A look back at humble beginnings, as the largest animal rights pressure group in the UK celebrates its 40th anniversary
Animal Aid was formed in 1977 by primary school teacher Jean
Pink. Her inspiration came from philosopher Peter Singer’s book Animal Liberation, which uncovered the
truth about factory farms, laboratories and vivisection. Her outrage was
shared, and soon a group of likeminded people formed. They travelled to London
every Wednesday to give out hand-made leaflets, which highlighted
the truth about the torture that animals were suffering. The campaign was a
success, and soon Animal Aid groups began forming across Britain rapidly. Jean
gave up her job in order to devote all her time to campaigning. She established
Animal Aid as a pressure group and set up an office in Tonbridge. This was the beginning of a modern animal
liberation movement in the UK.
In 1987 the Living Without Cruelty Exhibition was organised
at Kensington Town Hall. It was the first event of its time, and influenced the
rise of vegan fairs which are now prominent across the country. This was
followed by the Christmas Without Cruelty Fayre launched in 1993, which still
takes place annually.
Education was their next focus, having already funded the
independent Youth for Animal Rights. They formed the Animal Aid Youth Group in
1986, which spawned a successful and comprehensive campaign to end compulsory
dissection for GCSE students.
Some of their most notable achievements include ceasing the
sale of horse meat from Ascot, halting the production of a large primate
experimenting facility at Cambridge University, and forcing John Lewis to
disband its shooting club. One undercover investigation they generated exposed
widespread illegal cruelty in slaughterhouses, and even resulted in two men
being jailed. At the forefront of this particular campaign was ensuring that
the UK’s ten largest supermarkets deal only with slaughterhouses that have CCTV
installed.
Animal Aid campaigns against all forms of animal abuse and
promotes a cruelty-free lifestyle by raising public awareness. They
predominantly target the public, MPs and the media to share their message, as
well as conducting undercover investigations to expose animal cruelty. Despite
receiving no government funding, they provide teaching resources free of charge
to schools, funded entirely through donations from members and supporters.
Their campaign methods now include demonstrations, events, lobbying, and
distributing films, leaflets, posters, factsheets and reports.
Animal Aid has gone from strength to strength, playing a
fundamental role in activism for veganism and animal welfare, and will continue
to do so for many years to come.
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Jean Pink (front)
joins demonstrators against animal research at Cambridge Uni. Circa 1980 (all
images - credit animalaid.org.uk)
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