~~May 31, 2014~~

“During the first weekend of June, with many others, I mourn the 57 BILLION Land Animals and the 1 TRILLION Aquatic Animals who are Killed Yearly for Food!

Along with the MILLIONS of others killed for fun, fashion, research and greed!
National Animal Rights Day!”

The National Animal Rights Day (NARD), established by Our Planet. Theirs Too. in 2011, is an annual day observed in the US on the first weekend of June, for the purpose of giving a voice to animals and raising awareness for their rights, until these rights are established and protected by the law.

Since the dawn of humanity, the use and abuse of non-human animals have been part of human beings’ everyday lives. We have gotten accustomed to relying on animals for almost everything we do. And while we raise our children on animal books, puppets, films and television shows, we have devised well-oiled systems, unimaginable in their cruelty, to raise, kill, and use every part of these animals for all our needs: from food, to fashion, cosmetics, medicines, house hold items, labor, sports, and entertainment. When one examines the sheer magnitude of it, it’s unfathomable.

And it’s going on every day, every hour, every moment.

In the year 2014, on planet Earth, 6 million animals are killed in slaughterhouses around the world every 30 minutes. In the United States alone, 10 billion land animals and 20 billion sea animals are killed for food every year. An additional 10 million die in laboratories, and 3 million are killed for their skin and fur. It is estimated that another 200 million are killed by hunters.

That’s 80 million living beings a day!

If these animals could talk, their chorus of cries would drown out every other noise in the world. They would come from every farm, slaughterhouse, meat market, testing lab, breeding factory, fishing pond, hunting ground, circus, zoo, religious temple, pet store, city shelter, restaurant, and dinner table, in every home on every street. These individual beings, who have a soul, a unique character, a will to live, and a natural right to do so, are just like us: they come in all shapes, colors and sizes. Some of them have feathers, some of them have fur, some of them have paws and some have tiny little legs. But they all share the very same thing we have in common too: they want to live. With their loved ones.

Happy and free.

The National Animal Rights Day was created to give a voice to these billions and billions of anonymous nameless beings. Once a year, on this day, around the US, we stop everything else, and remember them. We mourn their loss, express their pain through ours, and reach out on their behalf to anyone who has a heart to listen.

On this day we also celebrate the living animals who are part of our lives now, and the great strides that are made every year towards a cruelty-free, compassionate nation, for all beings.

This tradition will continue until the day when all animals could live on their own terms, with their families and offspring, happy and free. Until the day when these beautiful beings have equal rights to human beings on this planet. Until the day when human beings take responsibility and protect all animals, instead of harming them. Until that day, we will be here. Please join us.