I was recently introduced to EX hunter Kevin who kindly agreed to share his story about how he went from killing animals for fun to living a more compassionate lifestyle and the reasons why he made the changes!
Kevin's Story ~ written by Katarina
"So, where do we start with Kevin’s story….Kevin’s first recollection of using a gun was when he was about 10 years’ of age and he was allowed to own his first air rifle. He used to go into the woods at Holt Fleet, Worcester with his friend and they used to shoot rabbits and wood pigeons, which they would skin, like their parents had shown them, and they wood cook and eat them. When he was around 16, he would go and visit his uncle in Highley. His uncle’s nickname was Dan the poacher. In the winter evenings they would go out with their rifles and with a torch, shoot the pheasants out of the trees. He would have around six braces of pheasants they had shot, tied around his neck with string, and would take them home, then the next day they would sell them in the pub.
Kevin never seemed to have any compassion or regard for our sentient beings, apart from the love he had for his dogs. He would shoot any animal, from squirrels, rabbits, hares, partridge, geese, foxes – the list is endless!
In the later years he bought more guns and rifles and joined a shoot at Quatt, where he would religiously attend as many of the shoots as possible over the season, as a beater and a shooter.
In May 2017, my son James and his wife Maxine, decided to try a vegan diet. They had no idea what was involved but said they would give it a go. As they started to read more about veganism, the horror emerged! So they made it their mission to try and talk the family into walking beside them on their vegan journey. On 7th July 2017, after weeks and weeks of asking us to watch different documentaries, Kevin and I finally sat down to watch them, including "WHAT THE HEALTH" and "FORKS OVER KNIVES". We have never consumed animals since that day. For me it was easier to make that change but for Kevin, with his passion for blood sports, it was more difficult. And if he spoke to people he would say he was plant based, rather than vegan, and that he was doing it more for his health than anything.
But even just saying that he had become plant-based meant that he had lots of decisions to make regarding his sports – how would he continue to beat on the shoot? Well, life has a very strange way of sorting things out for us. During the 2017 shooting season, he was struggling badly seeing how all those poor birds were being shot and just left to rot, and, following very unexpected heated words with the head Gamekeeper, his days of shooting were finally at an end!
As time went on, we would watch more documentaries, attend more events and then we attended the London Animal Rights March in 2018. That’s when it really hit home for Kevin that veganism wasn’t just about his health but the suffering of the animals. That was the time he actually started to call himself a vegan.
These barbaric blood sports have no place in the 21st century and we cannot continue to hunt and kill these innocent sentient beings. So, for anyone out there who thinks that it is impossible to change your ways, it certainly isn’t! It is never too late in your life to make a difference."
Kevin and Katarina have been together for 40 years, the last 2 and a half years have been life changing for them both. I would like to thank them for sharing their personal journey with us all and hope that others may follow their lead and live a more compassionate lifestyle recognising all animals as sentient beings and making the correct ethical choices that help saves millions of lives.
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