Record turnout for Annual Summer Outing

After two missed summers due to the pandemic, the New Hampshire Animal Rights League’s summer outing returned on August 21, 2022 at Four Tree Island, Portsmouth with a record turnout!

It was a perfect day to be by the water, enjoying delicious vegan food, greeting old friends and making new ones, and learning about how we can protect the ocean and all sea life.

Vegan picnic fare was provided by Common Roots, a cafe, market, and yoga studio located in Rye, NH. President James Glover spent the day behind the grill (thank you, James!), serving up plant-based burgers and hot dogs. 

The Vegan Pirates proved to be indispensable, jumping in to work the food line, doling out sides of pasta salad, potato salad, vegan lobster rolls, and chips.

Dessert was a decadent platter of mouthwatering vegan brownies and chocolate chip cookies.

Special guest!

Just when it seemed things couldn’t be any more perfect, Ariel the Little Mermaid showed up! 

Ariel from Precious Parties by Kayla quickly had a line of children trailing her as she gave out hugs and shared tales of her underwater adventures.

During story time, Ariel read some books about compassion for animals, including sea animals, who are often overlooked. 

Speaking up for sea life

As the Little Mermaid can attest, fish are intelligent animals who feel pain just as we do. Because no U.S. law regulates the treatment of fish, both the commercial fishing industry and fish farms treat fish in ways that would be criminal if they were dogs or cats. 

Fishing is also bad for the environment. Bottom trawlers, commonly used in commercial fishing, drag nets larger than football fields along the ocean floor, scraping up everything in their path, including dolphins and sea turtles, and destroying entire underwater ecosystems in the process.

Posters were on display with information about the harm caused by fishing. (Scroll down to see the quiz questions and answers.)

Quiz

Lobster poster Q: In which three countries is it illegal to boil lobsters alive? A: Switzerland, Norway, and New Zealand

Fish poster Q: Every day the commercial fishing industry sets enough “longlines” to wrap around the entire earth how many times? A: 500

Shark poster Q: What is the best way to help sharks? A: Don’t eat fish. The commercial fishing industry kills more sharks than any other activity.

Turtle poster Q: What is the best way to keep plastic out of the ocean? A: Don’t eat fish. The commercial fishing industry is responsible for 46% of the plastic waste in the ocean.

Recipes

We also handed out delicious fish-free recipe cards. If you would like these recipe cards, just drop us an email at info@nhanimalrights.org and we’ll mail them to you!

Raffle

Lastly, we had a raffle, with the lucky winner taking home a treasure chest containing movie night snacks, 4 movie tickets to Chunky’s, and $20 toward vegan movie fare (yes, Chunky’s has the Beyond Burger!).

Thank you!

Thank you to everyone who came out for this bigger-than-ever summer outing, to all our helpers, and to those who made donations. We couldn’t do this work for animals without your support.