Animal rights activists vandalise portrait of King Charles at London gallery
The animal rights protest group, Animal Rising, have covered the first official portrait of King Charles III in graffiti at a London gallery.
The incident took place at midday on June 11th at the Philip Mould Gallery in the English capital. It’s only a matter of weeks since the red portrait, created by Jonathan Yeo, was unveiled in person by the royal figure.
Animal Rising have covered the portrait in Wallace and Gromit-related posters, which they say is related to the King’s apparent love for the animated duo. In a speech bubble, they hung an image which read, “No cheese, Gromit. Look at all this cruelty on RSPCA farms!”
The reason why King Charles III has been targeted is due to his links to the RSPCA, as he serves as a royal patron for the charity. On June 9th, Animal Rising shared an investigation into 45 RSPCA “assured” farms, which they allege to have committed 280 legal breaches and 94 breaches of Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs standards.
Daniel Juniper, who is involved in Animal Rising, said of the graffiti: “With King Charles being such a big fan of Wallace and Gromit, we couldn’t think of a better way to draw his attention to the horrific scenes on RSPCA Assured farms.”
While Juniper hopes that King Charles III finds the stunt “amusing”, they “also call on him to seriously reconsider if he wants to be associated with the awful suffering across farms being endorsed by the RSPCA.”
Juniper continued: “Charles has made it clear he is sensitive to the suffering of animals in UK farms; now is the perfect time for him to step up and call on the RSPCA to drop the Assured Scheme and tell the truth about animal farming.”
Since releasing footage of the investigation, Animal Rising has received support from Chris Packham, the RSPCA president, who described the alleged evidence in the film as “utterly indefensible”.
Packham continued: “I found [the footage] extraordinarily difficult to watch. I felt sick, frankly. Animal suffering is animal suffering no matter where it is, but when it’s happening in your own backyard – when we should be in a position to guard against it – it hurts more.”
In light of the investigation, Animal Rising are asking King Charles III to withdraw his support for the RSPCA. They’ve also stated no permanent damage will be caused to the portrait, claiming the posters can be easily removed.
The RSPCA is yet to comment.
