Rich Hardy has spent his life fighting for animals. After a 20-year career working undercover to expose animal cruelty, he has written his experiences in a book, Not as Nature Intended, and is ready to share the stories of so many voiceless animals he made promises to.
I was brought up in a veggie household and we were all vegan by the time I was 15 (I’m 47 now). We had quite a few rescued animals around the house, and activism coursed through our veins. My parents took me out to protests at slaughterhouses when I was a toddler, but I was distracted initially by professional football. For a few years, I was training in the academy of a big club and was expecting to sign a contract after finishing college. But they dropped me — the only vegan in the squad — and that was the end of that.