A Vegan Took Her Neighbors To A Court When They Refused To Stop Cooking Meat

Vegans are often stereotyped as over-sensitive, tree-hugger types, who talk down to carnivores. In truth, most vegans are pretty chill people and rarely push their vegan diet onto their meat-eating friends. However, one vegan woman in Perth, Australia is playing into those toxic stereotypes and giving vegans everywhere a bad name. She’s currently in a dispute with two of her neighbors, which began when she initially expressed her dislike of them grilling meats in their respective backyards.

From there, the vegan-versus-carnivore war escalated to the point where this woman actually took her complaints to the Australian Supreme Court. Yes, oddly enough, this vegan has started some serious beef.

We’ve come across some seriously silly neighborly disputes in the past few months. In fact, last year, a man in Weston-super-Mare was similarly griping about how the restaurant next door wreaked of garlic 24/7. And in August, a group of neighbors called out a pairing of new parents who requested a slew of diet-specific foods from their neighbors after welcoming their baby into the household.

But this Perth-based vegan’s complaint may just be the most ludicrous yet.

If she’s really so offended by the smell of her neighbors’ grills, then perhaps it’s on her to move to a location where she has no neighbors, no?

The debacle began in late 2018.

Cilla Carden, a massage therapist and avid vegan from Girrawheen, just north of Perth, has not been able to enjoy her own garden since before last year.

“They’ve put [their grill] so you smell fish,” Carden told 9 News Perth earlier this month. “I can’t enjoy my backyard. I can’t go out there.”

Because she’s vegan, Carden is offended by the meaty, fishy smells wafting over the fence.

It’s not just meaty smells that ticked Carden off.

Her neighbors’ cigarette smoke also grinds her gears.

When asked if she thinks her neighbors are purposefully blowing smoke her way, Carden responded, “Oh, absolutely.”

“Of course they are. It’s deliberate,” she told 9 News.

And it’s not just smells, either.

According to Daily Mail Australia, Carden has also demanded that her neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Vu, control their weeds, repaint common fences in their condominium complex, and repay her for damaged plants on her property.

She’s also pissed about the Vu’s children playing basketball outside.

“They’ve just banged the wall at any time when I’ve been sleeping,” she continued to 9 News. “Then, their kids with their basketballs, just banging. It vibrates this part of the house.”

Carden is also upset with the Vu’s next door neighbor, as well.

The publication also states that Carden took issue with Carmel Vallelonga, who owns the house on the other side of the Vu family home.

Carden demanded Vallelonga direct the floodlights on her home to shine somewhere other than the common property shared by neighboring units.

Furthermore, Carden wanted Vallelonga to repair and paint a fence, paint front entry steps, repay the cost of plants, and keep her dogs on leashes while they’re on common property.

It’s all taken quite the toll on Carden, supposedly.

“It’s been devastating,” she continued. “It’s been turmoil.

“It’s been unrest. I haven’t been able to sleep.”

Having reached her wits end, there was only one thing left for Carden to do:

She took her neighbors to court.

Yup, she literally took legal action against her neighbors over food smells and basketball playing.

As Daily Mail Australia reported, Carden’s case was heard at a tribunal in January 2019.

But sadly for Carden, the tribunal dismissed every single one of her grievances.

The Vu family tried their best to appease their angry neighbor.

According to the tribunal per Daily Mail Australia, “‘The applicant [that being Carden] has reached agreement with Mr. Vu that positioning his barbecue on Unit B over away from [Carmen’s] Unit C, closer to unit 18A, is acceptable to the applicant.”

That’s right — they gave in and moved the grill. However, the tribunal found that there was no reason for the Vu children to stop playing in their own backyard.

“What they are doing is living in their backyard and their home as a family,” tribunal documents stated.

And the demands of Vallelonga?

Those were dismissed by the tribunal, too.

“Ms Carden’s demands were proven to be not reasonable and indeed were to the detriment of the other owners’ ability to enjoy their lots in a reasonable and acceptable manner,” Vallelonga said in a statement to 9 News.

If you can’t grill, play basketball, and have your dogs in your own backyard, then why bother even having a backyard to begin with?

Not willing to give up the fight, Carden persisted.

Dismayed with the tribunal’s decision, Carden took her case to the Australian Supreme Court.

Carden applied to the Supreme Court for the right to appeal the tribunal’s decision, however, the Supreme Court denied her request in July.

You think Carden would let the entire thing go at this point.

But she’s determined to win.

She decided that the only thing left to do, is to take her story public.

[fm_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd6feA9Hi_0"]

So, earlier this month, Carden reached out to 9 News Perth to gain some publicity.

And, she plans on returning to court to keep the case fresh and hopefully win.

However, is that really the best way to handle such a minor neighborly dispute?

As local Perth lawyer John Hammond told 9 News, the best way to handle an issue with one’s neighbor is to simply go knock on the door and talk to them face to face.

“Because if you don’t do it that way, you’re going to be up to a world of misery,” Hammond said.

The thing is, neighbors don’t like it when you turn the attention of the law to them. It’s not nice, and it makes you the least favorite neighbor in the neighborhood.

Of course, if the situation is more dire than just BBQ smell and weed control, you may want to get authorities involved.

If you hear suspicious activity, or your neighbors are blatantly ignoring your request to stop playing loud music after 11 p.m., then it’s ok to call the non-emergency police line.

But for the most part, minor things like dogs barking, kids playing basketball, and outdoor grilling grips can be settled with a simple neighborly visit.

Obviously Carden didn’t get that 411.

Unfortunately for Carden, if the law has already denied her requests for “peace,” she’s probably out of luck from here on out.

She might want to look around for new housing.

Or, if she’s so distraught over a fence in need of some paint, she’s more than welcome to head to the local hardware store and get the job done herself.

Sorry to be salty like that, but come on.

Obviously, Carden’s complaints are not doing the vegans of the world any favors.

We see you, reasonable vegans. And we know that you and Carden are not one in the same.

We’ll crusade for you to make sure Carden doesn’t ruin veganism for everyone.

If you find this as wild as we do, you’ve got to see how Twitter is reacting to this story.

But this Twitter also raised the point, “if they are doing it 24/7 to spite her, that’s just petty.”

We couldn’t agree more. Deliberating trying to make someone’s living space and environment so awful, they’re tempted to move feels like a behavior that should be reserved for a movie starring Adam Sandler.

This issue is incredibly complicated and social media users seem to be split on whose side they’re on.

Some vegans found Carden’s feelings to be totally valid.

Hopefully one day eating meat will be a crime. Humans don't need to kill other animals to live anymore, period. It's time to criminalize such horrible habit. #govegan

— Johann Heyss 🇺🇾🇧🇷9️⃣3️⃣🔱🐈🎶🎤📚 (@johannheyss) September 3, 2019

Other vegans pleaded with her for bringing shame to the meat-free community.

As you know, this became so much more than a neighborhood squabble. And, unfortunately, the story doesn’t end with the case being thrown out.

After the petty fight went viral, Baley Masan, a “warrior for animals” created a Facebook event titled, “Community BBQ for Cilla Carden,” which invited locals to barbecue on the lawn outside Carden’s house.

According to 10 Daily News reported, “The event immediately saw more than 3,000 online users RSVP “yes.”

“Don’t let Cilla destroy a good old Aussie tradition, join us for a community BBQ, and help Cilla Carden GET SOME PORK ON HER FORK,” the event page read. “BYO hotdog buns, p.s. NO VEGANS.”

This is definitely not funny. And, Carden’s lawyer had to step in and warned people that attended he would pursue legal action for his client on the grounds of trespassing.

Within hours after the litigious posting, the event organizer canceled the event.

“As many of you know this event has far too many logistical concerns to actually come to fruition, and we do not condone the harassment of Mrs. Carden or the trespass onto her land,” they wrote on Facebook.

Let this story be a lesson to us all: if your neighbors have the audacity to use their backyard grill, um, let them. And if your neighbor sues you, don’t encourage a protest… or all hell could break loose.