Jessica Groling
- Nov 13, 2023
- 2 min read
Updated: Feb 24
Location: Torquay and University of Exeter
Affiliations: Devon County Sabs, Weymouth Hunt Sabs
Groling is an animal rights activist who teaches at the University of Exeter, where she lives with a hoard of rescued rats and works in Exeter’s Sociology, Philosophy and Anthropology Department. She primarily works within the research unit EASE – Exeter Anthrozoology and Symbiotic Ethics Working Group. Her research centres on the relationships between humans and animals. In addition, she lectures on the undergraduate BA Anthropology and the MA Anthrozoology courses, where she has the opportunity to impress her own agenda on the minds of young people.
Groling has acted illegally in the name of her beliefs. She once publicly admitted to stealing a cow from a farmer, having made an uninformed analysis and decided the cow needed rescuing. Her action is objectively illegal, as she had no right or basis of knowledge to make a decision on the matter.
In August 2023, she was filmed loitering outside someone’s place of work. When confronted she told the man filming to f*** off, after announcing she had stopped to publicly urinate outside the property.
On Monday 2 February 2026, Groling was caught on video sabbing in Eggesford – proving that neither time, scrutiny, nor professional responsibility have taught her a thing. You would think that someone entrusted with shaping young minds at a Russell Group university might pause to consider how her weekend activities reflect on her institution. Apparently not. Despite her previous exposure on Behind the Masks, Groling continues to turn up in the field as though she has nothing to lose
The Double Life of Dr Groling
By day, Groling lectures on Justice and Violence, unpacking theories of legitimacy, right and wrong for impressionable students. At weekends, she trades the lecture theatre for muddy fields, intervening directly in the very kinds of conflicts she dissects in her seminars. The language of structural power and contested traditions gives way to a choreography of protests. For Groling, violence is a subject of analysis inside the university; outside it, a terrain of action.
The roles she occupies at Exeter make this double life all the more concerning. Groling serves as an Academic Conduct Officer, the person entrusted with judging whether students have behaved with integrity. She is also a PhD supervisor, shaping the next generation of researchers. In that capacity, Groling oversees a doctoral project titled Monstrous Mourning, which explores grief surrounding non-human family members who are either victims or perpetrators of violence. Not so much academic supervision as an extension of her activism by other means.
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