Peta president Ingrid Newkirk interview: veganism, animal rights activism and Kingston

Surrey Comet sat down with her to talk about her memories of the area, animal rights activism and the surge in popularity of veganism.

She said: “When I was a child living in Kingston there were no vegan restaurants. There were no vegetarian restaurants. Nobody knew what vegan was. You couldn't buy any vegan or vegetarian foods in supermarkets. There was no soy milk, almond milk, oat milk - nothing.

“As a child I aspired to have a fur coat and I got my first one when I was 19. I wore my grandmother's fox heads and tails and thought it was all rather lovely.

“It's changed so much that it makes your head spin. Young people don't want to be seen dead in fur. They would be horrified if they saw my childhood pictures.

"And angora, we've basically devastated that market - I don't think you can even find angora in the UK any more. People take one look at the screaming rabbit video and they're not going to touch it.

An angora rabbit being stripped of its fur (photo: Peta Asia)

“Clearly it's on the right trajectory because veganism is getting bigger and bigger. Politicians, environmentalists, celebrities - everyone and their brother is now aware of what vegan eating and clothes are. And the majority of people are opposed to the use of animals in experiments.

“I consider vegan to be a way of life, not just what we eat but everything we do. And it's wonderful.

“Anyone who is considering going vegan is about to embark on something exciting and interesting. And they'll make themselves feel better, not just healthier. I was standing last week in a grocer's in France; the smells were so delicious, you really couldn't miss them. It was fresh fruits and fresh vegetables and as I passed the florist the smell was gorgeous too.

“That's all the vegan stuff. You go into a butcher's or a slaughterhouse or a dairy and it's all secretions like blood and mucus and mammary secretions and it's not pleasant. And you don't think about that usually, but I was really struck by it.”

The result of factory farming (photo: Peta)

Peta was founded in 1980, in the early days of animal rights movement, to campaign against the use of animals in food, clothing, experimentation and entertainment.

Ingrid was living in Washington DC, after a spell in Florida and spending her formative years in India.

She said: “We were based in Kingston until we left for India, and the Surrey Comet did a piece about my family moving there when I was eight. My grandmother and grandfather were still there all that time after I'd gone.

“I remember little things from my youth. I remember always at Christmas we would go to Bentalls and ride the train to the north pole. And we would go to Richmond Park; my father's sister rode a horse there and we would go meet her.

“It's hazy; I'm 68 and that was 60 years ago. But it's home. If I was a salmon and I spawned, that's where I would go.

“My father was in Borneo when I was small, and he used to come back and talk about the cannibals, and they called human flesh the flesh of the long pigs. In cannibal language, long pig is human.

Ingrid Newkirk posing for a campaign stunt (photo: Peta)

“I have known pigs, I have fostered pigs, it was a pig who made me vegetarian – a pig who was abandoned on a farm and left to die. That pig made me think about the slaughterhouses that I was supporting while I was condemning someone in my law enforcement capacity for the abandonment, which was illegal, of this little pig who was made to suffer.”