The One Voice association has been entrusted with a circus lion in an appalling state.
Jon, it's his name, didn't have a sweetest life. The cartoon The Lion King is far away. Skeletal, lifeless coat, claws removed and teeth ground, the lion owned by Cirque de Paris is painful to see. The association One Voice, seized on June 5, in agreement with the prefecture and the French Office for biodiversity, the poor beast, in the circus temporarily installed in the Eure, reveals Le Parisien.
"We have been following their ordeal for two years, and all this time the prefecture, responsible for the welfare of the animals and their regular monitoring, has not budged. To the press, present without our notifying it, the prefecture de l'Eure would have said on the day of the seizure that the animals were in 'general good health '. There remain four lionesses, former comrades of prison of Jon: Hannah, Patty, Céleste and Marli, in the hands of the trainer. We also filmed them from 2018 until last March. We are filing a complaint on their behalf! "Said One Voice in a press release.
"Jon presents the stigma of the mutilations and cruelties which he underwent years during, without any respite. His torture is that of all the lions of the circuses, majestic animals reduced to the state of puppets from which we have taken all hope. And the legislation, however miserably weak to protect them, is not even respected, because the prefectures which are responsible for it turn a blind eye. For animals, circuses, it is legal mistreatment … to die of it ", adds Muriel Arnal, president and founder of One Voice.
But for the association, “the laws and the texts are not respected in France”. An affirmation which can be explained following the observations given, after the control visit of the circus incriminated on April 27 last, by the prefecture of l 'Eure. She had deduced an apparent good health, she said in a statement published after the dissemination of the association's images.
Jon was able to toruver place in the Tonga refuge Terre welcome, before flying to Africa as soon as his condition allows.
"Since 45 that I take care of big cats, this Friday evening, on the arrival of Jon, I felt an immense sorrow and a great shame to discover the state of health of this lion. How men who pretend to love the animals do nothing to assure them the minimum of well-being? Why the authorities do not intervene before before such a state of malnutrition? I feel a great shame for the men who are responsible for these animals. ", testifies Pierre Thivillon, president of Tonga Terre d'accueil, in this same press release.
Nearly 400 municipalities in France, including Paris, have already expressed their refusal to host circuses exploiting wild animals on their territory, under the leadership of the 30 Million Friends Foundation and the Code Animal association. And 72% of French people (+5 points compared to 2019) are in favor of ending the exploitation of wild animals in circuses, according to the 2020 barometer – Fondation 30 Millions d'Amis / IFOP.
Will the exploitation of wild animals continue? The increasingly intense fights of associations will say it.