Lana Silva
SOC 122 MW 5:30
18 April 2016
March 4th Event
When I first arrived, I spotted a volunteer from The Fresno Bully Rescue Center who was wondering where to set up the tent. We decided at the end of the tables closest to the library would be best since there was going to be an adoptable dog named Toodles joining us for the event. To set up the SNARL table, I first hung up a sign off of on our table that we had made which said our group name "SNARL" with the words "Spay," "Neuter," "Rescue," and "Love" written underneath each letter. Next to this, I hung up a large tombstone that Josie made with RIP in large bold letters, a picture of a pile of dead animals, and a statistic that said "Every 13 seconds an adoptable animal is euthanized" and "2.7 million annually" followed by our slogan "Adopt don't shop!" We also laid out an informative poster board that Josie had made on the table, and then put our handouts on the table as well, using oranges and other fruits to keep them from blowing away.
One student who interviewed me and took my picture asked me how I become involved in animal rights activism. When I told him that it started when I watched a speech by a rather extreme animal rights activist named Gary Yourofsky in January 2014 that changed my way of thinking and turned me vegan, he seemed very interested, telling me that he had attempted to be veg himself, and asked me for any advice on sticking to it. I told him that doing some research is key. Also, I think one should continuously be reminded why they're doing it (e.g. animals, health, environment), learn to cook and experiment with new flavors finding new comfort foods along the way, and that starting small with something like "Meatless Mondays" is okay.
Toodles and the Fresno Bully Rescue Center were bringing a lot of people who cared about animals our way. However, it was hard to recruit them, at least for me, because it felt awkward trying to get them to come over. I preferred when people would come up, to the table but as expected there weren't that many who would. My boyfriend George who helped at the event would say things like, "If you liked what was there you should check out our table" and then send them my way making it easier for me to talk to them. Many people asked if we were a club on campus, to which we would respond that it was for a class project but that we would love to start one and if they were interested to write down their name and email address, which about 20 people did. To my surprise, there were no anti-movement pro-breeder reactions from the public towards our group, but I think this was largely because we focused on euthanasia of companion animals and not on other animal rights issues such as meat eating, animal testing, or animals in the clothing industry.
The Raging Grannies performed around noon, which riled people up a bit with their political tunes. Following their performance, we picked up signs for various movements and began to march around campus, down Shaw, and back. At times, the march seemed quiet and there were not any chants practiced. I began to yell things like "Every 13 seconds a healthy animal is euthanized," "Adopt don't shop," and "Don't delay get your pet spayed!" to which someone replied "or neutered." I also joined in chanting, "Free all Bodies!" with the Human Trafficking group when they started chanting, "Adopt don't shop!" with our group.
If we were to do the same thing in the future, I would want to get more involved in recruiting people to talk to. I did not have anything planned to say, so that made it harder for me. I would also want to discuss more of other animal rights issues, even if it did get a more negative reaction from the public. Because we ran out of flyers, I would also want to have plenty more on hand and would want to have table weights to keep them from blowing away. Lastly, I would have liked the chanting to have been practiced and more organized. Overall though, I felt that the event was a success.
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