A newly unveiled portrait of King Charles has been wryly vandalised by animal rights protestors highlighting alleged animal cruelty at RSPCA-accredited farms.
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A cutout of the stop-motion character Wallace from Nick Park's animation series Wallace and Gromit was stuck over the King's face.
A speech bubble reading "No cheese, Gromit. Look at all this cruelty on RSPCA farms!" was attached also.
On the afternoon of June 11 activists from Animal Rising brought self-adhesive cutouts and paint rollers to the Philip Mould Gallery in London, where the portrait will be exhibited until June 21, to carry out their "comedic redecoration".
One of the protestors, Daniel Juniper, said "with King Charles being such a big fan of Wallace and Gromit, we couldn't think of a better way to draw his attention to the horrific scenes on RSPCA-assured farms".
"Even though we hope this is amusing to his majesty, we also call on him to seriously reconsider if he wants to be associated with the awful suffering across farms being endorsed by the RSPCA," the activist said.
Why King Charles?
The organisation have targeted the high-profile painting to raise awareness over alleged animal cruelty at RSPCA-accredited farms in the UK.
King Charles is a royal patron of the RSPCA.
The group is accusing 45 farms of serious animal cruelty despite having certification under the "RSPCA assured" label.
The animal rights organisation released a report in May 2024 highlighting 280 alleged legal breaches at the accredited farms.
Specialist barrister in animal welfare law and Crown Court judge Ayesha Smart said "some of these RSPCA Assured farms do not even comply with basic legal requirements even though they hold themselves out to the public as being a 'higher welfare' supplier".
"This is effectively fraud," she said.
An RSPCA spokesperson responded by saying scrutiny of their work was "welcome" but illegal activity could not be condoned.
"We remain confident that our RSPCA assured scheme is the best way to help farmed animals right now, while campaigning to change their lives in the future," the spokesperson said.
"However, any concerns about welfare on RSPCA assured-certified farms are taken extremely seriously and RSPCA assured is acting swiftly to look into these allegations."
The portrait was unharmed by the "comedic redecoration" and the artist Jonathan Yeo reposted the Animal Rising video with the caption "Doh!".
Anna Houlahan
Anna Houlahan is a journalist for the Courier, dedicated to uncovering the stories that shape the city. Reach out with news or updates to anna.houlahan@austcommunitymedia.com.au
