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ANIMAL

Rhinoceros head stolen from French museum

Thieves stole a rhinoceros head from a museum in France, the latest in a string of raids thought to be fuelled by an international trade, police and museum sources said on Monday.

Published: 12 July 2011 10:25 CEST
Rhinoceros head stolen from French museum
Martin Walls

Staff at the natural history museum in Blois, 160 kilometres southwest of Paris, discovered the exhibit was missing on Saturday morning following a break-in.

The head, weighing about 100 kilogrammes and dating back to the 19th century, had been dragged along the floor.

Museum curator Jean-Louis Pointal said it was the latest in a string of rhinoceros head thefts in recent months.

Thieves hit Rouen, France, in March, Liege in Belgium in June and the Belgian capital Brussels last week.

Rhinoceros horn is prized in China where it is said to have aphrodisiac properties.

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ANIMAL

Paris authorities to shut down bird market over cruelty concerns

The Paris city council on Wednesday agreed to shut down a live bird market operating in the historic centre close to Notre Dame cathedral, responding to rights activists who called it a cruel and archaic operation.

Published: 4 February 2021 11:37 CET
Paris authorities to shut down bird market over cruelty concerns
Photo: AFP

The bird market on Louis Lepine square in the centre of the French capital has long been a fixture in Paris, operating close to the famous flower market.

But Christophe Najdovski, Paris' deputy mayor in charge of animal welfare, said that the market was a centre for bird trafficking in France while conditions for the birds were not acceptable.

“This is why we are committed to changing the regulations to ban the sale of birds and other animals,” he said.

The closure had been urged by activists from the Paris Animals Zoopolis collective who had called the practice of showing the caged birds “cruel and archaic”.

France and Paris have in the last months adopted a series of measures aiming to show they are at the forefront of efforts to protect animal welfare.

The government said in September it planned to “gradually” ban mink farms as well the use of wild animals in travelling circuses and dolphins and orcas in theme parks.

Parc Asterix, which normally has some two million visitors a year, announced last month it would close its dolphin and sea lion aquarium.

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