Mike Huskisson: What an animal investigator learned from 50 years of undercover work
As part of an undercover investigation in 1989, Huskisson documented a series of experiments at National Institute for Medical Research, where the heat of a table lamp was used to burn cats and rabbits.
AIDAN FRERE-SMITH: It was 1972 and Mike Huskisson had saved his money to purchase aniseed oil from the local chemist. But his plan wasn’t to use it as a herbal remedy. Huskisson lived in a small traditional English village where the exploits of hunting were discussed openly, often in gory detail in the local pub. At first, Huskisson would try to debate the ethics of hunting with his neighbors, but ultimately he became frustrated with their lack of compassion, and decided he needed to do more.
Inspired by the French Resistance tactics to fool German tracker dogs, Huskisson set out the night before the local fox hunt were meeting, dragging oil-soaked rags across the surrounding fields in the countryside. Alone and scared, he knew that he could be subject to violence if caught, so he moved quietly, taking care not to be seen, telling no one of what he had done. The following day, the hunt descended into utter chaos, as the smell of oil distracted the hunting hounds. This was the first of many undercover efforts to disrupt animal exploitation, the beginning of a journey that is still going strong for Huskisson, 50 years later…
Huskisson joined the Hunt Saboteurs Association (HSA) that year and began to disrupt hunts on a regular basis. Whether by laying fake trails, masking animal scents or taking control of the pack of hounds using horn calls, he foiled the hunters’ efforts to hunt wildlife. The tactics he used then continue to be used today. The efforts of saboteurs were effective, but they were always outnumbered, Huskisson recalls. “I [felt] sad and frustrated that there were so many hunts and so few sabs,” he says…
At the end of the 1970s, however, violence toward saboteurs became a regular occurence, making this form of direct action more challenging. Huskisson saw an opportunity to switch tactics. “I soon learned that I could gain a lot of information from talking to hunt supporters and took advantage of the fact that at the time they assumed that any stranger watching the hunt would be a supporter” he said. Huskisson began to plot how he could join the hunts as a participant.
Since photojournalism had a significant influence on his work, Huskisson planned to photograph what happens behind the scenes. “Some people had problems believing the horror that was hunting,” he says. “By photographing events during a hunt, I could show the truth. I knew the power of the single image and sought it to expose the horror of bloodsports.”
Dressed in traditional countryside clothing, Huskisson eased himself into the hunting fraternity. Overtime, he became a trusted amateur photographer, solidified his position as a genuine hunt enthusiast and, in 1981, secured an official position as an undercover investigator for the League Against Cruel Sports (LACS)… Huskisson published Outfoxed, a detailed account of his undercover work, in 1983. This collection of evidence was the first of its kind, extremely damning for the image of hunting in the U.K…
In the summer of 1975, Huskisson learned that beagles used to test the effects of smoking were going to be slaughtered. Horrified, he decided to take action and in the early hours of the morning entered Imperial Chemical Industries dog toxicity unit and successfully liberated two beagles. Days later, he returned in an attempt to liberate another beagle and was caught and arrested…
In 1984, he joined South East Animal Liberation League as a photojournalist during the group’s daytime raid of a research facility of Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) where macaque monkeys and former domestic dogs were used. As described in his second book Outfoxed Again, Huskisson was unexpectedly given documents during the raid by an activist that were later used by the British Union For The Abolition Of Vivisection in a legal prosecution against RCS for animal cruelty…
Ultimately due to handling stolen documents, Huskisson was sentenced to 18 months in prison. He was released after serving a third of his sentence… Huskisson soon returned to the work of exposing vivisection. As part of an undercover investigation in 1989, he documented a series of experiments at National Institute for Medical Research, now Francis Crick Institute, where the heat of a table lamp was used to burn cats and rabbits…
In 1995, Huskisson’s undercover work expanded overseas. After learning that U.K. government scientists were involved in experimentations on chimpanzees at the Biomedical Primate Research Centre in Holland — a strategy to avoid prosecution under the country’s Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 — Huskisson documented living conditions at the facility. Hundreds of primates were confined to metal cages, some of whom had been housed in those conditions for over 25 years…
In 1996, the UK Government passed The Wild Mammals (Protection) Bill, the first piece of legislation which protected wild mammals from acts of unnecessary suffering. Following this success, IFAW, RSPCA and LACS launched a dedicated campaign to ban hunting… The following year, a ban on hunting was reintroduced in parliament on the condition that a full inquiry into hunting was carried out…
The hunting fraternity were unnerved by Huskisson’s presence on the committee. “The hunters hated my involvement in the inquiry,” he said. “They really feared my knowledge. I had witnessed the side of hunting that they strive so hard to keep hidden from public view”…
The comprehensive report was published in 2000, concluding that hunting with hounds “seriously compromises the welfare” of the hunted animal. The report also found that hunting can also affect the welfare of other wildlife including legally protected badgers and otters.
After decades of undercover work, investigations and campaigning, the reality of hunting was finally officially recognized. Scotland was first to ban hunting with the Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002, followed by the U.K. government with The Hunting Act 2004. Though loopholes exist in both pieces of legislation, the progress made to protect wildlife is undeniable, Huskisson believes…
In 2021, Huskisson suffered a stroke. His movements became restricted, everyday tasks became a challenge and his life changed indefinitely. Though his recovery was slow, and ongoing, he saw an opportunity to give something back by creating a digital archive of HOWL magazine, the official publication of HSA. “I reckon [I produced] 40,000 images of bloodsports, vivisection, factory farming and other forms of animal abuse, and protests,” as well as over one hundred hours of footage and countless hours of audio recordings.
This depth of Huskisson’s knowledge is irreplaceable, a critical resource for his colleagues in service also acting to protect animals. Though he views his own contribution as small and niche, he says by working with a great team of fellow campaigners, together they collectively have made great progress for the preservation of wildlife and the protection of animals.
“As I look back on 50 years of work for animals all I can honestly say is that I did my best. My stroke has left me unable to do much in the field now but I can still play a role as a custodian of the facts and knowledge gained over half a century,” he says. SOURCE…
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