I would walk through any storm for these beautiful animals

Sophie is a dedicated Animal Rights Activist based in Sydney, whose unwavering commitment to the cause extends far beyond the realm of traditional advocacy. This passionate advocate for our fellow creatures takes to the streets for impactful protests, orchestrates direct actions like shutting down slaughterhouses, and invests considerable effort in investigating and rescuing animals ensnared in the harrowing conditions of factory farms.

Sophie’s activism extends beyond mere rhetoric; it delves into the heart of the issue, striving for tangible change through direct interventions. The commitment doesn’t stop at protests; Sophie spends valuable time on the ground, rescuing animals from deplorable conditions, determined to provide them with a chance at a better life.

To sustain this vital work, Sophie has established a Patreon exclusively for those who share a deep resonance with the cause and can contribute financially. This platform serves as a lifeline, supporting Sophie during periods when work takes her interstate or when engaged in long-term projects. Donations are earmarked for covering essential expenses such as fuel, animal care, equipment, and potential legal fees incurred from charges related to her activism.

If you’re moved by the urgency of Sophie’s mission and have the means to support, this Patreon offers a direct avenue to contribute to the tangible change Sophie is tirelessly working towards in the world of animal rights.

Tell us more about yourself, please

Be vegan, for them
Sophie

My name is Sophie. I am a 30 year old vegan activist from Sydney Australia. My work currently involves direct action, investigations and rescues in factory farms, lingerie protests, street outreach, my singing demo’s and more!

Almost a decade being vegan and my health has only improved!
Sophie

In 2024 I will very excitingly be going into my 10th year being vegan! I was vegetarian on and off my whole life growing up simply because I loved animals and did not want to eat them; I wasn’t even aware of all the cruelty that went on.

When I was 21 I came across Freelee the Banana Girl and watched a whole bunch of her videos on what happens in the egg and dairy industry and went vegan overnight.

We aren’t all lucky enough to be in the presence of such a beautiful, sweet little hen to hug today but we ARE lucky enough to have the intelligence and empathy to choose a kinder option and go vegan for them!

I feel so guilty constantly for not being able to save more animals
Sophie

I realised that if I remained vegetarian I was still the reason that cows and chickens were suffering and it did not make sense to me to continue spending my money on such cruelty if the reason I was vegetarian in the first place was for the animals.

Sadly there are very few hens actually being shown love today as in Australia alone there are currently over 20 million hens being kept in these cruel conditions and used as egg making machines and over 8 billion more across the world

An interesting story from my vegan journey starts right at the beginning as I mentioned with the Freelee the Banana Girl videos. My partner at the time came downstairs one day and told me about this news story he saw on this crazy girl who ate 50 bananas in a day. I laughed and said how insane she sounded and googled her that night.

The next day I woke up and my life was changed forever in so many ways! I no longer eat only raw foods but will be vegan for the rest of my life as it’s the best decision I ever made for both the animals and my health.

In terms of challenges finding vegan food, I really don’t have any. It is so easy in 2023 to be vegan and there are options everywhere. We have entire sections in the grocery stores dedicated to vegan foods now and almost every restaurant will have at least one vegan option.

Please stop eating eggs and chickens. Please leave animals alone. We don’t need them for health. We don’t need them for taste pleasure. There’s no reason for us to treat them so badly and take away their lives
Sophie

Over the last decade it has only gotten easier and easier for me. I also took a liberation pledge about 4 years ago so that I do not have to witness someone eating an animal and/or their secretions anymore. Going inside these hell holes that we call factory farms and seeing everything first hand for myself I can no longer tolerate sitting at a dinner table where there is animal cruelty involved.

My circle of friends over the years has shifted over to my vegan activist crew so it’s never really a problem but the struggle is with my family. I am lucky to have some vegan family members which makes things a lot easier but I also know the struggle of having to argue with family members about not having animal products present when I am at an event. They have finally come around and respect my wishes and we always have vegan events only now but I do have some family members where our differing morals have definitely created a wedge in our relationship.

I overcome this through conviction within my values. I remember WHO I am doing this for and this gives me the strength that I need to keep moving forward. I also practice nervous system regulation techniques more recently in between difficult moments like these to stand strong in the boundaries I have set and to better deal with the social repercussions this unfortunately comes with.

It all starts with you and your dollar. Stop demanding the supply. You have so much power within your daily choices. You have the power to make this world a kinder place for animals and it’s so easy
Sophie

Becoming vegan was the best decision I ever made. I feel not only physically so much better with my health but mentally strong too. I know that I am on the right side of history and that I am living a life in full alignment with my strongest values. I feel at peace knowing that I do my very best to not be the reason why any animal suffers.

Having said this, being an activist who goes inside some of the worst places you could imagine and witnessing this suffering with my own eyes I can fall into a dark place from time to time. There is a not so peaceful side to being vegan and knowing about the horrors that are taking place every single day for these animals; but I use this sadness and anger as fuel to keep doing as much as I can to make this world a better place for them.

All the different types of animals we have been able to liberate, I remember every single moment with every single soul
Sophie

If someone has not yet tried vegan food I would start by explaining where their food comes from and what the animals went through in order for them to get it.

I would tell them about the mother pigs who spend their lives stuck in sow stalls where they cannot move or tend to their babies who surround them, often sick and dying.

I would tell them about the mother cows whose babies are taken away from them and are used as milk making machines their whole lives until they can no longer walk.

I would tell them about all the caged and free range hens who suffer the most cruel conditions in those sheds, never seeing the light of day. I would tell them about the lambs, the ducks, the turkeys and all the many animals that we eat and share their stories.

I would then explain how easy it is to make vegan food! All of the inexpensive staples that already exist in each household, potatoes, lentils, bread and more.

I would explain how many mock meats there are that are available in all supermarkets which taste extremely similar to real meat and show them that they don’t have to give up anything but just simply switch their products up.

You can still enjoy all of the flavours that you enjoy as a meat eater but without the cruelty.

Fighting for the animals in a world where the majority of people think it’s okay to pay for animals to be abused and murdered…that takes strength
Sophie

I live in Sydney and these are a few of my favourite vegan restaurants. Calley Rey in Newtown for a Mexican feed, Lord of The Fries for greasy fast food (found in many cities and states), Golden Lotus for beautiful Asian cuisine in Newtown, Grumpy Donuts in Annadale if you have a sweet tooth!

Honestly any vegan restaurant in Newtown is incredible! I also love getting a vegan burrito from Guzman Y Gomez or a vegan burger from Grill’d. At home I am super lazy and don’t like to cook so my go-to is a super easy Sushi Bowl and/or roast veggies with lots of hummus and/or homemade pizza loaded with veggies, vegan cheeses and vegan bacon and salami.

I adore food and eating delicious tasting food makes me incredibly happy so my favourite thing about these foods is that I get to enjoy them without hurting any animals!

The LEAST you can do for these innocent, defenceless animals is be vegan. Is to stop paying for the cruelty that’s inflicted upon them
Sophie

Some misconceptions about vegans are that we are weak, unhealthy and malnourished which is far from the truth. In fact I actually suffered from anemia and an iron deficiency growing up and it wasn’t until I went vegan that I was able to cure myself of this through eating lots of iron rich foods like spinach, lentils, tofu, chickpeas and more.

As long as your diet is well planned there is no reason you cannot thrive eating plant based! At the end of the day I can only explain based on my personal experience as I am not a nutritionist or a doctor but I do encourage people to look into the research for example: the official peer-reviewed statement of the Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics, the largest group of nutrition and diet professionals in the world, states that a fully plant-based diet can be nutritionally adequate for all stages of life.

This is also attested to by the British Dietetics Association and Dieticians of Canada. You can also watch documentaries like What the Health or read books such as The China Study. The information and research supporting a plant based diet is abundant and accessible!

Tell me you don’t see a ‘someone’. Someone who deserves to live a life free of cruelty. Someone who doesn’t deserve to suffer at the hands of your demand. Be vegan, for them
Sophie

To someone who is beginning to cut animal products out of their diet my advice is to reach out to a community near you who you can talk to whether it’s to vent or whether it’s for advice, recipes. It’s really helpful to not feel alone in this and creating a group of friends to support you is key.

Watch lots of documentaries like Dominion, Forks Over Knives, Cowspiracy etc to keep yourself educated and motivated to stay on the right track and at the end of the day know your values and stand strong with them, do not worry about what other people think and say!

My stories about being a vegan are a little more on the dark and traumatic side with the kind of work that I do to expose these places. I could share hundreds of horrific stories of the saddest places I have ever been inside of but I will try to keep it light for this page and tell a little story of the very first rescue I ever did and how it changed the trajectory of my life and purpose.

I had been vegan for about 2 or 3 years. I had been doing street outreach with an organisation called the Cube of Truth, I attended vigils outside of slaughterhouses and also did some other forms of activism like chalking, stickering and marches.

Please leave eggs off your plate and do not support this animal cruelty any longer
Sophie

I felt I needed to do more and was ready to move to the next step of my activism journey, I reached out to someone who I knew was doing rescues and they agreed to let me come on my first night out with them. We were going to rescue hens from a caged egg laying facility.

We tread through mud, hills, long grass, and climbed over barbed wire fences for what felt like forever. I was scared and had adrenaline pumping through my body. Would we get caught? Is that someone standing over there? What was that light I just saw? What will it look like when we get inside? Can I handle what I am about to see? Will we be able to save any at all? At times I felt like calling it quits and running back home! I had no idea what to expect.

But we arrived, many mosquito bites, barbed wire cuts and a new found realistion for how unfit I was later! I stepped inside and all my thoughts went silent. Everything slowed down. Tears began to well up in my eyes while simultaneously a numbness came over me. I was in shock.

Our purpose is to protect animals and to raise awareness for the cruelty behind places who lie to the public about what really goes on behind closed door
Sophie

These beautiful girls, trapped in such small cages. Their beaks had been cut off, they had barely any feathers, some were sitting on top of other dead hens. Others were dying before our very eyes. I had never held a chicken before. I was guided to take the first girl out and did so with difficulty. I placed her safely down and we began to take the rest out, one by one. The smell of their own waste and also the rotting hens inside the shed was unbearable. I cried as we left as the most intense feeling of guilt came over me, for leaving the rest behind.

I still remember their faces to this day. So curious and gentle along with the sweet little noises they were making. I wondered if they were saying “What about me? Are you going to take me too? I need saving too!”, this tore me up for weeks and still does today with every shed I leave when I do this work.

The walk back was much different from the walk in. The emotions I felt inside and leaving the shed were overcome with a magical and liberating feeling. “I just saved actual lives” I thought to myself “We did it! We saved these girls’ lives and they never have to suffer again”.

I looked up at the sky and noticed the millions of stars we don’t usually get to see where I live in the city. I breathed in the now fresh air and smiled knowing that for the first time in their life these girls would get to see this sky, feel the cool breeze through their feathers and enjoy their new life of freedom.

I knew from this point onward that I would dedicate my life to making this world a better place for them and to try and save as many as I can.

I believe whole heartedly we will see this change if we keep pushing and putting the pressure on the industry, the government and on individuals who care about animals as we all do
Sophie

If you are thinking about going vegan, please do it! For yourself, the planet and above all, the animals. We do not need animal products to be healthy. This also extends out to beauty products which are tested on animals and clothing which use animals skin, feathers and scales.

For zoos and aquariums who hold animals in cruel captivity. Dogs, bulls, horses and other animals in the sport entertainment industry. There are many different forms of animal abuse and as humans we have a moral responsibility to protect the voiceless and we can do this by choosing what we spend our money on ethically.