On Saturday 28 May, Animal Justice Project carried out one of the biggest actions of its kind against an agricultural event in recent years. Dozens of activists joined to speak out against the violations that animals face within the farming sector and exclaimed that there is no future in animal agriculture.

Scaling the roof of Darlington Farmers Auction Mart, a brand-new, state-of-the-art building where the National Beef Association’s ‘Beef Expo’ was being held, activists risked their freedom to get the message across. I am honoured to announce that all five activists who were arrested have now been told there will be no further action against them! This is a massive victory for these brave activists, but also for animals. Wherever there is a celebration of exploitation, there MUST be resistance and this stunt showed exactly that.

The auction where the Expo was held, trades in over 250,000 animals every year, from cows to sheep to horses, which highlights the grotesque commodification of animals.

Millions of people were reached over the weekend as the action made national press, being covered in eight major outlets, as well as dozens of regional sources.

‍NATIONAL

BBC, ITV, Independent, The Guardian, Mail Online, Evening Standard, Sky News, Express.

REGIONAL

The National Scot, Darlington & Stockton Times, Morning Star, Northern Echo, Bridport News, Denbigshire Free Press, Planet News Post, Wiltshire Times, Great Driffield Radio, Farming Life, The Northern Farmer, Cheshire Live, Ilkley Gazette, TrendsWide, York Press, Chronicle Live, Shropshire Live, This is Local London, Belfast Telegraph, Wales Online, Devon Live, Farmers Weekly, The Argus, That’s Farming, Leigh Journal, Beef Central, Nixolympia News, Yahoo, Alloa Advertiser, Bracknell News, Wandsworth Times, Irish Farmers Journal.

Years of undercover investigations on British farms illustrate the routine and systematic use and abuse of animals. There is a long history of the industry and government not only turning a blind eye to breaches of legislation that already do very little to protect animals on farms, but continuing to plough public money into funding it.

Thank you to everyone who supports our work and especially those who joined us in Darlington, who risked their freedom, donated to help fund the action, shared our social media posts and media articles, and more. Keep a look out for alerts regarding future actions across our social media and via our mailing list. [link]

There is resistance to these gross celebrations of exploitation and we will continue to fight for the rights of animals. The future is vegan.

As always,

For the animals.