London Animal Charities Fair

Last Saturday was the London Animal Charities Fair held at Amnesty International's Human Rights Action Centre in Shoreditch.

This has long been an important and well established event within London's animal welfare calendar and I was pleased to be able to attend and show my support.

Hosted by the London Animals Asia Support Group, it featured around 30 animal charity stalls all hoping to raise funds and awareness around their important causes.

This was a pretty small event in comparison to the likes of VegFest which is a big platform for animal charities. However, unlike VegFest, this event is solely focused on the charities and the important work that they do within animal rights and welfare.

It was awesome to see some big names there like Sea Shepherd, Animals Asia and Wood Green Animal Shelter who all had stand out stalls featuring lots of fab merchandise. 

It was lovely to chat to the Sea Shepherd ladies and find out a little more about what they do as volunteers. It's always a pleasure to talk to other likeminded people who really care about the same things that you do. It can be quite lonely in the Vegan and animal rights world at times so events like this are great for networking and forming new friendships.

It was great to discover some new companies like Love Sniffy's who make 'bum sniffingly good' healthy alternative dog treats! I have been contemplating trying my dogs on some Vegetarian and Vegan treats for a while now. Not because I want to turn them Vegan or anything, but just because I care about their health as much as my own. All of Love Sniffy's treats are Vegetarian, gluten free, low fat, natural and handmade! It's also great to hear that they personally test all of their products and they do not want to create a product at the expense of any animals welfare. 

We were told that the 'Carrot Crunch' variety were a favourite among other dogs so we purchased a box to take home with us and I am pleased to report that our dogs really enjoyed munching on them! 

Here's some photo evidence of my little Zen tucking in!

I enjoyed walking around this event chatting to people and finding out more about other charities that are less well known. At every table I tried to put some loose change into the collection boxes in the hope that any little contribution would be a help to them. 

Along with all of the stalls there were also some informative talks on throughout the day. 

I was lucky enough to be able to catch 'Vet of the Year' Marc Abraham's talk on Pup Aid and the ever growing problem of puppy farms. Pup Aid are positively campaigning and petitioning to end the cruelty of puppy farms and they are importantly encouraging prospective dog owners to either adopt from a reputable animal shelter, or buy from Kennel Club assured responsible breeders. It is so important not to purchase a dog from a pet shop, garden centre, internet or free ads as you will be more than likely contributing towards puppy farming.

It was great to hear Marc encouraging us all to keep up the pressure with our social media campaigning too as it all goes towards raising awareness and putting pressure on the government to make changes in the laws. 

Marc did speak briefly around politics and the upcoming election. He kindly took the time to speak to me after and he told me that he strongly feels that the greatest, most immediate changes and benefits to animals will be from the Tories being voted out and Labour taking power. Having personally spent some time with Labour candidates he is assured that they are committed to implementing new laws and policies which will widely benefit animals welfare.

Overall it was a great afternoon at the Animal Charities Fair and I am pleased to have been able to contribute to some extremely worthy causes. I picked up a wealth of information and goodies and I shall definitely be returning next year. 

Sarah x