The Indiana Animal Rights Alliance (IARA) hosted its first annual Indiana Animal Rights March on Saturday, Sept. 1 at Monument Circle in Indianapolis. The march brought animal rights activists from all over the state and parts of the Midwest to raise awareness about various animal rights issues in Indiana, including animal testing and the consumption of animals for food.
The events highlights included a series of nine national and local activists in the animal rights movement followed by a march around the circle.
The following speakers attended the event:
- Jesse Kharbanda, Executive Director of Hoosier Environmental Council
- Michelle and Mark Pruitt, Founders of Upland's PEAK Sanctuary
- Rama Ganesan, Organizer of Vegan Michiana
- Jenny Brown, Animal Rights Speaker/Author/Activist; Founder of Woodstock Farm Sanctuary
- Kristina J. Addington, Owner of V-Grits Food Co. Louisville, KY
- Michael Budkie - Executive Director of Stop Animal Exploitation Now
- Nekeisha Alayna Alexis, Independent scholar with wide-ranging interests in race, human and animal oppression, intersectionality and co-liberation with other animals
- Kate and Andrew Yundt, Co-founders of Kanda Farm Sanctuary
- Robert Grillo, Founder and Director of Free From Harm
“Animal liberation is not a single issue,” said Alexis. “It is interconnected with issues of white supremacy, patriarchy, and all these other systems of oppression.”
IARA describes itself as a non-profit, statewide advocacy organization that believes that non-human animals have the right to be completely free from human use and violence.
“Indiana is one of the biggest animal agriculture states, with over 92 million animals suffering on farms,” said Joel Kerr, Executive Director of IARA in a press release.
“We are trying to bring that suffering out in the open so more people can know about the cruelty and help do something about it.”
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