Well-known vegan activist Tash Peterson has shared an uncomfortable run-in she had with a horse and cart driver in which he threatened to beat her to death with her own camera. The 28-year-old, who lives in Melbourne, Australia, filmed the driver, which he didn’t take too kindly to and an altercation ensued.
- The horse and cart driver was with his kids. That was the man’s major gripe with Peterson’s decision to film him. “I hope you are not filming my child?” he told her. “If you do I’ll beat you to death with your camera.” However, she continued filming as she wanted to document “animal slavery and exploitation.”
- Peterson gave as good as she got. Not deterred by the man’s threats, Peterson fired back: “How can you defend this? Can you not see how sad and depressed they are? These animals should be free. Animal abusers, total losers! You should be ashamed of yourself!”
- Thankfully, the escalation didn’t escalate from there. Peterson was not hurt by the man and it seems she eventually turned off the camera and walked away. However, she had more to say when sharing the clip on Facebook. “Regardless of how well ‘loved’ and ‘cared’ for a nonhuman animal is, using them as a vehicle and commodity is immoral,” she wrote. “They are not slaves or machines and do not consent to being exploited as a vehicle for a human’s pleasure. Stop supporting animal slavery by living vegan.”
- Horse-drawn carriages have been banned from Melbourne’s central business district. After hearing of horses collapsing and drivers abusing the animals, a major public campaign calling for the carriages to be outlawed was started. Thankfully, it seems the powers that be listened. However, this practice should be outlawed everywhere.
