A meat eater hit the headlines this weekend after he ate a raw pig’s head outside Brighton’s vegan festival, VegFest UK, but the stunt has backfired.

That’s right, a man was so offended by other people’s decision not to eat dead animals that he crashed the festival with a severed head to taunt vegans, and began devouring the unfortunate pig.

His transparent attempts to attract attention were successful in terms of gaining widespread media attention, but his methods have done more good for the vegan cause than damage.

One of the main tactics of many vegan activists is to encourage people to consider the sentient animal – a living pig with a face, a life and a family – rather than simply ‘pork’ to be consumed.

Backfired

So the protester did the vegan activists’ jobs for them.

Vegfest organiser Tim Barford reflected on the event in an interview with the Brighton and Hove Independent: “What was interesting was that we had meat-eating members of the public saying that this revolting spectacle had encouraged them to give up eating meat – so it seems the anti vegan protest actually encouraged people to go vegan.”

Barford also explained the festival had been warned about the protest in advance, but were expecting a 30-strong group of meat-eating advocates to turn up.

In reality, just three arrived for a brief stint before they were ushered away by protesters and police.

They were immediately confronted by members of global vegan activist group Direct Action Everywhere who held signs reading ‘it’s not food, it’s violence’ and ‘meat is murder’.

Vegans reacted to the irony of the protest on social media.

A member of the Direct Action Everywhere’s Brighton branch told Totally Vegan Buzz in a statement: “A lot of everyday people walking past are also repulsed by the sight of a pig’s head which is interesting as most of these people eat pigs as well.

“It goes to show what we already know, that people don’t like seeing the faces of the animals they eat. Eating animals is eating a product of torture and death.

“Why is animal abuse so normalised when it’s in a burger but shocking when we see the being behind the burger?”

“We live in such a speciesist society we often forget who we are eating and I think today serves as a very visual reminder of the victims behind our choices.

“We call ourselves an animal loving nation but our actions don’t reflect that as most people eat and wear animals every day.

“There’s nothing just about what we do to animals and no humane way to exploit and take their lives.”

• Read: Raw meat thrown at peaceful vegan activists

What do you think of the meat eater’s protest? Tell us in the comments section below!

Oli Gross

Oli’s career and personal ethical values both help shape his reporting of the diverse world of veganism. His background is in local newspaper and magazine journalism, and his work has included reporting court cases, celebrity interviews, business analysis, food and drink features and government legislation.

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