Six Surprising Reactions From Animal Equality’s Virtual Reality Project
With the help from Condition One, Animal Equality’s virtual reality project transports people into a whole new world – inside a factory farm and slaughterhouse. The project was introduced to hundreds of people at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival and left a lasting impression.
Here are some surprising reactions:
1. Anthropologist & Writer Barbara J. King
“I have watched, read and taught about animal suffering in factory farms before. I knew it was bad in factory farms in the U.S., England, Europe, China and Latin America. Yet, something extra-powerful comes across in VR. The heightened visual closeness brings heightened emotional attunement and, thus, the true extent of the cruelty to individual sentient animals.”
2. Actor Peter Egan from Downton Abbey
“I know all of us involved in animal welfare, have seen our fair share of horror. Yesterday I was invited by Toni Shephard to view and narrate Animal Equality’s new project #VirtualReality experience. It is unique, new and unforgettable. It will be launched in March. I urge you all to follow and support it. It takes commitment to watch it, commitment to share it and it will make a difference. To watch a poor sow, locked in a cage, unable to move or turn around, in a facility housing many others..a breeding facility. Lying in her own waste, unable to enjoy contact with her piglets other than by suckling them is both harrowing and heartbreaking. The experience places you in the facility, it is unforgettable. I’ll keep you more informed. Please follow AnimalEquality and Toni Shephard to learn more. Thanks, Peter.”
3. Actress Jon Mack
“Very hard to watch. Very visible and very upsetting, yet very important for everyone to see. You have to see where your food comes from; you have to see the horror that goes on behind the walls of these slaughterhouses.”
4. Singer-Songwriter Dawn Richard
“Whatever I knew about factory farming before – my choice to be vegan before has amplified by watching this.”
5. Nick Bicanic
“One of the few pieces I really liked was an as yet unreleased piece on Factory Farming from Condition 1 and Animal Equality but with the exception of that few other pieces showed much originality or ability to engage the viewer beyond the novelty moment of first putting on a headset.”
6. Daisy Dai
“My mom’s a vegetarian and I’ve always respected her decision for it. She became a vegetarian because of me; she saw me as a baby and never wanted me to get hurt or anything like that… Now I feel like I want to join her and not eat meat anymore.”
