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Onlookers React to the 2019 Animal Liberation March

June 6, 2019 by Leave a Comment


The News

On June 1st, over 1,000 activists took to the streets of San Francisco to participate in the second annual Animal Liberation March. Viewed by thousands of people around the world on Facebook livestreams, the march sent onlookers a message that animals exist for their own purposes and should not be exploited for food, clothing, entertainment or experimentation.

Over 1,000 animal liberation activists took to the streets of San Francisco to participate in Direct Action Everywhere’s Second Annual Animal Liberation March

Along the parade route, TheirTurn spoke to onlookers to get their reactions:

The Animal Liberation March was one of several mass demonstrations organized by the grassroots animal rights group Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) as part of its annual Animal Liberation Conference in Berkeley, California.


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Activists Rescue Animals From NYC Slaughterhouse

January 13, 2019 by Leave a Comment


The News

While participating in live market vigils in Brooklyn, several animal rights activists rescued chickens and a rabbit who were on the verge of being slaughtered. 

“The law treats these animals as though they are inanimate objects, but we know that they are feeling individuals who want to live,” said Katerina Travazzo, an organizer with Brooklyn-Queens Animal Save. “Each of us has an ethical obligation to bear witness to their suffering and, whenever possible, rescue them from the needless violence and death that has been normalized by society.”

A sheep about to be slaughtered at a live market in Brooklyn, New York

“People can bury their heads in the sand and pretend that nothing is going to change, but the reality and the statistics show that it is changing all around us,” said Earthling Ed, a London-based animal rights campaigner giving talks in the United States.  “We can either stand on the right side of history or the wrong side.” 

Journalist Jane Velez-Mitchell interviews Earthling Ed during slaughterhouse vigils in Brooklyn

While bearing witness to the chickens, rabbits, sheep and other animals who would soon be slaughtered, activists conducted vegan outreach with the slaughterhouse employees, offering them dairy-free ice cream sandwiches on a hot summer day. 

Katerina Travazzo, an organizer with Brooklyn-Queens Animal Save, convinces a slaughterhouse worker to sample a dairy-free ice cream sandwich

The rescued animals were taken to sanctuaries in Upstate New York to be rehabilitated and live out the remainder of their lives in peace. 

Activists rescued this rabbit from NYC slaughterhouse and brought him to a sanctuary


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The 2018 Animal Liberation March in San Francisco

June 9, 2018 by Leave a Comment


The News

An estimated 1,200 animal rights activists took to the streets of San Francisco to participate in a dramatic march for animal liberation. Organizers made planned stops at Sephora, Uggs and Burger King to draw attention to the cruelty of animals in the cosmetics, clothing and food industries.  They also staged a mass die-in to draw attention to the plight of elephants and other animals exploited in the entertainment industry. TheirTurn spoke to  onlookers along the parade route to get their reactions:

Organized by the global animal rights network Direct Action Everywhere (DxE), the march was one of several high profile actions staged during the organization’s one-week Animal Liberation Conference, which was held in the nearby city of Berkeley. After the march, DxE staged a rally in Union Square featuring renowned activists James Aspey; Natasha from That Vegan Couple and Wayne Hsiung, co-founder of Direct Action Everywhere.

2018 Animal Liberation March hosted by the animal liberation network, Direct Action Everywhere (DxE)

The march was organized by the global animal rights network Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) and was one of several high profile actions staged during the organization’s one-week Animal Liberation Conference, which was held in the nearby city of Berkeley.


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In Daring Public Action, Animal Rights Activists Liberate Innocent Death Row Prisoners

May 13, 2015 by Leave a Comment


The News

On May 8th, animal rights activists in Dublin, Ireland, liberated nine lobsters from a Chinese restaurant and released them into their natural habitat, giving them the chance to live and generating widespread media attention about the cruelty of boiling live animals.

Animal rights activists scoop lobsters out of small tank in Dublin restaurant

Animal rights activists scoop lobsters out of small tank in Dublin restaurant

Activists remove rubber bands from lobster claws before releasing them into the sea. (photo: NARA)

Activists remove rubber bands from lobster claws before releasing them into the sea. (photo: NARA)

In an interview with BBC, the founder of the National Animal Rights Association (NARA), Laura Broxson, said that the activists were motivated by compassion in what was a “life or death” situation for the lobsters: “They were free and had the chance to live, rather than facing certain death by being boiled alive.”

By intentionally revealing their faces while filming the liberation (“Open Rescue”), the participants could face legal consequences, a risk that some activists take in order to show the public that they are regular, relatable people, not the mask-wearing “terrorists” portrayed in the media. The real terrorists, they argue, are those who exploit and kill animals, not those who rescue them from egregious abuse and imminent death.

In January, activists with London Vegan Actions used a different approach to advocate for lobsters – staging a loud disruption on their behalf inside of a restaurant that serves them at multiple locations. Using a megaphone, they chanted, “If you want to get some peace, make the lobster torture cease.” After being aggressively ejected from the restaurant by staff, the activists continued to chant through the bullhorn at the restaurant’s entrance.

In the United States alone, more than 20 million lobsters are consumed each year. The unthinkable end of lobsters’ lives – being boiled or torn apart while still alive – often overshadows the horrific journey they take from the ocean to the kitchen. After being caught in traps and dragged out of their homes onto boats, lobsters are transferred into restaurant or grocery store tanks where they suffer from hunger, low oxygen level, stress, confinement and overcrowding. Scientists have proven that lobsters suffer.

lobster cartoon

Rina Deych, a New York City-based activist who has spoken out against home delivery of live lobsters said, “We are quick to demonize people in other cultures for boiling puppies and kittens alive, yet in our society, people think nothing of dropping a sentient creature of another species into a pot of boiling water.”

In 2008, an Australian apparel company called Just Jeans produced a provocative commercial in which customers in Chinese restaurant make a spur of the moment decision to empty the lobster tank and release the animals into the ocean.

The Dublin liberation was conducted by the National Animal Rights Association, Direct Action for Animals and The Alliance for Animal Rights.


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Raw Footage: Activists Liberate 80 Foxes in Dead of Night

October 23, 2014 by Leave a Comment


The News

In September, animal rights activists liberated 80 foxes from their small, wire cages at a fur farm in Poland. After, they issued the following statement: “The animals have escaped a cruel death, which inevitably would have awaited them at the hands of the farmer. Take matters into your own hands!”

On fur farms, animals are held captive in small cages, where they go insane from immobility, boredom and the inability to do anything that comes naturally to them.

fur farm

Life in a wire mesh cage

And, after a life of utter misery, they are gassed, anally electrocuted or skinned alive.

Wild animals captured for fur are caught in steel leg hold traps, medieval torture devices that hold them hostage until they die or are collected by the trapper.

Steel leg hold trap

Steel leg hold trap

Given the extreme cruelty to which fur-bearing animals are subjected, it’s no wonder why activists around the world sacrifice their freedom and safety to liberate them and why so many rejoice when an animal trapper gets caught in his own trap:

Your Turn

Please sign the Change.org petition to ban fur farming in the European Union.


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