Advocates for animal rights and vegetarianism yesterday staged a demonstration in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義), shouting slogans and promoting the ethical treatment of animals.
Braving the cold drizzle yesterday, more than 100 people marched between 3pm and 4pm from Xinyi Plaza (信義廣場) to Mitsukoshi Plaza (香堤廣場), where many department stores and boutiques are located.
With placards that read: “Animals are our friends,” the demonstrators wanted to appeal to people’s emotions and reiterate that animals are not objects for exploitation, event organizer Chang Chia-pei (張家珮) said.
Chang had originally hoped to arrange the march to coincide with demonstrations held in September in cities around the world, including New York, London and Tel Aviv.
Despite missing the date, she had still aimed to stage an event before the end of this year, she said.
Chang said she previously fought for the rights of “economic animals” — animals exploited or consumed for economic benefits — with members of Veganism for 30 Days (純素30天), but they did not have much opportunity to network with advocates of other animal issues.
She hopes to be introduced to other groups fighting for animal rights issues because of the march, Chang said.
Some demonstrators were dressed in animal costumes, holding placards that read “Stop eating animals” and “Eat beans, not beings” in their hands.
“We have to learn to love animals, instead of making them food on our dining tables,” said Chiang Pin-an (江品安), who was dressed in a chicken costume.
Chiang said that after seeing videos showing how cattle are slaughtered, she and her friend, Wu Wei-ling (吳韋伶), who was also dressed in the same chicken costume, decided to become vegetarians about six months ago.
They still eat eggs and milk at this stage, but hope to abstain from all animal products one day, Wu said, adding that having more vegetables and fruit makes her feel healthier and less pressured.
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