Lex ‘Mundi’: “I quit my job to become an animal activist, now I travel the world to protect them”
For Lex Rigby, a former librarian and vegan advocate for 20 years, protecting animals is one of the most courageous and inspiring things we can do. One that gives our lives meaning and makes life worth living. Lex's ultimate goal is “total animal liberation”. She dreams of a world without the suffering and exploitation of animals on land and sea, whether this comes in her lifetime or the future.
LAUREN BEAVIS: A former librarian is now on a mission to promote “total animal liberation” after quitting her job years ago. Lex Rigby, who is based in Bristol, has travelled around the UK as well as Australia, Africa and Antarctica to protect all species.
From chasing a criminal fishing vessel for 146 days straight and opposing illegal whaling in the Antarctic, to paddling out on an inflatable kayak to capture abuse in Scottish salmon fish farms and witnessing horrific conditions of pigs in factory farms, Lex says she has seen her “fair share of death”. But the 40-year-old said: “Protecting animals is one of the most courageous and inspiring things we can do.
“One that, in a way, gives our own lives meaning. It makes life worth living! For me, the ultimate goal is total animal liberation – but there are so many roads we have to travel to get there”…
Lex, originally from Stoke-on-Trent, has been a vegan advocate for 20 years – and gives credit to David Attenborough documentaries which ignited her spark interest in animals and the natural world…
“When I started watching environmental and David Attenborough documentaries, which have impacted whole generations, I started to question why it was ok to eat one animal but not the other? People would come together to save a whale but not a pig?
“Pigs are far smarter than dogs but we don’t give credit for that – there is no difference, it’s only our perception. They are very similar and should be treated as individuals in their own right.
“Those questions started a big journey for me, so I decided to do something about it.” In 2006, Lex began her activism volunteering for Sea Shepherd, an international, non-profit marine conservation organisation that engages in direct action campaigns to defend wildlife, and conserve and protect the world’s ocean from illegal exploitation and environmental destruction…
During her first campaign on the ship travelling Antarctica, under which Lex joined as a deckhand – the crew saved 768 whales opposing the Japanese whaling fleet.
Lex describes how they achieved that goal through aggressive non-violent direct action: by positioning the Sea Shepherd ships between the whaling fleet’s harpoon vessels and the whales. She explained: “We had to keep following these ships trying to shoot explosive tip harpoons into the whales for as long as we could…
Alongside this campaign and others, Lex says one of the challenges of her work has been trying to sell the protection of fish to the public – to get people interested in fish issues and the impact of destruction of marine environments. She explained: “We are so far removed from fish on the evolutionary scale – they have no expressions, don’t blink their eyes or nod their heads…
After working with Sea Shepherd in West Africa, Lex admits she became “so overwhelmed” she felt as though she was unable to have “much of an impact anymore”.
She said: “I was burning out. I knew it was time for me to come home and see what would be next – I felt I was living the dream on the ship but I wanted to settle after so much adventure”…
That was when Lex saw a job as campaigns manager at Viva!, which describes itself as the world’s leading vegan charity, where she’s worked since 2018. Her current role is head of investigations.
She said: “Having been vegan for so long, I think I’d started to forget about the barbaric things we do to land animals as well.
“Learning it all again at Viva! helped reinforce why I went vegan and why I’m so passionate about animal issues – it got me back to my roots and thinking about what is on our plate”…
She says her proudest achievement in the last six years with the vegan charity was an investigation in 2020 at Flat House farm in Leicester.
Lex is now working on Viva!’s campaign around farming salmon in Scotland. The charity is also organising a nationwide day of action on January 27 calling for an end to “the abhorrent nature of dairy farming”.
Animal advocate Lex says her ultimate dream is “total animal liberation” – whether this comes in her lifetime or the future, she hopes to see a world without the suffering and exploitation of animals. She recognises it’s a big target but added: “We’re not going to create a vegan world overnight, we have to be pragmatic about the ways in which we campaign and advocate for animals.
“I think within my lifetime we’ll see an end to factory farming. Kids are realising the detrimental effects it has on their futures and people are becoming far more aware.
“We have to and must see an end to it – for animals on land and the seas. We need to focus on re-wildling and transitioning to plant-based diets for animals and our planet”. SOURCE…
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