Members of FIAPO and Vegan Outreach, an international organisation, have collaborated on a joint venture, The Compassion Crusade, aiming to create awareness on treating animals with compassion.
The representatives will visit 12 cities including Coimbatore and Chennai in Tamil Nadu, and conduct various outreach programmes to stop cruelty towards animals.
Leaflets were distributed to people on Happy Streets and in various restaurants on Sunday morning. The crusaders conducted awareness programmes at malls. They plan to conduct programmes at various colleges in the city on Monday.
They plan to reach out to 1.5lakh people, hoping to enter the Limca Book of Records as the largest awareness drive for animal rights. Shweta Sood, a representative of the crusade, met various animals lovers on Sunday.
"It is part of the national campaign to empower and motivate the community at large about the vegan lifestyle. We have been visiting various universities and institutes to spread awareness among youngsters," said Shweta.
"People think that animals are meant to be eaten. Because of the high demand, these animals are injected with drugs in factory farms. People only see the food on their plate and are hardly aware of how it got there. This is where we come in. We want to educate the public on what happens to these poor animals before they become food," said Shweta.
Mini Vasudevan of Humane Animal Society said that most people don't know there's an alternative to milk and milk products. Only if awareness is created, demand for vegan products would increase, she added.
Many people are confused about what vegan really means. "While people in Coimbatore are compassionate towards animals, they sometimes mistake us for crusaders of religious faith. They do not understand that by vegan we mean a lifestyle which not only involves food but anything that relates to an animal from clothing to accessories," said Aravindan, a volunteer.
Shwetha will campaign in Chennai on Tuesday where the tour would come to an end.
The representatives will visit 12 cities including Coimbatore and Chennai in Tamil Nadu, and conduct various outreach programmes to stop cruelty towards animals.
Leaflets were distributed to people on Happy Streets and in various restaurants on Sunday morning. The crusaders conducted awareness programmes at malls. They plan to conduct programmes at various colleges in the city on Monday.
They plan to reach out to 1.5lakh people, hoping to enter the Limca Book of Records as the largest awareness drive for animal rights. Shweta Sood, a representative of the crusade, met various animals lovers on Sunday.
"It is part of the national campaign to empower and motivate the community at large about the vegan lifestyle. We have been visiting various universities and institutes to spread awareness among youngsters," said Shweta.
"People think that animals are meant to be eaten. Because of the high demand, these animals are injected with drugs in factory farms. People only see the food on their plate and are hardly aware of how it got there. This is where we come in. We want to educate the public on what happens to these poor animals before they become food," said Shweta.
Mini Vasudevan of Humane Animal Society said that most people don't know there's an alternative to milk and milk products. Only if awareness is created, demand for vegan products would increase, she added.
Many people are confused about what vegan really means. "While people in Coimbatore are compassionate towards animals, they sometimes mistake us for crusaders of religious faith. They do not understand that by vegan we mean a lifestyle which not only involves food but anything that relates to an animal from clothing to accessories," said Aravindan, a volunteer.
Shwetha will campaign in Chennai on Tuesday where the tour would come to an end.