Vegan Outreach
Voice for Animals regularly looks for opportunities to do education and outreach.
You can find us at community events, fair and Edmonton's annual Vegfest put on by the Vegans and Vegetarians of Alberta. We will be there handing out information and will answering any questions you have about veganism, going vegan yourself or becoming an activist in your community.
If you would like to join Voice for animals at events and help us spread the word about veganism, it's impact on animals, the environent and health please contact us at info@v4a.org and join us. If you are new to living vegan or are not sure you're ready to talk to people, we will be happy to let you observe and listen and support you every step of the way.
There are also other groups who are active in Edmpnton and elsewhere in Alberta and worldwide that we can suggest you join.
Another fun way we do outreach is by 'chalktivism'. All you need is sidewalk chalk, a dry day and then let your creativity shine!
An example of letter writing activism you can do! Copy, paste and send.
V4A Voices Opposition to Porkapalooza
Porkapalooza is a promotional event put on by Alberta Pork. This BBQ festival is clearly an attempt to encourage meat consumption, in particular pork. What remains well hidden is the suffering these animals endure; suffering that has been well documented by undercover investigations and videos.
Porkapalooza is a charitable organization with proceeds from the festival going to several chosen charities. Considering the cruelty inflicted on the pigs, V4A is asking that these charities refuse to accept money from this event. We feel it is unethical to help some from the profits of the suffering of others.
Please feel free to copy and paste this letter into an email to the Porkapalooza sponsors helping to make this event possible.
Voice for Animals Society
P.O. Box 68119, 162 Bonnie Doon Mall, Edmonton, AB T6C 4N6
P: 780-490-0905 E: info@v4a.org www.v4a.org
Date:
Dear Sir/Ms ;
It has come to my attention that your organization is one of the sponsors of the Porkapalooza event being held in Edmonton on ____________________. This event is being hosted by the Alberta Pork Producers and represents the animal agriculture industry which has recently and increasingly come under government and public scrutiny for animal welfare and abuse concerns. The pig meat industry is second only to the beef industry in terms of the environmental harm it does as well.
The pork industry has many inherently cruel practices that are considered “industry standards” that you may not be aware of. Female pigs are forcibly impregnated and then kept in gestation crates, cages barely bigger than their bodies, in which they can only lie down or stand up with difficulty. There is not even space enough to turn around, and they lie in their own feces and urine. These intelligent animals go mad in these cages; they chew on the metal bars, injure their feet and legs in them, end up with pressure sores and languish, depressed, until their babies are born.
A few days before giving birth, these mothers are moved to farrowing crates which are similar to the gestation crates but with an attached crate from which their piglets can nurse. Again, they can not even turn around and are denied all normal and natural behaviours and interaction with their babies.
The babies are subjected to invasive and painful procedures, all done without anaesthesia when they are only two weeks old. These infants have their teeth clipped off, their tails cut off and their testicles removed. Weak piglets are killed by workers smashing them head first onto the concrete floor, by workers stomping on them, by workers leaving them to slowly die on the “dead pile”.
When the piglets are taken from them after approximately four weeks, the mothers are impregnated again. They will spend their whole lives like this, until their bodies give out and they are sent to slaughter.
Pigs who are raised for food are crammed into large barns and kept in such crowded conditions that one sees wall-to-wall bodies in these facilities. The air is acrid and barely breathable due to the high concentration of methane and ammonia. The vast majority of these pigs will never see the outdoors. When they are still youngsters, between 10 months and 1.5 years old, they are loaded ionto trucks that will take them to slaughter. By Canadian regulations, they are allowed to be without food or water and rest for 36 hours. Many succumb to heat prostration or cold and arrive at the slaughterhouse already dead after a miserably short life and terrifying transport.
Animals have finely developed senses. At the slaughterhouse, the smell of blood and death, the sounds of others suffering must be terrifying. Pigs are routinely hit, kicked and electroshocked. They also have heavy streams of water sprayed in their faces to make them move towards their death, even when they are sick or gravely injured.
Undercover video evidence on the internet, television news and documentary programs, such as W5, have all exposed the cruelty in the meat industry. It takes only a short online search to confirm what I have described above. Mercy for Animals, PETA, various Pig Save groups and many other organizations have documented the suffering. The animal agriculture industry is trying very hard to keep the shocking, sickening and sad truth away from consumers but, with the internet, the truth is increasingly becoming common knowledge.
Do you have ethical guidelines to help decision-makers decide which events to sponsor?
Is this the kind of cruelty you want your organization and brand to support and be associated with?
Science very clearly shows that animals are not merely “things” that operate solely on instinct. They have a sense of themselves, are good mothers, have families and often bond for life. They enjoy simple pleasures, feel pain and fear, suffer and value their lives, just like us.
Please include animals in your circle of kindness and be ahead of the growing trend of plant-based, compassionate, sustainable eating.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
(add your name and address here)