Edinburgh Royal Highland show 2023: Animal rights group Animal Rising storms stage in protest at Highland show

Animal rights group disrupts Edinburgh’s Royal Highland Show with protest

Protesters disrupted the Royal Highland Show in Edinburgh by storming the stage during a sheep shearing competition and gluing themselves to stalls.

Members of Animal Rising were quickly removed by security after taking to the stage during the Golden Shears Sheep Shears World competition at around 1.45pm on Saturday, June 24. CVampaigners wearing pink t-shirts reading 'For All Life' ran onto the platform where the shearing takes place. Three individuals glued themselves to the stalls where the sheep are kept whilst others held placards.

The competition, taking place at the Royal Highland Show in Edinburgh, involves teams from around the world shearing sheep as quickly as possible. The group said the competition causes sheep to be ‘visibly stressed and uncomfortable, purely for our entertainment.’

Animal Rising protesters in pink t-shirts stormed stage at the Royal Highland Show in Edinburgh on Saturday (Photo: Animal Rising)

A second round of the event was delayed by at least 20 minutes as the live stream showed ads on repeat. Others held posters detailing facts about the farming industry. Members of the group were also sat at a table outside the event talking to farmers attending the four-day event.

Sarah McCaffrey, one of the protesters, said: “We are here to engage in conversation around our broken relationship with animals and nature. We know that we are a nation of animal lovers, but that is not reflected in our actions. This is clear to see in Golden Sheers World Championship where sheep are put in positions where they are visibly stressed and uncomfortable, purely for our entertainment.

"It is also evident in our use of horses for ‘showjumping’ at this same event, and in our food system where we send one billion animals to be killed every year in the UK alone. That is why Animal Rising are here today taking action. But disruption is only part of the story, dialogue is key too if we are to create the lasting change we need: a safe, secure food plant-based food system and programme of rewilding”.

Animal Rising calls for the transition to a ‘secure and sustainable’ plant-based food system, alongside a mass rewilding programme. The action at the Royal Highland Show comes after the group disrupted the Grand National at Aintree, and the Scottish Grand National in Ayr in April.

The Royal Highland Show has been contacted for comment.

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