The cartoonish attack on a painting of Britain's King Charles III was a “nice way” to expose “horrific cruelty” on UK farms, according to protestors.
Animal Rising members stuck two posters on the glass covering of the monarch’s official portrait at the Philip Mould Gallery in London yesterday.
One of the posters covered King Charles’ face with the cartoon character Wallace, while another poster showed him saying, “No cheese, Gromit. Look at all this cruelty on RSPCA farms!”.
‼️BREAKING: No Cheese Gromit! King Charles Portrait Redecorated‼️ @RoyalFamily
‼️Find out why King Charles, Patron of the RSPCA should ask them to drop the Assured Scheme -> https://t.co/pTneW0QCWf ? pic.twitter.com/jYLHFuxtHB
— Animal Rising (@AnimalRising) June 11, 2024
Animal Rising Spokesperson Dan Kidby said the vandalism was a “lighthearted way to pivot towards a very serious cause”.
The group recently conducted the “biggest exposé of farm cruelty in UK history”, claiming to find hundreds of animal rights breaches on ‘RSPCA Assured farms’.
“[We] found horrific cruelty on every single farm,” Mr Kidby told Newstalk Breakfast.
“45 RSPCA farms, 280 legal breaches – and we made our way onto page 11 of The Times and that was the only media we received.
“Two days later, we did this [vandalism] and made headlines around the world.
“It’s a nice way to get attention.”
'No damage done' to King Charles painting
Mr Kidby said the group knew the painting was covered in glass, and they would not have done the protest if it wasn’t.
“It made people around the world laugh and I know King Charles is a Wallace and Gromit fan, so I hope he enjoyed it too,” he said.
“We didn’t break the law in this instance, it was a sticker easily removed and no damage was done.”
The posters were removed from the glass protecting the painting within “15 seconds”, according to Mr Kidby.
Animal Rising activists attack painting of King Charles III with stickers, 12/06/2024. Image: Animal RisingThe animal rights activist said it is an “exaggeration” to describe what protestors did yesterday as “anarchy”.
“It's made millions of people around the world laugh and brought attention to something we wouldn’t otherwise be talking about,” he said.
“The conditions we found on these RSPCA farms are truly, truly horrifying.
“The RSPCA honorary president has come out and said since seeing what we found, he can’t sleep at night.”
Animal Rising documentary
Animal Rising’s documentary RSPCA: Covering Up Cruelty investigated 45 ‘high welfare’ farms supported by the RSPCA Assured scheme.
Footage shows scenes including baby chickens dying in factory farms and pigs left dead for days in sheds.
The group is calling on the RSPCA to drop the RSPCA Assured scheme, calling the documentary “definitive proof that farming animals can never be done nicely.”
Animal Rising protestors previously disrupted the Grand National by sneaking onto the racecourse and glueing themselves to the jumps.
Main image: Animal Rising activists attack painting of King Charles III with stickers, 12/06/2024. Image: Animal Rising
