Animal right activists march against party pill Act
A march against party pill testing on animals brought traffic on Hamilton’s Victoria Street to a standstill.
More than 100 people marched with their dogs in central Hamilton today in opposition to the Psychoactive Substances Act.
Traffic came to a standstill for the march along Victoria Street from the Waikato Museum to Garden Place.
The Act passed earlier this month saw sales restriction of legal highs but also allows testing on lab animals to see if the drugs are safe for human use.
Rachel Smith and Noeline Jeffries attended with three-year Casper, a white Maltese.
“The animals are suffering, it is not any benefit to the community,” Smith said.
“I think if humans want to volunteer to be tested on, why do testing on dogs?”
Jeffries had another idea.
“Why not test it on the murderers, the rapist, the paedophiles? They’ve done something wrong, the animals haven’t.”
Protester Rina McCarthy said: “I think it’s disgusting they want to test party pills animals, they should just ban party pills outright.
“I’d understand why you’d do it for medical reasons, that’s a necessary evil, but this is totally unnecessary,” she said.
The police closed part of Victoria Street for 10 minutes during the march with a police car leading the procession and another following at the end.
The march was part of national action with the largest marches in Auckland and Wellington.
