The Secret Hero - Rich Hardy (vegan), Part 2 of 2

After two decades of witnessing the horrors of cruelty to animal-people and risking his safety to bring this abuse into the public eye, Rich (vegan) says that the rise in public awareness of the issue is evident, although political changes are harder to notice. “I like to tell stories about some factory farmers producing cows for meat, changing their minds completely, seeing the wonder of cows and being close to them and understanding their needs and natural behaviors, and saying, ‘Hey, I can't send them to the slaughterhouse anymore. I'm going to grow plants instead of animals.’ European lawmakers have seen the evidence and are now starting to incorporate bans to making it illegal to keep animals in cages on factory farms.”

In 2020, he published Not as Nature Intended, a collection of stories from his investigation.

Having personally witnessed the horrors of how animal-people are treated behind closed doors, Rich’s stance on the necessity of a vegan diet is firm. “As an investigator working undercover for animals since 1999, I’ve documented unspeakable cruelty and suffering in over a hundred of the world’s factory farms and slaughterhouses. I know what the true ingredients of food production are, and you won’t find any of them listed on the meat labels: stress, sickness, violence, and pain are the unavoidable by-products of getting farm animals onto plates.”

“So, I think everyone's got a story to tell, and I think you can make a difference. Just pick up something that you're good at, tweak it to be good, to create a vegan discussion, or helping animals, and you'll find that people will listen to you.”

Rich was awarded the 'Special Recognition' Animal Hero Award by the Daily Mirror in 2019 for his dedication to animal-people. Currently, he is a happy vegan farmer, running Lazy Meadow Farm, a small farm and micro-sanctuary for rescued animal-people in West Cornwall. He also coordinates The Vegan Society’s Community Network, a grassroots-focused, volunteer-led campaign program.