Animal rights tips
How you can stand up against animal abuse.
Have you ever munched on a piece of meat for your dinner and been slightly worried about where it came from or how it was killed? Have you ever felt slight dread at your town’s St. Stephen’s Day Hunt and secretly hoped that no hares would be caught and mauled to death? Have you been unfortunate enough to sit behind a cattle van in traffic and feel slight dread at the thought of the slaughter house they were inevitably heading to? Did you ever go to the circus as a child and you just thought: ‘something here isn’t right’? If these scenarios make you go YES! Then you might like to use your power to make change in the name of Animal Rights.
Often people ask, “Why bother with Animal Rights when there are more important Human Rights being violated?” But think about it: there is nothing stopping you doing both! Reducing harm to animals is an easy thing to do. Time spent finding reasons against not supporting the cause of rights human or non-human is time wasted that could otherwise be used for standing up for the voiceless in our society.
You can use your personal spending power and buy products that are cruelty-free:
- Go Cruelty Free for information on shopping cruelty free
- When buying cosmetics and household products keep an eye out for anything labelled “not tested on animals”
Buying cruelty free is the only way to ensure that your products have not been labelled safe for you by way of painful experiments on hundreds of thousands of animals including dogs, rabbits, pigs, mice, rats, fish and birds. Every cruelty free product bought sends out the message that we consumers want our products free from animal testing.
Go vegetarian or vegan:
- With so many ideas and recipes online for free you can make sure being cruelty free is a totally yummy experience. As a veggie you will also be making a contribution to fighting climate change as those pesky cows produce a lot of methane gas that is literally heating up the globe!
- If you don’t fancy a life without Sunday roasts you could think about cutting down on your meat consumption. Health-wise, cutting consumption has the benefits of reducing in the incidence of cardiovascular disease, some forms of cancer, and animal-borne infections and reduces the amount of animals going to slaughter-supply must meet demand!
If you think that being vegetarian/vegan will stop you from being physically strong, you might find that nine-time Olympic Gold Medalist, Karl Lewis, has something to say about that! Speaking about a vegan diet he commented, “My best year of track competition was the first year I ate a vegan diet.” Like any diet, being veggie must be correctly balanced to keep you in tip-top health. The Irish Vegetarian Society produce a cheap as chips magazine widely available in health shops, filled to the brim with delicious recipes that are easy and inexpensive to make. Check it out!
Get active by joining an Animal Rights Group:
Speak out against animal cruelty and meet new like-minded people in the process! Animal Rights Action Network (ARAN) is Ireland’s most prolific Animal Rights group, working nationally to speak up for animals and stop the cruelty. You can get involved in regular demonstrations, letter writing campaigns and protests reaching thousands of people on issues such as circus cruelty, ending bloodsports, fur farms and unnecessary scientific experiments. ARAN’s signature is eye-catching and creative campaigns that never fail to catch the eyes of the national media. Don’t doubt people power: Ireland’s animal welfare laws are seriously outdated but slowly change is taking place. This year the Minister for the Environment Minister John Gormley announced a phasing out of fur farming within three years. Thanks to Irish citizens putting the pressure on our politicians in demanding change, animals such as foxes and minks will no longer be inhumanely killed for their skins. When it comes to change every little bit of action helps animals in need of your support.
More broadly, showing your support for animals is a way of fighting the widespread needless exploitation of the vulnerable and voiceless in our world. By standing up for Animal Rights you are encouraging a step towards a more humane and inclusive society. You are communicating a message of respect of life regardless of its ‘status’. You are acknowledging that the birds nesting in the trees in your garden, the cows watching you as you walk by all want to live their lives just like us. And they should not be used by us just because they are there and are useful. Use your power to help animals and help make Ireland cruelty free!
By: Annette Carter
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