Covid-19: How are you?
Image Credit: curtoicurto
Thank you for Sharing Compassion and Kindness
Compassion was the word chosen by our founder over half a century ago to encapsulate the very best quality in humanity, a sentiment as true today, in the midst of this Coronavirus pandemic, as ever.
In these challenging times, being kind to each other, being compassionate, is what really counts. Helping each other through this most difficult time. A moment when doing the right thing – social distancing – means finding new ways to connect and stay together.
Huge thanks in abundance to the health service workers, the doctors, nurses, ambulance drivers and all medical staff, who are looking after us night and day. Grateful thanks to key workers of every type and denomination for keeping our countries going and our people safe. At the same time, sharing thoughts and prayers for the families and loved ones of those taken from us by this most awful virus.
And huge thanks to you, supporters of Compassion in World Farming, for standing with us during turbulent times.
As an organisation, we continue to be the voice for farm animals: speaking out against cruelty, calling for compassion. After all, as I recently wrote, protecting people means protecting animals too.
Our Response
Protecting our people so they can continue to speak up for compassion is our priority. With offices and staff in a dozen countries across Europe, China and the USA, we have moved to universal homeworking. Everyone from the HQ office in the UK and elsewhere is now working remotely. Thankfully, it was something that we had foreseen, so had planned for. I’m therefore relieved to share that the transition went well. And some good news; our team in China have, after two months, returned to their Beijing office, proving that there really is light at the end of the tunnel for all of us.
Nevertheless these are worrying, anxious times for our staff. As we all head into uncharted waters, the financial reserves we normally expect to protect us during difficult times have taken a hit. Yet, we remain resolute to do the right thing by our staff, our supporters, by the farm animals that we serve.
Duke accompanies me on solo walks locally for exercise
As you would expect, we are strictly following all government guidelines everywhere, taking social distancing seriously. We have had to cancel a lot of physical meetings, some of them high profile and prestigious events, which has been incredibly disappointing. We will move those that we can to online events. Others, like our Founder’s Memorial Lecture to be given by Chris Packham, will be rescheduled.
We are also reappraising our programmes for greatest impact. Although it feels like the world has been turned upside down, we are as ever focused on how to achieve the most good. With political institutions and companies shutting down or overwhelmed by the pandemic, seeking the right moment and the right way to get our message across is key. Whilst dialling back on some activity, we will be accelerating others. We will be doing more in the coming period, for example, on ending the cage age and long distance transportation of animals, pushing for better fish welfare, and building momentum for a shift in the food system to one based on compassion and regeneration.
Standing Together
We will be standing by those legislators who have a vision of a compassionate future. We will stand by those companies doing the right thing: honouring promises to move to higher welfare. We will stand by those farmers doing the right thing: practicing pasture-fed, free range or organic. We will stand by those innovators of new proteins, be they plant-based or stem-cell, that are leading the way for a future with much less meat and dairy, extending compassion and kindness to all animals.
Image Credit: Richard Dunwoody / CIWF
We will continue to stand up for animals, people and the planet.
As ever, we see ending factory farming as one of the biggest ways to create a decent future for our children.
Thank you for being part of creating that future, one based on a more compassionate world. Thank you for your kindness. Thank you for caring. For animals, people and the planet. Despite the enormous difficulties we all face during this pandemic, together, we will create that compassionate world.
And, as ever, and especially during this most difficult moment, thank you for your support.
