Name: Edmund Shephard
Location: Bolton
Employment:
Investigator - League Against Cruel Sports
Freelance animal photojournalist - Generation Vegan, We Animals Media
Affiliations: League Against Cruel Sports, Animal Aid
Edmund Shephard has been involved in investigating alleged animal rights abuses for over 25 years. In 1996, at the age of 26, he brought a botched private prosecution against a huntsman from Bury after his horse accidentally trampled a fox. The case was dismissed by Magistrate Mr Jonathan Finestein as an unfortunate accident.
Shephard admitted at the time he was "very disappointed" and has apparently devoted his life since to pursuing vigilante 'justice', frequently stepping outside of the law to achieve his aims.
Criminal activity: Shepherd has on multiple occasions been accused of trespassing and flouting the law in order to obtain footage of what he suspects are animal rights abuses.
In 2011, Fieldsports channel published a video of Shephard and League Against Cruel Sports head of operations Paul Tillsley trying to retrieve their surveillance equipment from private property. The pair were caught on their own cameras that had previously been discovered and repositioned.
In April 2017, Shephard investigated and obtained footage from an abattoir on behalf of Animal Aid, and presented it to Sevenoaks Magistrates court in January 2020. The judge deemed the evidence inadmissible since Shephard had broken into the abattoir to obtain it. He ruled that:
"I am satisfied he acted illegally, had intelligence on how to enter without detection and had the implied or expressed permission to break the lock."
The judge said he believed Animal Aid had hired Shephard to investigate as he would "bend the rules" and then deny doing so. He also described Shephard's evidence as "evasive and defensive" and said there were some concerns over the integrity of the footage.
The Animal Aid investigation was organised by Luke Steele, an activist who has been arrested numerous times and served 18 months in prison for harassing staff at Harlan's laboratories.
Celebrating violence: In stark contrast to his professed concern for animal welfare, Shephard takes obvious delight in the suffering of human beings - particularly those who disagree with him.
His social media contains several posts encouraging harm to those who work with animals. In July 2019, he shared a post on Facebook of a rider being knocked from his horse by a stag on Exmoor. He captioned it "From all my time on Exmoor I think this is my favourite memory." Even overlooking the harm that no doubt came to the rider, Shephard is happy to revel in the suffering of a horse and stag when it suits his purposes.
More shockingly still, in June 2019 he reposted a video depicting a man being gored to death by a bull. The man in question was not even a bull fighter, just the person responsible for opening the gates. Comments below the video see his friends find the content amusing, whilst Shephard himself wrote ‘"these videos really cheer me up."
Got information about Edmund Shephard? Email tips, photos, and videos to info@behindthemasks.co.uk