Purple Poppy

During human conflicts, animals have been used as messengers, for detection & scouting, as beasts of burden, on the front lines and more. Roughly 16 million animals were used in WW1 alone; yet their lives and deaths have been largely ignored until recently.

The purple poppy is a way to commemorate animals that were and are used during war. The purple poppy is not a replacement for the red poppy; it was created to be worn alongside the red poppy…. not to disenfranchise veterans or the casualties of the great wars, but to remember the animals who lived and died along with them.

Animals living in conflict zones had no choice; like many humans, they were victims of wars not of their making and over which they had no control. On Remembrance Day, Niagara Action for Animals remembers these hidden victims….in memory of the millions of animals – including horses, mules, donkeys, camels, dogs, pigeons and canaries who were (and are still) used and often killed during war.

“In the fitful periods of peace in the last century, there was no armistice for animals, and monuments to their efforts are few. These non-human casualties remain as an indelible stain on our conscience.” Philip Hoare

Niagara Action for Animals will provide purple poppies for the 2 weeks leading up to Remembrance Day.