04/14/2026
Allan Conway now 65, was a truck driver. Age 25 he had never transported animals until he was instructed to pick up 15 cattle from Hereford and take them to a Southampton slaughterhouse. Allan was given no training or special instructions. Once in Southampton he rang ahead and was told the plans had changed because cattle were fetching a better price in Aberdeen, he was to turn round and head there, despite the cattle having water but no food. And so he did, driving into the night but running out of hours when he would be obliged to take an eight-hour break. "The animals had been distressed for some time and it was getting worse" Allan explained, "and the further I drove the more distressed they got. I was heartbroken because I can't bear to see an animal in that kind of state."
He rang the RSPCA to be told that if the animals weren't injured there was nothing they could do. Allan knew it could take two days to get to Aberdeen and decided he couldn't tolerate their suffering any longer. His company didn't care, the agent who'd sold the cattle didn't care, but he did. Somewhere outside Newbury, he pulled over, backed up into a grassy field, dropped the tail gate and let the cattle out. They simply melted into the night.
Allan drove his empty truck back, knowing he had lost his job. He was sacked on the spot. Two days later he was arrested on a charge of cattle rustling and held in custody for five days. They wanted to know where he had left the animals, but he had no idea. Bail followed and a 12 month wait to be tried at Crown Court.
"I wanted it to go to trial because no-one had ever before been accused of cattle rustling and I knew the press would be out in force and would love the story. I was determined to expose how animals are treated and the industry knew it too so all charges were dropped and I never had my chance to expose them.
Sadly nothing much has changed since those days because despite lots of different laws being introduced, everyone just ignores them."
The animals Allan released were never recovered, and Allan became a vegetarian.
From Issue 49 Viva! life.
Photo - Animals Angels
