The “largest and loudest” Animals Rights March in America happened on Saturday, September 1 in the Flatiron District. Hosted by Bob Ingersoll of Project Nim, the march began at noon in the plaza next to the Flatiron Building with guest speakers Anita Krajn, founder of The Save Movement, and Dan Mathew, Senior VP of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). Almost three thousand people marched down Broadway to defend and protect animal rights.
The Official Animal Rights March is an annual march founded by the UK animal rights organization Surge. The march began in London in 2016 with 2,500 vegans and in 2017 the march doubled to 5,000 vegans marching for animal liberation through London. This was the second year that the organization brought the march to NYC.
As you may know, I stopped eating meat in 2002, after attending a Vipassana meditation retreat near Merritt, BC. The Buddhist talks on ahimsa, or non-harming, convinced me to take a personal aim to avoid harming animals by killing and eating them. Since then, the evidence has grown that eating meat is non-sustainable, causes habitat loss and the loss of forests needed for oxygen production, and is the least efficient way to take care of our need for protein. It is an act of caring for the earth, other humans, and animals to stop eating meat.