A WARRINGTON vegan activist is taking part in a five-day fast against animal slaughter next week.
Jake Jordan will join Andrew Garner from Manchester to raise awareness about animal death and suffering in slaughterhouses. They will also be raising awareness of Manchester Pig Save, an organisation that comforts animals before they enter Tulip Meats slaughterhouse in Ashton-under-Lyne.
The vow is part of Fast Against Slaughter which is an annual event held on October 2 that sees thousands of people around the world take part in a day-long fast in solidarity with farmed animals.
Animals can be starved for hours, even days, as they are being transported to slaughter and by fasting from 2-6 October, the pair are hoping to send a powerful message to society that animals are not property.
Andrew, 26, said: “By fasting for five days straight, we are demanding an end of all slaughter at Tulip Meats and around the world by encouraging consumers to adopt a vegan lifestyle.
“We will be hungry, weak and uncomfortable but it is nothing compared to what the animals go through when they experience hunger and thirst on their way to slaughter.
“If more people came to our events and saw the pigs before they are killed, they would see how beautiful and smart those animals are; they don’t deserve to die.”
Andrew is an organiser for the Save Movement, a global organisation that peacefully protests outside slaughterhouses to uncover the suffering of animals that is hidden from the public view.
Jake, 21, said: “By taking this hunger strike we want to outline that abuse is defined as cruelty and violence; what is happening behind slaughterhouse walls is by definition animal abuse.
“We want people to look into the eyes of these beautiful animals and ask themselves whether eating meat, dairy and eggs is really worth putting any of these animals through the pain and suffering.”
Jake was violently assaulted by the owner of a slaughterhouse in Widnes last month which was caught on camera.
“Being against animal cruelty means being vegan and if we want to say that as a society we are against animal abuse, we must take that step forward as individuals towards veganism,” he added.
Fasting has been a popular form of protest over the centuries, with Gandhi undertaking 17 fasts during India’s freedom movement.
Fast Against Slaughter on Gandhi’s birthday on October 2 is part of World Day for Farmed Animals, which is dedicated to exposing the needless suffering and death of animals raised and killed for food.
Every year, 56 billion animals are killed to produce meat, dairy and eggs, and regardless of how they were raised, all farmed animals face a gruesome slaughter.
Most animals are raised on factory farms, where they are confined, mutilated and raised to grow so large, so quickly, that many of them literally suffer to death.
Money raised from the fast will be donated to the vegan animal sanctuary, Hillside, where cows recently saved of slaughter are now living out their lives.
