Infamous vegan charged over disruptive Royal Show protest
Controversial vegan Tash Peterson has returned to WA — and is now facing more charges — after allegedly causing havoc at the Perth Royal Show, locking herself to a cattle judging ring where she says animals are “judged based on how palatable their bodies look”.
Peterson vowed to leave WA in July after being banned from every pub in the State over her eyebrow-raising stunts, several of which have already landed her in legal trouble.
After continuing her antics interstate, it appears the infamous activist has since arrived back in Perth, marking her return with a visit to one of WA’s most popular annual events.
Peterson told her social media followers she joined “fellow animal rights activist Aly” and “disrupted the abhorrent ‘Royal’ Agricultural Show” which she said, “glamourises animal slavery, abuse and murder”.
“We locked onto the judging ring where slaves are judged based on how palatable their bodies look,” she said.
“Non-human animals are not commodities, food, slaves, machines or objects. They are people just like us who have personalities, families, feel pain and have the desire to live free from harm.”
Police confirmed two women — including Ms Peterson — had been charged with trespass and disorderly behaviour in public or in sight or hearing of any person in a public place.
Both women are due to appear in Perth Magistrates Court on October 20.
The incident comes a year after Peterson was yanked out of a livestock enclosure by her pants during another protest at the show — and the fact police did not lay charges left her furious.
“In this protest, I entered an arena where cattle were being objectified and judged based on their bodies to be used for flesh consumption,” she said at the time.
“This assault resulted in bruising all over my body and in my groin region due to the force of lifting me by my pants, which exposed my buttocks and the forceful slamming of my body into the fence.
“The police officer told me that because I was trespassing (I have not been charged with trespass for this protest), he used reasonable force to remove me from the arena.
“He told me that the animals are easily frightened and can cause death, so I was being removed for safety.”
Earlier this year, Peterson was handed thousands of dollars in fines over two shirtless protests, including one at a luxury Perth boutique where she was smeared in what she claimed was her own blood.
Peterson stood trial over both protests, one outside the Boatshed Market in Cottesloe in December 2020 and another at the Louis Vuitton store in Perth city in August last year, denying her behaviour was unlawful or offensive.
