Animal rights activists have vandalised a portrait of King Charles today in an effort to bring attention to a cruelty scandal on British farms.
Two supporters of Animal Rising entered the Philip Mould Gallery in London and ‘redecorated’ the new portrait of King Charles III with Wallace and Gromit cut outs.
It happened at around 12pm on Tuesday 11 June, with the protesters aiming to mock the monarch's status as a Royal Patron of the RSPCA. They’re calling on the King to suspend his support for the charity until they drop an Assured Scheme.
It comes after an Animal Rising investigation of 45 RSPCA Assured farms that exposed 280 alleged legal breaches and 94 breaches of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs standards.
One poster overlaid the King’s face with Wallace, from the popular Aardman stop-motion, whilst another was a speech bubble reading “No Cheese, Gromit. Look At All This Cruelty On RSPCA Farms!”
One of the activists involved, Daniel Juniper said: “With King Charles being such a big fan of Wallace and Gromit, we couldn’t think of a better way to draw his attention to the horrific scenes on RSPCA Assured farms! Even though we hope this is amusing to His Majesty, we also call on him to seriously reconsider if he wants to be associated with the awful suffering across farms being endorsed by the RSPCA.
“Charles has made it clear he is sensitive to the suffering of animals in UK farms; now is the perfect time for him to step up and call on the RSPCA to drop the Assured Scheme and tell the truth about animal farming.”
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As part of the Animal Rising investigation, campaigners released pictures from across the UK farms showing footage including a dead and decomposing pig in a walkway, whilst others reported a shed at an RSPCA Assured egg-laying hen farm in Kent with approximately 64,000 chickens in dire conditions.
Animal Rising Spokesperson, Orla Coghlan, said: “Just as Feathers McGraw fooled Wallace into a bank heist, the RSPCA has been fooling the British public into thinking their factory farms are - in any way - an acceptable place for animals to live. It’s clear from the scenes across 45 RSPCA Assured farms that there’s no kind way to farm animals.
"The RSPCA needs to take a bolder stance on the transition to a plant-based food system, beginning with calls for drastic meat reduction. The charity can, once again, lead the way for animals in the UK, rather than keeping them in misery.”
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