Travelling coast-to-coast on a kick scooter to halt Asian dog meat trade

Rich the Vegan kicked his way along the Trans-Canada Highway, near the Highway 22 overpass, Thursday afternoon

Rich Adams has made his way through Calgary and is headed towards the mountains as his kick scooter trip across Canada nears the three month mark.

Adams, better known as 'Rich the Vegan', started his Canadian journey on April 1 in Pointe Pleasant in Halifax, Nova Scotia and plans to finish in Vancouver's English Bay. He is attempting to bring awareness to the dog meat trade in some Asian countries, and he’s delivering his message one kilometre at a time.

"This is an absolutely, horrific industry!" Adams told CTV Calgary Friday. "Dogs are kept in cages, they’re brutalized, tortured and then they’re eaten."

He adds that there’s a disturbing belief that intentionally causing a dog to suffer results in a better tasting meat.

Adams was living in South Korea, the only Asian country that farms dogs for human consumptions, when he became aware of the dog meat trade.  He was horrified and knew he needed to do something to help. "I took a scooter across South Korea in 2018 to raise awareness about the dog meat trade there."

He rescued several dogs from South Korea and brought them to Canada where he arranged to have a number of the animals adopted in the United States.

One of the dogs Adams saved was Kathy.  When she first arrived in Canada her health exhibited signs of improvement before it drastically deteriorated in short time.

"Her life had value, her life had meaning and she meant something." Adams' kick scooter trip is also a tribute to Kathy. "This trip is called Kathy’s Tail. It’s in honour of her and to show remembrance to all animals."

So far in his journey, Adams has traveled more than 5,000 kilometres on his scooter.

To learn more about Rich’s journey for Kathy’s Tail visit Rich the Vegan