Tom Harris became involved in the animal liberation movement at the age of fifteen when he attended his first hunt sab. Over the years that followed he devoted his life to helping animals and co-founded one of the UK`s most successful regional animal rights organizations, SARC (The Southern Animal Rights Coalition).

Described as “very successful” by Hampshire police, SARC campaigned to end diving experiments on goats conducted by the Royal Navy and multinational defence firm Qinetic. As a result of the campaign, the tests were scrapped and all the goats were freed. SARC also campaigned to completely remove fur and foie gras from several towns and cities, exposed illegal Botox experiments at Wickham Laboratories, emptied and closed an illegal puppy farm and drove the closure of several industrial chicken farms.

Tom was heavily involved in the SHAC (Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty) campaign which aimed to close Europe`s largest animal testing laboratory. He carried out hundreds of protests against the laboratory, including office occupations, lock-ons, run-ins and rooftop banner drops. In 2001 he climbed the razor wire fences of HLS` beagle breeder Interfauna, where he spent two hours blockaded inside with the dogs. He describes it as the most emotionally traumatizing time of his life.

Due to the unprecedented success of the lawful SHAC campaign, the British government feared that it might negatively affect their financial plans. As a result they engineered a conspiracy to silence it, and in May 2007 they arrested over thirty SHAC activists, including Tom. As the campaign founders were remanded in prison, Tom helped take over the running of the campaign, until he was re-arrested on conspiracy charges. Despite not being connected to any specific crime, Tom was sentenced to five years in prison. He is now a named victim in the miscarriage of justice section of the government’s inquiry into Undercover Policing. He is heavily involved in the SHAC Justice campaign to help protect other activists from repression and secure appeals for the SHAC defendants.

Since his release from prison, Tom has continued championing the animal liberation cause. in 2024, he co-founded Dorset Animal Action to begin rebuilding the grassroots animal rights network across the UK.

As a consultant, advisor, researcher, and designer, he has worked with many organisations, including Animal Rising, Vivisection Information Network, Animal Aid, Free the MBR Beagles, and SHAC. He has given talks at events including the International Animal Rights Conference (IARC) in Luxembourg, VARC in Manchester, the Vegan Party Conference in London, and the Bite Back gathering in the Netherlands.

An expert in the field, Tom has been interviewed on national media, including Channel 5 News, BBC News, the Daily Mail, and BBC Radio.