We may think of animal activists as protesting on the streets, filming inside farms, or roadblocking trucks. While these may be valuable ways of fighting for animals, they are not the only ways! There are so many other forms of activism, large and small, from volunteering at local sanctuaries right down to how we conduct ourselves in the conversations with family and friends. It’s all valuable and it’s all activism.
Before we continue, there is one incredibly valuable and powerfully effective form of activism: being vegan. By removing all animal products from our life, we are minimizing animal suffering and protecting the planet as far as we possibly can. So, if you’re not vegan yet and are thinking about how you can help animals, we suggest you start there, and we’d be happy to help!
Volunteer at Farm Sanctuaries and Shelters
Animal sanctuaries and shelters are a lifeline for abused, neglected, and forgotten animals. They have to exist because of industries like animal farming, the pet industry, and animal experimentation which routinely harm animals. Sanctuaries need our help to keep doing their amazing work.
Volunteering just a few hours a week at your local animal sanctuary could mean the difference between them being able to house another neglected animal or not. It could be the difference between them closing their doors or staying open. Many sanctuaries survive day by day and if more of us give our time, it would be easier for them to do their essential work for animals.
We hope that one day there will be no need for animal sanctuaries because humans will stop unnecessarily breeding and exploiting animals for our own gain. Until then, they are a vital lifeline for the animals lucky enough to be rescued from a life of suffering.
Support Local Businesses Offering Vegan Options
It is wonderful to support 100% vegan businesses. They are pioneers in their field and often are involved in campaigning, too. But it’s also important to support non-vegan businesses that offer good vegan options. After all, our mission is to help more animals and we can only do that by widening our net. By creating a demand for vegan options within mainstream outlets, we are encouraging businesses to stock more and those readily available options showcase vegan foods to non-vegan people.
A great suggestion for local businesses is that they go ‘vegan by default’ with their offerings. Usually, meat, eggs, and dairy form the bulk of the meals, with vegan options added on. Instead, we encourage businesses to make the meals plant-based with animal products added as an extra choice. By switching this format, we can increase vegan offerings, and encourage customers to consider their everyday habits and choices through trying plant-based foods. Plus, the restaurant benefits from having a lower-carbon footprint and often lower production costs, too. It’s a win-win-win.
If you’re a proper foodie, engaging with restaurants on how they can incorporate new vegan options onto their menu is another awesome way to help animals. If they have vegan options already, it’s likely they will enjoy hearing suggestions from their vegan customers, and you get to be a part of shaping your local restaurant’s dishes. Always remember to do this in a way that is supportive—they are likely to be much more receptive this way!
Support Legislation
It’s not often that legislation designed to help animals reaches lawmakers. In fact, farmed animals are often forgotten in politics and talked about only in economic or food-production terms, rather than as the individual sentient beings that they are. And even when laws are passed, they tend to be incremental gains because industry lobbyists work hard to water them down. The truth is, there have been few truly significant advancements for farmed animals in recent years all around the world— including in the UK and USA— millions of animals still suffer in cages, crates, concrete pens, and sheds or have tubes forced down their throat, their tails cut off, and their babies taken from them to be killed. There is a lot of work for us still to do.
So, when legislation regarding improvements in animal welfare or the banning of cruel practices is tabled or even proposed, we need every possible voice supporting it. Without the voices of passionate animal activists, barbaric bull fighting would still be legal in Catalonia. Instead, 180,000 people publicly showed their support for the ban and convinced lawmakers that continuing the practice was not an option. If it wasn’t for British activists, fox, deer, and hare hunting would still be legal and animals would still be exported live for slaughter. In the US, the trade in shark fins would have remained legal if animal activists had not campaigned for its end.
Here are some current petitions and campaigns you can lend your voice to:
- Banning gas chambers for pigs in Australia (and other barbaric farming practices) – Farm Transparency
- End factory farming for good – Compassion in World Farming
- Ban cruel farrowing crates in the UK – Humane Society International
- Stop the EU banning veggie ‘burgers’ – ProVeg
- And there are many more petitions at 38 Degrees and other petition sites.
Subscribe to GenV’s newsletter and Farm Sanctuary’s email list for updates and keep an eye on social media platforms like Plant Based News, and GenV for info on new legislation, petitions, campaigns, and more.
Adopt, Don’t Shop
Please never buy companion animals. Behind the sale of cute baby animals is a highly unethical industry forcing animals to breed over and over again, often in appalling conditions. Mothers may be caged their whole lives and their babies removed at far too young an age for them to be healthy and happy. Plus, physically damaging traits are bred into animals to make them look a certain way, and this can set them up for a lifetime of suffering. And, doesn’t the buying and selling of living beings leave a bad taste in the mouth? How can we trade in other beings’ lives?
Already, there are countless neglected and abandoned animals who need a home. There are fads and fashions which drive the pet trade and too often this leads to wholesale abandonment when the reality of caring for an animal sets in. As an animal activist, it’s important we don’t contribute to this cycle, and instead are part of the rescue effort. By adopting from a shelter, you can directly change the fortunes of an animal in desperate need, and that’s a beautiful thing! Animals do not owe us companionship but still they reward us with lifelong loyalty and friendship.
Just remember if you are adopting a dog or a cat, and plan to feed them a vegan diet, do consider their needs and take the necessary steps to ensure they are healthy.
Share Delicious Vegan Food with Everyone You Can
This one is fun for everyone. Delicious food has the power to bring people together, to put smiles on faces, and to save the lives of animals. A delicious vegan meal can prove that compassion doesn’t need to mean sacrifice. If eaten at the right moment, with the right people around them, it can even change the course of someone’s life by turning them vegan. Many people in the vegan community can point to the first vegan meal that really showed them it was possible to love food just as much as before… and probably more! By doing our best to create these kinds of moments for non-vegans, we are increasing the chances they will make more ethical choices and go on to save the lives of hundreds of animals.
Vegan potlucks are an amazing way of getting everyone involved, just remember to invite any non-vegans you know and help them with easy recipes if they are stuck for ideas.
Films for a Better World
A film night—with added vegan food—is another excellent way of engaging with people. It can be small-scale with friends coming to your house, or you can put on an event at a local community center or movie theater. There are so many films, exploring health, animal rights, social justice movements, ocean protection, and the environment. OKJA is a favorite as it packs a punch with its powerful vegan message without being too intense for non-vegans.
Be Open and Non-Judgemental
As hard as this can be, especially when faced with ignorance or even insults, it is incredibly important to come across as open and non-judgemental when discussing issues with non-vegans. People who feel judged are much less likely to change their opinion or even consider yours. Of course, it’s not always easy. Many vegans quite rightly feel very passionate about animal activism and find it hard when others seem to ignore the realities in front of them. However, most of us were once in the same position and may have also been resistant to change.
It is good to be reminded that so much of the ignorance around farmed animals and food comes from marketing and deliberate industry misinformation. That coupled with long-held family and cultural traditions and religious beliefs can create a significant barrier to change. Just because we have been able to see through the industry’s campaigns and have found ways to incorporate our own traditions and beliefs into our new dietary choices, we must be aware that this is quite a journey. It starts with someone planting a seed and showing support and encouragement.
Go Vegan!
We’ll say it once more… going vegan is by far the most effective thing we can do for animals. If you can do just one thing, we’d say start there! One of our 7- or 30-day courses could help get you started.
Conclusion
There are so many things we can do to show our support for animals and to lend them our voices. The most profound one is to remove our support from the industries that deliberately harm them. We recommend starting on your plate and going from there.
Finally, as we join campaigns to end the suffering of animals, it’s important that we look after ourselves. Being an activist can be incredibly rewarding but it can also be emotionally challenging. Surround yourself with like-minded people, either in person or online, and make sure you take time for yourself too. Spending time with rescued animals can be the very best comfort of all.
