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  • Clare Mann

I became vegetarian at 17, after reading about a cow going to slaughter. I didn't see or hear anything but I can still see her fear - I gave up eating meat on the spot! I continued on this path for 30 years, unaware of how eating eggs and the occasional dairy, contributed to so much suffering for animals and my health.

In 2007 I was living in New Zealand and witnessed first hand pig-dog hunting and intervened to stop this, had all the hunting dogs on the neighbouring property removed , only to see them returned after their prison cells were improved. I saw, baby calves being taken from their mothers and more. I had no idea that this was normal and not just bad practice in New Zealand. Upon return to Australia a few months later, my partner looked further and watched all the animal videos that are so hard to watch. We went vegan on the spot, not realising that we were vegan! We just knew we couldn't be part of this horrific institutionalised abuse of animals. We also couldn't believe that we didn't know and later on heard that there is a word for this - veganism!

I became an Animal Rights Campaigner at the same time, did street outreach,ran training courses for vegans, went to where animals suffer which today are harder to get into, and was the emcee at major AR events, my first being the Ban Live Export Rally in Sydney in 2011 with over 3000 in attendance and over 20,000 at rallies nationwide.

In 2017 after hearing the stories and conducting research with hundreds of vegans suffering from the anguish of The Burden of Knowing, I coined the phrase Vystopia: The Anguish of Being Vegan in the World. The book of the same name followed shortly and ever since have focused on helping vegans all over the world ever since tranmute their vystopia into powerful action for change.

I now provide resources and run group coaching programs to help vegans transform their vystopia to become calm, happy and influential vegans - who can go out with confidence to be part of the solution to create a vegan world.

We just all need to become the best we can and do our part to usher in this vegan world we so desire!