Evanna Lynch Is Encouraging Fans to Fight for Animals

When you think of Luna Lovegood, you think of a free-spirited, nonjudgmental, and gentle soul who takes the side of the oppressed simply because she knows it is right. As J.K. Rowling herself once said, Evanna Lynch is Luna. This has proved to be true over the years, even long after the films have ended.

Just as Luna loved such misunderstood creatures as Thestrals, Evanna is making it her mission to fight for animals. Not only does she use her weekly podcast, The Chick Peeps, to gently encourage her fans to try plant-based eating, but she has also teamed up with Humane Society International to speak out against the dog and cat meat trade in Asia.

Evanna recently sat down with All Animals to talk about her advocacy work and share the ways in which her fans can join the fight for all animals.

In answer to what has drawn her to animal advocacy, Evanna said that she has always felt an affinity for animals.

Being an introverted, socially awkward child, it was a relief to hang out with gentle, nonjudgmental, unprejudiced beings. They are more innocent and more vulnerable than us, and that is an invitation for us to be kind and to protect these precious creatures.

At the young age of 11, Evanna realized that she could question her food choices and she made the choice to become a vegetarian. When she reached her late teens, she narrowed her focus of activism to animals since she felt that they most urgently needed help and change on a global scale.

I read the book Eating Animals, and I found myself crying and distressed and agreeing 100 percent. I began my vegan transition after that.

Evanna has worked side by side with Humane Society International to speak out against the cat and dog meat trade in Asia. With this campaign, she aimed to make people aware that the same cruel practices happening to farm animals are happening to healthy, lovable cats and dogs in Asia.

They are the same species that are curled up on our armchairs, and they are being raised in cages, transported for days without sustenance, and then murdered in front of each other. We need to keep pressure on the Chinese government to stop the Yulin Dog Meat Festival and make them understand that tourists are horrified by these ‘traditions.’

She encourages fans who want to make a change to watch documentaries about animal agriculture, such as Earthlings, Cowspiracy, and Vegucated. She also recommends watching Dominion, a new documentary, which, for her, was very hard-hitting.

Finally, speaking about the character of Luna, Evanna confirms what we already know – Luna has the same way of looking at the world as animals do, and she doesn’t make a million judgments about them in her head.

I think humans fail to appreciate the beauty and worth of animals because they’re so different [from] us. We see them and think ‘less intelligent,’ ‘weird-looking,’ [and] ‘less sentient’ and therefore think they’re less important. If we could look at the world as Luna does, as all animals do, we would look at animals’ differences and just let them be.

Luna’s compassion and love for every living being are what drew Evanna to her character in the first place because she truly loves other beings in a pure, good, and undemanding way.

Every time she came on the page she made me feel relief, like she was someone I could exist by and never feel like I wasn’t enough or that I needed to try to be liked. That was a radical lesson, and it’s a vibe I aspire to share with others, too.

Evanna’s love for animals and her will to fight tooth and nail for them are what make her a real-life Luna Lovegood. There is no one better to encourage and inspire others around the world to start doing the same in order to bring about change.