WARNING: Some readers may find some of the descriptions in this story disturbing.

I listened to the quiet roar of a blowtorch as it heated the iron destined for my skin. I chose to be branded with the mark "269" to open people's eyes to the cruelty we inflict on animals around the world, writes Brittany.

I was 21. A young female who travelled to Melbourne, alone on a mission. I was heading to the 2012 Australian "269life" action.

269life uses unique actions to draw public attention to the plight of non-human animals. It started in honour of one calf in Israel, tagged #269, and headed for the slaughterhouse.

Their catch-cry is: "They are all 269, we are all 269." This means that we are all equal in our ability to suffer and feel pain. Each of us, human or non-human, has basic interests, even if those interests are just in living and avoiding pain.

In order to illustrate this point, 269life use the act of permanently marking human skin with the number 269, the number on the ear tag of a beautiful white calf in Israel.

It's a way of standing in solidarity with the animals as their individuality and rights are swept away with the simple act of becoming "just another number". 269 became the face of this movement for equality of species, demanding an end to the ill treatment and wholesale slaughter of animals worldwide.

On that July day in Melbourne, I had my wrists bound and I was dragged across a car park by a masked man and thrown down into the gravel, bruising my shoulder and hip. The action was captured on video and posted on Youtube by 269life.

I listened to the quiet roar of a blowtorch as it heated the iron destined for my skin. I lay there listening to the flame for more than a minute, every muscle tense, trying to lie still because I wanted to shake with fear.

I was told that I would feel a hand on my back approximately two seconds before the burn of the hot metal. I felt the hand holding me to the ground and I clenched my jaw and screwed my eyes shut tight awaiting the pain.

No amount of preparation would have helped. The pain lanced through me, shocking me and causing me to cry out. I heard the hiss of my skin blistering. I saw the smoke rising from my shoulder and the smell of my own burning flesh filled my nostrils.

I have a mark on my arm where I bit myself hard to stop from crying out again.

The pain kept coming. My skin was burning from the inside now and it came in waves. When I opened my eyes, there was a man standing across the park watching. He looked horrified.

Why did I do this?

I chose to bear the 269 brand because I knew that it would create a strong reaction and I sincerely hoped that it would make people think. I hoped that seeing a fellow human's flesh seared and melted might open eyes, make people see that the way animals are being treated is no less wrong than if we were treating humans the very same way.

I hoped that they would see the horrific suffering and cruelty we are inflicting with our weapon of mass destruction - the common table fork.

Today, animals are kept behind windowless walls in the most appalling conditions. Their bodies are mutilated without pain relief and their freedom is taken from them long before they are even born. They're marked with numbers in order to strip them of any identity.

They are tortured, oppressed and killed based only on their species. To me, this is no more a viable distinction than that of race, colour or gender. Oppression is always wrong.

I was born into a "normal" family. We ate meat every day and I claimed to love animals. Each day I would play with my dogs, my pet cat and hug my rabbit. And every day I would consume the flesh of a pig, chicken, cow, sheep or fish. I certainly never realised the horrific harm done in the consumption of eggs and dairy.

One day, though, I woke up. I now walk down the supermarket aisles and see the products for what they are. Shelves stacked with the corpses of innocent beings who wanted to live. Shelves full of the products of abused reproductive systems.

I look at a steak and hear their screams. When I hear the splash of milk, I see a struggling bobby calf being ripped from his mother.

I woke up. But only to find everyone else still sleeping.

A vegan world is the best step we can take, not only to end animal cruelty but also improve fresh water shortage, tackle species extinction, land degradation, global warming, ocean acidification, world hunger and many human diseases.

If we can live happy and healthy lives without harming others, why wouldn't we?

This article is published as part of Open Drum's callout for animal equality. Open Drum is a collaboration with ABC Open and invites readers to have their say on what's happening in news and policy debates. Read other stories submitted in response to our question about animal equality.

Brittany is a 23-year-old medical student and an active member of the activist group Animals Tasmania. She has been a vegan for three years.