S4. E6. Rich Hardy: Not As Nature Intended
Rich Hardy is a former undercover investigator who spent two decades working in 28 countries, exposing animal cruelty of many of the worlds worst industries – including fur trapping in North America, monkey breeding farms in Asia, and slaughterhouses and factory farms across the globe. His images and videos have been used by more than 20 international animal organizations helping to change minds and laws about how we treat animals.
Most of the industries Rich worked in are hidden from the public, extraordinarily secretive, and often have higher security than Area 51; therefore Rich lived an incredibly risky double life for much of those 20 years. He had to take jobs doing the very thing he was there to expose and many of his assignments involved working with and often befriending those causing harm and suffering to the animals he was fighting to protect.
One would think that 20 years of witnessing that kind of mass scale abuse would harden the soul and embitter just about anyone, but Rich is one of the kindest, most thoughtful guys out there. His work only broadened his already enormous capacity for compassion - toward animals but also toward some of the very human beings he worked amongst.
He wrote a book about it, called, Not As Nature Intended. It’s based on his journals from his time undercover and somehow, manages to not only show the darkness and devastation of the worlds he had to become a part of, but there’s also light, hope, and enormous heart. It’s a testament of what he saw and of what billions of animals have endured and still endure every minute of the day.
He and I spoke last week from our respective quarantines, his in the UK and mine in New York. I was especially interested in his time on factory farms, what he witnessed, the sickness and disease that are an inherent part of the industry, and why he is not at all surprised that we are in the midst of a pandemic that was caused by of our relationship to animals.
In order to prevent future pandemics, it’s not just wild animal markets that need to shut down, it’s every industry in which we exploit animals.
And factory farming should be right up there on the top of every single human’s list.
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Transcript:
Rich: [00:00:00] We really have to look at the source for these diseases: Swine flu, Avian flu, SARS, Ebola. It's all jumping to species from animals and it's because of the way that we're treating animals. So let's hope we learn something from that post this tragic situation we find ourselves in.
Elizabeth: [00:00:32] Hi, I'm Elizabeth Novogratz. This is Species Unite. Today's conversation is with Rich Hardy. Rich is a former undercover investigator who spent two decades in 28 countries on 100 different assignments, exposing animal cruelty in many of the world's worst industries, including factory farming, circuses and fur trapping. In order to do so, he lived a double life for nearly 20 years. He wrote a book about it called Not as Nature Intended, which comes from his journals from his time undercover, and tells the stories of these industries that he worked so hard to expose. He and I spoke last week from our respective quarantines, his in the U.K. and mine in New York. I was especially interested in his time on factory farms and what he witnessed in terms of sickness and disease with the animals and how that relates to what's happening right now with COVID 19. Because in order to prevent future pandemics, it's not just wild animal markets that need to shut down. It's every single industry in which we exploit animals. Factory farming should be right up there on the top of everyone's list. Thank you, Rich, so much for talking to me today. So one question I have for you, because a lot of your work, I mean, you worked across the board pretty much in industries that exploit animals, but a lot of it, it seems like, was factory farms and slaughterhouses. Because we are in this global pandemic right now and because one thing that we're pretty sure of is that it started at the wild animal markets in China. But all of these pandemics and zoonotic diseases start because of our relationship to animals, what we've done to them, how we farm them. For somebody who has spent so much time inside, so many factory farms in the US, Europe, UK and all over, what have you learned in terms of diseases and what have you seen that makes this kind of not a surprise to you that this is happening?
Rich: [00:02:44] Yeah. I mean, the alarm bells have definitely been ringing for, you know, 10 to 15 years on this. I just feel like we've just kept hitting the snooze button really. Yeah, certainly. You know, the jump from animals to humans through diseases and infections is becoming more prevalent. You know, to be honest, I'm just not surprised because every time I have been into factory farms and slaughterhouses across the world or markets, wet markets, I've always been not just staggered by the cruelty and suffering on show and how kind of publicly acceptable it is, particularly in markets. It seems buyers and sellers both sort of legitimize the kind of suffering that they see on show through selling and trading animals. But just like the hygiene that goes along with these industries is just, it beggars belief sometimes. I've spent quite a lot of time in Europe documenting inside factory farms. You know, every time I open a door, my heart just skips a beat because I know I'm going to be shocked by the infrastructure on show. But more often than not, the hacking of coughs, the pneumonia, the conjunctivitis and the eyes of pigs that, you know, turn them red first and then blind. It's just a breeding ground for disease. I think that's one of the things that moving forward from these pandemics, I hope the wider public will be so much more aware of the starting point for this. I think in the moment where we are now, you know, it's all about, you know, trying to deal with the situation and save lives, human lives and quite rightly. But, you know, we can't let it go back to business as usual post this. We really have to look at the source for these diseases: swine flu, avian flu, SARS, Ebola. It's all jumping the species from animals and it's because of the way that we're treating animals. So let's hope we learn something from that, post this tragic situation we find ourselves in.
Elizabeth: [00:05:15] Can you give an example of, say, walking into a factory farm and just knowing the animals are sick?
Rich: [00:05:22] I've been into quite a few farms in Italy where, you know, this is the home of the prestigious ham I won't name and shame at this point, but, you know, the really sort of high end traditional artisan hams, all homed and centered around factory farming. There's no cozy, rustic farmyard scenes here. It's like a cold steel bar off the boiler cage fff the cage. That's the reality of this. I remember on a number of occasions walking in and hearing the hacks, the hacking, coughs of pigs, sort of spreading down one corridor and sort of coming back up towards me in the next series of pens. So like a mexican wave, you know, as if it was a crowd in a stadium. The noise is just something else. It's just something. I mean, all your senses are under assault when you go into factory farms. Visually, you're shocked at what you're seeing. You know, the smells. It's just a complete assault. Unfortunately, it's something that only if you ever see. That's probably why we're at the stage where we are, where we're producing, you know, billions of animals in appalling conditions in factory farms just to put food on people's plates.
Elizabeth: [00:06:50] Well, and I think there's been talk about the wet markets, the wild animal markets, some talk at least, in the media. But there hasn't really been a lot of talk about the farming of animals on a mass scale globally. I think two things that seem to have led to one is they're missing the point. This is across the board. And two, I think it also breeds a lot of racism. I mean, yes, some places are worse than others, but nobody is doing any of this in a way that, like, is, you know, good to, for lack of a better word. For all the countries you've been in and all the different, you know, farms and factory farms. It's pretty horrible across the board, I would imagine.
Rich: [00:07:36] Yes. I think the way that we rear animals is something that has knock on effects for so many other areas of society. Yes, we know it causes a great deal of animal suffering, you know. Yes, we know that it's you know, the conditions are just horrific. But, you know, it's also systems that are putting pressure on the workers inside of these places, heavily reliant on migrant labor. Their civil rights, their human rights are often also undermined and the jobs that they're having to do. So it's just, I think, really led us into a place where, you know, we've just lost touch with our kinder side, our compassion. We've just sort of really forgotten that not just for the animals, but for each other, too, in the systems we've created, you know, exploit animals for food, fashion, entertainment and science.
Elizabeth: [00:08:42] When you started, there weren't a lot of people doing this, going undercover, were there?
Rich: [00:08:47] No. So I started this type of activism for animals at the tail end of the 1990s. I'd been a sort of frontline campaigner and lobbyist for animal charity for sort of five or six years previous to that. So I was used to running campaigns and I was used to trying to get laws overturned by public opinion to end. Certain systems for rearing animals in Europe. I mean, like the battery cages for egg laying hens was one of the issues I was particularly working on in the 1990s. But every time I was getting those meetings with politicians and bringing half a million public signatures to the minister's office, I was just getting a sort of a look of disdain and a shrug of the shoulders from politicians when faced with the question, Well, will you stop this? They were saying to me, Well, all you're doing here is just showing me signatures on paper. You're also providing me with sort of scientific reports. I'm not actually seeing what's wrong here. It dawned on me at that point that we really didn't have a great deal of physical imagery and evidence that you could show to politicians to help change things. After that, I did a bit of a U-turn on frontline campaigning and got myself some cheap cameras and started to find ways to tell these stories of animals and get them in front of people where they could stand a chance of being transformational. I have to say that I was very naive when I started this work and I was not sure how to go about things. All I could think of doing was just opening that first door and seeing what happens.
Elizabeth: [00:10:46] So you just showed up at the first place, which was…
Rich: [00:10:50] Yeah, the first place I was in New Zealand and I'd just taken a sort of a bit of a break away from things. But I was surfing off the East Coast and catching waves. It was a beautiful day, you know, lots of dolphins in the water. While I was waiting for the next wave to come in and break and ride, I was kind of looking up at the top of the hillside overlooking the beach and I saw that sort of big shadow of a sort of ominous, windowless shed, and I realized it was a factory farm and I kind of just rode the next wave into the beach, grabbed my camera from a van and headed up there, headed on up the hill, and just walked into the factory farm and just with no sort of idea of what would happen.
Elizabeth: [00:11:39] And what did you see?
Rich: [00:11:40] Well, it was the noise of the hens, I guess, that first hit my eardrums. I couldn't see them, but I could certainly hear them behind the big metal door. I kind of listened out to see if I could hear any human voices and I couldn't. So I slid back the first door and just was greeted by wave upon wave of high rise flats for hens, basically. You're in New York, so you're not short of huge, great skyscrapers around you. It very much felt the same for me at that moment, looking at tens of thousands of hens, one on top of each other, hens jutting out from the cages, just trying to grab a short, short breath of air before disappearing back into the sort of darkness of their metal cage. It was just shocking. But I flipped the toggle of my camera and just hit the record button and just followed what I could see, really, and and just tried to capture as much as I could.
Elizabeth: [00:12:51] Was there a moment in that experience that you kind of knew this was where you needed to be?
Rich: [00:12:58] Absolutely. Of course, I got caught shortly after that moment. Luckily, I managed to come up with a fairly weak story. But it was enough to just allow me to leave the property with a slap on the wrist and, you know, sitting in my van, holding my camera at that moment, realizing, actually, I have something of value here. You turn from the beach and drive to the big city and put it in the hands of an animal rights organization that could do something with it. They were grateful for it and it was at that point that I realized that, yeah, this could be a useful form of activism, that it was probably going to be a fairly lonely existence for the next few years. It was worth doing because of the shortage of material that there was.
Elizabeth: [00:13:48] How did it go from there? You just kept going into the next thing.
Rich: [00:13:52] Yeah, I guess the thing is that I have to keep one step ahead of the animal industries. In the early days, you know, I literally could walk into factory farms and get, you know, sort of moments where I could secure footage. If I did get caught now and again, it didn't really come to anything. But, you know, fast forward 20 years and I've had to sort of learn to evolve, I guess, in this role to allow me to keep finding ways into these kinds of industries and premises. That has involved sort of finding various ruses and evolving the cameras that I'm using and the cover stories that I'm using and yeah, taking work placements. But also when they know an opportunity for me, then I'll find other methods, you know, trying to buy businesses or take research positions. It's yeah just staying one, one step ahead. Because of that, it's probably been quite a surreal experience as well as quite a hard hitting and challenging and emotional experience as well.
Elizabeth: [00:15:15] You were mostly alone in these situations. I mean, you were with people, but they didn't know who you were. So that must have been tough, too.
Rich: [00:15:23] Yes. I mean, I have spent quite a long time working alongside my adversaries, if you like. That's a really interesting kind of concept in its own right. There's a lot of people out there that just don't realize what they're doing. In the chicken industry, for example, I met a lot of chicken farmers in the US that, you know, if it wasn't for the work that they were doing, friendships could definitely evolve. But that's the system that they were given 50 years ago. As such it's become so routine and so mundane that the sentience of the individuals that they're looking after probably has become very muddied and murky, and they just forget that they're animals at all and they're just products. So on some level, you know, the people have been given this system to work with and on other levels the people are incredibly cruel people, dangerous people, not just the animals, but the humans, too. I've got form to show that. So many people that I've met over the years who have abused animals in some form have also done that to humans as well. So yeah, it's a complicated business, but when you're trying to get to the truth and with so many of these industries thriving on keeping the public away from their business, then yeah, you have to find ways that are going to be unusual in some ways.
Elizabeth: [00:17:12] One chapter in your book, Not as Nature Intended and everyone should read it. It's incredible. A lot of chapters stuck out to me because they all are almost unbelievable on one hand. They're very much what's happening every day. You tell the story so incredibly well and you somehow add a lot of light to really dark situations. It makes them very readable instead of the reader thinking I can't go on any farther. But one I would if you could talk about is the fur trapping chapter. But I mean, this is really kind of ignorant of me, but I just didn't realize so much of that was still happening in the US. But you morphed into a fur trapper for a couple of years and really, really got to know these guys. Will you talk about that a little because it just astonished me.
Rich: [00:18:03] We used to see fur trapping just at the end. You know, when models are walking down the catwalk, wearing fur. Fur trappers, you know, often hide in forests or along field margins, early times of the day. You know, they're not in public view. So they're very secretive people, often working alone or in small groups. So they're quite difficult to infiltrate in that respect. So I spent a couple of winters during the fur trapping season, which only really runs over the course of the winter in the US. I had to find ways and to document this, this particular industry because it hadn't really been looked at closely in the past. It was quite a challenging one to document. I built a number of cover stories which enabled me to meet and shadow these fur trappers as they went about their whole business day to day.
Elizabeth: [00:19:11] What kind of story were you telling these guys that you wanted to be a fur trapper?
Rich: [00:19:15] On a basic level, using a story where fur trapping is banned in the UK and Europe. The type of traps that you're using in the USA are banned and have been for quite a long period of time. So because I can't trap in Europe, I want to come to the US and learn how you guys do it. That was one of the ways that I found that opened some doors for me were us.
Elizabeth: [00:19:47] Will you also explain to people who don't know or haven't seen them what these traps are because they're just brutal.
Rich: [00:19:55] Yes. So a leg hold trap or snare, the most common traps that they use to trap fur for animals in the US. There, the leg hole trap is a sort of a metal clamp which sits flat on the ground until an animal's paw touches it, at which point it comes up like a jaw snapping shot on its leg. At that point the only way that an animal can escape that trap would be to gnaw off its own limb, you know, make it so an amputation to escape a trap. I saw some evidence that whilst I was on these assignments.
Elizabeth: [00:20:41] Will you also tell us the story of the raccoon that kind of haunts you? Because I think that is the story in your book that really has stayed with me the most.
Rich: [00:20:53] The Raccoon is a really important story for me. The reason I wrote my book actually was for this poor animal I was trapping with one particular group of trappers and having set a whole trap along the bank of a river, you know, a really freezing cold river. It was January when this happened. The trap was set on the riverbank and set for a raccoon. Because the raccoon likes to forage alongside the top of the riverbank or just in the shallow margins of the river. 24 hours later, coming back. The trap had been operated. I found this poor raccoon in the river just shivering and cold. While you couldn't see the trap itself, it was on its limb. It was a terrible experience. I'll spare people the details. But it was a full assault which led to the drowning of this raccoon. Like I said, one of the things I really remember about this incident was that it was missing one of his paws. So it had been cold like this before and escaped by gnawing off its own limb. But fortunately, this time it wasn't so lucky.
Elizabeth: [00:22:17] Unbelievable that it happened to it twice too.
Rich: [00:22:21] Yeah.
Elizabeth: [00:22:21] Wow. So like you said, when you were talking about working with your adversaries, what did you learn from that? I ask because it's here and in the UK too, I think because we're becoming so divided like our countries, the US is so divided. But I just think it's a really incredible place to be and to kind of understand the humanity in these and the people that you were there to film or you were there to expose. I mean, I would imagine you can't hate them once you get to know them. What did you learn from that?
Rich: [00:23:03] Well, I think I learned that almost everyone has the ability to change, you know, if shown the path. I think certainly in the US we've seen some good evidence to show that that's possible, particularly in the chicken farming industry from broiler chicken farmers who have been rearing meat chickens for two decades, suddenly switching to growing hemp or peas to go into the plant based food revolution that's underway. So people were definitely capable of change. Sometimes it's quick, sometimes it's not so quick. But yeah, I think having seen so much suffering and cruelty, there would be perhaps an expectation that I know I'm outraged and angered and feel so much hate towards people that breed and rare animals like this. I just don't feel that's any good for moving these issues on. I think you have to try and have some empathy for the situation. I think what's helped me by working like this is I've got to understand how these industries work and I've got to learn where the weak points are. I've been able to pass that information on to non-profit organizations who are campaigning and building campaigns that can undermine those systems because they know fully how they work and where their weak points are. So it's been good being able to pass that information on to others, and it's helped them produce campaigns that are based around solutions that not only can end the systems, but can also provide alternatives that don't rely on cruelty for these people to explore as an alternative. So, you know, I think if you can be as compassionate and kind as you can, no matter who that person or individual or industry is, you do have the best chance of making change.
Elizabeth: [00:25:23] Did you evolve to this? Did you start out this way or was there a lot of anger in the early days or a lot of I would imagine just emotion across the board?
Rich: [00:25:32] But, yeah, it's more it's more sadness. I mean, what I often find most upsetting when I spend a long period of time in factory farms or circuses is I've come to terms with what the systems are and how the animals suffer in those systems. I know we can change this, what really upsets me is the human behavior towards the animal. It's the beating of an animal to get it off the truck into the slaughterhouse when the animal would probably do it anyway. It's those moments where, you know, the human has to kind of put its foot down, if you like, to show who's boss. That's the bit of human nature that, you know, I really feel quite sad about. So it's more sadness than anger. I think it has always been that way. Obviously, I find it disappointing when things don't happen fast enough. I understand there's a process that takes time to make big shifts in public opinion but the time's taking less now it's all evolving so much quicker. So for that reason, I can only be optimistic about what the future looks like for animals. I think it will be a future that benefits them rather than makes them victims. That's what I hope anyway.
Elizabeth: [00:27:12] I absolutely loved your book and I think everybody should read it because it's really telling just really what's happening in so many different industries without judgment. It's not this good and evil thing. It's very like this is what it is. That's how people learn when there's no judgment, right? It's just incredibly written. Writing it for you, how was that process?
Rich: [00:27:45] Yeah, it was quite emotional actually. Certainly. I think towards the end of my field assignments, you know, I was feeling the emotion a lot, a lot more. I think mentally it was beginning to catch up with me. So yeah, I kind of knew when to stop and start the book, obviously keeping those kinds of emotions near the surface but I guess I felt like those were stories that I needed to still share before sort of walking away from this. Because, you know, a lot of the assignments have already gone out into the public in some way, shape or form and media exposure on the TV. Big rapport going into government. All the investigative assignments have been used, but the stories within the stories, if you like, or things that may have got forgotten along the way. I feel I can't take it to my grave. You know, I've got to make sure I offload everything I know and everything that people can learn from or share or pass on to others so that I can kind of walk away and not feel like I haven't said everything that I can say so that animals can benefit in the future. That's what I hope anyway.
Elizabeth: [00:29:19] Well, and let's hope at some point, you know, whether it's a couple generations from now or longer or sooner, that a lot of these stories almost seem fictional because they're so unbelievable.
Rich: [00:29:33] I think yeah. I think we'll look back in this on this period in the same way that we look back on some of the other social justice movements of the past, you know, the civil rights movement, for example, with race and probably 30 or 40 years from now, we'll probably look on and think, my God, you know, I can't believe we treat animals like that. You know, how can us as humans do that to another sentient creature? So everything evolves, stuff takes time to change. But I definitely think we're on the right trajectory. Certainly if you look just in supermarkets around the world and restaurants around the world, it's not difficult now to get a vegan meal. So we should, you know, embrace that moment.
Elizabeth: [00:30:28] Oh, it's a great time to be vegan. So since you stopped going undercover and are in this kind of new life now where you're not being other people. Was that an adjustment?
Rich: [00:30:41] Yeah, definitely. Definitely. Well, I never expected to do it for two decades. I thought I'd probably do this for a year or two and then move into some other way of working for animals. But, you know, I just somehow kept going and yeah stopping suddenly, like anything you do in life, if you do something you're used to doing, no matter how challenging it is, it can be a sudden shock to the system.
Elizabeth: [00:31:09] What is your life like now?
Rich: [00:31:12] Well, probably like yours a little bit.
Elizabeth: [00:31:15] Well, not today, not in quarantine.
Rich: [00:31:18] I'm spending more time at home with my rescue animals. I've managed to put a bit more time now into rescuing animals from factory farms and slaughterhouses and shelters. So I've got like a little micro sanctuary with sort of between 15 and 20 residents, which I'm looking after. I'm also looking for new opportunities to help animals. So yeah, looking to get involved with a new campaign. So yeah, just hoping something will come up and yeah, just I can put my skills to transformation storytelling to use in a different way. So let's see what happens.
Elizabeth: [00:32:00] I love it and it must be really nice to wake up and see all these animals who are living freely and safely and happily.
Rich: [00:32:11] Yeah, seeing animals, just being animals and behaving normally and naturally with no fears in their lives is a real great pleasure every day to wake up to.
Elizabeth: [00:32:21] Rich thank you for this. This is incredible. Like I said, your book just blew me away and your work. Thank you for all of it.
Rich: [00:32:32] Thanks so much, Beth.
Elizabeth: [00:32:33] Let's just hope that this pandemic does a lot more waking people up when it comes to all of this.
Rich: [00:32:40] Yeah, we can't hit that snooze button anymore on the alarm clock. It's ringing, and we've got to take notice of it.
Elizabeth: [00:32:46] Exactly. Thank you, Rich.
Rich: [00:32:49] All right. Thanks.
Elizabeth: [00:33:01] If you would like to learn more about Rich and get his book there links on our website it's SpeciesUnite.com. We are also on Facebook and Instagram, @Species Unite. If you'd like to support the podcast, we would greatly appreciate it. You could do so in one of two ways: subscribe, rate and review wherever you listen to podcasts. We're also on Patreon. It's Patreon/SpeciesUnite. I would like to thank everybody at Species Unite, including Gary Knudson, Natalie Martin, Caitlin Pierce, Amy Jones, Paul Healey and Anna O'Connor, who wrote and performed today's music. Thank you so much for listening and have a wonderful day.
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