Holly, first impressions would suggest, is your average student. She is nineteen years old, pretty, and casually dressed. I interviewed her in the cluttered, messy central room of her small flat, which she shares with three friends. Holly seems every inch the ordinary young woman, and yet there is a side to her which her appearance and lifestyle would never suggest. Holly is a member of what is supposedly one of the most high-profile militant animal rights groups in Britain. She agreed to talk to me for this article because, she says, she wants to set right some of the common misconceptions about this much-maligned movement.

Animal welfare has always been a traditional youth issue. Countless charities are devoted to