- Rich Hardy
A story of the exploitation of animals for food, fashion and entertainment from the unique perspective of an undercover investigator.
Knowingly or not we all share our lives with animals. Many of us have pets, but our relationship with farmed, wild or captive animals - those used to put food on our plates, clothes on our backs or smiles on our faces - are more fleeting and less personal. We know little about their lives. But this book seeks to change that.
Most of the animals used by humans are incarcerated or mistreated away from public view, so the only way to tell their story is to go undercover. Working with a fake identity, a notebook and a covert camera concealed in a shirt button, I travelled to places few get to see or can even imagine. Theirs is a world of secrets.
While undertaking high-risk assignments for the nonprofits that work to protect animals, I was forced to live a double-life. It turns out to get to the truth you have to be prepared to tell a few lies. It was the only way I could infiltrate the international meat business, the fur trade and the travelling circus to help expose the methods and systems they use and inherently abuse.
But this is not just a collection of animal stories.
This is an account of the normal people that do bad things when the public isn't watching. How they justify committing unspeakable acts of cruelty or don't even acknowledge the suffering their actions cause.
It's also a story about why, as an animal-loving vegan, I learned to trap raccoons, blag my way into slaughterhouses, and much more, as a way to get on the inside of industries, cultural traditions and clandestine groups that usually won't share their secrets with outsiders.
Sometimes dangerous, often emotional but usually just surreal, this one-of-a-kind perspective examines what it’s like to live and work amongst your adversaries and what you can achieve if you feel strongly enough about something.
Of course, this is a book for animal lovers, but it also offers something for the curious minded. It’s for anyone who’s eaten a burger, watched animals perform, taken a carriage ride or worn fur and wondered ‘how did these animals live their lives’?
Rich Hardy went vegan as a child when, from the window of his classroom, he saw a pig desperately attempt to escape across the school playground from the slaughterhouse next door. Going vegan was his first big step toward a lifetime of activism.
Following a very short-lived career in professional football, Rich decided to commit himself full-time to activism for animals, oceans and the environment. First, as a campaigner and lobbyist, and eventually as an undercover advocate, infiltrating the industries and people who breed, rear or capture animals to provide society with animal-based food, clothing and entertainment.
Former leader of “Britain’s coolest environment group”, Surfers Against Sewage (SAS), Rich ditched the perfect wave to go full time with his covert camera and fake identities. His journey, over the course of almost two decades and 28 countries, led him to the darkest corners of humankind's relationship with animals.
Over 20 animal protection groups from around the world have since benefited from his hard-hitting investigations, using them to kickstart campaigns that make the world a better place for the animals we share it with.
His investigative activism for animals has been broadcast in exposés across international media but, in a bid to allow his covert work to continue, he’s never been named publically, until now.
Having retired his covert camera and collection of alternative identities, Rich now runs campaigns at Veganuary, an international charity supporting people as they transition to a vegan lifestyle.
Rich lives in Cornwall, UK, close to his favourite surf break. Together with his partner, and fellow campaigner for farm animals, he runs a micro-sanctuary for the dogs, cats, chickens and ducks they’ve rescued from shelters and factory farms.
Few things stay the same over the course of 500 years, but fur trapping hasn’t strayed too far from its roots. That’s apart from the fact that people now wear fur for high fashion rather than the basic necessity of staying warm.
And while trapping equipment has evolved a little, the actual act of trapping a wild animal hasn’t. Figuring out a good location, setting the trap and applying a scent to make it attractive to a particular animal is knowledge that gets passed down from father to son or trapper to trapper and because of that, the story has stayed pretty much the same.
So, over the course of two winters, I learnt to become a fur trapper. A bad one. A trapper that showed enthusiasm and a passion to get out into the great outdoors but who couldn’t catch anything himself. To the trappers I was useless, an oddity and a bit of a laughing stock but while I couldn’t capture animals, I could capture the activity of the trappers and I was good at that.
Now in copy-editing phase
Thursday, 18 July 2019
Hi all,
Just a brief update to let you know the book is now in the copy-editing phase.
Copy-editors specialise in making sure all the grammar and punctuation in a manuscript is pristine, so they really are fantastic people.
I really enjoyed working with Sadie at Unbound during the development edit. This phase precedes copy-editing and focuses on making sure the manuscript is of the best…
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Handed manuscript to Unbound
Monday, 6 May 2019
Hello
I've just handed my manuscript to the editorial team at Unbound!
I hope to make another update soon on the timeline we're working to for publication but for now, I just wanted to let everyone know the book's written and in their hands.
Thanks again to you all for your support!
Rich
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Funded!
Friday, 29 March 2019
I just wanted to say a massive thanks to all of you for supporting this project. Thanks to you I'm now fully funded and will get the chance to tell these stories in print (and digital for those of you who are digital fans ;-)
I have a few weeks to finish the manuscript, at which point the production process will begin with Unbound. I'll continue to post updates on my progress and to help keep you…
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Nearly there on the book you've helped fund.
Monday, 18 March 2019
Hello Everyone!
So after a little lull in the 60’s, the wind caught my sails again and I’ve now hit 92% funded.
I’ve a few little promotional pieces coming out in the coming days and weeks, which I hope will carry me through to fully-funded before the crowdfunder deadline looms up in front of me.
I just wanted to say a huge thank you to all the new pledgers - some anonymous - who I can only…
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Last minute Christmas gift for the animal lover in your life
Sunday, 23 December 2018
Dear Friends and Supporters,
Thank you so much for all your ongoing support for the Not As Nature Intended book project. The Crowdfunder has just hit 45%, so we’re getting there, but there’s still a way to go to make this book come to life.
With Christmas fast approaching I thought it would be good to share a special Christmas offer for those hard-to-buy-for people in your life. If you’d like…
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These people are helping to fund Not As Nature Intended.
Hi Rich, just watched your interview with Ed Winters. Really impressed with your commitment and your lovely nature was obvious.
Thanks for all you’ve done, massive admiration for you and the book extract i’ve just read here is brilliant.
Hope you’re enjoying life now with your rescues and wish you every happiness. You truly deserve it.
That's super nice of you to drop me a line with those words. Thanks so much.
And yes, very much enjoying life with the rescues. They make me laugh every day!
Cheerio - Rich
Hello! I've also heard about your accomplishments and your newcoming book listening to Ed Winters' podcast. I'm awed by the fact that one person alone could do such tremendous work in investigating the cruel practices occuring all aroud the globe. You sacrificed a great portion of your life and put yourself at great risk to contribute to a very noble cause. Thank you on behalf of every soul you may have saved by your operations.
I'm glad you decided to write your memoirs and I trust many people will find it thought-provoking and inspiring, leading to some shifts in our perception of animals and their place in our hierarchy.
I hope you finally find your peace of mind and can enjoy more and more fruit of your hard work with each passing day.
You, sir, did make a change.
Hello Ewelina,
Really lovely of you to contact me with these kind words. I'm very grateful you took the time to write and also that you supported the book project! I hope you'll find it an interesting read. Thanks so much for getting in touch and for listening to Ed's podcast. There's lots to be learnt from listening to that series.
In kindness,
Rich