Thank you to all of you who are opting out of eating animals this Christmas. For some of you, it's the first time. What you are doing takes a special kind of courage.

"Merry Christmas!" we often say to each other at this time, with the expectation that Christmas will be a time full of celebration and colour and love. But how are animal lovers, vegans and animal rights activists supposed to enjoy this time when the feast of hearts breaks your heart into a thousand pieces every time you are reminded of the relentless and constant animal cruelty that goes on all over the world?

On 30 November we held an extraordinary general meeting of Dyrenes Alliance - something big has happened at Dyrenes Alliance!

Dyrenes Alliance attended the DVF plant-based fair with the aim of showing how the plant-based diet can save a lot of animals from the most terrible fates.

Imagine you are surrounded by thousands of people, all passionate and working for the same thing: total animal liberation. That's what it's like to be at the Animal and Vegan Advocacy Summit, one of the world's largest animal rights conferences.

More than 500 scientists from 39 different countries, specialising in moral and political philosophy, declare that the exploitation of animals is fundamentally unjust and morally indefensible.

On the opening day of the Danish Parliament, Dyrenes Alliance went to Christiansborg to meet our politicians face to face and demand a permanent ban on mink farming in Denmark. Our activists let them know that mink should not be forced to suffer for the sake of "fashion".

At Dyrenes Alliance, we believe that all animals deserve freedom and rights. We are therefore deeply concerned and dismayed that the government has now decided that mink farming should remain legal in Denmark.

This year, Dyrenes Alliance sent a group on a study tour to Warsaw to attend Europe's leading animal rights conference, CARE. Katrine from Dyrenes Alliance Slagelse has written the following blog post, where she tells about her experiences at CARE.

Are you young and would you like to fight for a better world for fish? Then apply to join our new Fish Advisory Board! Here, you can be close to the development of our fish campaign.

Are you interested in animal rights and welfare? Would you like to expand your knowledge of effective animal rights activism? Would you like to be kept up to date on animal rights, animal welfare and climate news? Or are you just interested in finding out more about Dyrenes Alliance?

Then you've come to the right place!