Elyo needs us more than ever!

Elyo needs us more than ever!
03.06.2019
Mayenne
Elyo needs us more than ever!
Wildlife

Despite our many actions to defend the cause of Elyo, the circus people still hold him. So far, the authorities have remained deaf and blind to our repeated complaints and the great distress of this lion. We don’t give up and demand the High Court of Laval that the suffering of this animal on the verge of madness is finally recognized.

Seven steps in one direction, turn around, seven steps in the other and seven steps in another direction… This is the incessant ballet of Elyo, from one end to the other of his ridiculous cage. It’s this preoccupation of walking aimlessly around that kills time and which marks his desperate existence. The poor lion is still a hostage with these circus people. Since we began our efforts to free him, he has seen more than 365 additional days go by… Each minute, each second, are all like incessant blows upon him which kill him a little more.

Expert advice

We sought the advice of Donald Broom, a retired professor in the Department of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Cambridge. His glance at Elyo’s situation is clear. He denounces the cruelty of those who impose such an ordeal on him. For this world specialist in animal welfare, the beast obviously has an abnormal behaviour and his stereotypical movements are the blatant expression of his distress. He also points out that Elyo also spends a lot of time sitting around doing nothing. « He may be unconscious and listless during these times, which is another indicator of very poor living conditions. » Thus, languishing at the bottom of his cramped trailer, without the slightest social contact, inconsolable since the mysterious disappearance of his brother Chirkane, Elyo is on the brink. He rubs against the bars of his cage until the blood flows as others would do to open a vein to finish it all.

Immobilization of the authorities

The assessment by Donald Broom coincides with another report by a veterinarian mandated by the Public Prosecutor of Dunkirk at the time of our first complaint against the circus in April 2018. In his report, which we managed to obtain a copy of, he attests black and white that Elyo suffers from serious shortcomings in care and that he presents a marked malaise. Suffering from an immense distress and suffering. An observation as explicit and as alarming as this, should have moved the authorities! And yet, no… Not an inch! Worse still: the case has been closed! We are astonished by this obvious disregard for the suffering of an ill-treated lion, as much as by we are with that of the law, which is supposed to regulate the detention of circus animals! Will it silence us? On the contrary! We are more determined than ever to save this big cat from hell and have their rights recognized. This time, we have filed a complaint with the High court of Laval, the hearing will take place on June 7^th at 9 a.m. And we will roar as hard as it takes to finally be heard!

We will be there on June 7^th at 11am in front of the Prefecture of Mayenne, place Jean Moulin, please join us! Find the information on the Facebook page of the event. For Elyo, as well as all the other felines sequestered in circuses, please sign our petition!

Hunting: bullets will be whistling through the forest from June 1st!

Hunting: bullets will be whistling through the forest from June 1st!
30.05.2019
France
Hunting: bullets will be whistling through the forest from June 1st!
Wildlife

People generally believe that hunting is an autumn and winter activity, but hunters don’t see it that way. Hunters want to hunt as much as possible and for as long as possible. For a long time now, they have obtained the right to hunt deer as of June 1st! This is the period when there are the most people in natural and rural areas, but also when the deer are in the rutting season (mid-July to mid-August)! This makes hunting not only an ecological nonsense (more so when we talk about hunting …) but also an ethical nonsense as well (but hunters have for a long time now demonstrated their total lack of ethics!). Along with the ecological and ethical issues there is also the denial of other human activities that also take place outdoors.

Photo: Pierre Athanaze

This scandalous provision is far from being an act of « conservation » as hunters like to claim. This measure allows them to draw from the most beautiful male deer yearlings in order to decorate their chimney breasts with their morbid trophies. As deer lose their antlers in early fall, hunters are more likely to « harvest » their « beautiful » trophies by slaughtering deer in the summer during the breeding season!

The summer shootings are decreed by the prefects at the request of the departmental hunting federations. Requests which are almost systematically followed by orders authorizing this ridiculous activity. So, why would the hunters feel bothered or ashamed? And why slaughter only deer? Hunting federations and managers of hunting areas have asked the public authorities to allow the hunting of fallow deer. More recently we have seen the demand to hunt wild boars and of course, they won.

During the summer season, bucks and fallow deer are hunted as they approach or from lookouts (watchtowers). Wild boars are hunted by a driving method. Every hunter who pursues this disgraceful activity is also allowed to shoot foxes! This without any restrictions! Even after the buck or fallow deer quota is reached, summer shooters will have the right to continue hunting foxes, which is increasingly recognized as assisting agricultural by the farmers themselves. This hunting period, which is added to the so-called general opening period, allows hunters to hunt three and a half months longer! And the holders of these hunting rights to earn even more money. One can find at most organized private hunts offers of overnight accommodation and hunts in various departments. Hunters, in need of these bloodthirsty activities, can, with hard cash, quench their deadly thirsts during these three and a half months of extended season. This constitutes an additional financial windfall for those who trade in death.

No, hunting is not, as some people try to make us believe, an act of « conservation » of the wild life, but purely a commercial activity.

Please sign our petition to obtain a radical reform of hunting, and its ban during all weekends and school holidays! And meet with us on October 5th for the 2nd united march against hunting.

Goiat needs us!

Goiat needs us!
28.05.2019
Pyrénées
Goiat needs us!
Wildlife

Was it really necessary to capture and uproot a free-living bear from Slovenia, where he had all his bearings, where he had grown up and to essentially prevent him from feeding where he was eventually forced to settle? One Voice denounces an inhuman policy towards Goiat and more generally the bears concerned by this type of program. We need all of you to help stop the scaring off of bears!

In the name of biodiversity, an inhuman program for bears

Suspected of having attacked herds or domestic animals (pigs, sheep or horses) seven times, the agricultural organizations called for measures against Goiat, a bear of Slovenian origin who had been « released » in the Val d’Aran area by Spanish authorities back in 2016. This was to make up for the lack of genetic diversity in the Pyrenean bear population, which were the descendants from a single male, the Pyros bear. The bears do not understand the borders put in place by humans, Goiat moves between our two countries, followed thanks to the GPS collar with which he was equipped with.

Goiat remained the favourite target of the French anti-bear activists. And this spring, after the attacks of which Goiat is perhaps responsible for, the Prefect of the Hautes-Pyrénées wishes to put in place measures of scaring off in order to remove the bear and let us just say this clearly, try to push it back to the other side of the border… The “bear plan” also stipulates that in the event of a so-called “problem bear”, the State can then launch scaring off operations. But what is a « problem bear »? A bear trying to feed? And what would be the next step warning shots? The slaughter of a bear? Isn’t the goal of bringing bears to the Pyrenees to see them multiply? Along with the inherent risks of their presence?

Let’s take part in a public consultation!

Before the publication of this decree, the Prefecture must carry out a public consultation. It will close on June 14^th. In order to prevent this operation of scaring off this bear, many of us must respond unfavourably to this project.

By logging on to the site of the Ministry of Ecological and Inclusive Transition, indicate at the beginning of your comment that you are against the scaring off of Goiat. Then argue your case in a few lines. Please note, comments that are copied and pasted are not taken into account. Use your words and phrases without insults or threats (they would also invalidate your opinion).

To help you, we offer some key arguments. Choose one or more and develop them to your liking.

• The expertise carried out by the technicians of the National Office of Hunting and Wild Fauna
  (ONCFS) has not shown that the bear Goiat is a « problem bear ».

• Contrary to what is written in the draft decree, in no case does Goiat behave in a familiar manner. The attacks attributed to him took place at night, several hundred meters from homes, in the absence of any human presence. The term « familiar » is therefore not only abusive, but fallacious. In the absence of familiar behaviour, it cannot therefore be categorized as « problem bear » and should therefore not be frightened.

• Only the installation of means of protection of these breeding herds is able to protect the animals in the long run from attacks from wild predators, but also from stray dogs which are responsible for much more damage to the herds than any of these bears, wolves and lynx put together.

• The farmer who has suffered two attacks does not have a guard dog for his herd. This deficiency on his part must in no case be turned against wildlife.

• The predations that Goiat is accused of all took place at night. The herds were poorly protected (lack of electrified fences, ineffective or absent guard dogs, etc.).

• The installation of electric fences around bee hives was enough to protect them from Goiat, which was filmed nearby by an ONCFS hidden camera on 9^th August 2017, demonstrating, if necessary, that simple means of protection are effective in protecting against the damage caused by a large predator.

We are counting on you. A big thank you to everyone.

Two bloodthirsty killers of sea turtles caught in Mayotte!

Two bloodthirsty killers of sea turtles caught in Mayotte!
27.05.2019
Mayotte
Two bloodthirsty killers of sea turtles caught in Mayotte!
Wildlife

Two men caught in the act of killing sea turtles in Mayotte have been immediately put on trial on Monday May 27th 2019 at 2 p.m. at the Mamoudzou Criminal Court. The poachers-including a repeat offender employed by the department to protect these turtles-were filmed at night last week capturing, mutilating, butchering, then transporting two turtles. Between cruelty and the lack of means to defend these animals who are in great danger, One Voice directly questions the weakness of the law, and the lack of political will to act. We are a civil party in this case.

photo:  François-Elie Paute / Oulanga na Nyamba

The killing of the two sea turtles was filmed

The facts are serious. On the night of May 23^rd to 24^th on a Mayotte beach, two men are filmed surrounding two sea turtles, kicking them to make them move and then stunning them. They then butchered them with a knife while they are as it seems still alive, to then leave the shells on the beach and take the meat in their canoes. An endless and excruciating suffering for these two green turtles who had come to lay their eggs on the beach.

Who protects these endangered sea turtles?

In the world, all species of sea turtles are threatened, as also in the French territories and oceans which have as many responsibilities. However, in Mayotte, the poaching of green turtles reaches frightening proportions. About 400 of them are skinned each year on the beaches of the French islands of the Comoros archipelago. The Mahoran association Oulanga Na Nyamba, which works to protect sea turtles and their habitat, has no real means of acting. But how did we manage to leave these associations alone in the face of such a tragedy, these poor animals who disappeared in such terrible circumstances and suffering?

One of the poachers was paid by the state to watch after the turtles!

Laws, once published, must be enforced and it is up to the state to deploy the means necessary to enforce them. What have we learned here? One of the poachers, had donned the cap emblazoned with the slogan « save the turtles » and to top it all off, this was an employee of the departmental council, whose role was to watch over poachers. One who would then take advantage of this status and then to have poached for several months! A repeat offender, we found an interview dating from 2011, in which he was filmed with knife in hand on a beach with kilos of meat in his canoe. Confronted by activists already reminding him of the law, but failing to do any more. He was employed by the Departmental Council of Mayotte after a conviction…

In a report broadcasted by TF1, a program called « Sept à Huit » in November 2011, we can see the poacher / an employee of the departmental council interviewed on Papani beach during one of his nocturnal « outings ».

The Ecological Defence Council, just an empty shell

Hydrocarbons and noise from boats, fishing, plastic, poaching, climate change, disappearance of their habitat and breeding grounds, etc.: sea turtles are threatened from all sides, which is why they are supposed to be protected. For decades, successive French governments have looked elsewhere. Today, Emmanuel Macron establishes an Ecological Defence Council. We hope it will not be just an empty shell and that the turtle’s alarm call will be heard. We expect strong and effective actions, implemented quickly and for the long term.

Cruelty to free wild animals is never punished

How can you not be disgusted, revolted when you learn the terrible fate of these two poor turtles? Since the latter were free wild animals, whatever the cruelty to which they are the victims of, whatever the mutilations they have undergone, one can only file a complaint on their behalf for infringement of a protected species, not for unimaginable suffering they have endured. Beyond this status which, therefore, alone, protects them (and still, so little), it is implausible that these sensitive animals are not protected from acts of cruelty by the current texts! Animals are not just representatives of their species, which should just be protected as a matter of principle. Every individual should have the right not to be mistreated or violated!

Both poachers face jail time. Our lawyer also represents the association Oulanga Na Nyamba at the trial on Monday May 27^th in Mayotte. We are waiting for concrete acts from the government in favour of animals, and a profound change in policy towards the living. Our parliamentarians must also take their share of the responsibility.