Our thoughts are with the experience of turkeys this season:-

Your first sensation is the ammonia sting. You are born not to a mother, but to a crowded, windowless shed you will never leave. You will never see the sun, roost in a tree, or forage for food.

Your body is a prison. Bred for profit, your breasts swell to a grotesque size, putting excruciating pressure on your immature skeleton. Every step is painful. Your flock-mates, driven mad by the stress and confinement, turn to pecking and cannibalism. To prevent this, a hot blade sears off the tip of your beak, a bundle of nerves, while you are fully conscious.

You live for six months, standing in your own filth. The waste burns your feet into open sores. Many of your siblings collapse and die, their hearts giving out. Their bodies are left to rot for days.

The end is a chaos of violence. You are grabbed, crammed into a crate, and exposed to the elements for the first and last time on a truck. You are a commodity, and your six-month life of suffering ends in a production line of slaughter, just in time for the holidays.

In August three vital vegan and animal welfare causes: CARAT (Caring for the Animals Trust), Littlest Wildlife Hotel, and SPECIESISM each received £100, fulfilling a key resolution passed at the club's first Annual General Meeting (AGM). 

This significant step reinforces the Vegan Running Club's core constitutional principle: to avoid accumulating excess financial reserves and instead, consistently redirect surplus funds to support impactful animal rights initiatives.

"Our club was founded on the principle of not just promoting plant-powered running, but also actively contributing to animal welfare," stated Mike Harper, the VRC's Chairperson. "This first major distribution of funds, decided by our members at the AGM, demonstrates our commitment to that core mission. We are immensely proud to support CARAT, Littlest Wildlife Hotel, and SPECIESISM in their crucial work".

For more information about the Charity please visit their website here 

Vegan Running Club is proud to have completed another successful Vegan fund raising initiative.  This was a sponsored 'marathon' litter pick by the club's Activism Coordinator with financial contributions from both club members and the public.  We are truely pleased to make this contribution that will have a long term and sustained benefit for wildlife.

A 20 mile stretch of road was cleared of litter on 5th January.

Over 40 bags of litter removed from roadside in my a twelve hour effort in challenging weather and some of it in darkness.

This amazing endurance by the club's activism coordinator is to raise funds for World Land Trust  which manages Amazon and Rain Forest projects to create and preserve wildlife habitat.

Thank you so much to the kind souls who've donated so far.

Forty bags of rubbish plus larger items are to be collected by arrangement by Dorchester Town Council refuse department. 

Further contributions to this worthy cause can be made here.

Lowveld poultry sanctuary need you

In the first weeks of September we raised funds for Red Hen Rehoming.  They were extremely thankful for our contribution and they have asked that we give our support for the remainder of September to Lowveld Poultry. 

Club Activist Coordinator, Kevin Doherty, was one of several club members present at NARM on Saturday 17Aug.  The flag was one of the tallest and most conspicuous of the march from Marble Arch through busy streets of London finishing at the houses of Parliament. 

As well as being a voice for the voiceless, prior to the march Kevin repped for the animals with the flag at Clapham Common parkrun which had over 1000 runners. 

Online animal abuse seems to be rapidly growing - it's used tactically to get attention on social media such as fake 'rescues'.  It encompasses risks, harm, abuse and distress to the animals. 

Please click here for steps to help address this problem.

A briefing on how to encourage more plant based options in hospitality establishments from our friends at Plant Based Treaty.

Introducing our new 2-page parkrun flyer for sharing with any interested parties we encounter on Saturday mornings.

Our fund raiser for April is now closed having exceeded the target.  Many thanks to all contributors.