The association L214 (also known as L214 éthique et animaux) is a French law 1901 (non-profit) association for animal protection. It was founded in 2008 by the collective "Stop Gavage" for the abolition of foie gras, which now continues its actions within L214.
Contents
It is devoted to the welfare of the animals used to be consumed (meat, milk, eggs, and fish), putting into question the links between society and animals.
History
The name of the association comes from the article L214-1 of the French Rural Code in which animals are referred as "sensitive beings" for the first time in French law: “Any animal, as a sensitive being, must be placed by its owner in compatible conditions with the biological imperatives of its species ". L214 founders have "animal liberation" or "animals rights" opinions. Some have participated in the introduction of these ideas in France through the magazine Cahiers antispécistes.
Focus
L214 wants to document and cover the ordinary conditions of livestock farming, fishing, animals’ transportation and slaughter in order to "fuel public debate on animal welfare" The association leads information campaigns to change animal protection rules as well as consumption pattern. Investigation pictures and association experience are frequently used in reports about agribusiness in media.
Foie gras
In November 2013, an investigation led by L214 into force-feeding, in buildings of Ernest Soulard company, which supply starred restaurants and Parisian luxury hotels, is published. In light of the controversy, the chef Joël Robuchon, target of the association, suspends his supply from Ernest Soulard, "until there is proof that animals are not abused as in the broadcast video". Alain Ducasse, who was also the target of the L214 campaign, still takes supplies from Ernest Soulard, despite an online petition against him.
In February 2013, after repeated presence in front of retail chain Monoprix stores by L214 activists in many big cities of France, the retailer decided to stop their own brand using eggs from hen grown in battery cages from April 2013, using free-range eggs instead.
Novotel
In February 2010, after negotiations with L214 in the campaign surroundings of the association lead against Novotel, the hotel chain announced that eggs on their breakfast menu will come henceforth from outdoor reared hens.
Charal
In September 2008, L214 investigated Metz (Moselle) Charal slaughterhouse. This hidden camera investigation was led by an activist from the association hired by the firm Charal as a slaughterhouse worker. According to the association, two previous applications for visiting were refused, by an e-mail in which the Charal company declares having “made animal protection a central and specific part of their quality policy”. The filmed investigation shows bovine slaughter which “do not respect the operative regulation and lead to untenable death” according to the association. The Minister of Agriculture, Bruno Le Maire is “shocked” by the pictures showing animals seeming to recover consciousness before and during being bled. L214 make complaints against Charal Company on September 2009 about cruelty to animals. Charal wants L214 to remove the video from their websites, complains about violation of their site, and challenges charges by the association, denouncing "an assembly with false and partisan commentaries, whose only aim is to shock and make meat consumers guilty."