Juliet Gellatley is a British writer and
animal rights
Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding suffering—should be afforded the sa ...
activist. She is the founder and director of
Viva! and a former director of the
Vegetarian Society
The Vegetarian Society of the United Kingdom is a British registered charity which was established on 30 September 1847 to promote vegetarianism.
History
In the 19th century a number of groups in Britain actively promoted and followed meat ...
. She is also a founding director of
The Vegetarian and Vegan Foundation, now known as Viva!Health, along with
Tony Wardle
Tony Wardle is a British journalist and writer. He co-authored, with Michael Mansfield, the 1993 book ''Presumed Guilty: British Legal System Exposed'', which criticised the British criminal justice system. He is a vegan and actively involved in t ...
, with whom she was married and has two sons, Jazz and Finn, born in 2002.
She is the author of ''The Livewire Guide to Going, Being and Staying Veggie!'', ''The Silent Ark: A Chilling Expose of Meat – The Global Killer'', and ''Born To Be Wild: The Livewire Guide to Saving Animals''
Gellatley was the winner of the
Linda McCartney
Linda Louise McCartney, Lady McCartney ( Eastman; September 24, 1941 – April 17, 1998) was an American photographer, musician, animal rights activist, vegetarian cookbook author and advocate, and entrepreneur. She was the keyboardist in th ...
Award for Animal Welfare in 1999, sponsored by the ''Daily Mirror's'' Pride of Britain Awards.
Career
Gellatley became vegetarian at the age of 15 and has spent most of her working life campaigning on behalf of animal rights. After obtaining a degree in
zoology
Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...
and
psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...
, she became the Vegetarian Society's first youth education officer (1987 to 1993) and rose to become its director.
She launched ''
Greenscene'', Britain's only magazine for young vegetarians, and was its editor from 1987 to 1992. In October 1994, she launched Viva!, a registered charity that campaigns for vegetarian and vegan lifestyles and promotes animal rights. She was the editor and one of the authors of ''Vegetarian Issues: A Resource Pack for Secondary Schools'', 1992.
In 2002, Gellatley co-authored ''When Pigs Cry: A Report on the USA Pig Industry''.
Gellatley was one of several people who provided information used in the writing of the book ''
Striking at the Roots: A Practical Guide to Animal Activism'' (2008) by
Mark Hawthorne.
Campaign against kangaroo meat
In 1997, Gellatley created a website to campaign against the culling of
kangaroo
Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...
s and the trade in their
meat
Meat is animal flesh that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted, farmed, and scavenged animals for meat since prehistoric times. The establishment of settlements in the Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of animals such as chic ...
. The Australian High Commission in London responded that it was, "a campaign based on false, emotive and outdated information," and that the meat was a by-product of a regulated cull to control the numbers of kangaroos that would take place anyway.
In 2002, on the television show
60 Minutes
''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique styl ...
,
she talked about the "illegal" killing of kangaroos in Australia, and in 2006 wrote "'Under Fire' A Viva! Report on the Killing of Kangaroos for Meat and Skin." She subsequently took the campaign to Australia itself.
Gellatley extended the campaign to the football industry, launching the "Killing for Kicks" campaign. She has named
Adidas
Adidas AG (; stylized as adidas since 1949) is a German multinational corporation, founded and headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, that designs and manufactures shoes, clothing and accessories. It is the largest sportswear manufactur ...
as a company that uses kangaroo skin to make football boots.
As of June 2018, kangaroo meat has been removed from all UK supermarkets. The same year, pet supplies retailer
Pets at Home
Pets at Home is a British pet supplies retailer selling pet products including food, toys, bedding, medication, accessories and pets. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
History
The first stor ...
agreed to discontinue the sale of dog treats that contained kangaroo meat.
See also
*
Women and animal advocacy
Women have played a central role in animal advocacy since the 19th century. The animal advocacy movement – embracing animal rights, animal welfare, and anti-vivisectionism – has been disproportionately initiated and led by women, p ...
*
List of animal rights advocates
Advocates of animal rights support the philosophy of animal rights. They believe that many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as in avoiding suff ...
Notes
External links
Viva!"Do-It-Yourself Destiny" Gellatley interview with Tony Wardle, Viva! associate director and editor.
"The green room: Juliet Gellatley, animal rights advocate" ''The Guardian'', 3 January 2008.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gellatley, Juliet
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
British activists
British animal rights activists
British veganism activists
British vegetarianism activists
British women activists
People associated with the Vegetarian Society