Gagged and blindfolded protesters transformed Church Square into an animal rights arena last Saturday 23 August.
Gagged and blindfolded protesters transformed Church Square into an animal rights arena last Saturday 23 August.
'We are all earthlings, our eyes are open to their pain’ reads a placard at the “Earthlings” protest that invited people to voice their disapproval of animal cruelty and exploitation. “For the sentient beings in our food and clothing chain – slavery and the Holocaust are far from over,” said Jenny Copley as she addressed a group of solemn protesters dressed in black.
Copley, who spearheaded the protest, is the founder of the Farm Animal Centre for Education (Face), an organisation that rescues abused and injured farm animals. She is also an animal activist and vegan.
The well-known Earthlings documentary was the premise for the protest. The film shows undercover footage of animal cruelty in food production, the entertainment and clothing industries and the abuse of animals for scientific research.
During the Church Square protest animal lovers read an Earthlings vigil. Each form of abuse was separated from the next with five minutes of silence, which allowed protesters to reflect on all the animals’ lives lost. Readers cried and held each other and were urged by Copley to make a pledge to “pass on the truth about animal cruelty”.
“I came today because I am seriously involved in animal rescue in Plettenberg Bay and Grahamstown,” said protester Emily-Rose Vale. “I used to focus my efforts on domestic animals but have only recently become aware of other avenues of cruelty.”
During the vigil activists spoke about how animals were trapped, mutilated and infected with disease, all in the name of scientific research. They said shampoos, cosmetics and tanning lotions, for example, are rubbed into animal eyes to detect flaws.
Copley urged protesters to shop ethically and to not support animal tested products.
She also urged protesters to adopt pets rather than purchase them, because breeders “contribute to the cycle of death and exploitation”.
