags on and on and will eventually kill her.

Repeated torture

The latest images reported by our investigators speak for themselves. Samba is at the end. Looking thinner than ever, lying on the tarmac in a tiny enclosure and devoid of any enrichment, she shows only her back, alone in the face of misfortune, motionless. You would think she was dead. However, no, not yet. When she straightens up, she resumes her all most robotic stereotypical movements on the verge of madness. And one wonders how she has withstood this incessant trauma, which has been her existence for so long.

The memories of her first months of life have never left her. Perhaps it is to them the reason she manages to hang on? These short 12 months when she tasted the flavour of happiness, just after her birth in Kenya, when she was still free and surrounded by her family… Nothing and no one can make her forget the gestures of love from her mother, the unwavering attachment of her family, games with younger elephants of her own age, the pleasure of long walks in the African bush, the joy of swimming together. However, this happiness was snatched from her very early in life. One day, hunters came to massacre her herd, her mother was murdered before her eyes. Samba was only one year old. And that day, she was the only one not to have been killed, her capture provoked to be the slowest and heart-breaking agony of all… A plunge into nothingness, absurdity and cruelty, which still continues, right to this day!

Let’s not continue to endorse this horror!

Shall we leave the last word to this image of a traumatized and mistreated elephant? Do we want to abandon Samba to her torturers until her last breath? Since 2002, One Voice has been mobilizing so that her cage does not become her tomb. In 2019, we are not abandoning the fight! We demand that Samba’s suffering is finally recognized and that loving and caring hands can take care of her!

Even if the prefecture of Bouches-du-Rhône, where the circus is registered, still turns a deaf ear to our calls after all these years, we will have initiated legal proceedings against them. This administration has the duty to impose on those who claim to be the « owners » of Samba, her immediate transfer to a sanctuary. The charges against them, the evidence we hold, is heavy enough to keep us hoping for a success. Unless you want to hide your face and continue to protect her torturers.

Please sign and share the petition #UnSanctuairePourSamba!

Abuse of seven horses: One Voice demands justice

Abuse of seven horses: One Voice demands justice
20.05.2019
Val-de-Marne
Abuse of seven horses: One Voice demands justice
Domestic animals

Animals deserve respect and consideration! This is certainly not what a man from Val-de-Marne gave in regard to seven horses and ponies. For at least nine days, they were left to fend for themselves in a common area. One of them with an injured leg was not even treated! One Voice has intervened and requested their immediate placement into our partner associations shelters. The hearing took place in May 22nd 2019 in Créteil.

It all started in Valenton, in Val-de-Marne back in November 2017. Lean, hungry, horses were trying to survive as best they could, abandoned on common land. Their only source of food came from a neighbour. She alone watered them and fed them hay, fruit and vegetables when she could. No one else seemed to care. For nine days, an animal was left injured: a poor stallion had cut open his leg, an accident obviously caused by a gutter. The wound was not treated and a piece of plastic was trapped inside. One can only imagine the permanent suffering that this horse must have felt! In addition, on another piece of land in the same village, a pony was also abandoned. Not only was nobody looking after him, but he was also tethered. Impossible for him to walk or to run, something horses love to do. He remained alone, almost motionless, with no access to water or food.

Deeply indignant of this situation, the neighbour then sounds the alarm. A complaint is filed on November 20^th 2017. The investigation now makes it possible to find the person responsible for this abandonment: a horse breeder. He felt offended and assured us that he could not treat the injured horse, because the latter was « difficult to approach ». An unconvincing argument, given that a piece of plastic was stuck in the animal’s leg which prevented it from moving normally. Approaching the horse was therefore very easy, he was waiting for that! It seems obvious that this man had no intention of looking after his animals with dignity. Horses would continue to try to survive. Fearing that his horses would be removed, the man then probably moved them to a shed, the location of which we do not know, at least outside of the common ground, all to make it impossible to find them. Justice is running its course today, but the horses are still under the yoke of an irresponsible man.

One Voice therefore brought a civil action against this man for ill-treatment and will be at the hearing on May 22^nd 2019. These horses must be placed as soon as possible in our partners shelters! So, they will finally receive the love and good care they need and deserve.

A dog as an object cannot be good for the heart

A dog as an object cannot be good for the heart
16.05.2019
France
A dog as an object cannot be good for the heart
Domestic animals

A scientific study published in 2017 explains the health benefits of living with a dog companion 1. Today it is exploited in a campaign by the French Federation of Cardiology which communicates on the medical and social « assets » of these domestic companions. Presented as perfect drugs, dogs would allow seniors to reduce their risk of dying from a cardiovascular disease by 36%.

To add a note of humour to these findings, the French Cardiology Federation sees fit to emphasize that these 4-legged health remedies are « fearful, smell strong, snore, bark all the time, drool, lose their hair, have gas « , And other compliments… Hmm, what kind of respect for these beings is this » who fortunately can save your life « ! How can we imagine that a dog is but a mere object, despised to this point and that it could bring any help to a person who would need it thus?

Dogs are our millennial companions! Their sensitivity is no longer needed to be proven, nor is their degree of evolution. We have shaped them to embellish our existence. This campaign, full of arrogance and derision, gives them a representation that demeans and distorts them. Where then is the respect for these animals and for the millions of humans who love and rely on them?

We, defend dogs against the cruelties of which they are victims. We also offer conferences to get to know them better and to live with them on a daily basis. And we know that if their presence in a home can be good for the heart, it is precisely because this life that they share with us is based on a loving relationship. This unconditional love that dogs teach us and offer us, this benevolence, this indulgence, this absolute fidelity, and all these little moments of happiness that humans come to know having had the chance to meet them.

It is no coincidence that the lectures that we have given in many cities were entitled: In the « heart » of a dog. These companions with an immense heart pursue only one goal: to be there for us, without reserve and forever. This is how they make us deeply happy, that they give us confidence and the desire to reach out to others. This is how they protect our heart, in every sense of the word.

If the French Cardiology Federation has laudable intentions, its campaign clearly misses out on what makes the essence of a relationship worthy of the name, a companion dog. Moreover, people who would be tempted to adopt an animal object solely for their health, are likely to lie about the results of this study…

¹ Mubanga M et al. « Cardiovascular accident and death risks for dog owners – a national cohort study ». Sci Rep 2017; 7: 15821

Cooky’s torturer stands before the judges

Cooky’s torturer stands before the judges
16.05.2019
France
Cooky’s torturer stands before the judges
Domestic animals

Next May 20th we will defend the memory of the dog Cooky whose life was savagely taken away by a trap. We filed a complaint against the person who had left him dying for days without helping him. His trial begins at the Auch Criminal Court where we will be fighting to demand that justice is done.

A drama that shook the senses. On November 29^th 2018, Cooky did not return home. Distraught, his family looked for him everywhere without quitting, searching through the areas where he would have a daily run. Alas, a week after his disappearance, a sinister phone call which sounded like the death knell for his family, destroying their last hopes: a man contacted them, he came with a corpse in his arms… He wanted to get rid of the body… It was Cooky. This man was his executioner. The investigation quickly revealed that he had let the dog in agony for several days, caught by the throat in a trap intended for foxes!

A trial for an act of cruelty

We have filed a complaint against the person responsible for this despicable act that caused a death! He will appear on May 20^th before the Correctional Court of Auch. We have the documents to prove that the defendant had knowingly decided to leave Cooky to suffocate in excruciating pain. We know on December 1^st he had installed a spring trap on his property and that it had been trigged trapping a dog. However, he did not release the dog, even though he had heard people calling for their lost companion. However, this man preferred to let the animal suffer in agony right until the end!

The autopsy shows that Cooky’s death was caused « by strangulation with partial crushing of the tissues of the neck and larynx (…)« . She also notes « the presence of stomach fluid in the trachea contributing to the asphyxiation of the dog by a reaction of the lungs following a false swallowing caused by strangulation or by the fact that the dog had struggled« . Thus, Cooky experienced intense physical pain and terrible anguish while he was suffocating… We will be alongside his grieving family at the trial to defend his memory and to demand that his torturer be sentenced and receive the maximum sentence!

Badgers are about to live through nine and a half months of hell!

Badgers are about to live through nine and a half months of hell!
15.05.2019
France
Badgers are about to live through nine and a half months of hell!
Wildlife

Today, May 15th, the cruellest hunt in Europe opens for 9 and a half months of hell!It is at the request of the hunting federations that the Prefects of 74 French departments authorize this scandalous hunting. Badgers are paying the price while they are still in the midst of breeding and rearing their young! That and to allow more and more French hunters to practice this kind of hunting while it’s prohibited in all the other countries of Europe: underground hunting or digging up!

In France, badgers have the unfortunate privilege of being classified as « a species of game with an added period of hunt ». This status, unique in France has been tailor-made to allow the practice of « underground hunting » while all other hunting modes are closed until September. This status is in fact worse than that of so-called species classified as pests, because the authorities do not even have to justify the slightest damage to be able to sacrifice thousands of badgers to hunters in search of hunting during spring and summer.

To practice digging up, the hunters meet as a « crew ». They block all of the badger’s entrances so that the badger(s) cannot escape, leaving only one opening, through which they bring their terrier dogs to harass the animal in their gallery.

Cornered, terrorized, bitten constantly, the badger will suffer for long hours resisting and fighting for its mere survival and to protect its home.

Guided by the barking of their dogs, the hunters dig until they reach their target. Depending on the nature of the terrain, the depth of the gallery, and the precision of the hunter-diggers, this operation can take 3 to 10 hours! Once uncovered, the badger, stressed and injured, is seized using metal tongs measuring 1.5 to 1.8 meters long. Once removed from the burrow, it is then killed with daggers thrusts to the heart, with a stick, or with a rifle and its remains are then thrown to the dogs. It is not uncommon for badgers to be delivered to dogs which are still alive. The badger will then be torn to pieces enduring an unmeasurable suffering. This practice has a name: The Quarry, it is intended to excite the fervour for this kind of hunting, or to offer a show of unusual violence to humans.

In an attempt to « justify » these horrors, hunters argue that the practice is « traditional », which is entirely false. If indeed this practice is quite old, it was until recently a completely marginal hunt. It is under the effect of a few hunters supported by the National Federation of Hunters that the practice of underground hunting has taken off in the last twenty years. Today there are more than 3,000 crews in France! Around 75,000 hunters and 130,000 dogs! And there is no set quota to supervise the massacre of badgers! As much as these hunters want to hunt, they will kill as many as they can!

Despite what some hunters claim, badgers do not “swarm”. It is for this reason that in most European countries, such as Belgium, England, Ireland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Portugal, Spain, Italy or Greece, these animals are protected.

Scientific studies have shown that in France, the numbers of badgers are 0.1 to 4 or 5 per square kilometre. In England, their numbers can reach 10 individuals per square kilometre without causing any damage to agriculture or infrastructure.

One Voice demands that this practice, which also concerns foxes and nutria, be finally prohibited in France, as it is in the whole of Europe and demands the protection of badgers, they do have their place in the nature!

Experimentation: well done with the figures, nothing has changed!

Experimentation: well done with the figures, nothing has changed!
14.05.2019
France
Experimentation: well done with the figures, nothing has changed!
Animal testing

It is not for the lack of demanding that the state respects the law. In May 2019, the statistical survey on experimental procedures completed in 2017 has just been released. Still as many victims, no progress, just a token gesture.

One Voice has worked hard to ensure that the State finally complies with European rules requiring Member States to provide annual statistics on animal testing: A complaint to the Ministry concerned, demonstrations before the European Parliament and several actions to denounce the lack of published data. At the end of April 2019, the official figures remained as those prior to 2016, a reassuring scientific follow-up.

Having campaigned it finally paid off! The famous figures were published on April 30^th by the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, accompanied by an explanatory note, very cosmetic, containing some surprises…

All species combined: 1,914,174 victims in 2017 compared to 1,918,481 in 2016. The State welcomes a decrease of 0.2%, all the more significant according to him, as more research establishments responded to the survey (+ 8.2%), suggesting a drop in the average number of animals used per establishment. But one wonders then what statistical base has this annual survey (the real number of respondents not being communicated)… Some labs may or may not have answered? Where is the scientific precision in these figures that we hoped for? The photo is blurred, but we are assured that it is a pretty image!

Experimental determination

It is also pointed out that 40,000 animals (+ 12%) are reused several times in different experiments. In such cases, a veterinarian must validate that the animal has « fully recovered its general health and well-being ». Something easy when you know the levels of well-being offered by the cages in these animal research facilities and the various types of trauma endured by them. « Well-being » here it becomes an obscene term…

Better! These regulated re-uses* are presented as a way to reduce the number of individuals engaged in experimental procedures. Does repeated abuse and a prolonged captivity really correspond to more « refined » procedures? The prolonged and repeated torture of these reused animals, ultimately the worst, is quite the opposite of the objective pursued by the European directive. Yet the state, basing itself on who knows what text, here claims to respect the wishes of Brussels. Let’s be serious here: if it is a question of minimizing pain and suffering, this cannot be the case when the same animals are tested several times in a row.

You can’t make a silk purse from a sow’s ear…

Finally, we are told that « in order to rationalize the use of animals in science, France continues to very actively promote the principle of Replacement, Reduction and Refinement« . If we applied this famous 3R principle effectively-replaces (by other methods), reduces (the number of uses), and refines (less pain inflicted), we should not only see the numbers of animal testing, but also the proportion of the cruelest experiments? However, this is not the case in these supporting figures: we have the 3Rs, but not the best results!

Get out of the fog!

« After three years of statistics collected according to the format imposed by the directive 2010/63 / EU, trends are starting to appear, » the ministry told us (to be confirmed in 2020 with regard to the 2018 figures). But by the way, what trends? None are emerging-the differences between the years have not even been calculated!-, except for a tenacious stability of the figures. If so many so-called efforts have been made in the research institutes and the ethics committees that oversee (but emanate from) them, then why don’t the numbers go down?

The explanation would be that most of the projects authorized are over several years (five at most). So, should we wait a few more years before France sees some positive results in European policy aimed at reducing the victims of animal testing?

Rather than stumbling over to apply ethical rules, without the number of victims or their levels of suffering decreasing, is it not time to stimulate the search for alternative methods that are humane for animals and to impose them as soon as they save lives? Isn’t pretending to do good and doing better when the numbers are unchanging, it makes a mockery of the world?

The only satisfaction is that the transitional regime established by the decree in France between 2013 and 2018 is over for projects launched under the old Directive 86/609 / EEC. The researchers had time to familiarize themselves with the concept of experimental procedures that define the thresholds and the degrees of severity to which animals are victims. Which in effect has changed nothing for the latter.

*Article R. 214-113 of the rural code

Angora: a vintage and trendy cruel fashion

Angora: a vintage and trendy cruel fashion
13.05.2019
France
Angora: a vintage and trendy cruel fashion
Fashion

While more and more big brands are turning away from angora, American Vintage-a French company-continues to use it in the making of some of its clothes. Let’s support Peta France’s call to make them listen to reason!

American Vintage claims a philosophy based on being essential, natural, with finesse and well-being: « A fashion of its time that restores its nobility to the notions of simplicity and authenticity. »¹

Alas, the smoothness of the sales arguments should not make us forget the barbarism of certain practices… The beautiful spirit of this French clothing brand seems to be lost when procuring some of its “basic” compounds… that being angora! The soft sweater that awaits your shoulders to cover them tenderly, was made at a price from the untold suffering of rabbits tortured for their hair!

100% « harsh » wool

Peta France launched a campaign requesting American Vintage to stop using angora. But the company continues to turn a deaf ear to this request. It has merely made its self-scarce, in reaction to publishing a statement referring to audits and controls of its Chinese suppliers. This is equivalent to a non-response: whatever its operating mode, any reference to an ethical angora does not exist! Our surveys in 2016 and 2018, in 6 French farms, have shown that the production of this wool is cruel, including in our country… Rabbits are screaming in pain everywhere!

Let us be heard!

We therefore urge you to support the campaign of Peta France and to contact American Vintage to ask them to give up maintaining this sector of horror. Between the abominable conditions of detention that these rabbits live in (tiny and sordid hutches), their hair removal or radical shearing once they are held down (hairs plucked out one by one for long hours or even by hand, sometimes it means tearing out the skin) several times a year and at the end of their life to finish in laboratories or to be slaughtered. There is no shortage of arguments to denounce this industry!

Youccan react or act on social networks and brand accounts:

Facebook

Instagram

Youtube

or send your letters by post to the attention of the management of the company, at the address of its head office: American Vintage – 84 allée de Stockholm – 83870 Signes.

¹ https://journal.americanvintage-store.com/a-propos/philosophie/.

Mézilles: new audience and gathering for dogs

Mézilles: new audience and gathering for dogs
09.05.2019
Mézilles
Mézilles: new audience and gathering for dogs
Animal testing

The breeding of beagles and golden retrievers in Mézilles greatly exceeded the number of dogs it is authorized to breed and the Prefect validated the breeders request to increase their breeding capacity. The hearing concerning this aspect of the case will take place on May 16th 2019 at the administrative court of Dijon at 8:30 a.m. One Voice has been continuously fighting for the closure of this “factory-farm” so that exploited dogs can finally have a taste of a real joyful life with peace and serenity from a loving home. We will also be in action on May 18th at 11 a.m. in front of the Yonne prefecture in Auxerre, to make the voice of these martyred dogs heard. We will not be silenced!

Dogs without company

Locked up, intensive breeding, resale, etc.: all the operating conditions of the centre remind us of a puppy and dog factory, a living hell for them; in fact, for anyone in such conditions! Their birth from intensive breeding is only the beginning of a life without consideration or love, whose first and last existence will be in laboratories. There are 800 bitches who are used to produce puppies without respite, locked up with their young ones in cement boxes, without sharing neither joy nor tenderness. How can we imagine that the few employees at the centre can provide the correct care and attention to these thousands of beagles and golden retrievers?

We filed a complaint for acts of cruelty, ill-treatment and lack of care and were able to enter the premises of the centre of Mézilles, accompanied by a bailiff who identified many unbearable facts. After having validated the information that the bailiff had identified, the justice system was avoided by preventing us from using the findings in our complaint against this breeding. Our campaign to raise awareness of the tragic fate of these beagles and golden retrievers has also been compromised by this prevention of information. This time, at the administrative court of Dijon, we will face the Prefecture who has given the breeder the permission to enlarge this breeding centre, which has been carried out, outside of the authorized framework. Yet one more scandal …

Let’s come together for these silenced beagles and golden retrievers

Our motivation to act on behalf of these “guinea pigs” for the demands of a science beyond conscience is stronger than anything. We will gather again in front of the Prefecture of Yonne in the city centre of Auxerre on Saturday May 18^that 11 a.m., we are counting on your mobilization to make the voices of martyred dogs be heard in Mézilles.

To support our fight for them, please continue to share and sign our petition!