Something effective that every wannabe animal activist can do is leafleting. Whether you have a spare half an hour or a whole day you can make a big difference to animals by giving out leaflets.

You can drop the literature in your neighbours’ letter boxes, or you can go all out and spend the day in a public area, like a town centre or shopping centre distributing your leaflets.

You can get leaflets which cover a whole range of animal rights issues from the major animal rights organizations like PETA, Animals Australia, Animal Liberation. These are just a few of the organizations where you can order or download leaflets. There are many others, just Google ‘animal rights organizations’ in your area and you will find more.

Leaflets are available on all kinds of issues, but one of the most effective is vegan literature. By promoting veganism you will make a huge difference even if only one person decides to change their diet after reading the pamphlet. Veganism often has a chain effect eg, I became vegan and then my husband became vegan and one of his colleagues at work then became vegetarian and so on. One person making the change really can make a huge difference and if you gave out the leaflet that prompted the change, then think how much you helped animals.

There is a wonderful organization called Vegan Outreach in the US that makes excellent pro-vegan literature which you can order. They even have an Adopt a College program where you can hand out vegan pamphlets to students.  If the option is available be sure to choose leaflets made from recycled paper.

Many organizations will give you the resources you need free of charge, as you are helping to spread their message. Just give them a call first and you can either collect them or they can be sent to you. You can also download them off the Internet and print them yourself.

If you have a bit more time and are a creative person you could design your own leaflets. Again be sure to use recycled paper.

For less confident people dropping leaflets door to door may be the best option. There is no confrontation and you know people will discover the leaflet when they look through their mail. However there is probably more chance people may disregard the leaflet as junk, so try to use literature that has an eye catching headline and image to draw the reader in.

Perhaps more effective is giving out leaflets in busy, public areas. It can help to do this in a small group, so that you can cover more people. You will want to say something as you give the leaflet and I find a simple and non confrontational phrase like,

‘A leaflet to help the animals?’ works best . Accompany that with a bright smile and many people will take the leaflet and even take the time to read it.

Sometimes people will want to enter a discussion with you and that is fine if they are hoping to learn more about the issue, but if they are simply trying to get a rise out of you, try not get involved. Just turn away and say, ‘OK, well have a nice day’ and carry on leafleting to those who may be open to change.

Shopping malls are a good place to start, but even better are college and university campuses. Students are open to change and thirsty for knowledge and they are the perfect people to distribute leaflets to.

If you are interested in leafleting on a regular basis a wonderful book and my personal bible, is  Striking at the Roots: A Practical Guide to Animal Activism by Mark Hawthorne. This book covers all kinds of actions you can take to bring about change  and goes into depth about the value of leafleting.

Here are some points to remember when leafleting:

• Dress in a professional manner -  The more approachable you look, the more likely someone is to take a leaflet from you.
• Smile – You will look more approachable and seem friendly. This can change someone’s view of the whole animal rights movement for the better.
• Be polite – If someone is trying to aggravate you it may be hard to stay cool, but it is important to do so. Use pleasantries such as please and thank you.
• Don’t over commit yourself – Even half an hour a week is a great start. You can always work up to more leafleting time later on. It is important to avoid burn out.

Here is a quote from Striking at the Roots: A Practical Guide to Animal Activism about leafleting,

‘Jon Camp (a Vegan Outreach pamphleter) points out, it’s important to remember how much good leafleting does for animals.

“In just a matter of an hour,” he says, “we can oftentimes reach hundreds of individuals with this information. Even if just one individual goes vegetarian out of this, we’re looking at approximately thirty-five birds and mammals spared a life of suffering per year. This is not including the number of people who will be more empathetic to farmed animal issues and such. In short this is a highly effective and efficient use of time”‘

You can make a difference. Order some leaflets and get started, even if you only have half an hour per week spare. It’s worth it for the animals.