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My story begins in Zimbabwe

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with a brave park ranger named Orpheus

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and an injured buffalo.

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And Orpheus looked at the buffalo on the ground, [br]and he looked at me,

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and as our eyes met, there was an unspoken grief [br]between the three of us.

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She was a beautifully wild and innocent creature,

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and Orpheus lifted the muzzle of his rifle to her ear. [br](Gunshot)

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And at that moment, she started to give birth.

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As life slipped from the premature calf, [br]we examined the injuries.

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Her back leg had been caught [br]in an eight-strand wire snare.

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She'd fought for freedom [br][for] so hard and so long

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that she'd ripped her pelvis in half.

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She was finally free.

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Ladies and gentlemen, today I feel [br]a great sense of responsibility

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in speaking to you [br]on behalf of those that never could.

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Their suffering is my grief,[br]is my motivation.

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Martin Luther King best summarises [br]my call to arms here today.

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He said, "There comes a time [br]when one must take a position that's neither safe,

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nor political, nor popular.

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But he must take that position [br]because his conscience tells him that it's right."

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Because his conscience tells him it is right.

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At the end of this talk [br]I'm gonna ask you all a question.

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That question is the only reason I traveled here today [br]all the way from the African savanna.

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That question for me has cleansed my soul.

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How you answer that question [br]will always be yours.

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I remember watching the movie [br]The Wizard of Oz as a young kid,

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and I was never scared of the witch [br]or the flying monkeys.

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My greatest fear was that I'd grow up like the Lion, [br]without courage.

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And I grew up always asking myself [br]if I thought I'd be brave?

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Well, years after Dorothy [br]had made her way back to Kansas,

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and the Lion had found his courage,

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I walked into a tattoo parlor [br]and had the words

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'Seek and Destroy' tattooed across my chest.

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And I thought that'd make me big and brave.

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But it'd take me almost a decade [br]to grow into those words.

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By the age of 20 I'd become [br]a clearance diver in the navy.

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By 25, as a special operations sniper,

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I knew exactly how many clicks of elevation [br]I needed on the scope of my rifle

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to take a headshot on a moving target [br]from 700m away.

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I knew exactly how many grams [br]of high explosives it takes

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to blast through a steel plate door [br]from only a few meters away,

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without blowing myself, [br]or my team, up behind me.

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And I knew that Baghdad was a shitty place, [br]and when things go bang

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or people die.

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Now back then, I'd no idea [br]what a conservationist did,

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other than hug trees and piss off large corporations. [br](Laughter)

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I knew they had dreadlocks.[br]I knew they smoked dope. (Laughter)

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I didn't really give a shit about the environment, [br]and why should I?

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I was the idiot that used to speed up in his car [br]just trying to hit birds on the road.

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My life was a world away [br]from conservation.

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I'd just spent nine years [br]doing things in real life

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most people wouldn't dream [br]of trying on a Playstation.

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Well, after 12 tours to Iraq as a so-called 'mercenary', [br]the skills I had were good for one thing:

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I was programmed to destroy.

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Looking back now, on everything I've done, [br]and the places I've been,

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in my heart, I've only ever performed [br]one true act of bravery.

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And that was a simple choice [br]of deciding 'Yes' or deciding 'No'.

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But it was that one act [br]which defines me completely

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and ensures there'll never be separation [br]between who I am, and what I do.

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When I finally left Iraq behind me I was lost.

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Yeah I felt – ahh – I just had no idea [br]where I was going in life

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or where I was meant to be and I arrived in Africa [br]and the beginning of 2009.

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I was aged 29 at the time.

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Somehow, I always knew [br]I'd find a purpose amongst chaos,

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and that's exactly what happened.

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I'd no idea though, I'd find it in a remote part [br]of the Zimbabwe bush.

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And we were patrolling along, [br]and the vultures circled in the air

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and as we got closer the stench of death hung there, [br]in the air like a thick, dark veil,

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and sucked the oxygen out of your lungs.

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And as we got closer, [br]there was a great bull elephant,

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resting on its side, with its face cut away.

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And the world around me stopped.

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I was consumed by a deep [br]and overwhelming sadness.

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Seeing innocent creatures killed like this [br]hit me in a way like nothing before.

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I'd actually poached as a teenager [br]and they're memories I'll take to the grave.

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Time had changed me though; [br]something inside wasn't the same.

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And it's never gonna be again.

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I asked myself, [br]"Does that elephant need its face

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more than some guy in Asia needs [br]a tusk on his desk?"

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Well of course it bloody does, [br]that was irrelevant.

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All that mattered there and then was:

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Would I be brave enough to give up everything in my life [br]to try and stop the suffering of animals?

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This was the one true defining [br]moment of my life:

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Yes or no?

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I contacted my family the next day [br]and began selling all my houses.

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These are assets a well-advised mercenary [br]quickly acquires with the proceeds of war.

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My life-savings have since been used to found [br]and grow the International Anti-Poaching Foundation.

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The IAPF is a direct-action, [br]law enforcement organization.

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From drone technology, [br]to an international qualification for rangers,

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we're battling each and every day [br]to bring military solutions

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to conservation's thin green line.

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Now my story may be slightly unique,

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but I'm not going to use it to talk to you today [br]about the organization I run --

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in what probably could have been [br]a pretty good fundraiser.

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(Laughter and applause)

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Remember, today is about the question [br]I'm gonna ask you at the end.

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Because it's impossible for me to get up here [br]and talk about just saving wildlife

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when I know the problem of animal welfare [br]is much broader throughout society.

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A few years after I saw that elephant [br]I woke up very early one morning.

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I already knew the answer to the question [br]I was about to ask myself,

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but it was the first time I'd put it into words:

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Does a cow value its life [br]more than I enjoy a barbecue?

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See, I'd been guilty all this time [br]of what's termed 'speciesism'.

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Speciesism is very much the same [br]as racism or sexism.

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It involves the allocation of a different set of values, [br]rights or special considerations to individuals,

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based solely on who or what they are.

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The realisation of the flexible morality

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I'd used to suit my everyday conveniences [br]made me sick in the stomach.

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See, I'd loved blaming parts of Asia [br]for their insatiable demand for ivory and rhino horn,

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and the way the region's booming economic growth

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is dramatically increasing the illegal wildlife trade.

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When I woke up that morning though I realised,

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even though I'd dedicated my life [br]to saving animals,

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in my mind I was no better than a poacher,

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or the guy in Asia with a tusk on his desk.

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As this 'over-consumptive meat-eater' [br]I'd referred to some animals as 'beasts'.

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When in reality I'd been the beast: [br]destructively obedient,

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a slave to my habits, [br]a cold shoulder to my conscience.

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We've all had contact with pets [br]or other animals in our lives.

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We can't deny our understanding [br]of the feelings that each animal has.

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The ability to suffer pain or loneliness.

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And to fear.

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Like us also, each animal has the ability [br]to express contentment,

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to build family structures, and want [br]of satisfying basic instincts and desires.

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For many of us though,

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that's as far as we allow our imagination to explore

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before the truth inconveniences our habits.

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The disconnect that exists [br]between consuming a product

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and the reality it takes to bring that product [br]to market is a phenomenon to itself.

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Animals are treated like commodities [br]and referred to as property.

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We call it 'murder' to kill a human being [br]yet create legal and illegal industries

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out of what would be regarded as torture [br]if humans were involved.

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And we pay people to do things to animals [br]that none of us would engage in personally.

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Just because we don't see it up close [br]does not mean we're not responsible.

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Peter Singer, the man who popularised [br]the term 'speciesism' wrote,

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"Although there may be differences [br]between animals and humans

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they each share the ability to suffer.

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And we must give equal consideration [br]to that suffering.

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Any position that allows similar cases [br]to be treated in a dissimilar fashion

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fails to qualify as an acceptable moral theory."

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Around the world this year 65 billion animals [br]will be killed in factory farms.

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How many animals' lives is one human's life worth?

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A meat-eater in this room will consume, [br]on average, 8,000 animals in their lifetime.

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Ocean pollution, global warming [br]and deforestation

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are driving us towards [br]the next great mass-extinction

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and the meat industry is the greatest negative factor [br]in all of these phenomena.

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The illegal traffic in wildlife now ranks [br]as one of the largest criminal industries in the world --

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it's up there with drugs, guns [br]and human trafficking.

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The ability to stop this devastation

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lies in the willingness of an international community

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to step in and preserve a dying global treasure.

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Experimentation on animals –

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If animals are so like us that we can substitute [br]using them instead of humans

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then surely they have [br]the very same attributes

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that mean they deserve [br]to be protected from harm?

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Whether we're talking about factory farming, [br]live export, poaching, the fur trade,

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logically, it's all on the same playing field to me.

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Suffering is suffering,

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and murder is murder.

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And the more helpless the victim,

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the more horrific the crime.

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Next time you think [br]an animal lover is too emotional,

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too passionate, or even a little crazy, [br]please remember

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we see things through a different lens.

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So in a few days, my son's gonna be born.

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I find myself wondering, [br]"What kind of world is he entering?"

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Are we gonna be the generation [br]that defines our failure as a species?

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I believe our generation will be judged

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by our moral courage to protect what's right.

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And that every worthwhile action [br]requires a level of sacrifice.

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Well, I now offer myself, [br]without reservation, to animals.

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And when I strip away [br]all the material belongings around me,

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I see that I too, am an animal.

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We're family. [br]Together on one planet.

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And of the five million species on that planet,

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only one has the power to determine [br]what level of suffering is acceptable

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for all other sentient beings to endure.

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Whether it's eating less meat,

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contributing to the fight against poaching[br]or speaking up for the voiceless,

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we all have choices.

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And small changes in our lives[br]mean big changes in others' [lives].

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So now back to the beginning.

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My reason for being here is my question for you:

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next time you have an opportunity [br]to make a difference for animals,

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will you be brave enough?

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Yes or no?

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Thank you very much.