National Animal Rights Day honored with mass farm animal funeral
While most people are comfortable buying skinned and plucked flesh wrapped in plastic from a grocery store meat department, the sight of a person standing around in public holding an intact dead chicken or goat is much more startling. That’s the strategy for the twelfth annual National Animal Rights Day (NARD), which will be commemorated this Sunday, June 5.
More than 110 cities in 55 countries are planning a protest event against the killing of animals. From Rome to Tehran and Los Angeles to Tokyo, black-clad participants, some of them holding dead farm animals, will shock passers-by. As the press release states, the event will include a mass funeral service for the billions of animals killed this past year by human hands, with some of the actual victims present.
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The nonprofit Our Planet. Theirs Too. established NARD in 2011. The day falls on the first Sunday in June. In addition to the obvious effect that eating and otherwise exploiting animals has on the creatures themselves, the event will highlight the devastating effects on the planet and on human health.
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“If these animals could freely talk, their cries would come from every farm, slaughterhouse, meat market, testing lab, breeding factory, fishing pond, hunting ground, circus, zoo, religious temple, pet store, city shelter, restaurant, and dinner table in every home on every street,” says the official NARD statement. “These individual beings, who have a soul, a unique character and a will to live, are just like us: they come in all shapes, colors and sizes. Some of them have feathers, some of them have fur, some of them have paws and some have tiny little legs. But they all share the very same thing we have in common too: they have the right to live. With their offspring and families. Happy and free.”
The Los Angeles event will take place at Beverly Gardens Park. Organizers ask participants to wear an official NARD ceremony shirt with black pants or skirt. After the somber ceremony, people will share a vegan lunch and listen to speakers and performers. A surprise celebrity or two are likely to show up. Is there a NARD event in your city? Check the list here.
Via NARD