Hundreds of animal rights activists marched through downtown Vancouver on Sunday.
Roaring Silence is an annual animal rights protest. Activists march silently in single file along the sidewalks of downtown Vancouver while carrying signs depicting graphic mistreatment of animals.
The protestors say they are fighting to end the cruelty endured by animals in commercial industries.
“We grieve for the animals enduring unfathomable suffering at the hands of the food, clothing, entertainment and research industries,” said demonstration organizer Daphna Kedem.
Kedem added that the protest's message is simple: "All animals desire and deserve freedom."
According to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, more than 755 million chickens, turkeys and ducks, 21 million hogs, 3 million cattle and 530,000 sheep and lambs were slaughtered in federally and provincially inspected processing facilities in 2018.
Rudy Froese is one of the marchers, who says there are plant-based alternatives that are environmentally more friendly.
"There’s no cruelty involved," said Froese of those options. "With the year 2020 coming up, it is time we changed our food paradigm."
This year the march was also joined by Australian animal activist James Aspey, who is known for taking a year-long vow of silence in 2015 to protest and bring awareness to the suffering of animals worldwide.
“Why would we continue this old, violent, cruel, resource-intensive, environmentally destructive, harmful for human health -- why would we continue that system when we have such a better one available?” Aspey said.
The Roaring Silence march began locally in 2017.
