Animal rights campaigners hold caged protest
CAMPAIGNERS imprisoned themselves inside cramped metal cages in a dramatic protest against animal confinement.
Animal Rebellion and Bristol Animal Save staged the protest in Broadmead on Saturday, attracting curious looks as shoppers passed by.
Two activists climbed into small cages and crouched in the space for two hours, to illustrate the conditions many animals endure on farms.
Katie Ryder, Bristol coordinator
for Animal Rebellion, said: “It was a great visual representation and people responded really well - I think especially as people have been confined within lockdown. Lots of people were interested, taking pictures and asking questions.”
The protest started at 1pm and encouraged people to confront the realities of the farming industry.
A joint statement released by the protesters read: “Farmed animals spend their entire lifetime confined to cramped, painful, stressful and unsanitary conditions. Even so-called ‘free range’ or ‘organically’ farmed animals may be caged or housed in extreme confinement. “Animals are sentient beings. “Farmed animals cannot speak out, so we will.”
Activists also highlighted their concerns about farmed animals and human pandemics, noting how Covid-19 is thought to have originated from an animal source, most likely a bat. Their statement said the cause of the virus “lies squarely at the feet of animal agriculture and exploitation”.
Other major outbreaks including bird flu, swine flu and foot and mouth disease were the result of animal-human transmission.
Animal Rebellion, which is affiliated to climate group Extinction Rebellion, is lobbying for government action to promote a plant-based diet. Bristol Animal Save holds vigils at slaughterhouses to ‘bear witness’ to animals in their final moments.