About BAAL

Bold Activists For Animal Liberation

Who we are

We are built by the ones who never fit in, punks, emos, queers, hippies, straight edge, dreamers, fighters, people who see how broken the world is and refuse to do nothing about it. We’re not just another voice in the crowd, we’re the battle cry for the voiceless.

Fueled by the rebellious spirit of emo punk, we stand against oppression and fight for animal liberation; we defy the norms, challenge the system, we disrupt and scream the truth that animals are not ours to exploit.

Why we do what we do

Every year, trillions of animals are exploited, tortured, and murdered, while their suffering is invisible, normalized, and dismissed. Unlike most oppressed groups, nonhuman animals can't just come together and march or protest for their rights.

Humans take advantage of this to completely strip them of everything. Their personhood, the chance at life they deserve. That is why we will never stop fighting for animal liberation.

What sets us apart from animal rights groups?

Punks

We're punks. Fueled by straight edge ethics and radical compassion, we fight oppression with zero tolerance for injustice, just some punks that wanna rage against the machine.

Intervening

We don't wait for permission, legislation, or public approval, we intervene wherever harm is, whether that's a fish gasping for air in a plastic bag or a cow screaming in a slaughterhouse.

Globally

While we're based in San Diego, California, animal exploitation and cruelty isn't a local issue, it persists everywhere. No matter the place, species, or contexts, and show up with a rebel spirit.

Our manifesto

Our core belief is simple, that nonhuman animals are the most oppressed and exploited beings on Earth. Fighting for their liberation is our mission.

Animal rights: the compassionate frontier. These are the voyages of the BAAL enterprise.

Our life-long mission: to create a new world, to save animal lives and reform our civilization, to boldly fight like no one has fought before.

Our origin

Bold Activists for Animal Liberation was founded by Justice Owens after noticing a serious gap in the local activist scene. While there were animal rights organizations around, it felt like the messaging got lost, drowned out by the silence when there should be more resistance.

Frustrated by the lack of urgency, Justice started a social media page and started promoting BAAL as an animal rights organization, they began reaching out to friends, trying to get the BAAL rolling for animal rights. That's when Justice linked up with Brooklyn Fontana.

Together, they made a sick no-holds-barred campaign against PB Shore Club, a local bar torturing fish in cruel goldfish racing events. The campaign caught some pretty hardcore rep, because many were done being polite about the torture of these non-human animals.

Since then, we've been dominating the San Diego scene, organizing direct actions, blasting the truth on every corner, being unapologetic, and bold as fuck. Now we're starting to branch out, connecting with other orgs and inspiring others to do bad-ass and bold actions. Let's just say... the BAAL is moving.

Our roots

BAAL isn’t just an organization, it’s a community born from punk shows, straight edge values, and a need for rebellion and compassion. These are some of the communities that built us.

Queer

Queerness showed us that survival is resistance, and that building your own path is a radical act. Many BAAL members are queer, and we honor that spirit of defiance, love, and liberation in everything we do.

Straight Edge

Straight edge taught us that true rebellion means staying sharp and having a clean spirit. We reject industries that profit off of addiction and destruction, and we bring that same energy into rejecting industries that profit off of animal exploitation.

Punk

Punk taught us to question everything, and that the unexamined life is not worth living. We tear down the broken systems and rebuild. BAAL carries that spirit into every action, refusing to accept cruelty, apathy, or injustice as "normal."

Emo

Emo didn’t just teach us to feel, it taught us to survive through feeling. To sit with the pain, to scream through the silence, to love even when the world tells you not to. At BAAL, we carry that weight, and we fight with every broken, beautiful part of ourselves.

Hippie

Hippies showed us that the system wants you to believe kindness is weak. It isn’t. Kindness is a weapon when you live in a world built on cruelty. At BAAL, we carry that kindness like a shield, and we never put it down.