How You Can Continue Saving Animals After ‘Be Kind to Animals Week’ Is Over
For over 100 years, the first week of May has been celebrated as national “Be Kind to Animals Week.” The week may be over, but there’s always more room for kindness toward animals!
Our actions are vehicles for compassion. Here are nine super-easy ways you can be kind to animals during the other 51 weeks of the year:
1. Get your mind right.
The first step to animal liberation is breaking down any prejudice you have toward animals. When you look at horses forced to pull carriages or elephants being beaten into performing senseless tricks, do you see individuals or objects for human manipulation? Do you appreciate why every living, feeling being deserves autonomy?
Find a copy of Animal Liberation by Peter Singer or Free the Animals by PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. These reads will help you understand why, just like any human, other animals deserve to live their lives free from suffering and exploitation.
2. Just go vegan already!
A vegan lifestyle is the most effective way to practice compassion for animals every single day. You’ll save nearly 200 animals every year from a terrifying, painful death—that’s about as kind as it gets.
Order your free vegan starter kit (VSK) for tips on eating out, recipes, shopping guides, and more. And turn others on to vegan foods by leaving VKSs everywhere you go.
3. Start the conversation with colleagues, friends, and family in any way you can.
Turn your social media channels into outlets for videos and news that describe the plight of animals suffering under human supremacy, hand out VSKs at your school or work, and always suggest vegan alternatives to meat-eaters you come into contact with.
You have a voice—use it for animals. You never know which meal, bit of animal rights information, or visual aid will finally make the vegan life “click” for someone. Never give up, and always support newbies on their vegan journey.
4. Have your animal companions spayed or neutered.
More than 6 million animals end up homeless every year, so there’s no excuse for bringing more puppies or kittens into the world. Sterilization also helps animals live longer, including by preventing many forms of cancer, and it can prevent male animals from running away.
If your dog or cat is already “fixed,” donate to support surgeries for less fortunate animals today.
5. Add animal rights messages to your wardrobe.
Go beyond shopping for cruelty-free fashion and become a walking billboard for the animal rights movement.
From “Sea World Sucks” to “Fur Is Dead,” PETA shirts are a great way to spark a conversation about saving animals with everyone you see.
6. Visit reputable animal sanctuaries, and boycott roadside zoos and aquariums.
Animals held captive in roadside zoos are denied everything that makes their lives meaningful. Whether they’re orcas imprisoned in tiny tanks or elephants shackled in chains, all animals have a fundamental right to be free.
7. Support animal-free circuses, and avoid performances, television shows, and films that exploit animals.
Animals aren’t actors, spectacles to imprison and gawk at, or circus clowns. Yet thousands of them are forced to perform meaningless, confusing tricks under the threat being whipped, beaten, poked, and prodded. Please join PETA in taking a stand for animals used in entertainment.
8. Volunteer to walk dogs or play with cats at your local animal shelter.
Maybe you’re not ready for a full-time companion. That’s OK! You can still make a world of difference for animals at your local shelter. There’s nothing like the purr from cats or tail wags from dogs who are elated because of some much-needed affection.
9. Look for PETA’s “Beauty Without Bunnies” logo on cosmetics to make sure your personal-care products are cruelty-free.
By purchasing only cruelty-free products, you can help save rabbits, mice, guinea pigs, rats, and other animals from excruciating tests and a lifetime of suffering.
Search our online database by company name or product type to learn which products are cruelty-free.
Want more ways to be kind to animals?
Every day, PETA could use your assistance saving living, feeling beings. Help animals anytime, anywhere with our mobile alerts. We’ll send you a short text whenever animals need your voice. Reply with a single word or even a single letter, and PETA will send the animal abuser a message on your behalf!
