Do we need to drink milk?
That question comes from Kelowna animal rights activist Moira Drosdovech.
She’s a vegan who, along with four other Okanagan women, has launched a group called Kelowna Animal Action.
They rented a billboard in West Kelowna not too long ago.
“Our first billboard, we wanted it to be a question,” Drosdovech said.
The billboard showed a puppy and a pig beside each other with a question: why love one but eat the other?
The billboard has since come down but there are plans to add another in West Kelowna next week, and it should crank up the emotions a little more.
It will show a picture of a distressed calf in an effort to target the dairy industry, suggesting that the next glass of milk or bowl of ice cream you’re going to have might have involved some suffering.
“Animals have been proven to have emotions and feelings. These cows bellow for days once their babies are pulled away and of course the babies do as well,” Drosdovech said.
And the message appears to be resonating — at least to some.
People are lining up at one vegan restaurant called the Naked Cafe in downtown Kelowna.
Owners Olivia and Teeghan Gordey said it’s cool to be vegan now.
“People do it for different reasons like health or for like the animals specifically, some people do it just to try and as people find more vegan options, people are more likely to go vegan,” Olivia said.
So is being vegan a new trend, or is it here to stay?
Only time will tell but this stat might hold the answer. It’s estimated that nearly a third of all Canadians — 12 million — are either eating less meat, or none at all.
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