Animal rights protest group, Animal Rising, successfully managed to disrupt an event at the Royal Highland Show in Islington.
Three members of the group are understood to have glued themselves to the gates where the Golden Shears World Championship was taking place.
The incident is believed to have taken place at around 1.45pm on Saturday, June 24, with the protesters gaining access to the stage and others glueing themselves to gates where the sheep were being kept.
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Members of the group also held up posters that detailed ‘facts’ about the farming industry whilst they wore pink t-shirts reading 'Animal Rising: For All Life.’
The group claim that they also managed to rescue three lambs from a farm on Royal land earlier this year.
Animal Rising have said that they decided to undertake this action at the Highland Show on the outskirts of Edinburgh to continue ‘a national conversation about our broken relationship with other animals and nature that began in April when the group disrupted the Grand National at Aintree, and the Scottish Grand National in Ayr.’
The Golden Shears championship involves teams of competitors from around the world who try to shear a sheep as quickly as possible. The event was said to have been disrupted for around 20 minutes.
Sarah McCaffrey, a member of Animal Rising who was taking part in the protest said: “We are here to engage in conversation around our broken relationship with animals and nature.
“We know that we are a nation of animal lovers, but that is not reflected in our actions.
“This is clear to see in Golden Sheers World Championship where sheep are put in positions where they are visibly stressed and uncomfortable, purely for our entertainment.
“It is also evident in our use of horses for ‘show-jumping’ at this same event, and in our food system where we send one billion animals to be killed every year in the UK alone.
“That is why Animal Rising are here today taking action. But disruption is only part of the story, dialogue is key too if we are to create the lasting change we need: a safe, secure food plant-based food system and programme of rewilding.”
Animal Rising say that they are a social movement that are looking to foster new relationships between all living beings that would ensure a stable ecological future.
They add that they are calling for a transition to a secure and sustainable plant-based food system, alongside a mass rewilding programme.
The Royal Highland Show have said that individuals attempted an unauthorised protest at the sheep shearing area at the Royal Highland Show.
They said that in line with previously agreed protocols, they are working closely with security partners, and that the individuals were escorted from the area.
A spokesperson from The Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland (RHASS) said: “We respect the right to protest and have made areas available at the Showground for those wish to exercise their right to protest.
"We do not condone any behaviour that puts the health and safety of visitors, animals or competitors at risk, and will take the appropriate action with the support of our security partners."
Police Scotland have been contacted for comment.
