By Karen Davis, PhD, President of United Poultry Concerns
http://www.meetup.com/Vegan-Long-Island/events/120289862/
This past Sunday, June 9, United Poultry Concerns was pleased and privileged to participate in the Third Annual National Animal Rights Day in New York City
and in Santa Monica, California. Established in 2011 by the "Our Planet. Theirs Too" Foundation in New York City, National Animal Rights Day is set to
become an annual tradition in the United States.
The founders explain that “On this day, we remember, and give a voice to, the billions of animals who die by human hands in this country every year.
We mourn their loss, reiterate their rights to live happy and free, and celebrate their existence in our lives.”
In New York City’s Union Square, activists solemnly laid flowers before poster-size photographs of chickens and other animals in scenes depicting
their misery and abuse along with scenes expressing their beauty and joy. The Adagio for Strings, by American composer Samuel Barber, expressed the
sorrow of the occasion, while our happiness in being advocates for animals found expression in wonderful vegan food vendors and other celebratory
activities throughout the day.
I gave an emotional presentation in Union Square, and UPC Board Members Liqin Cao and Franklin Wade explained to the steady stream of people who visited
our exhibit table why being vegan is animal liberation and human liberation, and why this liberation is necessary for all of us.
In Santa Monica, participants bore witness to the billions of animals who suffer and die by human hands, by silently holding the bodies of birds and other
victims of human cruelty in a ceremony of grief for their suffering and death. UPC Correspondent Ronnie Steinau said, “ I couldn’t stop crying.”
Participants silently hold the bodies of birds and other animals
on National Animal Rights Day in Santa Monica, CA, June 9, 2013.
National Animal Rights Day founders have created a formal document titled The Declaration of Animal Rights.
For images of this historic Day for animals and animal rights, please see:
UPC President Karen Davis pleads passionately for chickens
on National Animal Rights Day in New York City, June 9, 2013.
