The RSPCA: What’s not to like? Well, as I found in my time as an RSPCA branch trustee, quite a lot of people find quite a lot of things not to like about the world’s oldest and largest animal welfare charity. On the one hand, the RSPCA does great work in terms of pet and wildlife welfare. It states: “Everything we do is focused on achieving our vision to live in a world where all animals are respected and treated with compassion”. In 2020, the RSPCA investigated over 57,000 complaints of animal cruelty. However, there is a major disconnect between its goals and its stance on meat and dairy. I often had to defend my involvement with the RSPCA (the[…]
The Marine Stewardship Council: A flawed sheen of respectability for an industry in denial
When faced with a crisis, making something slightly less bad won’t cut it. There’s making a real difference and then there’s green-wash. The UK-based Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) falls firmly into the latter category. So what’s wrong?
Protestors block London’s last slaughterhouse to demand community gardens
Animal Rebellion campaigners are calling for an end to the last slaughterhouse in London in a protest against climate change and animal suffering. Early this morning, Gardens Not Slaughterhouses campaigners blocked the trucks coming out of the Kedassia chicken slaughterhouse in East London, disrupting its operations. The protestors have climbed an empty truck, preventing it from leaving. Those involved said that they waited for the chickens to be taken inside before blockading the entrance so as to not prolong their suffering, but are now disrupting the operations of Kedassia slaughterhouse. Miranda Whelan, a spokesperson for Animal Rebellion, said “We need to build a just and sustainable future by replacing slaughterhouses, which kill gentle and intelligent animals and damage the environment,[…]
There’s no denying it – Meat & Dairy = Climate Crisis. We are facing a global catastrophe, the likes of which we have never experienced before. All life on earth is threatened but we still have the chance to transform our society and address the climate crisis by transitioning to a plant-based food system and ending all destructive industries.
Yet, there are organisations that, while claiming to protect the planet and respect all animals, are in fact propping up the very system that destroys our environment, kills billions of farmed animals and causes the deaths of unimaginable numbers of wild-living animals.
MSC – Stop Certifying Destruction
On the 21st March 2022, we took action at the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) to demand that they stop certifying the fishing industry and support a just transition to sustainable industries. We used red paint to symbolise the blood being spilled in our oceans which is supported and condoned by the MSC as they share a message of conservation with one hand while quietly accepting the cheques of super-trawlers and industrial fishing fleets with the other. This action was just the beginning. We are fed up with organisations that refuse to listen to the science that makes it clear that the only just and sustainable system is a fully plant-based one.
RSPCA – ALL Animals Deserve Respect
The day after our action at MSC we delivered a letter to the CEO of the RSPCA requesting a meeting and demanding that they make a commitment we can believe in to support the transition to a fully plant-based food system.
The RSPCA’s mission is: ‘A world where all animals are respected and treated with kindness and compassion.’ Yet, they actively support the meat and dairy industry by refusing to call for a transition to a fully plant-based food system. We ask the RSPCA how they can justify caring for dogs and cats while supporting the slaughter of the millions of farmed animals who are killed for food every year in the UK alone. Additionally, we ask the RSPCA how they can claim to care for and respect wild animals when they condone an industry that is one of the leading causes of the climate crisis.
The threat to our planet is bleak. We have already seen thousands of humans and animals affected by extreme weather including droughts, floods, heatwaves and forest fires. Animal Agriculture is a leading cause, responsible for at least 18-23% of greenhouse gas emissions, 70% of agricultural emissions and 80% of Amazon deforestation . How can the RSPCA claim to protect animals while it dooms some to a catastrophic future by signing off on the killing of others?
We are asking the RSPCA to fulfil their mission statement and support a future where ALL animals are respected and treated with kindness and compassion. This future must be a plant-based future.
We will keep taking action until we see a food system that centres climate, animal and human justice, rather than unsustainable growth.
After delivering the letter we were promised a meeting from a member of the RSPCAs comms team. Watch this space for what happens next.
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Animal Rebellion paints the Marine Stewardship Council red to demand the end of fishing
Four people have sprayed the headquarters of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) blood red, to call on the organisation to stop certifying the fishing industry and support a just transition to sustainable industries. Protestors from the non-violent direct action group Animal Rebellion used modified fire extinguishers to spray the building red, before sitting down in the paint holding placards reading Protect the Seas – End Fishing and MSC – Stop Certifying Destruction. Orla Coghlan, a spokesperson for the organisation who attended the action today, said: “Evidence has shown that our oceans could be empty as soon as 2048 because of fishing. The MSC has a responsibility in their claims to be sustainable. They have a duty to revive the ocean[…]
Doubt and Lies: the tactics of a struggling meat and dairy industry and why we won’t fall for them
Imagine you’re working for a community organisation. There’s been a problem for many years with people going hungry and an unequal distribution of food. You’ve hired someone to fix it and given them one year to turn things around and develop a plan to feed the community while having a positive impact on the environment. The year comes to an end and, reviewing their work, you find that, far from supporting the community, their solution is fragile, unstable and is having a devastating effect on the local environment. When questioned, their response is that all the reviews are wrong, their system is the only possible system and that’s that. Do you think you’d rehire this person? It’s a pretty obvious[…]
Industrial farming: Fighting for its survival
The meat, dairy and fish industries are fighting an ever more vitriolic and unpleasant but losing battle for survival. Those that speak out against them are attacked from all sides, as a Spanish politician recently discovered.
Animal Rebellion supports those taking the UK government to court today over factory farming
ctivists, experts and a renowned human rights lawyer are in court today in London seeking an end to factory farming in the UK. Animal Rebellion stands with them and congratulates them on their unprecedented and urgent action.
Joining the dots between the climate crisis and a plant-based food-system
Animal Rebellion is all about joining the dots between the climate emergency and the urgent need to transition to a plant-based future. We can’t have the first without the second. For many of us, this is obvious – the evidence is clear. However, why do so many organisations and people still fail to make the connection?
2022: Some New Year’s Resolutions For a Plant-Based Future
It’s that time where we all think about what we want to do and be in the coming year. With that in mind, here are some various resolutions for a plant-based future … Well 2021 was a wild year, with blockades, beacons, and lock-ons aplenty! More can be read about those here or seen here. Animal Rebellion did a fantastic job in showing McDonalds, Arla (The UK’s biggest dairy producer,) and even the British government where they’re going wrong! With that in mind we wanted to invite the meat, dairy, and fishing industries to make some resolutions of their own to secure a just and sustainable plant-based future! Let’s start it off nice and simple shall we? McDonald’s and Arla,[…]