Viva! is a British

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all Animal consciousness, sentient animals have Moral patienthood, moral worth independent of their Utilitarianism, utility to humans, and that their most basic interests—such as ...

group, which focuses on promoting

veganism Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products and the consumption of animal source foods, and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. A person who practices veganism is known as a vega ...

. It was founded by

Juliet Gellatley Juliet Gellatley is a British writer and animal rights activist. She is the founder and director of Viva! and a former director of the Vegetarian Society. She is also a founding director of The Vegetarian and Vegan Foundation, now known as Vi ...

in 1994. Viva! carries out undercover investigations to expose the abuse of factory farmed animals and produces information on how to go vegan, including recipes and shopping guides. It is a registered charity.

Overview

Viva! was founded as Vegetarians' International Voice for Animals, a charity, in 1994. Viva! is an animal rights' campaigning organisation, working on issues such as

factory farming Intensive animal farming, industrial livestock production, and macro-farms, also known as factory farming, is a type of intensive agriculture, specifically an approach to mass animal husbandry designed to maximize production while minimizing co ...

and slaughter and is based in

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, with a branch office in Poland. Campaigns have included End Factory Farming, Eat Green, Foie-Gras free Britain, Exotic Meat, Ban the Farrowing Crate, and the Dark Side of Dairy. Campaigns in 2018 included an investigation into Hogwood Pig Farm in Warwickshire, and Scary Dairy's "Trash" campaign, highlighting the dairy industry's forgotten victims: male calves. Viva! includes the organization Viva! Health (formerly The Vegetarian and Vegan Foundation), which is dedicated to nutrition and health.

Activism

In 2005, Viva! campaigned against human consumption of cow's milk with an advert featuring a businessman drinking milk straight from a cows udder. In 2009, Viva! criticised supermarket chain

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in the United Kingdom at its head offices in Welwyn Garden City, England. The company was founded by Jack Cohen (businessman), Sir Jack Cohen in ...

for turning 5,000 tonnes of meat that had passed its sell-by date into electricity by burning it to avoid wasting the meat. Viva! argued converting out-of-date meat into heat with as byproduct was not environmentally sustainable, but Tesco defended its decision. In 2010, Viva! protested against a branch of

Budgens Budgens Stores Limited, trading as Budgens, is a chain of grocery stores in the United Kingdom. The business was founded in 1872 by John Budgen, who opened the first shop in Maidenhead, Berkshire and was incorporated as a private limited compan ...

for supporting a "needless cull" of grey squirrels by selling squirrel meat in one of their stores in North London. In 2012, Viva! stated that it favoured the development of

cultured meat Cultured meat, also known as cultivated meat among other names, is a form of cellular agriculture wherein meat is produced by culturing animal cells ''in vitro''; thus growing animal flesh, molecularly identical to that of conventional meat, ou ...

. "Certainly, with over 950 million land animals slaughtered in the UK each year, and the vast majority of them factory farmed in awful conditions, anything that saves animals from suffering is to be welcomed," former Viva! spokesman and campaign manager Justin Kerswell said, adding that individuals should make up their own mind on whether or not they would consume it themselves, because 'vegetarianism and veganism aren't religions'. In 2022, Viva! ran a TV advert which showed a couple ordering pulled pork takeaway from a company called "Just Meat." When the takeaway arrives, it is a live piglet delivered with a meat cleaver.

References

External links

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Viva!
– Polish website of the organisation {{Animal rights, state=uncollapsed, movement 1994 establishments in the United Kingdom British animal rights organizations Organisations based in Bristol Vegan organizations

Overview

Activism

See also

References

External links