Why Love One, But Eat The Other? A Successful Animal Save Movement Campaign

Animal Save Movement began in late 2010 with the inception of Toronto Pig Save after co-founder Anita Krajnc adopted her dog, Mr. Bean, and they witnessed sad and frightened pigs en route to a nearby slaughterhouse. The mission of Toronto Pig Save was to spread the message that we all have a moral duty to bear witness at animal vigils outside slaughterhouses and end animal agriculture. Mr. Bean, a kind and gentle vegan dog, attended vigils and was adored by activists that made the connection he was no different than pigs, cows, or chickens in the transport trucks.

Having been involved with Toronto Pig Save since the early days I have seen the movement grow to over 300 successful Save groups worldwide with their powerful message of a vegan world for the animals, the planet, and health. Animal Save Movement has created many successful campaigns including Why Love One, But Eat The Other?

The original campaign by New York City animal activist Henry Spira created the first version of this with an image of a cat and pig looking at each other and asked: Which do you pet? Which do you eat? Why? It was then Professor Lisa Kramer that brought the campaign to Canada where it began in Vancouver, and then in Toronto with Kimberly Carroll from Animal Justice.

The powerful vision of Why Love One campaign to choose compassion for all animals is a message we must continue to share.

Animal vigils

Pigs live an average of ten to fifteen years when not abused, exploited, and killed by the meat industry. Why Love One…But Eat The Other pig campaign poster compares pigs to dogs. Pigs are ranked as the fourth most intelligent being and not only smarter than some dogs, but have outperformed three-year-old human children on cognition tests. If you have spent time with rescued pigs at sanctuaries you know they experience sadness, happiness, love, joy, and pain. The only difference between eating dogs and eating pigs is your perception. 

Pigs are loyal, social, and affectionate creatures that deserve so much better than how they are treated on factory farms where they are considered units on assembly lines. Most pigs raised for meat in North America are confined to dirty, crowded, and windowless sheds.

“Females are forcibly and artificially impregnated, kept in gestation crates hardly bigger than their own bodies, and have their babies taken from them to be killed for meat. This heartbreaking cycle is repeated until she, too, is slaughtered. The piglets are castrated, have their tails cut off and their teeth pulled out, all without anesthesia.” – Animal Save Movement

Frightened pigs are violently loaded onto transport trucks and shipped to slaughter in all weather conditions. While bearing witness with Toronto Pig Save, many activists, myself included, have witnessed pigs with frostbite and shaking in winter and panting from heat stroke in summer. They are not given food or water despite long trips, and I have witnessed pigs covered in fecal matter with sores on their body.

Compassionate animal rights pioneer Regan Russell was violently struck and killed by a pig transport truck in front of Sofina’s Fearmans slaughterhouse in 2020 when giving pigs water with other activists on one of the hottest days of the year. This kind gesture was the only love these terrified pigs experienced. Fearmans was also the location of a brutal accident in 2016 involving 180 pigs when the truck carrying them overturned. Activists with Animal Save Movement tried to rescue the pigs and begged slaughterhouse workers to release some of them to a sanctuary, including one injured pig they named Bonnie. But their requests were denied. Instead, they could only watch in horror while injured pigs were forced to walk to their death while squealing loudly in protest.  

“Several animals broke out and experienced freedom for a brief moment, felt grass under their feet and sunshine on their backs, before being corralled into the slaughterhouse and executed by the slaughterhouse.” – Animal Save Movement

Would your perception change if animals inside the truck were dogs?

Cows

Cows are loving, intelligent, and gentle creatures that form strong bonds and friendships. Why Love One cow poster compares similarities cows have with dogs. Cows jump with excitement when happy and form strong maternal bonds with their babies. In nature, cows remain close with their offspring and are protective and loving parents.

 Cows raised for meat endure painful branding, castration, and dehorning. Forced to live in dirty barns holding up to 40,000 cows, cows endure harsh weather conditions and many freeze to death. Cows are fed an unnatural diet of corn and grain to gain weight faster and don’t receive proper veterinary care.

Female cows are victims of the dairy industry and subjected to brutal cycles of forced artificial insemination. Their babies are stolen as early as one day old and mothers are left bellowing for days in anguish as they are hooked up to painful milking machines.  

Would you drink milk if it came from a cat?

Female calves face a lifetime of torture like their mothers, while male calves are either shot at birth or sent to live in tiny stalls and raised for veal, a co-product of the dairy industry. Furthermore, leather is not a by-product of the meat or dairy industry but a co-product as well.

Activists with Toronto Cow Save bear witness, hold peaceful vigils, document violence, and tell the stories of the hidden victims at St. Helen's Meat Packers.

Chickens

Why do some people consider cats family members but chickens food? Like cats, chickens are loving, affectionate, empathetic, and intelligent problem solvers. Why Love One chicken poster compares a fluffy baby chick to a sweet furry kitten, both adorable babies. Mother cats and hens want to protect and nurture their young. Mother hens bond and communicate with their unhatched chicks by clucking to them softly while they are inside their shells. Baby chicks chirp back in the final stages of incubation. Chickens possess some cognitive abilities more advanced than dogs, parrots, and even some primates. Yet chickens are among the most abused animals on the planet with more chickens raised and killed for food than all other land animals combined.

PETA states, “In the United States, approximately 9 billion chickens are killed for their flesh each year, and 305 million hens are used for their eggs. The vast majority of these animals spend their lives in total confinement—from the moment they hatch until the day they are killed.”

In Canada, over 750 million chickens are raised for meat according to Canadian Coalition For Farm Animals. Hens are victims of the egg industry and in Canada, 35 million chickens raised for eggs live and die in horrible conditions. In the US that number jumps to 376 million and in the UK it’s 40 million hens. The egg industry kills male chicks by grounding them up alive because they are not profitable. Why Love One campaign changed people’s perception of chickens and held the chicken and egg industries accountable for their actions. 

Activists with Animal Save Movement continue to bear witness and attend vigils for chickens, cows, pigs, and other animals heading to slaughter. We must continue love-based activism, choose non-violence and compassion for our next meal, and take the vegan pledge to stop eating animals. Download the Plant Based Treaty’s free vegan starter kit to continue the mission of the Why Love One campaign.

Written by Miriam Porter