Your Neighbour Kills Puppies: Inside the Animal Liberation Movement

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    Tom Harris

    Publisher: Pluto Books

    Year: 2024

    Format: Paperback

    Size: 496 pages

    ISBN: 9780745348698

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A first-hand account of the high-profile Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) animal liberation campaign

For many people, the name 'Huntingdon Life Sciences' will live forever in infamy. In the early 2000s, Europe's largest animal testing laboratory provoked public outrage, and sparked a resistance movement like no other. Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) knew the struggles for animal and human liberation to be inextricably linked. The State knew that they had to be stopped…

Your Neighbour Kills Puppies tells the complete inside story of this remarkable campaign and the forces arrayed against it. It exposes a murky world of institutional animal exploitation, government collusion, corporate lobbyists, agent provocateurs and police spies desperate to silence dissent.

Author and campaign veteran Tom Harris transports the reader into the heart of the action, through underground tunnels and illicit animal rescues, before detailing the brutal state-led crackdown which saw scores of activists violently arrested and imprisoned.

About the Author

Tom Harris has spent two decades in the animal liberation movement and is a former coordinator of SHAC. He received a five-year prison sentence during the attempted 'elimination' of the anti-vivisection movement and is a named victim in the Miscarriages of Justice category of the Government's Undercover Policing Inquiry.

Chris Packham (Foreword) is a television presenter, writer, photographer, conservationist, animal rights campaigner and filmmaker. As a broadcaster he is a presenter of BBC’s BAFTA Award winning Springwatch, Autumnwatch and Winterwatch series. He also presents notable natural history series such as Nature's Weirdest Events, Inside the Animal Mind and Secrets of our Living Planet.

What People Are Saying

"Harris reveals the history of an extraordinary animal rights campaign that I was proud to be associated with. It is detailed, heartfelt, and it's an important account of a movement that inspired thousands of people to wake up and shout about the cruelty that was happening in the heart of England ... SHAC may no longer be, but that militant spirit, that willingness to challenge, and the idea of people getting together because they care about all animals, is an amazing legacy. This is the book about SHAC. This is the book about US." Benjamin Zephaniah, poet and activist

"The raw punk rock spirit of the SHAC campaign leaps from the pages of Your Neighbour Kills Puppies. With 500 animals tortured to death each day inside the walls of Huntingdon Life Sciences, their urgency and determination is palpable. As Harris reveals in this remarkable story, when that DIY ethos plays out on a grand scale, it has the power to shake governments and change the world. This book is a must-read for all contemporary activists. None of us are powerless, and until every cage is emptied, all of us are needed." Moby, musician

"If you care for animals and people who love them, please read this haunting but crucially important story of SHAC." Jilly Cooper, author

"A chilling, honest and true story of individuals who came together to stop an atrocity that every decent person should fight to end. Good people doing good work lost everything, almost overnight, when the government sent armed storm troopers in to break down doors, break limbs, and close down a campaign born out of compassion and a sense of fair play. A book to open eyes, hearts, and minds, and a riveting tale of real life daring-do." Ingrid Newkirk, Founder PETA

"As an undercover police officer … I was asked to infiltrate a group of people whose goal was to rescue beagles from experimentation, or to fight similar abuses. It was explained to me that this was to protect the economy and secure future investment from companies that rely on animal cruelty. I refused this request but many other undercover officers became embedded in such protest movements. As Harris exposes in [Your Neighbour Kills Puppies], when big business directs our policing and our wider legal system, it should terrify us all." Neil Woods, former Detective Sergeant and spycop

"This is a story of compassion and courage that was crushed by the State. Animal abusers and their profits were protected at great public expense, while those who opposed animal cruelty were treated as the enemy within. It's a powerful testament to the inspirational campaigns of passionate people who stood for justice and a world without suffering." Peter Tatchell, campaigner for human and animal liberation

"[Your Neighbour Kills Puppies] is an excellently written account of one of the most well-planned and hard-hitting campaigns ever waged against animal experimentation, and of the vicious lengths that governments will go to in order to protect the vivisection industry." Ronnie Lee, Co-Founder Animal Liberation Front

"Thank fuck there are some people out there prepared to take the knocks to defend what is right. SHAC were beaten and abused and felt the ugly might of the state. With the rise of veganism and increasing awareness of animal rights it cant be long before they will be proven right in their defense of the defenseless. In an increasingly insane world the only constants are morality, and defending the rights of animals at all costs is part of that." John Robb, journalist, musician and TV pundit

"The SHAC Movement offers vital strategic lessons for those building mass nonviolent civil resistance today. The courage and sacrifice these campaigners showed will inspire you to step up, take action and change the world. This history is a must read." Dan Kidby, Co-Founder Animal Rebellion

"This is the story of SHAC from the non-state side. Essential reading for any activists. Only time will tell the level of infiltration of this group by the state and corporate spies." Lydia Dagostino, Kelly's solicitors and coordinator of non-state lawyers in the Undercover Policing Inquiry

"This history of SHAC shows how police action against subversion and domestic extremism widened to encompass crimes against corporate profits, even if those profits are made at the expense of animal welfare or the environment. Non-violent protest has a proud tradition of success in this country which we should all cherish." Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb, House of Lords

"[Your Neighbour Kills Puppies] explores how one remarkable animal liberation campaign adapted to this repression at every turn. However, victory for SHAC would create a blueprint for pressure campaigns capable of tearing down any injustice. In the sacrifices of SHAC, contemporary social justice campaigns should find both inspiration and warnings for the future." Dale Vince OBE, Founder Ecotricity

"[Your Neighbour Kills Puppies] tells the story that inspired a generation of activists to take a stand against violence and oppression. We can all learn something from SHAC and this book is a great place to start that journey. Palestine Action Network wouldn't be doing what we do now without them. Buy it, read it, then be inspired to get out and take action!" Richard Barnard, Co-Founder Palestine Action Network

"The SHAC campaign rocked the world of animal liberation and inspired a new generation of direct action against state-corporate crimes beyond animal rights. The state's response to SHAC detailed in this book reveals how when it comes to protection of powerful corporate interests there is no separation of powers but a fusion of executive, legislative and prosecutional institutions into a unified repressive machine that will seek to crush those who dare take a stand for the liberation of living beings from industrial massacres. Without SHAC's example there would have been no Smash EDO campaign." Ceri Gibbons, Smash EDO

"Activists are just people like you and I who have been stirred to take action against the abhorrent behaviour of private enterprise or federal government. Mostly those actions are meant to bring hidden truths to the surface for all to see. Those actions make us aware of despotism, slavery, murder, abuse, and needless cruelty - usually for the sake of monetary gain. This is the story of SHAC; a group of people stirred to action by what they witnessed and inspired to make us all aware of it." David Life, Co-Founder Jivamukti Yoga

Tags: activism ....... animal rights ....... Chris Packham ....... History ....... memoir ....... Pluto Books ....... Tom Harris .......