History

Dorset has a long history of radical protest, including the Tolpuddle Martyrs, who formed a trade union to fight against pay cuts; the rope-making women of Bridport, who staged wildcat strikes in 1912; and an enclave of radical Russians in Christchurch, who were exiled dissidents dedicated to printing and distributing the banned works of Tolstoy.

The animal freedom movement also has a rich history. In fact, the first local hunt sab group was formed in Bournemouth in 1964, and ever since, Dorset has been a hotbed of animal rescue and activism.

  •  - 1960

    Bournemouth resident Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE, and UN Messenger of Peace, made a discovery that would come to be considered one of the greatest achievements in 20th-century scholarship: chimpanzees make and use tools. Her finding came at a time when it was believed that only humans used and made tools. In response to her discovery, Goodall’s mentor, Dr. Louis Leakey, wrote, ‘We must now redefine man, redefine tool, or accept chimpanzees as human.’

  •  - 1964

    Dorset’s first hunt saboteur group was founded in Bournemouth. Members are pictured at the South Dorset Hunt’s Boxing Day meet in Poole in 1976.

  •  - 1965

    Dorset’s Brightford Vale hunt carried out the first recorded attack on hunt saboteurs in the UK, with an axe and metal bars. Three Bournemouth hunt saboteurs were injured, and one hunt supporter was fined for destroying a sab’s guitar with the axe.

  •  - 1979

    Dorset resident Richard D. Ryder coined the term speciesism in a privately published pamphlet. Peter Singer took the term from Ryder and popularised it in Animal Liberation (1975).

  •  - 1982

    Twenty-one rabbits (pictured) and twenty-five guinea pigs who were bred for vivisection were rescued from Gravel Hill Nurseries in Poole, and Little Lions in Ashley Heath. Both farms have since closed.

  •  - 1983

    151 chickens were rescued from intensive farms in Dorchester, Sturminster Newton, and Wimborne. Some of these were reported in the BUAV’s ‘Liberator’ (pictured).

    51 rats and 100 mice were saved from dissection at schools in Bournemouth, Wimborne, and Ferndown.

    Chipperfields Animal Circus closed two weeks early due to pressure from animal rights protests in Poole.

  •  - 1984

    Eight guinea pigs from Little Lion’s Farm were rescued from a train at Bournemouth station en route to a London laboratory; one of several such heists (pictured: Little Lions protest).

    Activists demanding a ban on animal circuses painted Poole Council offices red, and several sheep were saved from an abattoir in Ferndown.

  •  - 1985

    Ten slaughterhouse trucks were destroyed by fire in Poole in protest against the meat industry.

  •  - 1986

    Ferrets bred for animal testing were liberated from a breeder in Poole, which has since closed down.

  •  - 1989

    Dorset Anti Bloodsports (DAB) was formed to work with the public to monitor local hunting activities.

  •  - 1994

    Dorset Anti Bloodsports campaigners get the Cattistock Hunt’s annual boxing day meet at Bridport indefinitely cancelled.

  •  - 1995

    Dorset Animal Action first formed in 1990. For the following decade, they held regular protests and actions against all forms of animal abuse (pictured: Dorset Animal Action activists protesting outside McDonalds in 2001).

  •  - 1997

    Dorset Animal Rescue, now known as Somerset and Dorset Animal Rescue, saved 50 beagles who were due to be sent abroad to be experimented on in laboratories from Consort Kennels (pictured).

    Following extreme acts of violence, seventeen hunt saboteurs were hospitalised by the Portman Hunt in a single day. 

  •  - 1998

    6,000 mink were freed from a fur farm (pictured) on the Dorset border by activists, including an undercover police officer, who later switched sides. This rescue operation became a catalyst for the UK banning fur farming three years later.

    The UK became the first country in the world to ban animal experiments for cosmetics products and ingredients.

  •  - 1999

    Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) was formed to close Europe’s largest animal testing laboratory, Huntingdon Life Sciences. Over the following decade, Dorset activists played a key role in the historic campaign (pictured: three Dorset Animal Action campaigners protest at Huntingdon’s shareholder JP Morgan in Bournemouth).

  •  - 2000

    Dorset’s first vegan restaurant, Wessex Tales, opened in Bournemouth (pictured).

    Fur farming was banned in Great Britain. 

  •  - 2001

    Shell petrol stations across the county are occupied by Dorset Animal Action activists due to Shell testing on animals at Huntingdon Life Sciences (pictured: a Dorset Animal Action protest at Shell in Weymouth)

  •  - 2002

    600 hens were rescued from a battery farm in Canford Magna, Bournemouth, causing the farm to close permanently.

  •  - 2003

    The Southern Animal Rights Coalition (SARC) was founded in Poole. Over the following six years, SARC campaigned across the south coast and closed Qinetiq’s military research facility in Hampshire and pressured the MoD to stop hyperbaric tests on animals (pictured: goats rescued from the Qinetiq facility by SARC). SARC stopped dozens of retailers selling fur and foie gras and closed a puppy farm in West Sussex and intensive egg farms in Hampshire and Dorset. 

    Activist Keith Mann was arrested in Poole and accused of rescuing 700 mice from Wickham Laboratories in Hampshire. Paperwork taken during this action received mass media attention when it exposed cosmetic testing that continued on animals despite the national ban on cosmetic testing.

    After vehicles were damaged at the Poole compound of the Sunlight laundry company, the firm refused to continue working with Huntingdon Life Sciences. Unable to find a new supplier, Huntingdon Life Sciences was forced to build its own on-site laundrette.

  •  - 2004

    The Lobster Liberation Front formed following an action at Chapman’s Pool. Their tactics included rowing out to sea to release lobsters trapped in lobster pots and sabotaging fishing boats. Similar actions spread across Europe. 

    Hunting with hounds was banned in the UK, though hunts continue under the guise of ‘trail’ hunting. 

    Huntingdon Life Sciences used an injunction in an attempt to seize the home of a Bournemouth activist active in the Stop Huntingdon Cruelty (SHAC) campaign.

  •  - 2007

    Liz Stewart from Dorset and Somerset Animal Rescue was invited to the House of Lords to receive the award for International Animal Rescuer of the Year.

  •  - 2010

    Animal Aid filmed shocking scenes of violence inside the ABP Sturminster Newton abattoir, prompting Sainsbury’s to temporarily suspend their contract (pictured: slaughterhouse worker at ABP Sturminster hits a cow with a window cleaning brush).

  •  - 2016

    Andre Saunders launched Dorset Animal Save, which held its first cow vigil outside the ABP slaughterhouse in Sturminster Newton. Sheep vigils were later launched at ABP Yetminster.

  •  - 2017

    Animal Equality exposed Grange Farm near Winfrith as a ’battery farm’ for dairy cows, which resulted in M&S suspending their contracts.

  •  - 2020

    Following two decades of protests by groups, including Poole Against Greyhound Exploitation, Poole Stadium ended greyhound racing on its site (picture from Dorset Against Bloodsports showing protest outside of Poole Stadium in 2016).

  •  - 2021

    Weymouth Animal Rights joined forces with groups such as Extinction Rebellion and Stand up to Racism to carry out a ‘mass trespass’ on the estate of South Dorset MP Richard Drax due to his links to hunting and the slave trade, as well as the right to roam (pictured: Drax attempts to escort a protestor from ‘his’ land).

  •  - 2022

    We The Free (WTF) launches in Dorset, first in Bournemouth in March, followed by Dorchester in May. WTF activists hold regular outreach events challenging members of the public to watch a 3-5 animal rights documentary showcasing some of the worst legal and standard practices in animal agriculture, usually in return for an incentive, such as a cookie or cupcake.

  •  - 2023

    30 members of Animal Rising occupied Grange Dairy near Winfrith where they comforted calves held in solitary confinement and tried to negotiate the release of a calf to an animal sanctuary (pictured).

    The first National Animal Rights Day, NARD13, was held in Bournemouth town centre with 120 participants; a year later, the number grew to 180.

  •  - 2024

    Dorset Animal Save and We The Free attracted media coverage during a collaboration with SPECIESISM.WTF when they created an art installation on Bournemouth Beach to highlight the injustice of the fishing industry (pictured). 

    More than 50 protesters marched through Dorchester to demand stricter enforcement of anti-hunting laws.

    Dorset Animal Action relaunches as a coalition of individuals, campaigns, groups and rescue projects uniting to champion justice, freedom, and protection for all animals.