TheBulletin.ca Journal of Downtown Toronto
On Oct. 2, local animal rights activists, along with U.S.-based nonprofit Farm Animal Rights Movement (FARM), will hold a 12-hour protest at the Maple Leaf Poultry slaughterhouse to protest the brutalization and killing of animals. The protest is part of World Day for Farmed Animals, a coordinated, targeted series of demonstrations at slaughterhouses and other animal agriculture facilities around the world to oppose the abuses inherent in animal agriculture.
Dozens of activists will peacefully gather at 7:00 a.m. at 100 Ethel Street, Toronto to inform the public about the tragedy happening just inside.
“This protest memorializes and speaks out for animals who are brutally killed at this slaughterhouse,” said organizer Anita Krajnc, a local resident and activist. “On World Day for Farmed Animals, we intend to tell the public that all animals raised for food face a gruesome slaughter and deserve our respect.”
In addition to Toronto, protests will be held in more than 100 North American locations including Washington, DC at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s building, and at slaughterhouses in Vancouver, Los Angeles, DC, Chicago, NYC, and several other cities. Activists have committed to distribute educational literature to over 300,000 people, plus demonstrations are scheduled in several other countries, including Canada, England, Spain, Vietnam, India, and Israel.
Most farmed animals are starved for hours, even days, as they are being transported to slaughter. In remembrance and solidarity with their tremendous suffering, organizers have also promoted October 2 as a day to “Fast Against Slaughter,” with tens of thousands across the globe pledging to abstain from eating for the day.
“There are 65 billion farmed land animals killed for food every year, who are confined, mutilated, and bred to grow so large, so quickly, that many of them literally suffer to death,” said Michael Webermann, FARM executive director. “Each year, World Day for Farmed Animals seeks to expose the public to the shocking truth of animal agribusiness, and companies like [target] must be held accountable.”
This year marks the 31st year World Day for Farmed Animals has been observed. The international day of action typically includes vigils, marches, and demonstrations, and takes place each year on or around October 2 in conjunction with the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, an outspoken advocate of non-violence towards animals who undertook 20 political fasts in his lifetime.
“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way in which its animals are treated,” Gandhi famously said. For more information please visit www.DayForAnimals.org.
About FARM
Farm Animal Rights Movement (FARM) is a 501(c)(3) national nonprofit organization working to end the use of animals for food through public education and grassroots activism. FARM believes in the inherent self-worth of animals, as well as environmental protection and enhanced public health. The organization is based in Bethesda, Md., and works through a volunteer network in all 50 U.S. states and two dozen other countries. For more than 30 years, as FARM has grown, so has public awareness of farmed animal abuse and the benefits of veganism. For more information please visit http://www.farmusa.org.
