Will Micha, Glasha and Bony be left to their jailers?

Will Micha, Glasha and Bony be left to their jailers?
13.09.2019
Loir-et-Cher
Will Micha, Glasha and Bony be left to their jailers?
Exploitation for shows

Thanks to our images of the dungeons of Micha, Glasha and Bony, that were taken last week, the Ministry of Ecological and Solidarity Transition has reopened the case of the bears who have been exploited by the Poliakov couple for decades. Today, the ministry issues a decree that requires its torturers to give treatment to Micha and who are also ignoring the distress of Bony and Glasha. Our fight for these 3 bears and for all the other animals in the hands of these circus trainers continues!

Backed up against the wall in the face of our images, the Ministry proposes insufficient measures

Words are missing to explain how the Ministry of Ecological and Solidarity Transition is trying to pull the wool over our eyes with its decree published this morning.

What does the order say?

Firstly, the ministry issues a ban on performing. This was already the case! And obviously not respected or at least circumvented by the Poliakov’s. Micha was filmed by Aves France, on display in Racquinghem on Sunday September 8th, at the same moment that we revealed the images of his suffering when he was exhibited last year on Valentine’s Day, two exhibitions for which we have filed a complaint.

Animals left to their torturers

Micha must be treated within 5 days, this is good, but we entrust him to his torturers who have to have him treated! And who will verify that he is getting better? The same services that concluded last year that everything was going well!

On the other hand, Bony and Glasha are ignored – not even mentioned in the ministerial decree-while they too are in great psychological and physical distress: malnutrition, with suspicious looking body weights, their dentition is bad and very worrying according to the experts, showing signs of stereotypical behaviour…

In the end, what will happen?

These bears remain in scandalous conditions, just like the horses and camels, Mina the little monkey, parrots and all totally invisible, while for them the ordeal continues. We are preparing a complaint for all of these animals who are suffering.

Following the publication of our images, witnesses have made themselves be known. This is how we know that during the heat wave of 2018, the 3 bears remained for 8 days locked in their dungeons without any decent ventilation and in stifling conditions. There are just holes by way of the windows for ventilation and not even by means of a door to this black-roofed building. In other words, they lived in an oven without drinking water.

One Voice prepares its fourth complaint

Of the animals held by the Poliakov’s, we have denounced these conditions of detention for more than fifteen years and the images of their shows are not enough: are these cells necessary. We’ve just got the proof.

Because for the statutory visits by the agents of the State, the procedure requires that the circus is warned in advance, which gives the trainers the time to do a big clean up before their arrival. No more cobwebs in the dungeons, no mouldy fruit in the fridges, no longer maggots on the legs of the animals, fresh water made available and the exploitation can continue unchallenged.

That’s what happened last year, and that’s why our complaint was about to be dropped.

Meagre measures, despite the obvious

What would have happened without our images? Nothing. As we see our biodiversity dwindle from day to day, and everywhere in Europe the movement is accelerating for a more humane continent for animals (twenty countries have already banned the exploitation of animals in traveling circuses). What happens in these circuses where we do not have access to their trucks and what of the winter quarters for animals?

Experts continue to analyse more than 200 hours of video footage of the bears in their dark, dirty jails and in their rat-infested enclosures. These images, the first edifying their suffering, we have sent them to justice and the Ministry. We thank Elisabeth Borne for having answered us, but ask her to go further and to act also, in particular, for Bony and Glasha.

We also expect justice to be done, and plan to bring the Prefecture of Loir-et-Cher to justice (as we did successfully for the breeding of dogs Mézilles) if it is necessary to get them to save all the animals left in the hands of these keepers.

An explosive victory against the breeders of Mézilles!

An explosive victory against the breeders of Mézilles!
10.09.2019
Mézilles
An explosive victory against the breeders of Mézilles!
Animal testing

A round won in our showdown against the breeders of Mézilles! A Prefectural decree of Yonne which authorized the increase in the capacity of breeding and the exploitation of beagles and golden retrievers bred for animal experimentation has been cancelled! It’s a victory for the dogs! An explosive court decision, which is very heart-warming.

The Prefectural decree of October 10^th 2018 authorizing the Centre des Élevage du Domaine des Souches (CEDS) (breeding dogs for experimentation) to exploit 3,200 dogs in the town of Mézilles has been cancelled! The administrative court of Dijon has decided following the hearing on June 27th, in the legal case between One Voice, the Prefecture of Yonne and the Centre d’Elevage des Souches (CEDS) which « breeds » and supplies Beagles and golden retrievers in the chain for animal experimentation, the dogs are born for a lifetime of suffering.

Our actions have paid off!

If the Paris Court of Appeal had forbade us to use the information collected by a bailiff who was proving the suffering of these dogs, the Dijon court on the contrary, found in our file ample material to question that of the opposing parties… and pronounce the necessary judgment! We have shown that breeding is rife in a non-regulatory framework and accumulates lists of offenses: “reception capacity” largely exceeded for a long time (including for puppies less than 4 months old!), environmental nuisances (noise and water pollution) also the owners’ inability to finance their appetite for expansion for more dogs sold and less care given.

With this procedure which proves us right, it was the massed citizen mobilization for a more humane and more reliable science which wins the day! The global trend is to decrease animal testing and explore other research methods. No more livestock should grow on our soil! On the contrary, they must close these centres one after the other.

A decisive round?

The wind is turning! If this decision is likely to be challenged soon, we are ready for the next confrontations to support these 1,500 dogs, female dogs and puppies still detained in this establishment. And we will not lower our guard until it has closed completely. Until then, let’s rejoice that justice has penalized this bastion in field of experimentation and therefore animal suffering in France!

Micha, Glasha and Bony, three circus bears dying in their cells

Micha, Glasha and Bony, three circus bears dying in their cells
08.09.2019
Loir-et-Cher
Micha, Glasha and Bony, three circus bears dying in their cells
Exploitation for shows

Micha, Glasha and Bony, the three bears held by the Poliakov trainers for decades and exploited in marquees at fairs, are confined to medieval jails until the end of their lives. For the authorities, however, everything is fine! In the face of the overwhelming images we have revealed concerning their conditions of detention, we have filed a new complaint for acts of cruelty against their torturers and demand their immediate transfer to a sanctuary.

Surviving in the company of rats in dark and cold cells

The images, shot in early September, reveal the continual nightmare of these three poor prisoners. Untreated wounds to the paws that are infested with maggots, rats running everywhere in the outer enclosure, and also keeping the bears company in their cells, grates rotten by rust, and huge cobwebs hang like curtains from the walls and the ceilings, the picture drawn up here is an abominable one.

The concrete building never seems to have be finished: no door, no window, so no protection from the elements. When the wind blows, it creeps in at all directions with no possibility to escape it. To stay warm in winter is impossible. And what of food? Mouldy fruit, croquettes, leaves, seeds… The cement troughs built like the building are green in colour, the bottom of the water trough is dark green and on the feeding side there are greyish leftovers on which the fruits left to rot in the fridge next door are thrown onto in a hurry.

The authorities know

How else otherwise could this possibly be? Since 2004, we have followed the Poliakov’s. In February 2018 on the occasion of Valentine’s Day, Micha had been exhibited in a restaurant. Our complaint immediately filed had been dismissed! Out of the question to abandon Micha to his fate: we had immediately made a recourse. It was not until January 2019, to learn that an investigation was finally in progress. Then no more replies to our requests for news… But today, for the first time, the real living conditions of these bears who have been exploited by circuses are exposed to the face of the world.

What is the destiny of Micha: to die far from view?

We were told it was a paradise for bears and now today we reveal the atrocious truth: Micha is dying in a dungeon. They have hidden it all: trainers and authorities, because to show this is to show the real state of animals in circuses.

His eyes say more than any words could. He looks at his paws, slowly, his eyebrows softly frowning, in an expression of extreme distress. It hurts, there is no doubt: maggots have made their home there. He moves in slow motion, sits down, goes to bed. He goes out a little in the pen, crosses a few rats, comes back again. He looks for a suitable position in the straw with which to lighten his emaciated body from its suffering, he does not find one. His agony is endless. The ground is strewn with hairs mixed with straw… he breathes painfully. Each breath is a rattle, each exhale is a sigh which seems to retain a kind of asthmatic cough. His nose is cluttered with dirt, just like his eyes. His teeth-like those of his miserable comrades–they are all in an alarming state. His saliva is thick and yellow.
Micha is dying in an endless state of torture. The Poliakov’s small business has been shut down for several months, has no value, and is allowed to die.

Will it soon be the turn of his valiant companions?

Glasha and Bony, they have their claws cut short, and their bodies are marked in places. The training of bears, these big brave beasts, is one of extreme violence, and leaves indelible marks, physical as well psychological, as the life in a circus truck. Although the Poliakov’s show is banned, the damage has been done.

Glasha frequently circles his cell, barely dares to put his paws into the outer enclosure, he’s content, empty-eyed, turns his head towards the gloomy light, sinking further into his inner world to be able to survive this abuse. Bony also languishes in stereotypical movements which are specific of captive animals in great suffering and that are traumatized forever, he is traumatized in his cell and also outside of it. His distress and agony are more obvious when he passes in front of the truck in which he lives, from circus to circus.

A complaint in progress: we must save them!

With the images we unveil, no doubt it’s possible: the authorities will no longer be able to close their eyes to the tragedy unfolding in the Loir-et-Cher. We filed a new complaint, this time for acts of cruelty, professional mistreatment, placement in a potentially abusive environment and improper operation of an establishment holding non-domestic animals.

As soon as they are no longer exploited, circus animals are discarded pending death. This is the reality of the circus world in France. One Voice will not let it go! We demand the immediate seizure of Micha, Glasha and Bony by the justice system and that they be entrusted to us. Their place is in a sanctuary, we have made sure that three places are reserved for them and we will take on all the expenses in charge. Also, nothing, absolutely nothing, justifies leaving them to this agony.

Discover our investigation into circus bears

The horrible fate of these six kittens must surely open our eyes

The horrible fate of these six kittens must surely open our eyes
05.09.2019
Draguignan
The horrible fate of these six kittens must surely open our eyes
Domestic animals

A simple news item: six kittens drowned and then were crushed inside a rubbish bag to ensure an end to their lives, barely born, then they are thrown into a container of the apartment block, while thinking « a job well done ». There is so much to say around this banal drama! Audience in the courts of Draguignan, this Thursday September 5th at 10:15 a.m.

We will call her Mrs M. And he will be Mr. A. He left the residence with a visibly full garbage bag, threw it in the collective trash, then left. Mrs. M. would have found nothing strange about this, she was smoking her cigarette on the balcony. Then, Mr. A. decided to retrace his steps and remove the bag from the container and then violently hit the sack several times, in particular against an abandoned microwave. So, Mrs M. went to check the contents of this bag. She found 6 kittens there, barely 10 days old, almost all dead, soaked with the water in which Mr. A had drowned them. She has decided to file a complaint and we will support her.

A cruelty not to be trivialized

This act of cruelty, Mr. A. understood what he was doing. What do you do if a stray cat leaves you with unwanted kittens? Mr. A. will therefore be tried because he ended the lives of these kittens, with extreme violence, probably to ensure a swift ending. Because when it is necessary to act, we drown them, we hit them or we abandon them, leaving these cats to a slow death. And one can imagine much worse, when there is no Mrs M. at her window to observe you. Too bad for Mr. A.: we are in Draguignan in the Var, where Chevelu was massacred in a fit of rage and violence that shocked France.

From A to Z

They are more than 13 million feline companions in France, who breed and their litters become our responsibility. The act of Mr. A. is the tip of an iceberg of suffering: the natural reproduction of cats, stray or companions, is a time bomb with potentially exponential damage. Not sterilizing cats, whether domestic or stray, will bring us back to the case of Mister A., problem unfortunately has declined to Z, like the cat at day 1.

All responsible!

Overall, cats are today in our country are less well cared for and treated than dogs when they are more numerous. Their numbers, their fate and such cases require that the State finally legislate against strays, throughout the territory (the situation is even more explosive in the other French territories). Otherwise, they will all end up being considered as pests, unwanted pests. Burned, drowned, crushed, slashed… Our fauna, our friends that are so close and yet tomorrow become unwanted? No! Mastering their destiny so as not to get to these situations is our duty. Gentlemen like Mr A. must learn other solutions, and Ladies like Mrs M. must be more numerous and vigilant even still. For these felines.

A living nightmare in the Dordogne for “hunting” dogs!

A living nightmare in the Dordogne for « hunting » dogs!

A living nightmare in the Dordogne for “hunting” dogs!
03.09.2019
Dordogne
A living nightmare in the Dordogne for “hunting” dogs!
Domestic animals

We knew that hunting dogs were victims of abuse. Here we are witnesses to the refinement of such cruelty! In the Dordogne, our investigators discovered a hundred beings waiting amongst the dead. Despite our alerts, the hunter who exploits them still has his hands free… We have complained and asked that justice prevails!

On the surface, there are small whitish looking mounds…. Then bones emerge from the ground. Those of a canine. The earth contains other skeletons… It is a mass grave. We are in the Dordogne. A breeder of hunting dogs’, who is duly protected by those in high places.

Cruelty in practice

In this kind of farm, a hundred individuals are stored before serving the local trigger-happy lords. Some are tied up in the mud, others locked up with their puppies in vans, others still held in unsanitary premises, when they are not confined in transport cages… Malnourished, deprived of a free access to water to quench their thirst, piled up in appalling and illegal sanitary conditions, the most fragile do not survive. And their derelict remains serve as meals for their hungry companions.

No to this code of silence!

Faced with this horror, in absolute violation of the law, we immediately alerted the authorities. But, as in the cases of other sites that we are fighting against in the same region, our allegations have remained unheeded. Reason? « No reason to intervene because they are « just » hunting dogs. » Yes, plain and simple. Because it appears, once again that, in the minds of some, there are animals deserving of less consideration and rights than others. Especially when they are detained by hunters… We protest against this bias support and of this tolerated suffering! We cannot let guns rule over the country, nor accept double standards. So, we are bringing this case to court, many videos to support it, so that justice can come out from the shadows! This hunter must answer for his acts of obvious mistreatment (as long as we want to open his eyes), and we urgently demand the precautionary seizure of the victims for which this person is responsible for!

Tigers and lions exploited for life in the Loiret

Tigers and lions exploited for life in the Loiret
28.08.2019
Loiret
Tigers and lions exploited for life in the Loiret
Exploitation for shows

In August 2019, our investigators went to Loiret, to a tiger and lion trainer very well known in show business. As for their only horizon, these seven cats have only a few square meters of wire mesh. In addition to the captivity and training that make up their daily lives, the trainer organizes visits to individuals on his property several times a day, with the support of the tourist office of the department.

In the garden and on the gates are lions’ heads. We are without a doubt at the property of a trainer. For 27 years, Rémy Demantes has been raising and training big cats, with a cane in hand, for advertisements, film clips and television shows. The lions leave their enclosures and are then transported on the roads, to be exposed to the unknown, the noise and the lights, with noisy humans all around them.

When a baby tiger is born, it is irretrievably removed from its mother, and quickly exhibited in front of groups of humans, at the circus museum directed by the trainer, for a daily show of one hour. Private tours of the farm are offered to the public by the owner, not far from there… Our investigators have reported images of these seven feline prisoners.

Seven tigers and lions locked up for life

Tanga is the oldest. She is fifteen years old and lives alone in a mesh enclosure of barely 35m², in the centre of which sits a rock and a tree trunk. Suffice to say that his prison is devoid of any enrichment.

The youngest, Mawak, born three months ago, left the trainers house for a 6 m² enclosure on garden tiles. No grass or clay for its little legs. When he finally comes out, on the end of a leash, he is refused the chance to play to play in the vines of the Virginia creepers. No, he must do his business on demand, before the show, and pose for the photo with the visitors of the day, who can also hold him on a leash or shout « no » in a big voice to frighten him. The baby tiger is raised with a lot of slaps and small, well-felt blows on the head, using a wooden stick.

At the bottom of the garden, his parents, including Radja the white tiger, (these tigers exist only in captivity, the fruits from cross breeding between sick animals) and a tigress, Jade, who was seen roughly handling her baby. The menagerie, consists of cages that can barely contain them, are damp and smell very strong, all in a permanent building. How extremely sad to see them like this!

Nearby, Judy the tigress lives with Tina, a young lioness. Nothing is natural here. Tigers live alone when they are free and in the wild and on a different continent than that of lions! Timba, the lion in the enclosure next door seems weary and hopelessly bored and idle.

A lucrative activity supported by the tourist office

For his museum and the visit of to see his livestock, Rémy Demantes has received several awards « a heart of gold » from the department’s tourist office, which supports this activity from another era. The trainer justifies this breeding and this training by draping himself behind the legality of his activities and uses the dangers of poaching of free tigers in the wild for his excuses. The existence of poaching or trophy hunting is a problem in itself to be combated, but is in no case a valid reason for reducing animals to a life of slavery, forever confined and enslaved.

Captivity: a danger for cats and humans

It is not love when you take a little one from its mother, you take her place to feed it and make it dependent on you, then you hit it while it tries to learn to be a tiger in the full sense of the term. It is not love to condemn an animal to a life of imprisonment. Because captivity, training, exhibition, homelessness, proximity to humans creates not only health risks on both sides, but dangers for humans on contact. The intense stress, which affects these animals’ causes problems to their immune systems.

These practices must stop! The Loiret department, as well as the television channels, film and clip directors, actors, singers and advertisers must also take action against this captivity! Help us to denounce any use of wild animals in these contexts! Let us call together as one to demand that the tourist office of Loiret stops the promotion of this place!

Please contact the tourist office via their website by clicking here or by email at info@tourismeloiret.com.

Meeting with the Lummi nation for southern orcas

Meeting with the Lummi nation for southern orcas
22.08.2019
San Juan Islands
Meeting with the Lummi nation for southern orcas
Natural habitat

The San Juan Islands, Orca, Lopez, were the Lummi People’s territory for more than 4500 years when the Europeans arrived. They were left only a piece of land on the mainland near to a swamp. These native American people, who are very in touch with Nature, considering the orcas of the South as their brothers and sisters « who live under water », this constitutes the Lummi nation. They invited us to a ceremony of rare depth.

We met with them shortly after filing a complaint for the release of Lolita, their sister who was taken prisoner in the waters of the Salish Sea in 1970 and has since been held at the Miami Seaquarium. They claim that it should be returned to them. For them, this capture is a theft from their heritage, and more. We told them of our concern about Inouk, and told them about our fight in memory of Valentin and Freya, who died in the pools of the French park Marineland. They greeted us generously and spoke words for them during the ceremony.

Brothers and sisters of the orcas

Shells poured from one hand to another, in a shamanic trance, Richard Salomon told us how the ancestor of his people went underwater dressed in a black and white coat like an orca, and lived their for a while. One day, he came back, put down his « orca coat », and became a human again. According to the legend, he asked his grand-mother if he could go back with the orcas. She agreed at one condition that he brought food to her every day.

So, each year, at the same time, they visit him, with as an offering a wild royal salmon, called Chinook, just freshly caught and to whom they gave his freedom.

A profound honour to attend this sacred ceremony

Invited to attend this traditional and very moving ceremony in tribute to the recently-deceased Southern Resident Killer Whales, Scoter (K25), Nyssa (L84) and Princess Angeline (J17) (Tahlequah‘s mother, bereaved, inconsolable of the death of her baby) we could see how dramatic the situation was. No royal salmon could be found near the fishermen that day because none had been caught. No southern orcas, either. And for good reason..

The extinction of the royal salmon entails the extinction of the Southern Resident Killer Whales

Between Seattle and Vancouver, off the coast of Anacortes, the Salish Sea has, over time, been drained of its abundant fish. The Lummi are also fighting against the construction of a pipeline wanted by Canada. The maritime area is already crisscrossed with tankers, which are so polluting and noisy… We came across so many during the few hours of the ceremony that it was difficult to count them. They will be seven times more numerous once the pipeline is in operation.

With the last three deaths-officialised on August 6^th, 2019 by the Centre for Whale Research-after a month without being seen anywhere, the last resident orcas of the South have gone from 76 to 73 individuals. Their survival is hanging by a thread

The ceremony still took place without salmon or orcas. A stone’s throw away from the beach where his people lived for thousands of years, near a promontory which is a sacred burial site, surrounded by the Lummi police, a documentary team and our team, the shaman intoned the sacred songs, these calls and thanks to Nature accompanied by dances, movements taken from crabs with pincers raised up to the sky. A shocking moment in the face of the courage of this people who refuse to give up hope for those they consider their family. To save the orcas, according to the Lummi as for us, it is clear that humanity must listen to its heart and stop seeking profit at all costs.

Whale Prison: three new orcas have been released

Whale Prison: three new orcas have been released
19.08.2019
îles Shantar
Whale Prison: three new orcas have been released
Natural habitat

The release of three new orcas from a « Whale Prison » took place last August 6th despite some resistance or even sabotage…

As one witness recalls: « The orcas were ready to go to sea immediately after they were back in the water. A floating pen had been prepared, but it did was not necessary. They were released from their containers directly offshore, the three orcas were seen circling near to the shore in a tight formation, appearing once then plunging below the surface. It was amazing! »

It is difficult indeed to imagine the immense happiness of these prisoners who have finally found the ocean after a year of suffering. But if this operation is to be announced as a success, it has not always been the case, alas, previous transfers were not the same.

On June 20th, the first convoy

On June 20th, the first convoy left Srednyaya Bay for the Shantar Islands region, taking with it three orcas and six beluga whales. They had endured a particularly difficult journey. We saw images of one beluga being lifted by a crane and leaving a puddle of blood on the floor. Cetaceans were thrown into the sea like objects, while their muscles were still stiff from the long days spent under the sun in metal containers. These terrible scenes have aroused the indignation of experts and from social media. And yet, if we are to believe the satellite beacons, the three orcas released then would have taken the right direction, away from their place of capture.

July 16th, a second disturbing transfer

Since then, orders from above have been administered, because on July 16th, the second transfer was less brutal. This time there were only three orcas. The journey was faster and their release was partially filmed. Two adult orcas have in turn returned to freedom. They unfortunately had to leave behind little Alexandra, too fearful, too attached to humans no doubt, to dare to follow them off. She begged the fishermen for a few days for her fish, but according to the most recent information, she is now heading for Sakhalin and feeding by herself.

August 1st, beginning of the third transfer of orcas

It ended six days later with the obviously successful release of Tihon, Gaika and Zoya, released into the Okhotsk Sea. For the first time, observers from Greenpeace Russia were able to monitor the release process. Pampered like queens, the orcas even had the privilege of being refreshed by ice in their container. They departure in formation, straight out to sea, gives hope for the best in regards to the success of their journey.

A fourth release is coming

Two orcas and eighty-one belugas are still waiting in their enclosures of the whale prison. In the coming days, a fourth release is planned. There is not much time left until winter, but there are still a lot of captive beluga whales waiting to be counted again, and their future is very worrying.

Concerns also, rumours that tell us that besides Cyril, a second killer whale would have died in his enclosure or that a beluga whale was found floating not far from the beach. Some even claim that the two belugas recently flown to the first Tibetan Dolphinarium were part of the June convoy.

Entrusting the rehabilitation of the ten orcas and the 87 belugas to their former kidnappers, under the complicit supervision of the scientific institute VNIRO with the Russian justice system, there was bound to be some resistance or sabotage.

It is good that President Putin is vigilant, especially with animal rights defenders and international opinions. Regardless of the concerns that follow-on from releases, especially from belugas, One Voice is pleased to see eight orcas already making successful inroads to their group and their families. The « Russian method » is certainly cavalier but sometimes it works!

One Voice infiltrates a bullfighting school for children in France!

One Voice infiltrates a bullfighting school for children in France!
15.08.2019
Nîmes
One Voice infiltrates a bullfighting school for children in France!
Exploitation for shows

Our investigators have again gone into one of the bullfighting schools in France, where they were able to witness at first hand the killing of bulls so young that they are almost calves. Seven years after our investigation at the school of Nîmes, we ask (as to the UN in Spain back in February 2018¹) for the banning of these « training centres » for minors, a ban concerning access to minors to these « shows », a ban on hurting these bulls and of course putting them to death…

Young bulls to give « first hand » experience to children and adolescents

A calf that is considered as mere « material » of a second level will be taunted around in the vicinity of Nîmes for more than twenty minutes, by a young person who has not yet mastered the act of Corrida (bullfighting).

The sword will be put in and out several times into the back of the young bull, which eventually collapses. In the last seconds of his consciousness, he will feel a dagger sink into his neck, his head shaking in all directions. He will spill his blood in a few minutes, an eternity to the one suffering, after trying in vain to escape his fate, gripped with anguish and without understanding why he was eventually betrayed by his guardians…

An extracurricular activity like any other?

Children are taught all year round in these schools using wheeled carriages to practice the gestures: muletas, cape work, wooden spikes and sword work. At the end of the year as a reward they can in the arena put to death very young bulls.

One can start at the age of 6 to attend these schools. At the age when one begins to read and write, one can learn at the same time the B-A-BA of bullfighting. They learn that torturing a living animal by planting spears and then pushing a blade into its body is acceptable and expected. We can witness the long and painful killing of these beings, whose sensibility is recognized, and on whom these cruelties are exerted… except here.

Psychologists around the world are worried about the impact it can have on brain development and empathy of children, to receive these conflicting signals from adults around them: we must not hurt others and we must applaud those who kill the bulls in the arena… It is an education of sadism, and this has deleterious repercussions on their psyche.

An unprecedented survey at the heart of these schools: unedited testimonials

An interview with the president of these bullfighting schools, teachers and aficionados, images of calves killed by young men, under the eyes of children… All our images show the true face of bullfighting in France: we teach insensitivity to the suffering of another from an early age.

Among the testimonies collected, parents who offered a bull to their child so that he could kill it. Who would do this with another animal and in other circumstances? And outside of this environment? How is it possible to encourage this, a killing by a minor, which is possible in the case of a rented and privatized arena…

Young bulls not put to death will often be used several times. But on the images, we see the incredulity of the poor calf, its exhaustion. His refusal for aggression. The refusal to « fight », in short.

Whether they fear for themselves or do not want to hurt living beings, children must obey. It’s written into the Bullfighting school rules. But one of the mothers of these students confided in our team without knowing that it was recorded, that after the killing of his first bull, her son stopped bullfighting for a year. He was still in shock.

Ban these schools. One Voice and its partners Anymal, CRAC Europe, FLAC and No to Corrida have written a joint petition calling for the immediate cessation of these bullfighting practices considered as torture. To give us more weight in this process, for the calves and for the children, please sign!

1 – https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/02/09/un-call-ban-children-bullfights

Here the ocean is dying, and the southern orcas with it

Here the ocean is dying, and the southern orcas with it
13.08.2019
San Juan Island
Here the ocean is dying, and the southern orcas with it
Natural habitat

The end of a world. Southern residents killer whales have not been seen for weeks off San Juan Island. Overfishing and dams are starving them out, there are no more fish or so little in this sea that was once the cradle for hundreds of them. Here it is a species that is dying, the very one that has also paid a heavy price to the captive entertainment industry. We are there with our scientific partners, to try to save them.

We are here facing a beautiful landscape. The sun spreads its rays upon a rock face which projects into the Salish Sea, west of Seattle, on the northern edge of the United States. Here the Pacific Ocean surrounds the islands San Juan, Lopez, Victoria and Orca. And yet…

Last year again, humpback whales or Minke whales shared this marine territory with seals, porpoises and Southern resident killer whales. The transient orcas were only passing through this period, as migratory birds do elsewhere.

In the sky, seagulls, of course, but also guillemots and puffins with beaks of a resplendent colour, as well as the majestic bald eagles (the « American eagle ») who over look them all from above the top of pine trees at the edge of the coast.

The sky is almost empty and the sea, almost flat.

This year has a bitter taste. Ken Balcomb, whom we joined at the Centre for Whale Research (CWR), of which One Voice is a member, confirms what we feared: there are no more fish. Not enough to feed all of this exceptional wildlife anyway. Southern orcas need more than sixty kilos of fish a day. For the sake of saving energy, their appetite is more for the larger fish, like for example the royal salmon. Overfishing prevents the renewal of the species, dams built upstream of the large rivers prevent the salmon from returning to their spawning grounds. The few who reach there are fished in the artificial lakes created by these dams and never reach the ocean, where the killer whales are dying one after another. Royal salmon and the orcas of the South are all slowly dying.

Lolita’s family, pods J, K and L, as they are known, have been decimated. No viable offspring has survived now for three years. Neither Tahlequah’s baby nor Scarlet … In the past, they had time to sleep and play. Now everything is centred on foraging, and the intense stress of hunger that plagues them all.

It’s a tragedy that is played out on deaf ears

But other orcas are visible and are doing, very well. These are the « transient » orcas. They spend every summer in the Salish Sea, and do not suffer from starvation because they feed upon mammals and not fish. Tourists looking to see orcas are not disappointed… And no one wants to spoil their fun by telling them about the invisible drama unfolding that is the orcas of the South. However, it is of the utmost urgency that people know this on this naturally wonderful site, as for the different tigers (Bengal, Sumatra, Bali, Siberia…), it is a whole ecosystem that is wiped out from the planet, as are the large primary forests. And that, in the general indifference! In the ocean, it’s harder to imagine this with aerial views. And once the damage is done, it’s irreversible.

Awareness work must be conducted urgently on this disappearance! One Voice has spent the past year campaigning with your help alongside the San Juan Island-based Centre for Whale Research to reopen the dams. This summer we visited scientists who have been working there for more than 40 years. We also met Native Americans who consider these orcas as members of their family. We cannot let Southern Resident Orcs disappear without doing anything!