News Archive - Page 99 of 145

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!

Baby’s trainer faces justice on May 6th in Marmande

Baby’s trainer faces justice on May 6th in Marmande
05.05.2019
Lot-et-Garonne
Baby’s trainer faces justice on May 6th in Marmande
Exploitation for shows

Do you know Baby? Perhaps your thinking no or probably you do. For more than 30 years, this elephant has been surveying film sets, appearing on advertising spots, participating in television shows, sitting on stools in circus shows… His trainer passes before the Agen Correctional Court in Marmande at 2.00 pm on Tuesday, May 6th for the irregular exploitation of a non-domestic animal.

An elephant uprooted

Originally from Africa, Baby was captured in 1985 when she was two years old. Like all baby elephants kidnapped in the wild, she had to live through many traumas before ending up in France to perform in shows. Since then, she has been offered for rental by Gilbert Bauer, she has been used to host both official inaugurations, Christmas trees, trade fairs, municipal parades, children’s snacks, birthdays and other private parties. Listening to the trainer, Baby is like his daughter and swims in happiness by his side … The public is fooled by this illusion, but is this the life for an elephant?

Uprooted from her native land, isolated from all contact with her family-while elephants are highly social animals-and suffering from a disability in the rear left foot, she is so alone … At her age, Baby should live on the burning hot planes of the savannah along with his aging mother and sisters, baby elephants and nephews. Walking would be their daily life, helping to teach little ones, the transmissions from the matriarchs. Their common memory would take them from place to place, those of love, those of meditation, those of feasts…

But Baby is far from this life, she can only dream of it now, forced as she is to turn around on a stool, to return the ball to thunderous music, to pose for photos or to be forced to parade on tarmac, close to humans she should never have met.

The penal procedure

The association has been tracking and monitoring Baby for a long time, and has consistently gathered evidence to denounce and rescue her.

On May 27^th2017, Gilbert Bauer went too far, and our warnings were heard by the authorities. That day the trainer paraded Baby without respecting the regulatory safety measures concerning the presentation of wild animals to the public. Inspectors from the National Office of Hunting and Wild Fauna (ONCFS) were able to observe that no electric barrier or fence separated the crowd from the elephant. Also, these elephants had to support performers that were perched upon their backs and that any of the public, including children, could approach her very closely.

The consequences of this offense could have been dramatic and Gilbert Bauer is now being prosecuted for the illegal exploitation of non-domestic animals. He is scheduled to appear before the Agen District Court on May 6^that 2 p.m. It is a step forward. One Voice however wishes to go further and requests that this criminal procedure be reclassified as ill-treatment and that Baby be entrusted to us.

For her and all of the animals exploited for the entertainment of certain
humans, we call for the ban on this practice. Their place is in a sanctuary !

All in Antibes for Inouk!

All in Antibes for Inouk!
03.05.2019
Antibes
All in Antibes for Inouk!
Exploitation for shows

Inouk needs all of us. No orca should be in the pools of a dolphinarium, and the case of Inuk is worrying in every respect. At barely twenty years old, he already has no teeth, his dorsal fin almost always out of the water and flopped over on his back… Marine mammal experts have never seen that before. We are determined to offer him another life, a real life. We will be at 5.00 pm in front of the town hall of Antibes Juan-les-Pins on Tuesday, May 7th for him with John Hargrove.

How can you not feel moved for him and also at the mention of his name? Inouk has never known freedom but keeps going around and round in the
Marineland pools. His extremely effective sonar is of no use to him in the jar where he survives. He should be able to dive deep, swim tens and tens of kilometers each day, stay away from the sun. His dorsal fin lies, collapsed on one side, a phenomenon rarely observed and a sign of serious trauma and poor health in wild orcas… The members of his family have either lost their lives or been sent to another dolphinarium. If he had not been subjected to captivity since his birth, nothing would have pushed him to gnaw at the walls of his pool until the pulp of his teeth was exposed and it was necessary to devitalize them, even to tear them off. His freedom would have been unlimited, and his life, one so rich for an orca!

An orca without a future, that’s what Inouk seems to have become. The park does not even try to justify that it contributes to the conservation of the species, or that the demonstration of the domination of an animal by a human has an educational interest… We have filed a complaint against Marineland for acts of cruelty to Inouk at the court of Grasse early in April. The expertise of Ingrid Visser, John Jett and Jeffrey Ventre is documented, well-argued and structured. More than anything, it is without appeal: Inouk needs another life, far from pools empty of meaning, empty of interest, empty of choice, empty of all that an orca needs.

A rally is scheduled in front of the town hall of Antibes Juan-les-Pins at 5.00pm on Tuesday May 7, to make the voice of Inouk be heard, whose place is in a marine sanctuary. It sounds loud and clear in the ears of our leaders! We also call for the closure of dolphinariums and the adoption of a new decree.

Please sign our petition, let’s all ask for a life for Inouk!

Circus on trial for abuse on Jumbo: a first!

Circus on trial for abuse on Jumbo: a first! 03.05.2019
Drôme
Circus on trial for abuse on Jumbo: a first!
Exploitation for shows

Following One Voice’s complaint against the Muller Circus and its investigation and the glaring evidence, the investigation has finally come to an end. In the end and for the first time ever in France, the trial of a circus for ill-treatment of an animal. The hearing will be held at 9:00am on May 17 at Valence court. After three years of constant struggle for Jumbo, we look forward to his release and the condemnation of the circus! No hippopotamus should have to live in such suffering.

Thirty years until he is to be finally saved from his hell. Jumbo should be surrounded by his own kind and to be carried away by the water flow of the rivers. Instead, he remains alone, locked in a prison truck.

After an exceptional procedure, the urgent referral and a rallying that showed the true face of these circus people, we reinforced our investigation. A new hope had recently appeared in Jumbo’s life, but even in facing the state authorities, these circus people thought themselves untouchable. Jumbo had never been so close to freedom. You have been numerous in your numbers to rebel against this violence and to show us your support in our struggle for him. Nothing will discourage us.

L’hippopotame Jumbo vit dans un cirque depuis 30 ans. Enfermé seul dans l’obscurité d’un camion, il ne sortirait que 30 minutes par jour… L’ONG @onevoiceanimal l’a suivi à travers la France et milite pour sa libération. pic.twitter.com/ex5ASMvPOM

— Brut nature FR (@brutnaturefr) 27 mars 2019

Our complaint for mistreatment, filed two years ago now gives rise, finally, to the trial of the circus! The hearing will take place on May 17 at 9.00 am in Valence. There is room for hope. More than ever now, we will do everything to give Jumbo the life he deserves and has been waiting for, for so long! If Jumbo is entrusted to us, we will send him to a sanctuary in Africa where he can finally relieve his feet during long and peaceful swims, and discover his ancestral lands.

For him, please continue to sign our petition!

Evidence about the Link: New initiatives in the UK

Evidence about the Link: New initiatives in the UK
02.05.2019
United Kingdom
Evidence about the Link: New initiatives in the UK
Domestic animals

Since 2001, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) have been working together on the issue of the Link. Together with other organizations pursuing similar objectives, such as the British Veterinary Association (BVA), they form the Links Group¹, which is affiliated with the « National Link Coalition ».

« The mission of the Link Groups is to promote the well-being and safety of children, animals and vulnerable adults in order to protect them from violence and abuse. »

The main results from the Link Groups to date are as follows:

More referencing between the different organisations

The first ever law cases won in non-accidental injury cases for the RSPCA

The first ever trial won in a non-accidental injury case for the Scottish SPCA

Undergraduate training in veterinary medicine

The addition by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons of an appendix guide to good professional practices concerning the conditions under which it is possible to derogate from the principles of confidentiality in certain circumstances.

Expansion of services for domestic animals

In 2003, the NSPCC published for the first time a pamphlet for child, family and animal care professionals, titled “Understanding the Links (Between) Child Abuse, Animal Abuse and Domestic Violence”.

Written on the basis from contributions to the international conference on the relationship between animal abuse and violence against humans held in 2007 at Keble College, Oxford. Also with the backing of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, the The Link Between Animal Abuse and Human Violence, which has been published by Andrew Linzey, has become a reference publication for global research aimed at a better understanding between the relationship of animal abuse and that of violence against humans².

In 2018, new initiatives were launched. The link between animal abuse and violence against humans is now indisputable, but the application of this concept in Europe remains practically non-existent. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) now reports animal abuse cases when there is a suspicion of associated child abuse. Of these reports, 86% resulted in the identification of child protection problems previously overlooked by the authorities.

« Protocols (formal) using a risk assessment checklist » are emerging, which could significantly increase the number of reports. Considering that the RSPCA received 129,000 reports last year, the potential for discovering « hidden » abuse cases with an optimized reporting process across England and Wales is considerable. This initiative has drawn the attention of the College of Policing, whose assessment of the risk of domestic violence, harassment or honour-based violence (Domestic Abuse, Stalking and Honour Based Violence, or DASH) is available to all front-line police officers. The crime prevention department of the UK National Crime Agency also expressed interest in this initiative.

Local adult and child safety boards are now working to provide a more comprehensive second-level investigation in response to the risk assessment checklists managed by first responders. This is essential, given that first responders have limited opportunities to conduct comprehensive assessments, while these specialist groups have the necessary authority and competence.

Identification of interhuman violence and mistreatment: Relay procedure between the first two levels of intervention

Referral process for the first responder in an animal abuse case

The first responder investigates a case of animal abuse.

Intuitive checklist and evaluation

Criteria fulfilled: reporting to the authorities responsible for the protection of children and
adults for a second level assessment

Criteria not met: no subsequent action

Second level assessment

Guilty party identified

Proceedings

Safeguard

Response to vulnerability

Other organization

Needs assessment

Sources
¹www.thelinksgroup.org.uk²Brighton, Royaume-Uni, et Portland, États-Unis : Sussex Academic Press, 2009. Publié en France par One Voice en 2012 sous le titre « Violence sur les animaux et les humains… Le Lien »

Wolves threatened by the pressure from hunters

Wolves threatened by the pressure from hunters
30.04.2019
France
Wolves threatened by the pressure from hunters
Wildlife

While advocating the “regulation of game animals”, hunters want to eliminate wolves who have the misfortune to eat “their own game”. When will we ever have a healthier relationship with animals who are free?

The return of wolves to France schematically divides hunters into three categories. The first, marginal, is that of those who refuse to shoot wolves, believing that these animals are apart, have a special aura and are not « game ». We may be surprised by this radical categorization but it exists in the minds of some.

The second category of hunters are pleased with the return of the wolves, considering that it is an additional « game », whose « exceptional nobility » promises a more interesting hunt for the hunting parties. They arrange shooting permits issued by the state, giving them the impression of enjoying privileges as regards to a « protected » species.

Finally, hunters in the third category refuse the return of wolves, arguing that these « ferocious beasts » will eradicate « their game », that is to say the wild animals with hooves. These hunters advocate a “regulation” of wolves that hides the real desire to eradicate them, when we really know how scarce these animals are. Many local newspapers take up these arguments or rather the absence of arguments on these gun carriers. In the Alpes-Maritimes, a « group of anonymous hunters » recently spoke in the daily newspaper the Nice-Matin to proclaim the need to « regulate the wolves if we want to preserve our species ». Leaders of hunting federations are accustomed to making such comments.

Wolves certainly eat deer, stags, chamois and other ungulates. It’s their staple food, like foxes eat voles, like dolphins eat fish. Who would have the crazy idea of wanting to « regulate » dolphins or orcas? Like them, wolves are self-regulating predators. In the wild, wolves do not proliferate any more than dolphins, orcas or sharks do.

That is to say that 500 wolves – the estimated number of wolves in France – who naturally kill for food will never have as much impact on nature as a million hunters who only kill for fun. Wolves certainly take their part, a vital one, by influencing the ungulate
populations. However, they have never made them disappear. Prey and predators have co-evolved for hundreds of thousands of years. Wolves are part of European ecosystems, as are deer, stags, chamois and wild boar. Yet some would like to hunt them in national parks.

In France the department of Alpes-Maritimes is one of those which has the most wolves in the wild, around a hundred. With a very wide range, we can estimate that these wolves kill 2,000 wild ungulates each year for food. In comparison, at the same time, the 7,000 hunters in the department have officially killed 12,000 ungulates and several hundred thousand
birds and other small animals.

For years, hunters have told us that « taking » (that is, slaughtering) is essential for the « regulation » of wild ungulates which, without hunters, « would proliferate ». Now that a few wolves live in the country’s forests, these same hunters
suddenly forget the « proliferation » of ungulates to imagine
only that of wolves. The authorities reinforce this madness by
seeking to kill more and more wolves.

The
17 million hectares of French forest can accommodate many more wolves
than of present, displeasing the hunters who want to own « game ».
It is high time to abandon this word, « Game » should not
exist. There are only free animals, the property of no one. Wolves
kill by vital necessity. They do not have the choice. Hunters kill
for recreation. They have a choice. It was a hunter who killed in
2004 the last native bear in the Pyrenees, Cannelle. It is the
hunters who today threaten the survival of the few lynxes still
living in eastern France. These people must know that a forest
without a wolf, without a bear, without a lynx is like an ocean
without a dolphin, without an orca, without a shark. The hunters who
want to eliminate wolves are like fishermen who hunt for dolphins,
killer whales, they are like gravediggers amongst the living. Let’s
say it, they’re criminals.