Top 10 Animal-Rights Protests in 2011 [PHOTOS]

From People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) protests to numerous demonstrations by other animal-rights activists around the world, the objection to slaughtering of animals and the urge to go vegetarian was showed in various creative ways during the past year.

Browse through the photo gallery to view the top ten animal rights protests of 2011.

People walk past an activist during an Animal Naturalis demonstration to promote vegetarianism in central Barcelona, Dec. 15, 2011.

An animal rights activist carries a dead dog during a demonstration to protest the treatment of animals, in Madrid's Puerta del Sol square Dec. 10, 2011. The activists, holding up some 400 animal carcasses, were marking the International Animal Rights Day, according to animal rights organisation Animal Equality. Dec. 10 also marks the United Nations' Human Rights Day.

Animal rights activists, painted in "blood," lie on a pile of fur during a protest in Belgrade Nov. 18, 2011. The protest was held in conjunction with the "anti-fur" campaign in Europe.

British performance artist Alice Newstead suspends from shark hooks pierced through her back at a cosmetic shop in San Francisco, California Aug. 24, 2011. The act was performed to bring attention to the declining global population of sharks due to demand for shark fin soup and other shark products.

Animal rights protesters lie covered in fake blood and black paint as they form the shape of a bull during a demonstration calling for the abolition of bull runs and bullfights, three days before the start of the famous running of the bulls San Fermin festival in Pamplona July 3, 2011.

Animal rights activists lie covered in fake blood during a protest calling for the abolition of bullfights in Valencia March 13, 2011. The Fallas Festival honours St Joseph and coincided with the bullfighting festival this year which opens the Spanish bullfight season. The placards read, "For a Fallas Festival without cruelty, abolish bullfighting" and "Torture is not culture."

Chinese movie star Gao Yuanyuan poses in a gown made of lettuce and cabbage leaves during an event organized by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Asia in Beijing June 8, 2011. The aim of the event was to encourage people to quit meat and adopt a healthy and animal-friendly vegetarian diet. The words read, "A vegetarian diet starts from the heart." Picture taken June 8, 2011.

Two members of "People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals" (PETA), painted in blue and green, hold a banner that reads "Save the Planet, Go Vegan", during a march along a pedestrian area of Nanjing Road in downtown Shanghai Nov. 9, 2011.

Members of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) demonstrate outside Rockefeller Center in New York Jan. 5, 2011.

Animal rights activists, painted with tiger stripes, protest against circuses with animals in a mall in Barcelona, May 26, 2011.