Vegan to Brand Volunteer to Protest Animal Cruelty

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File this one under crazy…or crazy inventive.

According to MSN, an English vegan named Becky Folkard intends to protest animal cruelty — particularly in the dairy industry — by branding a man with a hot iron.

The public event is scheduled to happen in March in London, and Folkard will label at least one volunteer with the number “269,” just as dairy cows and calfs are tagged. Apparently, the “10-minute protest will feature volunteers being held down, branded by someone in a scary black mask and then shackled like animals.”

Folkard knows that some people might find the protest extreme, but she thinks it’s worth it. She told the Daily Mail, “If one person goes away and researches a vegan lifestyle because of this it will have been worth it. We’re taking a huge risk because so many people will see what we’re doing as extreme, but in the past you had suffragettes, which was hugely controversial. Females only have a vote now because women chained themselves to railings and ran in front of horses. We have to move with the times.”

Wild as it sounds, it’s not the first time something like this has gone down — and it won’t be the last.

Folkard is actually following in the footsteps of an October protest in Tel Aviv and similar events are slated to take place in England, the US, Germany, Argentina, Australia and the Czech Republic.

She said of the Israeli event, “My initial reaction to seeing the Israeli film was admiration. I don’t see it as a particularly shocking, although of course I accept that others will. But I’ve been desensitized because of research I’ve done on the dairy industry. I immediately wanted to be involved and thought, ‘God, I couldn’t do the branding – that sounds terrifying.’ But then I thought about it more and realized why not – I’ve never felt so passionately about anything.”

To see the Tel Aviv protest, check out the video below. But be forewarned: it’s intercut with graphic and disturbing animal images.