ANIMAL RIGHTS, VEGANISM AND THE WAY FORWARD
An Interview with Coral Hull by Claudette Vaughan

Dr. Coral Hull is a vegan writer, photographer and artist living in Australia. She has authored over 50 books, including poetry, fiction, non-fiction, artwork and digital photography. Born with Autism in 1965, she was raised under disadvantaged circumstances in the working class suburb of Liverpool in Sydney's west. Coral became concerned with issues of social justice and spirituality from an early age. She wrote her first poem about a rainforest at age thirteen. Coral became an ethical vegan and an animal rights advocate who has spent much of her life working voluntarily on behalf of animals, children and planet earth, as an individual and for various non-profit organisations. Coral holds a Doctor of Creative Arts Degree (Creative Writing Major) from the University of Wollongong. She is also the director of the Thylazine Foundation Pty Ltd: Arts, Ethics and Literature. Here Coral speaks to Abolitionist-Online regarding animals, veganism and abolition.

Abolitionist: Coral, please provide people who aren't familiar with your years of activism, what it is you do.

Coral Hull: I’ve worked for animals in one way or another for most of my life – taking in stray dogs and cats, handing out literature on stalls, giving talks, debating issues, participating in direct action, farm animal rescue and media events, through to picking up injured lizards and birds off the roads. I was the Education officer at Animal Liberation Victoria in 1994, where I spoke to hundreds of secondary school students. I continue to work in my field of creative arts as a vegan and an animal rights advocate and in my capacity as Director through my company The Thylazine Foundation: Arts, Ethics and Literature.

Tell us about your time with Patty Mark in Open Rescues. What have been some of the memorable stand-outs for you?

I participated in open rescues in the late 90s. I went on to battery hen, broiler chicken, pig and puppy farms with other activists in order to rescue sick, injured and dying animals and obtain film footage. This footage would then often be used educate the public through its inclusion in the mass media. I also used it as part of my school presentations. I was involved with a number of activists who stood on the rooftops of Happy Hens Egg World in Victoria, refusing to leave the farm until it was closed down.

The most memorable thing was lifting these poor featherless battery hens out their tiny cage prisons. I would feel their crippled legs fall down between my fingers. Those hens were amongst some of the most delightfully warm, inquisitive and gentle souls I’ve ever had the privilege of meeting. Unfortunately, we were unable to rescue all of them. The hardest thing were the thousands we had to leave behind. Each time we went back out on to a farm, we would find that the situation had grown progressively worse for the hens. The longer they are left in the battery cages the harder it gets for them. I could hardly sleep at night thinking about the enormity of the situation for the injured, sick and dying birds and the greed that drove humans to treat other sentient beings like this.

On one occasion we heard hens crying like human babies as they were being loaded into crates on trucks. The reason for this crying was that after months and months of being in battery hen cages, all their bones would be brittle and their bodies malformed. This means that when they are ripped from the cages and jammed into plastic crates their bones would break. Their legs and feet would be sliced off by the sharp edges of crates and left scattered on the ground beneath the trucks. This is another appalling and obscene act committed by human beings. It is an unbelievable disgrace to our species.

Those trucks are loaded in the dark and drive into major cities in the middle of the night. Anyone who eats hen’s eggs or foods that include eggs as a hidden product, is directly responsible for this subhuman behaviour. I am privileged to have rescued hens from farms. It was always heartening to see the hens end up with a caring person or on a sanctuary. Often many of the birds had to be euthanased by a vet, but at least then, they were finally put out of their pain and suffering. Direct action on behalf of animals is a compassionate and noble act. The activists who go out onto intensive farms to save the lives of animals have guts and it was a sobering experience to work alongside them.

What does your foundation, The Thylazine Foundation do?

The Thylazine Foundation publishes a free annual online literary and arts zine, Thylazine: The Australian Journal of Arts, Ethics & Literature. The company hosts a comprehensive Resource and Information website that is a free cultural and educational resource to the public, students and researchers on arts, ethics and literature in Australia.

The Thylazine Foundation is also involved in the initiation of various small-scale charitable projects within the local and wider community, through the distribution of good quality vegan healthfood to children and their families from disadvantaged situations. It also offers regular and ongoing donations of books on arts, ethics and literature to various libraries in remote locations in The Northern Territory of Australia.

In your own words, you have always held an abolitionist animal rights stance. What does that entail in your life?

Animal rights means animal rights. It does not mean ‘bigger cages’ or ‘humane murder’ or ‘just a little bit of bacon in your vegetable soup’. There is no compromising when it comes to the life of another living feeling being. We can afford animals basic rights by the choices we make. Veganism is the way to respect the lives of all animals. Abolish the idea of animals as property. Abolish any kind of animal slavery and exploitation and afford animals moral and legal rights. They are feeling, thinking sentient beings like us.

When an organisation or an individual promotes lacto ovo vegetarianism they are promoting animal abuse alongside the animal industries. Vegetarians still consume the ova of hens and breast milk of cows. The dairy industry feeds the veal industry with baby calves. They battery hen industry is responsible for cruelty and genocide on a scale never seen before by humankind. There is no difference in promoting milk and eggs over meat. All these industries hurt animals. If you are not vegan, you are simply not serious about the well being of animals, the environment, the third world, world peace or your own health. Dietary ethics is the foundation of making this world a better place.

Furthermore, there is no step by step process to becoming vegan. You don’t have to become a vegetarian and then become a vegan. That would be the same as giving up eating pig corpses but still choosing to eat the corpses of lambs before becoming a vegan. People who eat dead animals are becoming vegans all the time. The idea of a step-by-step process doesn’t make ethical or logical sense. Veganism is the first step.

Am I the perfect being? No. I kill insects by driving a car. I am always finding a hidden animal ingredient in the most unlikely places. I recently discovered that some water colour paper I had purchased contained gelatin. I returned it. I am most likely still using animal products without knowing that I am. Since the planet feeds upon itself and while this existence is rampaging with life and death, we will all be faced with ethical dilemmas. But compassion towards other species is fast becoming an important and critical part of the planet’s conscious evolutionary process. There are always stories springing up in the media about animals who are suddenly refusing to kill other animals.

Human beings are finally starting to make noise about world peace and climate change. This has happened since we are on the verge of irreversible environmental collapse. But nothing is going to change until we stop murdering others in order to feast on their corpses. Since we are privileged to be the dominant species at present, then it naturally falls upon our shoulders to nurture and serve all sentient beings who are in need of our consideration. So it is high time that we evolved into a compassionate and ethical species. According to my own calculations, we are about 500 million years overdue.

You are a photographer and in one of your latest works you have photographed cows in trucks in the Outback on the way to slaughter. What are your direct impressions of what the cows are going through?

The words ‘terror’ and ‘misery’ come to mind. These poor cows are covered with urine, excrement, dust, grime and insects. They are hungry, thirsty and very afraid. They are crammed into trucks and endure this agony of transportation through some of Australia’s most inhospitable areas. While the truck drivers sit in luxury air-conditioned cabins and have a hot meal at the next roadhouse, many of these cows are falling to their knees from exhaustion and injury as a result of the cruel way in which they are handled.

There are no vets available for these gentle sentient beings, who are basically seen as little more than live commodities at the end of the line. After the long haul that may have involved many days and thousands of kilometres, they will smell the blood of those who they have stood beside, before being shot in the face, forehead or having their throats brutally cut. Some will fall unconscious into death. Others will bleed gushing rivers of blood from their throats with their legs kicking out in panic. These cattle trucks are part of the most barbaric genocide ever to take place in the history of the planet.

What is your analysis of the Australian animal rights movement?

I think there are some very active, dedicated and dynamic small groups of individuals who continue to have a significant impact on societal consciousness when it comes to animal rights and this is a good thing. What people like you are doing is admirable and we need to offer our full support. Also, we need to look after each other, because things are not getting any easier for animals at present. We have some major challenges ahead.

For a movement to exist, all we need are many individuals who are vegan, who are rescuing and nurturing animals and who are educating others by example. This is what is creating the ripple effect, or the movement that you speak of. There are also thousands of vegans who are not necessarily animal rights activists and who may not run animal rights organisations or publications, but who, in their own way and through empowering themselves with this choice of diet, are saving lives on a daily basis.

Animal rights is more than a philosophical concept or debate. It is not about institutions, bureaucracies and large organisations anymore. Politics, religion and science have all failed the animals and the Earth. The animal rights movement is about a radical shift in global consciousness that is currently taking place on the planet. It's about each and every one of us developing our own consciousness, living healthy compassionate lifestyles and assisting individuals who are in need as much as we can. Non-human animals are in dire need of our compassion. This has to happen and so it is happening.

What are your views on veganism?

The dietary ethic of veganism is the most empowering action that an individual can make in their lifetime on behalf of themselves and others. It is absolutely essential to the peaceful existence and well being of all animals. Veganism saves lives every time we eat. As vegans, we are then rewarded with a healthy way of living. This diet has been proven to be good for the body, mind and spirit. It is good for the environment and for the alleviation of world hunger, because it utilises limited energy and resources in a highly efficient and sustainable way. In fact, there is nothing not good about veganism.

What is the way forward?

The way forward is to develop our own consciousness so that we love all life, including humans beings. We have to understand how powerful we are when we choose to be vegan. Every day we empower ourselves and other sentient beings by making this choice at meal times and in between. These are chaotic and turbulent times for society.

People are suffering. Children and babies are being sexually molested and abused by their own family members on an unprecedented scale. Following this, violent acts and suicides amongst teenagers and children have increased around the world. Nature is being relentlessly destroyed and thoughtlessly obliterated. In amongst the thick of this deeply disturbed society, these poor and defenseless non-human animals remain the most abused beings on Earth, with farmed animals still at the bottom of the scrap heap.

We have to remain strong and positive within and stay focused on our mission to assist and nurture all life on Earth during these times. We have to believe that our time and efforts are valuable. Each of us only has so much energy and so many years to live, in order to make a difference. The animals are depending on us. So we must assist them.

I believe that the universe is a conscious and creative force that is evolving towards love, and that we all play a role by evolving our own consciousness and recognising the universal consciousness in all beings, including non-humans. Animals rights is a spiritual path, a social reform, a legal battle and a way of life. The coupling of animal rights and veganism create the very basis of a loving and evolved existence for us all.