Animal Rights Activists Demonstrate In Beverly Hills

BEVERLY HILLS, CA — A couple dozen animal rights activists gathered in Beverly Hills Sunday to observe the 12th annual National Animal Rights Day, which honors billions of animals killed by humans every year.

Beverly Gardens Park was one of 110 locations across the globe to see an animal rights day demonstration Sunday. The ceremony has moved among several locations in greater Los Angeles since 2011; it was the first time it took place in Beverly Hills.

"I feel like we have fulfilled our purpose of giving the animals the proper funeral service they deserved and hopefully opening some new hearts and minds to the plight of 'farm animals' and all animals," said Aylam Orian, founder and president of Our Planet. Theirs Too.

National Animal Rights Day is part rally, part memorial service. As in past years, a small number of volunteers dressed in black held the bodies of dead animals as attendees observed moments of silence.

The animals all died on their own and were donated by various farms that raise animals for human consumption, according to Orian. The animals epresented all nonhumans killed for food, clothing, medical experiments and other reasons and will later be cremated or buried.

Activists held many different animals at Sunday's Beverly Hills rally, some as large as a pig and some small, like birds. More than 10 demonstrators held animals with more than a dozen people standing behind them holding photos of animals.

"[Beverly Gardens Park] proved to be a great location, with good visibility, and with a great iconic background: the famous 'Beverly Hills sign.' The community came out, [and] we had very moving poems, speeches and music in the opening ceremony," Orian told Patch.

The solemn memorial was followed by a more light-hearted celebration featuring speakers who offered testimonials about the life experiences that led them to stop eating and wearing animals.

"After the ceremony, people enjoyed tasty vegan food from various food vendors and celebrated the cruelty-free plant-based lifestyle with fascinating speeches, more music, comedy and even a vegan magic show!"

City News Service contributed to this report.