The animal rights group Animal Aid has always stressed that it campaigns peacefully. At one time this extended to a policy of not employing anyone with animal rights related criminal convictions. Has this now changed, or is this just another example of animal rights hypocrisy?

I was interested to read about one Kate Fowler, featured in The Guardian G2 ‘ethical living’ column on Tuesday 18 July. She says she works for Animal Aid. As The Guardian itself reported six years ago, Ms Fowler was convicted of conspiracy to commit violent disorder after being involved in a hunt-related incident in which police officers were overpowered by masked individuals, and a house where a pregnant woman and her 15 month old daughter were living was attacked. 

So quite apart from holding up a violent criminal as a role model, Animal Aid has questions to answer on its apparently squeaky clean employment policy. How about it, Animal Aid?

And another thing. The nice Ms Fowler says:  ‘We have achieved a lot in the last few years - the fur ban, the ban on battery cages, the voluntary cosmetics ban - but it can never be enough and never fast enough.’ She obviously doesn’t know, or has chosen to forget, that it was RDS who helped achieve the cosmetics ban.