Please welcome Ashley Riddle as the new Program Director for ARC! Ashley is well known in the Twin Cities Animal Rights community, having volunteered and attended demonstrations with Animal Rights Coalition, CAA, Minnesota Animal Liberation, Anonymous for the Voiceless, and Direct Action Everywhere. She brings this experience to work for ARC, along with her positive energy and enthusiasm, to support a rapidly growing coalition of people who want to make compassionate choices for animals.

Ashley said, “I’m excited to work with ARC because I appreciate the many different avenues of reaching people, whether it’s through Pay-Per-View, food sampling, protesting, or Cuddle Coats, there is something for everyone. ARC gives people a sense of community and support in a non-judgmental environment.”

Ashley became vegan in 2011 and it sparked her passion for animal rights, the environment, and health. In her free time, she loves to travel, spend time with her foster cats, read, watch comedies and documentaries, and try new adrenaline-pumping activities such as skydiving and flying trapeze. Please join us in welcoming Ashley!

THANK YOU for Giving to the Max on Thursday, November 16! We so appreciate your support. The work we do to help animals is critical and it all depends on your donations.

Our generous Triple Match for Give to the Max day has been extended through the end of the year by a donor who wishes to remain anonymous, so if you didn’t get a chance to donate on Give to the Max day, your donation can still go three times as far for animals. This is an amazing opportunity to donate to help animals and know your gift will make a huge difference.

Thank you for all you do for animals.

Chelsea Younquist, ARC Program Director
Kelsey Hambor, ARC Volunteer Coordinator

If you’re a Minnesotan, you’ve probably heard of Give to the Max Day, our state’s awesome annual day of giving. From midnight to midnight on Thursday, November 16, non-profits ask for your support to make the world a better place.

This year, a generous supporter of ARC’s work to help animals has pledged to TRIPLE MATCH all donations to ARC. This is an amazing opportunity to donate to help animals and know your gift will make a huge difference. If you’ve never donated to ARC before, this is the time to do it.

The work we do to help animals is critical and it all depends on your donations. Help us combat the violence animals endure daily. Make a donation to ARC today – by donating during our matching challenge your money will go three times as far for animals. Thank you for all you do for animals.

The food will be bountiful and delicious when you join ARC and friends for the 24th Annual Turkey-Free Friendsgiving Potluck, on Sunday 11/12 from 5:00-7:00 p.m. at Living Spirit United Methodist Church, 4501 Bloomington Ave. in Minneapolis.

You do not need to be vegan or vegetarian to attend. Please bring a vegan main dish, side dish, or dessert to share with others, including a serving spoon (vegan = no meat, dairy, eggs, gelatin, honey, or refined sugar). Figure on your dish serving about 10 people. Also bring a list of ingredients in your dish so we can be allergy-friendly. A variety of delicious vegan cheeses will be available for you to sample, and water and coffee will be provided.

This is a wonderful event to bring your friends and family to and show them how delicious vegan holiday eating can be. We are looking forward to sharing a special meal with all of our friends, both longtime and brand new. RSVP on Vegan Meetup or the Facebook event.

Join us for ARC’s annual volunteer day at Chicken Run Rescue on Sunday, October 22 from noon-3:00pm. Volunteers will help with whatever activities/chores CRR needs done to get settled in for the fall and winter. There will be a variety of tasks for everyone. CRR is located about an hour outside of the Twin Cities. Please RSVP by emailing chelsea@animalrightscoalition.com. This event is limited to 20 volunteers. Chelsea will mail out details and location closer to the event date.

No children at the Volunteer Day event please; we are doing a separate tour of Chicken Run Rescue on Saturday, October 7 that is child-friendly through ARC’s VegKins program. See info on that tour at the VegKins Facebook page.

Join us on Sunday, September 10 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.for a peaceful and legal protest of the exotic animal rides at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. Help us educate the public about why they should skip these rides and instead enjoy the activities that don’t hurt animals.

Many people who jump at the chance to get close to animals by buying exotic animal rides probably wouldn’t if they knew about the suffering the animals endure. The violence that goes into training animals used for rides isn’t seen by the public because the owners of these operations know that people would be enraged if they knew how the animals are beaten into submission. Elephants have to be made so frightened of the bull hook the handler carries that they will behave in front of spectators.

These animals are trucked around the country from site to site in small trailers or trucks. In the wild, they have extensive social networks and travel miles on foot every day. But when they’re sentenced to being amusement park rides they plod in boring circles day after day with hundreds of pounds of their back, for hour upon boring uncomfortable hour.

The MN Ren Fest continues to feature these rides, despite their parent company having discontinued the elephant rides at its Kansas City Ren Fest. Please take the time to comment on the Ren Fest Facebook page.

Photo by Captured by Brooke Photography at this year’s MN Ren Fest. As one of the elephants was begging for water, the handler poked her with his bull hook and gave her a Coke.

by Guest blogger Kingsley Manfredo

It is the proclaimed position of many animal rights activists that compassion has no boundaries. We feel that our daily struggle against speciesism on behalf of oppressed animals is a moral imperative. We protest, we demonstrate, we march, and we change the way we live our lives to serve as inspiration to others to embrace their values. We want to create a world wherein justice for all includes fur, fins, and feathers.

But what about justice for oppressed humans?

READ MORE

Each year Canterbury Park in Shakopee, MN adds “extreme” races to its usual lineup of horse racing, proclaiming “It’s a real zoo! Camel, Ostrich, and Zebra races!” Join the Animal Rights Coalition to protest this ridiculous exploitative event on Saturday July 15, from noon to 2:00 p.m. Let’s use our voices to peacefully show Canterbury and its patrons that we don’t believe animals should be used as entertainment, exotic or otherwise. Signs will be provided, but feel free to bring your own.

We will protest at the intersection of Canterbury Road and 12th Ave, across the street from McDonalds. This is a high traffic area as it is where folks will come off 169 to head into the park and there are many businesses nearby.