Animal rights activist Tash Peterson declares bankruptcy in Instagram videos

Vegan activist Tash Peterson and her partner have relinquished their passports and declared bankruptcy in a series of videos posted on her Instagram account, following their unsuccessful legal battle with a Perth veterinarian.

The controversial advocate and her boyfriend Jack Higgs made the announcement regarding their passports in a video on Friday before Peterson posted another on Saturday where she said Bicton vet Dr Kay McIntosh’s lawyer is being investigated by the WA Legal Board.

It comes after the trial where the pair were found guilty of defaming McIntosh, her husband Andrew and Bicton Veterinary Clinic during a dispute in 2021 that was circulated on social media, including Peterson accusing the vet of “eating her own patients”.

“We are officially bankrupt and our passports are being taken away from us,” Peterson said in the first video.

Higgs said after the failed defamation battle with the McIntoshes, the couple “now owe over half a million dollars”.

“So we’re going to head into a bankruptcy office and we’re gonna [sic] officially surrender our passports,” Higgs said.

Peterson added that their “personal accounts have been wiped, which means we have no money for everyday living expenses”.

In the following video, she said the McIntoshes’ lawyer accused her of tax fraud and profiting from her activism, which she denies.

“I’ve been forced into bankruptcy as a result of a defamation case where I was found to be unsuccessful, owing a vet clinic $320,000 in damages,” Peterson said.

“And that doesn’t even include their legal costs, putting my debt to over half a million dollars.

“During the trial, I was forced to produce financial and bank statements because their lawyer was trying to claim that I did animal rights activism for financial gain.

“The judge denied this claim. The opposing lawyer also accused me of tax fraud, a serious allegation which again the judge found to be untrue.

“This accusation led to the Australian Tax Office auditing me for over two years worth of income and this lawyer is now being investigated by the WA Legal Board.”

In a judgment handed down in November last year, Supreme Court Chief Justice Peter Quinlan ruled Peterson and her partner Jack Higgs had used “provocative language” that carried defamatory imputations during the heated confrontation that was shared to the activist’s 84,000 Facebook followers.

With Jesinta Burton