Kentish Express Ashford & District
Protesters hold slaughterhouse vigil
An animal rights group spent six hours protesting outside a Charing slaughterhouse on Tuesday.
Nearly 30 activists from Kent Animal Save arrived at Charing Meats at 12.30pm for the vigil and left just before 7pm.
Elizabeth Teall, 20, who organised the protest alongside her mum Julianne, said it was the first protest organised by the Kent branch.
She said: “The save movement is a peaceful movement and we are just there to show the animals a little bit of compassion before they go in.
“We show no aggression to workers or drivers, we were just there for the animals who came from market.
“But when we arrived we were told there were no lorries due to come in and we have it on good grounds that they were cancelled because we were there.
“So we didn’t bear witness to any animals, but our presence meant that no animals were killed and we call that a success.”
The group’s vigil was held on World Vegan Day alongside their counterparts including Cardiff Animal Save, Devon Animal Save and Liverpool Pig Save.
The group waved banners and placards with pictures of farm animals alongside messages such as “stop the killing” and “I didn’t want to die.”
Miss Teall added: “We just want to make people realise these animals are sentient beings. They are not moneymaking objects.
“They feel pain like we do, they react to pain like we do and they feel fear like we do.
“The vigil was a huge success. Thanks to everyone for all the support, we’re already planning the next one.”
Stephen Saunders, office manager at Charing Meats, said: “They came and told us a week ago what their plans were so we were aware.
“It didn’t really have an impact on our business and everything ran as usual.
“They are entitled to their views, same as everybody else.
“It’s the first time we’ve ever had animal rights protesters outside the business.
“We were keeping an eye on them but there was no trouble.
“We are just trying to go on following the rules in our own peaceful manner.”
For more information visit www.facebook.com/ KentAnimalSave