A woman who is prepared to put herself on the line to protest against animal suffering is coming to Nottinghamshire.
Ingrid Newkirk, the president and co-founder of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) has previously been arrested and imprisoned as part of her mission.
She’s posed naked hanging from a meat hook between pig carcasses and highlighted the plight of geese force-fed to produce foie gras by sitting with a funnel rammed down her throat outside outside posh London food store Fortnum & Mason.
One of the most high profile stunts was persuading supermodels Naomi Campbell and Cindy Crawford to strip for the “we’d rather go naked than wear fur” adverts (although Campbell was later dropped as a PETA figurehead for later wearing fur) - a campaign which later saw American actress Alicia Silverstone swear off wearing anything made from the coat or skin of an animal.
Ms Newkirk will be one of the guest speakers when the UK’s biggest vegan camp-out returns to Notts later this month.
She will be joining comedian Simon Amstell, anti-fur campaigner Heather Mills, and grime artist JME for three days of talks, live music, DJs, activism workshops, yoga and fitness and, of course, plenty of vegan food options.
Ms Newkirk, Surrey-born but speaking to the Nottingham Post from Washington DC, has devoted nearly 40 years of her life to PETA causes around the world - with countless success stories but equally unimaginable horror stories and undercover videos “that would make you sick for the rest of your life.”
“One of the most significant was we stopped car crash testing on animals. Pigs or baboons used to be strapped into a car simulator and sent down a track and smashed into a wall,” she said.
After a massive campaign, motor manufacturers eventually switched from animals to mannequins.
“We always start by asking the company to meet and go armed with the science that they do not need to use animals. We started demonstrating in showrooms when they didn’t listen and handcuffed ourselves to steering wheels," said Ms Newkirk.
“Then people donated their old cars and we bashed them with sledgehammers outside the showrooms and autoshows.”
The latest victory, last month, saw travel company Thomas Cook agree to stop selling tickets to SeaWorld and all marine parks using orca whales as entertainment.
Another turning point came when a PETA film showing animal cruelty at Angora goat farms in South Africa led to high street names H&M, Topshop, Marks & Spencer, Next, and Primark denouncing mohair products.
Last year’s second Vegan Camp Out attracted more than 2,700 people from more than 30 countries around the world. This year’s event at Newark Showground, from August 17 to 19, is set to be bigger still.
With no shortage of material to draw on for her speech, Ms Newkirk said: “I want to make the case that the time has come to include animals in the sphere of compassion. They are not toys, food and clothing.
“They are individuals, they have thoughts, feelings and have a mind, they’re sensitive and emotional,” said Ms Newkirk, adding they shouldn’t be used for our amusement, such as swimming with dolphins.
Growing up, she wasn’t vegan or even vegetarian. “My father was a gourmand, looking to try new animal parts - the whole gamut,” she said.
It wasn’t until she was working as a law enforcement officer in the USA that a series of incidents made her reflect on her principles.
“I went to a farm where all the animals had died because they’d been abandoned. One little pig was still alive. I took him to a water pump and then to the vet.
“Going home I was hungry and I had left out pork chops to defrost. I couldn’t eat them.
“ I was going to charge criminally the people who had left the pig to suffer yet everyone knows the slaughterhouse is a ghastly place and I knew I couldn’t do it, it’s hypocritical."
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