Becoming a farmed animal advocate

I want to shine a light on our fearless and relentless volunteers, and the journeys they’ve taken to be here with us today. When I welcome new people into our volunteer community, I’m always so interested to learn about what led them to want to fight for animals. It’s surprising (or maybe not) to learn that people start their activism journey for many reasons, and at varying points in their lives.

For us at The Humane League UK, we’re just exceptionally glad they did. Every day we’re grateful for our volunteers taking part in actions to drive progress for the animals. Whether through public-facing protests, or behind the scenes research, and everything in between, every single volunteer has a role to play in ending the abuse of animals raised for food. And, quite simply, we couldn’t achieve this mission without them.

Here are their stories…

Matt

"The moment I came to care for farmed animal advocacy happened two years ago on a family holiday in Norfolk.

We were staying in a small village surrounded by rolling fields and farm land. On the second evening I decided to take advantage of the warm, light night and go for a walk. My route took me along idyllic country lanes and through pastoral fields and all was well, until I came across an industrial chicken farm. The desperate cries of chickens immediately struck me. Staring up at the grim, grey shed, I felt so angry, upset and helpless in the face of it.

I desperately wanted to do something to help the chickens, but did not know what I could do. Then, during an evening of Googling I found The Humane League UK’s website and read about their work for chickens and knew that I wanted to use my time to volunteer with them, fighting for farmed animals."

Kate

"When I was ten years old I came home from a school trip to a farm and announced to my Mum that I was now vegetarian. She was worried about my health and what she’d cook, so she did some research and realised that she didn’t want to eat meat either!

Over the years I signed petitions and donated to animal welfare charities such as the RSPCA. In my twenties I began avoiding dairy products and didn’t buy leather goods, although it wasn’t until my mid thirties that I realised veganism had been calling me for a long time! This really opened my eyes to how broken our food system is and how social justice and animal welfare are heavily linked.

I felt a strong need to do more to help animals. I linked up with a local organiser for Compassion in World Farming and helped at car boot sales, stalls and school talks. I joined an animal rights march in London and went to the Vegan Campout last year where I came away feeling determined to do more.

A few months ago I listened to an excellent podcast on ‘The Sentientism Podcast’ featuring the former Managing Director of The Humane League UK, Vicky Bond, and felt inspired to get involved in the grassroots charity.

I joined as a volunteer six months ago and have been involved in digital petitions and Tweetstorms, I’ve spoken with my MP to get his support in banning cages for laying hens and ran a protest outside Morrisions against their sale of ‘FrankenChickens’. I’m also setting up a local action group in my town.

Whilst I still find the scale of animal suffering in our food systems overwhelming, I now feel I’m doing something to make a difference that’s within my means. That helps me mentally and keeps me resilient so that I can be more effective for the animals. Plus, I get to learn lots and feel valued and supported by THL!"

Andrea

"I always liked to think of myself as a person who loves animals and cares a great deal about them; as a child I couldn’t get enough of our neighbour’s newborn kittens and I would rather stay outside playing with the dog when visiting relatives. But I never thought anything bad about the fact that my father was a butcher who worked in our own little butchery. Slaughtering animals to earn a living never struck me as cruel or wrong and it took me way into my 30s to see beyond my childhood views and beliefs.

Only when I read up on effective altruism did I come across the practices of factory farming and learnt about the horrible conditions most animals raised for food have to endure. I realised that if I wanted to call myself a true animal lover, I had to do something - even if that meant leaving them off my plate.

Since farmed animals are one of the most neglected and mistreated groups of all animals, it was only logical for me to take action in this area to reduce animal suffering because it would have the greatest impact."

Hester

"I have not eaten my fellow animals for most of my adult life – around 40 years. It started with someone sharing some photos of what happens in a slaughter yard when I was about 12 years old.

What followed was me trying to convert all those around me and doing some activism work as I grew a little older. Perhaps not always going about it in the right way – I have a large voice and, in the past, have not been shy to use it. As I have grown older, I realise that I can turn others off the message if I am too challenging. So being involved with The Humane League UK is a way of encouraging better animal welfare for the animals who, so sadly, are still part of a horrendous food chain. And it’s a way to educate the masses out there.

So many people are unaware of what suffering is on their plates. I am committed to help spread this knowledge and hope that by doing so we can change the world for the better and eventually end all animal suffering. I would of course like the whole world to become vegan tomorrow – and the world is changing… glad to be part of the tribe."

Abbie

"I have always been an animal lover, but had always been a meat-eater, as I had been raised that way and just saw it as ‘normal’. My transition to stop eating meat and make change was sparked by one particular event. I have always been a bookworm and my journey to make a change started when I read a novel - Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn. There was a graphic written scene in the book about a factory farm, and the impact of the suffering behind it genuinely knocked me for six; I could hardly sleep that night. I felt deeply distressed by it, defeated by it, yet inspired to make a positive difference, if I could.

I went on (at the start of 2021) to become vegetarian, and I have not looked back, only to wish that I had started sooner. I decided to become a Humane League volunteer out of a wish to do more than just make a dietary change; I wanted to help drive change forwards.

Volunteering with THL has been a really rewarding way to mentally compartmentalise living with the knowledge of what goes on in factory farming.

Instead of feeling defeated by it, volunteering makes me feel like I am really doing something positive for animals, and playing a part in change for them."

Volunteer with us!

Want to take action for farmed animals? Apply to be a volunteer with us to join a friendly community of passionate activists and receive training and support to take your acivism to the next level!