Activism 2005

Attended by stacks of French veg groups, the annual Veggiepride in Paris draws about 300 marchers and is lots of fun. We handed out 300 French copies of my www.vegepets.info leaflet.

"Meat is Dead" Go Veggie!

It's kind of odd yelling slogans in languages you don't understand, but hopefully the audience does :)

It was an event for non-human animals too.

'The ethics of meat-eaters are prehistoric.'

At one point about 50 people donned various animal masks while eerie music and slaughterhouse cries were played at high volume in the middle of a mall area - we all had to stand very still for half an hour holding placards - it was surreal.

The 2nd InterNICHE conference on humane alternatives to the harmful use of animals in education was held in a beautiful old church in the beautiful old city of Oslo, Norway. Given the whaling boycotts, such an excuse was the only way many of us would have got to see some of this beautiful country and given them any of our foreign currency.

That is about my most favorite quote.

The alternatives exhibit in the stone basement was amazing. These mannequins from UC Davis allow vet students to practice jugular and cephalic (forearm) vein access. The vessels may be perfused with fake blood solution to allow blood sampling practice. You don't want to spill it - aparently it stains horribly.

In its 3rd year (2005), PETA's Running of the Nudes event in Pamplona - the heartland of Spanish bullfighting - has grown from 30 to about 600 activists, from Spain, the UK (3 busloads of us came from London alone), France, Belgium, Germany, Croatia, Australia and other countries. This campground by a beautiful lake in the hills was owned by a supporter and kindly provided several hundred tents and dorm beds, and many people brought their own tents. Many different languages were heard around the camp, but we were all united in our cause. It was very, very cool.

Vegan food was provided by a volunteer chef and helpers, bless 'em.

These are about my 'favoritest' T-shirts.

Horns, placards, g-strings, temporary tattoos etc. were distributed en masse and tried on for size ... The town mayor etc has tried to ban this protest, and the compromise achieved by PETA lawyers unfortunately requires underwear or placards covering key body parts. I think they all ran naked the 1st year, which was doubtless even more exciting.

We were to 'run' (walk really, the woosses!) the route the bulls would run in a couple of days, across slippery cobblestones along winding streets, harrassed by jeering brainless yobbos, ending at the massive bull-fighting stadium. The crowd gathers hours before the Running of the Nudes to get the best vantage points, as on the top of this wall.

For the sky was hot and blue. Possessing a full bottle I was tempted to offer my assistance but fortunately managed (just) to restrain myself.

Anti-bullfighting tattoos mostly in Spanish were de rigeur.

All those half-naked people (especially the girls) brought the media out in force.

About 3 guys were definitely not from the media. They did not like being photographed and declined my strong suggestions they strip off and join our protest :)

I have even better pics I sadly may not show you :)

Coming from a foreign country to strip off in front of hundreds of people to whom you shout slogans you barely understand ('Toros si! Toreros no!' etc.) definitely creates a certain camaraderie ... we were very sad to leave.

We had anti-bullfighting flowers and necklaces for the crowd.

I try to speak at the world's largest animal rights conference every year and catch up with friends. The exhibit hall is great fun; it takes hours to tour. Among the many talented attendees are some cool vegan musicians and artists.

The 5th World Congress on Alernatives & Animal Use in the Life Sciences was attended by about 800 scientists and others. Held every 2-3 years, it is the largest international conference of its kind. It's great to catch up with friends at these events; I've seen some of the same people in 3 different countries so far this year. The people in this shot are all very special indeed; I'm very privileged to be able to call them friends.

I was extremely honoured to be awarded the prize for best animal welfare poster, by the German Animal Welfare Federation, out of 350 scientific posters, for my poster 'Animal carcinogenicity studies: poor human predictivity.' (Thanks very much to the Japan Anti-Vivisection Society, who funded the poster!) Given the abundance of excellent posters on display, I'm convinced it was because I misread the instructions and made my poster high rather than long, so that it accidentally stuck out above all the rest, which made it easy for exhausted judges to choose. I will definitely continue to disobey instructions in future. These are my co-authors: (L to R) me, geneticist Jarrod Bailey PhD, biologist Jonathan Balcombe PhD, with our poster.

In the InterNICHE educational alternatives exhibit. This enhanced 'Critical Care Jerry' can produce about 30 different normal and pathological heart and breath sounds, and is outstanding for teaching veterinary students.

From the exhibit hall. This allows practice of the surgical repair of the aortic aneurysm visible (pink bit in the middle). They also have a beating heart model available for surgical training.

These real human body parts have been permanently preserved via plastination (see photos at www.learningwithoutkilling.info for an explanation of the process). Permanent preservation of animal body parts similarly allows indefinite re-use in anatomy training of other biomedical students, eliminating the need for annual killing for tissue sourcing.

The vegan spread at the animal protection group reception was the best I've ever sampled (actually, 'stuffed myself' would be a lot more accurate, I have to confess ...).

Veggie Pride march 2

Attended by stacks of French veg groups, the annual Veggiepride in Paris draws about 300 marchers and is lots of fun. We handed out 300 French copies of my www.vegepets.info leaflet.