Vegetarian Star

Dan Piraro and his wife, Ashely Lou, attended the 2008 Farm Sanctuary Gala in May, along with several celebrities, including Russell Simmons, Emily Deschanel, Lisa Edelstein, and Hal Sparks.

Farm Sanctuary’s mission is to protect the well being of farm animals, through education, rescue, and other directives. The gala serves to raise money for the organization via both a dinner party and an auction.

Dan Piraro, creator of the Comic Strip, Bizarro donated 2 pieces of his artwork, one which poked fun at some people’s repulsion by women breast feeding in public. The scene featured a hippie-looking mother in a restaurant asking another mother, “Do you have to do that in public?” as she feeds her child chicken breast meat.

It was a visit to a farm animal sanctuary that swayed Piraro in the veg direction, but he hasn’t always thought fondly of those involved with animal rights, as he told Metroactive 2 years ago:

“If somebody had told me five years ago that I was going to be an animal-rights activist and a vegan, I would have laughed in their face,” Piraro said.

“Back then I thought, like most people, that animal-rights activists were hippies with too much spare time…”

“I met these farm animals–cows, pigs, chickens, turkeys, sheep–in a non-stressed environment where they were allowed to be the kinds of animals that they are supposed to be.”

“And I realized that they are not stupid eating machines that didn’t care whether they lived or died. I saw first-hand that these guys are every bit as sentient and emotional and affectionate and diverse as cats and dogs–and people, for that matter.”

via Living Without Meat and Metroactive

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