Amy Jean Davis (vegan): LA Animal Save and Love Always Sanctuary Founder, Part 2 of 2

LA Animal Save, like other Animal Save chapters, holds many animal-person vigils with the mission, “Bear witness, Come close and Help the animals.” “That is what we do at the slaughterhouses. We don't turn away. We come as close as we can to these animals, and we do something to try to help them.”

By bearing witness to those animal-person friends being sent into slaughterhouses, LA Animal Save aims to influence people to stop eating meat and change their diet to a vegan one. “They're taught to not think about them and just think that this dismembered body on your plate is food and don't think about how it came to be on your plate. So by bearing witness, we're seeing the individuals, and by doing that, we are actually inspiring so many people to stop eating animals and further to become activists themselves.”

Although beginning later, LA Animal Save was the first branch of Animal Save to introduce arts and music into the vigils. It also made waves by attracting celebrities to join its activities. LA Animal Save has not only increased the visibility of the Animal Save Movement but has also helped to reach more people and convince them to stop eating our animal-people friends.

The vigil campaign is by far the most impactful thing that Amy believes she has been a part of. She says there are not much more powerful moments than standing face-to-face with somebody who is about to be driven away to their death and you can do nothing to change it. Even with all of the frustration, she still insists on organizing the vigils on a love-based approach. She also makes efforts to ensure the events feature positive attitudes and energy from participants. “So, we actually have to focus on being very loving, at the least having some sort of neutral energy about ourselves. So, by learning about communication, I'm better able to communicate with the attendees so that they understand our primary goal is the animals and to try and create a nice, loving, neutral space for them, or we can see them and share their faces on social media.”