Activities
Getting Started
Here are some basic steps for participating in this year’s observance of World Day for Farmed Animals.
- Select an activity from the list we provide below.
- Consult with others and determine activity, time and platform or location.
- Prepare a detailed action plan, listing steps, dates, and responsibilities.
- Obtain any permits, if required.
- Recruit volunteers, if needed.
- Remind all participants to arrive with proper protective elements if required (masks, sanitizer and gloves). You may also want to provide extras for your volunteers in case someone forgets or does not have access to their own.
- Promote your event on social media.
- Obtain any videos, props, food samples, or other materials needed.
- Conduct event.
- Post photos on social media (use hashtag #wdfa and #worlddayforfarmedanimals) and send copies to photos@dayforanimals.org
Do you know of a WDFA event not listed? Click here to submit it to VegEvents.
Leafleting
Here’s one activity that requires a minimum of planning, participants, and time commitment. Just order a number of our handouts, and distribute at a local event. Here are some suggestions for making it even better:
- Most jurisdictions do not require a permit, if you are on public property and not impeding the flow of traffic
- Dress like your audience, or business casual, preferably with a t-shirt that carries your message.
- Get a buddy to handle folks going in the other direction and for emotional support.
- Mount a couple of posters 20 feet in front of you, to reduce the chance of your handouts ending in a waste basket.
- Say something friendly and/or helpful, like hi there, or for the animals.
- People follow examples of those before them, so you need to be a bit more assertive with the first person in each new wave.
- If people attempt to engage you in absorbing conversations, offer to meet with them at another time.
- Note that any adverse remark is about that person having a bad day – not about you
- Simply drop off a stack of booklets at your local newsstand, restaurant, library, or other public place that allows for brochure distribution
Don’t forget to create a safe environment for your volunteers as well as passersby. Remind all participants to arrive with proper protective elements including masks, sanitizer and gloves. You may also want to provide extras in case someone forgets or does not have access to their own.
Virtual Screenings
Invite your community and/or Facebook group to participate in a watch party to collectively view factory farming and slaughterhouse footage as well as films which reveal the realities of industrial agriculture and how it affects the animals and the planet. It not only allows the audience to see what happens behind closed doors which touches upon their emotions, but it also educates them. Be there to support and answer questions. Some things you will need if you choose to host a screening:
- If you can host a public screening, be sure to wear a mask and observe all social-distancing guidelines.
- For online screenings, choose a popular public platform with easy and free access.
- Create an eye-catching invitation including all the details needed to participate.
- Select a video to screen, we recommend FARM’s 10 Billion Lives video.
- Make sure you have access to a capable internet connection and computer.
- After watching, people usually have questions, be ready to talk to them about what they are seeing and help them on their path to compassion.
Creating and Sharing Hashtags
We have a list of popular and effective hashtags. Please feel free to utilize any and all or create your own. This is a safe and effective way to spread awareness and share information.
#animalrights #vegan #govegan #veganism #veganfortheanimals #friendsnotfood #veganlife #compassion #animal #animalrescue #animalwelfare #vegancommunity #animalcruelty #vegans #speciesism #vegetarian #veganactivist #veganforlife #endspeciesism #loveanimals #saveanimals #anonymousforthevoiceless #animalsanctuary #earthlings #nature #animalabuse #stopanimalabuse #savetheanimals #stopanimalcruelty #animalactivism #rescue #animalsofinstagram #wdfa #dayforanimals #worlddayforanimals #worldanimalsday #farmanimalrightsmovement #farm #ditchdairy
Tabling
Tabling is the next step up, because it allows folks to pick up additional handouts, ask questions, and perhaps even sample some delicious plant-based foods. Tables are typically set up as part of a festival or other organized event. Otherwise, you would need a permit. Here are suggestions for successful tabling:
- Make it attractive by using a table cover, a banner identifying your organization, and several colorful posters.
- Add an intriguing element, like an interesting video that’s not too graphic, signage with an animal rights message, or a vegan starter guide.
- Keep the table top uncluttered, perhaps with a couple piles of handouts, a sign-up sheet or laptop, and a plate of vegan sweets.
- Again remind all participants to arrive with proper protective elements including masks, sanitizer and gloves. You may also want to provide extras for your volunteers in case someone forgets or does not have access to their own.
- If you are selling T-shirts, place a hanger rack next to your table and make sure you can accept credit cards and make change.
- Engage passersby with eye contact, a smile, and a wave, or even an invitation to visit your table, if the prospect looks likely.
- Keep conversations brief and keep an eye out for the next prospect who may be discouraged by your being tied up.
- If you expect to be pretty busy, get a buddy to help.
Vigils
Vigils are definitely the most popular type of public observance. They offer a strong declaration of our position. They involve four elements:
- Suitable target and timing
- Participants
- Signs and props
- Posting on social media
Want to know more about The Save Movement? The Save Movement’s mission is to hold vigils at every slaughterhouse (worldwide) and to bear witness to every exploited animal. Click here for more. To find a Save group near you, go here.
Target Audience
There are two types of targets: symbolic and popular.
Symbolic targets are slaughterhouses, headquarters of meat companies, and USDA offices, where the vigil is likely to be seen only by people who are part of the offensive system and unlikely to be swayed. Vigils at symbolic targets have two audiences: the participants, who get to see up close and personal what they are working on all year, and their Facebook friends and followers, when the photos get posted. A slaughterhouse vigil may even attract a local reporter or TV crew.
Popular vigils take place where the people are, like rush-hour commuting routes, county fairs, or animal shows. In all cases, timing should be dictated by maximum exposure and availability of participants.
Participants during vigils
Unlike leafleting and tabling, vigils require at least a half dozen participants. You can increase your visibility by having each participant hold two signs and spreading them out. Black clothing is recommended to lend a somber tenor to the event. Once again please remind all participants to arrive with proper protective elements including masks, sanitizer, and gloves. You may also want to provide extras for your volunteers in case someone forgets or does not have access to their own.
Signs and Props
Signs and banners could be professionally printed to reflect the forethought and gravity of the event or they can be handmade which will show commitment and urgency. They should avoid racist and other offensive symbolism. Here are some examples:
- Stop the Slaughter – Go Vegan!
- Save some lives, theirs and ours
- Thou shall not kill!
- Non-violence begins at breakfast
- If you pet a dog, don’t eat a pig!
- Love animals – don’t eat them!
For popular vigils at commuter routes, signs should be large enough to be read from passing cars. They should be arranged in some logical order, perhaps starting with a banner announcing World Day for Farmed Animals and ending with a contact URL, and at least 20 feet apart, again to be read from passing cars. Chanting of slogans, with the aid of megaphones, serves to accentuate the vigil and to annoy the target audience. This is not appropriate for commuter routes. Black clothing, a realistic-looking cardboard coffin, or “bloody” aprons add drama. Candles are particularly poignant for vigils after dusk.
Posting on Social Media
Perhaps the biggest impact of most vigils is on the friends and followers of the participants when photos are posted on Facebook and other social media. People who are open to a vegan lifestyle may be sufficiently impressed by their friend’s demonstrated strength of purpose to make the switch. Donors are impressed as well.
Marches
Marches are basically moving vigils, so most of the guidance for vigils applies here as well. The two exceptions are numbers and route. A credible march requires a minimum of 100 participants. This is why they are more popular in countries where people are more available. A car caravan can get away with a dozen cars decorated with signs and honking horns.
A march route should preferably include both symbolic and popular targets and avoid high-traffic areas.
Please encourage all participants to arrive with proper protective elements including masks, sanitizer and gloves. You may also want to provide extras for your volunteers in case someone forgets or does not have access to their own. It is very important to remind everyone to adhere to the 6-8 foot guideline, keeping everyone as safe as possible.
Street Theater
The key purpose of street theater is to dramatize sufficiently our activity to attract traditional media. Of course, photos should be posted on social media as well. Each scene should be accompanied by prominent signage noting the occasion and explaining the action. A permit from local authorities is generally required. Almost anything that is intriguing, unusual, and inoffensive works. Here are some activities we have conducted in the past:
- People in animal costumes being chased and slaughtered by a “butcher” wearing a “bloody” apron
- People with minimal flesh-colored clothing covered in “blood” and displayed in cellophane containers as in a meat counter
- Several people crammed in a cage, to dramatize the condition of animals
- Dozens of people clad in black, spread on the ground pretending to be dead
- Dozens of people clad in uniform color and arranged in precise formation holding up signs or bodies of dead animals
Useful props include black clothing, animal costumes, “bloody” face/body makeup, “bloody” aprons, simulated hatchets, simulated coffins, candles, somber music.
An extreme form of street theater, which attracts traditional media, is civil disobedience, a public act that is illegal, but doesn’t hurt anyone. It usually involves intervention by law enforcement authorities and possibly arrests, court appearances, and fines. Past examples include:
- Placing our bodies in the path of trucks carrying animals to slaughter
- Blocking the entrance to the Department of Agriculture or other office associated with animal slaughter
- Occupying the office of the Secretary of Agriculture or other prominent official associated with animal slaughter
- Blocking the meat counter at a supermarket with explanatory signs and chants
We certainly don’t counsel anyone to break the law, but we are willing to answer inquiries about our past experience with this tactic.
In addition please encourage all participants to arrive with proper protective elements including masks, sanitizer and gloves. You may also want to provide extras for your volunteers in case someone forgets or does not have access to their own. It is very important to remind everyone to adhere to the 6-8 foot guideline, keeping everyone as safe as possible.
Displays
Displays, including billboards, banner drops, public exhibits, and video screenings are good ways to get public attention without involving other participants.
Outdoor billboards require purchasing space for at least one month from local or national billboard companies. Prices will vary with size and location of the board. We can provide the art. Because of their size, elevation, and seeming permanence, billboards confer an air of authority and public acceptance to our message.
Banner drops are usually made from overpasses over busy highways. They should be affixed to the inside of the typical chain-link fence to prevent their dropping on the roadway below and causing an accident. If they are placed before dawn, they are typically removed by local police by the end of the morning rush hour.
Large photographs of factory farm and slaughterhouse scenes can be placed on easels in a public square or in a community building like a library or student union.
A screening of Cowspiracy or other full length video can be scheduled and promoted at a public library or student union. One of the 4-min videos, like 10 Billion Lives or Beyond the Lies, can be set to loop in a public venue.
Again please encourage all participants to arrive with proper protective elements including masks, sanitizer and gloves. You may also want to provide extras for your volunteers in case someone forgets or does not have access to their own. It is very important to remind everyone to adhere to the 6-8 foot guideline, keeping everyone as safe as possible.
Fast Against Slaughter Pledge
Please do this, even if you are unable to do anything else for this year’s observance.
- Take a look at what some others have done here
- Sign our pledge form
- Make a sign noting why you will fast for the animals on October 2nd – World Day for Farmed Animals
- Take photo of yourself holding the sign
- Post photo on your favorite social media in mid-September and send a copy to photos@dayforanimals.org
- Feel free to refer people to our Abuses section, for additional persuasion