"It  just makes everything worthwhile with what we did. It just highlights how flexible elephants are and how adaptable they are from captivity to wild, and that when given the chance, they will choose freedom. And they will choose autonomy." - Brett Mitchell

For nearly thirty years, Brett Mitchell has lived alongside elephants — first in captivity, then, eventually, in the wild. His story begins in the mid-1990s, when he managed elephant-back safaris in Zimbabwe and South Africa. But as the captive industry grew more commercialized — and cruel — Brett found himself on the front lines, witnessing wild elephants being taken from their herds and funneled into tourism and entertainment. It was a tipping point.

Instead of accepting that reality, Brett made a decision that no one in South Africa had ever attempted at scale: he would return a full group of long-captive elephants back to the wild.

What followed was a decade-long experiment in patience, trust, and determination. Brett developed a gentle, step-by-step "soft release" process — walking with the elephants each day, letting them choose their waterholes, teaching them how to be wild again, and slowly removing himself from their world until one morning… they simply walked away.

"You look at these animals, and they're just so far removed from the life that I want them to have, that they should have that, we would hope that wild animals have. And they're just humiliated and degraded and they're so utterly powerless." - Nina Jackel

Today, we're taking you inside one of the darkest corners of the animal tourism industry — places where wild animals are stolen, broken, and paraded for human amusement.

Nina Jackel, founder of Lady Freethinker, an organization exposing and ending animal cruelty worldwide, and Blake Moynes, wildlife conservationist and founder of The Save Our Species Alliance, who recently went undercover in Thailand to document the hidden realities behind elephant rides, tiger selfies, and orangutan "shows."

What they found is heartbreaking — and it's happening far more often than most of us realize. Together, they're shining a light on the cruelty behind "cute" tourist attractions and building a movement to change what people see — and share — online.

 

Links: 

https://ladyfreethinker.org/

https://thesosa.com/

"How could this owl, who was born in captivity, lived his whole life in a cage, how could he possibly survive? He's going to be dead in a few days. That's what everybody thought." – Christine Mott

 

In February 2023, a Eurasian eagle-owl named Flaco made headlines—and captured hearts—when he escaped from his small enclosure at the Central Park Zoo. Born in captivity and unable to fly or hunt, Flaco defied every expectation. In just weeks, he taught himself to soar across the Manhattan skyline, hunt for his own food, and live as freely as an owl could in a city of concrete and glass. For more than a year, New Yorkers spotted him perched in Central Park, on high-rises, even outside apartment windows—cheering him on as a symbol of resilience and freedom.

Today's guest, attorney and lifelong animal advocate Christine Mott, has immortalized Flaco's story in her new children's book, Free Bird: Flaco the Owl's Dreams Take Flight. Told from Flaco's perspective, the book celebrates courage, hope, and the right of all animals to live free—without cages or confinement—while gently encouraging young readers to see captivity through an animal's eyes.

This conversation is about Flaco's extraordinary journey, the lessons he left behind, and how one small owl sparked big changes for animals in New York and beyond.

 

Links:

https://lanternpm.org/book/free-bird/

"And then instead of heroes, we started being referred to as terrorists. But that made no difference to us. I mean, we kind of carried on regardless, and we started trying to do as much damage as we could to inflict economic loss on these companies." – Ronnie Lee

  

Ronnie Lee founded the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) in 1974. The Animal Liberation Front is a global movement dedicated to the liberation of animals from human oppression. They engage in and promote non-violent direct action in protest against incidents of animal cruelty.

 

Ronnie served three prison sentences in the 70s and 80s for actions he took against places like animal testing facilities and breeding facilities for testing.

 

He has been vegan for 51 years and is still out there every day fighting for animals.

There's a fundamental mismatch between how we make plant-based meat and the facilities that are making it. When you're using the wrong tool, when you're trying to use a spoon to cut a piece of vegetable, it just doesn't work. It's the same kind of thing for making plant-based meat." – Christie Lagally

 

Christie Lagally is the founder and CEO at Rebellyous Foods, a food manufacturing technology and production company. They make delicious plant-based chicken, but they also make production equipment. Up until now, almost all plant-based meat has been made in animal meat production facilities, which just don't have the capability or function to make plant-based meat.

 

Five years ago, Christie left her job as an engineer at Boeing so she could transform everything that we know about producing plant-based meat. She's done it and later this year, Rebellyous is launching the Mock Two, production equipment that is not only going to transform the entire plant-based meat space, but it's also going to allow for price parity with animal meat. A game changer for the entire industry.

 

Rebellyous Foods: https://www.rebellyous.com/

"But what the tour guide told us, was that eventually, as they grew, they now have their own octopus catchers. They called them the octopus whisperers, and they said that these people know exactly where the octopuses are going to be and when, so they know how to go get them and bring them back to the facility."  – Laura Lee Cascada

 

 

In October of last year, Laura Lee Cascada published an investigation into the Kanaloa Octopus Farm on the Big Island in Hawaii. The Kanaloa Octopus Farm was capturing wild Hawaiian Day octopuses and keeping them in these tiny, isolated tanks while also conducting breeding experiments, under the guise of conservation.

 

What made it even more bizarre was that they were also a tourist attraction. People could pay to come to the octopus farm and see and touch and pet the octopuses in these tiny tanks. So, it was like an octopus petting zoo/breeding farm.

 

What they were really doing was trying to figure out how to breed these octopuses, which is really difficult to do in captivity. But it's the first step to US octopus factory farming.

 

In January, they received a cease and desist letter because they did not have the required permits for the above. So, for the moment, their octopus program is temporarily shut down. We need to keep it shut down and we need to ban octopus farming in this country before it really starts.

 

The world's first octopus factory farm is set to open in the Canary Islands this year, adding to the very long list of cruel and abusive industries across the planet. Let's not let that happen here.

 

I asked Laura to talk about her investigation and what all this really means for octopuses and for the future of farming them for food.

 

Links:

Laura Lee Cascada: http://www.lauraleecascada.com/

 

Every Animal Project: https://www.everyanimalproject.com/2022/10/09/octopus-farming/

 

Articles on Kanaloa Octopus Farm:

https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2023/02/08/state-serves-kona-octopus-farm-with-cease-and-desist-order-lack-permits/

 

https://bigislandnow.com/2023/02/04/kanaloa-octopus-farm-in-west-hawai%CA%BBi-receives-cease-and-desist-letter-from-state/

 

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-02-15/hawaii-says-octopus-farm-operated-without-proper-permits

"It's almost like the Animal Welfare Act is like a safety, a security blanket, because it's like, 'Oh, we have the Animal Welfare Act to protect the animals, they're okay.' And they don't realize that it's actually not very strong and that it's not being very aggressively enforced." – Rachel Fobar

 

In February, Eric Kleinman from the Animal Welfare Institute was on the podcast. He came on to talk about the Envigo Dogs - the 4000 beagles that were rescued last summer from a breeding facility for lab animals, and trafficked monkeys, and the many many failures of the USDA to enforce the Animal Welfare Act.

 

Before Eric and I met, he sent me a ton of articles on much of the above, and many of them were National Geographic stories written by Rachel Fobar. Rachel is a National Geographic reporter who covers wildlife crime and exploitation, everything from the USDA's failures to roadside zoos to monkeys being forced to work in Thailand's coconut trade.

 

I asked Rachel to come on the show because I want to better understand why it is that we are allowing the USDA, who almost never does their job, to be in charge of the Animal Welfare Act.

 

LINKS: 

Rachel Fobar: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/meet-the-team-wildlife-watch?loggedin=true&rnd=1677336327384

 

Rachel's Articles for National Geographic: https://www.nationalgeographic.com /author/rachel-fobar

"There was a law on the books [in New York], even back in 1917, that required that every publicly funded elementary school needs to provide instruction in the humane treatment and protection of animals."  - Meena Alagappan

Meena Alagappan runs an organization called, Humane Education Advocates Reaching Teachers, otherwise known as HEART. Heart is a full service, humane education provider in New York City, Chicago and Indianapolis. 

I met Meena because we, Species Unite are doing a wolf education program, so I asked her for some help and for some resources. She was beyond generous with both, and in the process I learned a lot about the work that HEART is doing - and what they're doing is changing thousands upon thousands of students lives and should be required in every classroom in this country.

 

LINKS: 

HEART: https://teachheart.org/

HEART Educator Resources: https://teachheart.org/library/

"I have often asked myself, 'why is it that wolves don't kill people?' Every year there are records of lions, tigers, bears and other large carnivores killing people. For wolves it very rarely ever happens. They are certainly quite capable of hauling down much larger prey than ourselves such as moose and bison. I think it has a lot to do with the dramatically different way that wolves raise their young compared to most other large carnivores." - Paul Joslin

 

Dr. Paul Joslin is a wildlife biologist who has spent decades with wolves and other predators in the US, Canada, India and Iran. His wolf research began in Ontario in the 1960s at a time when we did not know a lot about the daily lives of wolves. His is stories are extraordinary. He lived alone in the wilderness for months at a time, tracking wolves to gain a deeper understanding of their lives. He did this before google maps, before there were even trails in many of these places, so he created his own. His knowledge and wisdom on wolves go deep, while his work took him all over the world.

 

I have been on a quest to understand the wolf hatred that seems to permeate the United States, especially Montana, Wyoming and Idaho, where we are currently slaughtering all of our wolves, but it's not just here, wolf hatred is global – as humans everywhere seem to abhor these remarkable animals.

 

So, I asked Paul to come on the show and give his two cents as to why so many humans fear and hate an animal that does almost zero harm to us.

 

"I give a presentation to law students on animal law every now and then, and I tell them I can teach you everything you need to know about federal animal protection law in 10 seconds. I say there isn't really much. There are very few laws, especially at the federal level, protecting farmed animals." - Chris Wlach

 

Chris is an attorney and he is an animal welfare and humane education advocate. He's a major force in New York City animal law and has advocated for many of the city's non-human animals, including the carriage horses in Manhattan. The carriage horse issue has been going on for decades, horses are hit by cars, they collapse in the street, it's a horribly abusive industry. 

 

Chris also advocates for animals up to the federal level. He came on the show to talk about animals and our legal system, its many limitations, and the places where he finds hope.  

Links: 

NYC Bar Animal Law Committee: https://www.nycbar.org/member-and-career-services/committees/animal-law-committee

HEART: https://teachheart.org/

"There is this long history, and what's important about history is history informs the present. History shows this is how we got here. Fred Colston was like a villain out of central casting. I mean… it's almost like he was twirling his mustache… And he blamed me. He blamed me for bankrupting his lab. I mean, that's in documents from the federal government, not me by name, but In Defense of Animals. The thing is, at least he was honest about his viewpoints. At least he was honest to say, 'these chimpanzees, I want to raise them like cattle.' Whereas today you've got these slick PR people like Inotiv or Envigo, 'Oh, animal welfare is our highest priority.' It's the same mindset. At least he was honest about it. They're not honest anymore." – Eric Kleiman

 

You've probably heard of Envigo. They were the ones who owned the 4000 beagles that were rescued in Virginia last summer. The Beagles were living at a breeding facility, a breeding facility for research animals, and their conditions were so abusive and horrific that they got rescued. That doesn't happen very often. It was a big deal.

 

And more recently, federal prosecutors charged eight members of an international monkey smuggling ring that allegedly supplied trafficked and endangered monkeys to Envigo, Orient and Worldwide Primates. 

 

The USDA are the people who are supposed to be at least somewhat on the side of animals in all of this. They are supposed to be doing inspections and shutting places like these down. But they're not. They're not the people who shut down Envigo and rescued all those dogs, because they're not doing their job. They've rarely done their job. And this job needs to go to someone else because animals need someone who's actually on their team.

 

Today's episode is about the people who are doing the work.

 

This conversation is with Eric Kleinman. Eric is a researcher at the Animal Welfare Institute and he knows more about this stuff than I think anyone. I'm going to warn you in advance, it's complicated and there are a lot of acronyms (one that you need to know is APHIS – Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services, a part of the USDA). It's also extremely important.

 

Links: 

AWI: https://awionline.org/

 

To learn more:

https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/animals/2022/06/what-do-we-owe-former-lab-chimps

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/toothless-and-paltry-critics-slam-usda-fines-for-animal-welfare-violations

https://www.science.org/content/article/indictment-monkey-importers-could-disrupt-u-s-drug-and-vaccine-research

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/what-do-we-owe-former-lab-chimps

https://www.science.org/content/article/research-animals-mistreated-leading-supplier-animal-welfare-group-alleges

https://www.science.org/content/article/leading-breeder-beagles-research-slammed-animal-welfare-inspectors

https://www.science.org/content/article/beleaguered-beagle-facility-closes-under-government-pressure-fate-3000-dogs-unclear

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/hundreds-of-beagles-have-died-at-a-major-research-animal-breeding-facility

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/usda-accused-of-ignoring-animal-welfare-for-business-interests

"If you really do understand science and persons - such as humans and orangutans, you must realize that that love is certainly not unscientific thing to give." -Leif Cocks

 

In December, I spent ten days in Bukit Tigapuluh National Park in Central Sumatra. I was there with Leif Cocks, the founder of The Orangutan Project and hundreds of orangutans.

 

We were deep in the rainforest, surrounded by all the sounds of the jungle, no phone, no wifi, no shower aside from a bucket. And even though I didn't see any tigers, they were there, as were monkeys, gibbons, elephants, spotted leopards, mouse deer and thousands of other species. And, I was with Leif, one of the world's most prominent orangutan experts. It was extraordinary.

 

But it was also devastating. Because on the very many hour drive from the airport in Jambi, a drive that not that many years ago would have been hours and hours through rain forest, all I saw were palm oil plantations.

 

There is very little of the rainforest left. Humans have destroyed 80 percent of it and the destruction is ongoing. And of course, millions of animals have died in the past couple of decades because of said destruction.

 

"We're fighting over scraps of the last remaining rainforest." - Leif Cocks

 

Leif has spent the past 35 years working with and for orangutans. He first met them when he was in his early 20s, working as a zookeeper at the Perth Zoo in Australia. He quickly realized two things, they are one of the most intelligent species on the planet and they don't belong in captivity (like all non-human animals) and that if we don't do something quickly, we are going to lose them.

So, in 1998, while still at the zoo, Leif founded the Orangutan Project and since then he has been a key player in developing conservation plans for orangutans and influencing positive change for their protection and survival.

It was a gift to be able to see Leif's work in person and to meet his many, many soulful and wise orange friends. He is fighting for them and for what's left of the rainforest in Sumatra and Borneo and he and the Orangutan Project need our help.

 

Links:

 

The Orangutan Project: https://www.theorangutanproject.org/

 

Donate to the Orangutan Project: https://www.theorangutanproject.org/donate/

 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theorangutanproject/

 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theorangutanproject

 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OrangutanTOP

"These animals are being held captive in a laboratory. They have none of what they need for their own physical and mental well-being. And there is an enormous amount of research suggesting that the biology and the behavior of animals in laboratories is nothing like even those animals in the wild. I mean, right down to their heart rate and their core temperature and their microbiome. So basically, you can't trust data from a mouse in a laboratory to reflect on a mouse in a field. So it really has no chance of being related to us."  - Dr. Katherine Roe

 

 

Dr. Roe is a neuroscientist and PETA's chief of science advancement and outreach. She completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins University and had an impressive eight-year stint as a clinical neuroscientist at the National Institutes of Health.

 

Today, she's working to end cruel animal experiments, including the recently exposed maternal-and sensory-deprivation experiments being conducted on infant monkeys at Harvard Medical School.

 

"You would expect Harvard University and, in this case, this is at Harvard Medical School to be conducting the most cutting edge, the most human relevant, the most ethical research on the planet. That is not the case with these experiments." – Dr. Katherine Roe

 

LINKS:

 

https://headlines.peta.org/research-modernization-new-deal/?utm_source=PETA::Vanity%20URL&utm_medium=Promo&utm_campaign=0720::viv::PETA::Vanity%20URL::PETAorg-RMD

 

https://headlines.peta.org/harvard-baby-monkeys/

 

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/monkey-study-harvard-reignites-debate-animal-testing/

"I could be walking in Central Park and come up on one of these horse and buggies. I don't think twice about it because I see it as part of the New York attraction. You know, you have the Statue of Liberty, you have Times Square, and you have these romantic horse and buggy things where people get married in the park and they ride these carriages. And tourists, they take these rides in Central Park. It's romantic, it's something beautiful to see. But I never thought for one second that these horses are abused." – Tracy Winston, juror from Ryder's trial

New York City has a big, visible animal cruelty issue: horses forced to pull carriages, carrying heavy loads for long hours in all types of weather in the middle of chaotic traffic.

Three years ago, a carriage horse named Ryder was a victim of this cruelty. He collapsed on a Manhattan street after being worked for hours in the summer heat.

Two months later, he was euthanized. His story sparked global outrage. Ryder's driver, Ian McKeever, was charged with animal cruelty

The trial took place a few weeks ago, but McKeever was ultimately acquitted. This conversation is with Edita Birnkrant, the Executive Director of NYCLASS and Tracy Winston, one of the jurors from Ryder's trial.

New York's weak and outdated animal protection laws have not changed since Ryder died— and because of this, another avoidable death that occurred just a week after we recorded this interview. On August 5th, a horse named Lady died while pulling a carriage in Manhattan.

This conversation is about accountability, about corruption and about what happens when justice fails the most vulnerable.

It's too late for Ryder and Lady. But it is not too late to act. If you live in New York, please call your City Council members and tell them it's time to bring Ryder's Law, Intro 967, up for a vote and pass this vital bill to protect carriage horses from suffering and death on the city's streets.

To find your council member, go to: https://www.speciesunite.com/ny-horse-carriage-petition

NYCLASS: https://nyclass.org/

"So then, you know, you have the Twisted Sister crew doing yoga and eating kale salad. it's so good. Like, now I'm literally known as the plant-based bassist." -Tanya O'Callaghan

 

 

Tanya O' Callaghan, aka, the Plant-based Bassist, has toured, recorded, written and worked with legends such as Maynard James Keenan (Tool/APC), Dee Snider (Twisted Sister) Steven Adler (Guns N' Roses) Nuno Bettencourt (Extreme), The Riverdance, The Voice, Orianthi, Michael Angelo Batio, Kevin Godley, Sharon Corr (The Corrs) and David Gray, to name a few…

 

She spent much of this year on tour with White Snake and is about to take off again, this time with Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden. During the break in between, she came to New York City. She and I dined on some of the city's best vegan dishes while attempting to solve many of the world's problems, especially those relating to our food system.

 

She is as passionate and outspoken about veganism and animal rights as anyone I've ever met, and the best part is that she has figured out a way to combine that message with the music.

 

Please listen and share.

 

ps. This is our last episode of Season 8. We will be back in early 2023 with Season 9.

 

 

Links

 

https://tanyaocallaghan.com/

 

https://www.instagram.com/tanyaocallaghan_official/

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/tanya.o.callaghan.3

 

 

http://www.highwaytohealthshow.com/

"I said, 'let's go on Zappos and look up Zappos and vegan.' And so I searched it… and I said, 'let's see what you get when you search that.' And they had gardening clogs, they had like a croc shoe. And I said, 'why don't you guys go look at how many people opt out after they see that and then you might buy my shoes.' That was a Friday and Monday they bought 18 styles." Rebecca Mink

 

 

Rebecca Mink is the founder of the very first vegan luxury shoe brand, Mink Shoes. Mink Shoes have been around since the year 2000, way before anybody was making anything luxury vegan. She started the brand because for the years leading up to it, she'd been a celebrity wardrobe stylist and there was nothing vegan out there to put on their feet.

 

"I was buying 25 or 30 thousand dollars of leather shoes a month for these clients, and I was sick over it. I was walking into the shoe department of Neiman Marcus and getting the best of this and that… shopping and buying things that I didn't believe in. I could do [vegan] everything except for the shoes, everything. I could even get away with certain belts, metal belts, different things. But I could not put someone on the red carpet in what we had at that time, which was Payless." – Rebecca Mink

 

Over the years, she has made custom shoes for celebs like Miley Cyrus, Natalie Portman, Madonna, Pamela Anderson, and Jennifer Lopez.

 

Rebecca's next big thing is the launch of Mink Vegan Leather, a bio-based leather made from upcycled plants, coming to the world in 2023.

 

LINKS:

 

https://minkshoes.com/

 

https://minkshoes.com/pages/vegan-leather

 

https://www.instagram.com/minkshoes/

"There are written documents that talk about how the same wolf follows a flock of sheep for 300 miles and they come back again with that flock of sheep. And those shepherds can identify those wolves. And within the group, they've even given the names to those wolves…

 

And they have this saying: Don't do something wrong, the Wolf God is watching you." - Prabhat Sinha

 

 

Prabhat Sinha grew up swimming after ducks and fish in a rural farming village in Mhaswad, India. At 13, he left for the US, learned English, became a competitive high school athlete and then went on to Georgetown University.

 

He became a sports agent for NBA players and Olympians and he was really good at it. But, he knew it wasn't enough. He knew that sports had given him the opportunities that changed his life and he wanted the same thing for other kids from rural India.

 

So, he made his way home and set up Mann Deshi Champions, a sports academy that has developed over 8000 athletes from rural India.

 

Since his return, he's noticed that many of the animals that he frequently saw in his youth are increasingly rare to spot. Animals like wolves, jackals and hyenas are disappearing from the landscape, and that disheartening observation has led to Prabhat's latest endeavor, a farmer led Wolf Sanctuary project.  And, like everything else Prabhat does, it is astonishing.

 

Please listen and share.

 

LINKS:

https://manndeshichampions.org/ 

Reshma's video: Buffalo harder to a marathon runner: https://youtu.be/FLt81c7I3VM

Mann Deshi Youth Development Center: https://youtu.be/sBVD27bzep8

Plant a tree play sports program: https://youtu.be/4Eb6plDCzfQ

Reshma: https://youtu.be/apmfmWr1qJE

Travel Coach Program: https://youtu.be/GHjMFogkhI8

Paradhi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43r1tUB6jm0&t=4s

Mumtaj: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLPN3M1_1ag&t=1s

NPR: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/12/31/949601710/why-a-field-hockey-champ-in-india-is-now-harvesting-onions-and-herding-goats 

Mann Deshi Champions: https://www.delawarepublic.org/npr-headlines/2020-12-31/why-a-field-hockey-champ-in-india-is-now-harvesting-onions-and-herding-goats

Mann Deshi Champions BBC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIueiPWBufU

Amjad the Hanuman wire: https://thewire.in/communalism/go-amjad-hanuman-hindu-muslim-unity

Prabhat Sinha Apollo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFEXs-uSXS8

Prabhat Sinha TEDX 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoI-QxNHvNg

Prabhat Sinha TEDX 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0g48QBQwGU

 

"India has done more than any other country for recovering its tigers. Nobody can deny that. But still, we could do so much more than being satisfied with what we have done. There's so much complacency and crowing about these 3000 tigers we have, and I find it very sad." Ullas Karanth

 

Dr. K. Ullas Karanth is emeritus scientist at the Centre for Wildlife Studies in Bangalore. Previously he led one of the longest-running (1986–2017) tiger conservation programs in the world for the Wildlife Conservation Society.

 

Along the way has conducted cutting-edge research, which gained crucial new knowledge for bringing tigers back. He was the first wildlife biologist in India to catch and radio collar tigers and the first to use camera traps to identify individuals.

 

He has also engaged deeply with researchers, wildlife managers, social leaders, and local communities that live next to tigers. His efforts have effectively stopped poachers, mitigated human-tiger conflicts and helped forest families to happily resettle away from tiger habitats.

 

Dr. Karanth's latest book, Among Tigers: Fighting to Bring Back Asia's Big Cats was released on November 1st.  It's the story of his 50-year journey to becoming one of the world's most important tiger biologists. His quest to save India's tigers was not an easy one and the book takes us through all of it: the adventures, the hardships, the politics and the successes. It's also an education in tiger biology. I read it in a day, because it is that good.

 

Please listen, share and then go read Among Tigers.

 

Links

 

Centre for Wildlife Studies

 

Among Tigers 

"The resource allocation of global attention on China is not commiserate with the size and scale of the problem that China represents." Albert Tseng

 

Albert Tseng is co-founder of Dao Foods, an impact-oriented investment firm that invests in plant-based and alternative protein companies based in mainland China and focused on the Chinese market.

 

With rapidly rising incomes and increasing meat consumption in China, Dao Foods' aim is to introduce alternative products into the China market to reduce the consumer demand for animal products which has had growing negative climate, environmental, food safety and health impact.

 

"The average American eats about 120 kilograms of meat per year. Back in 1990, that number was about 20 kilograms per capita in China. In 2017 that has gone up to 60 kilograms. Still only half as much of an average North American. But you can see the trend that we went from 20 kilograms to 60 kilograms, and just that tracks to income growth. So, if we start to reach parity of animal protein consumption in China with a population of 1.4 billion people, then then we're going to have all sorts of acceleration of all the global problems that we have." - Albert Tseng

 

Links: 

https://www.daofoods.com/

albert@daofoods.com

"One of the things that we've noticed is when these animals repeatedly show up, that's when people really get frustrated, up to a point where they may leave loose electrical wires in their field. And when the herd or the animal comes back the next day, they get electrocuted. So you want to keep people from flipping out and doing something crazy, right?" - Krithi Karanth

 

 

Dr. Krithi Karanth is Chief Conservation Scientist and Director at the Centre for Wildlife Studies, in Bangalore, India and is Adjunct Faculty at Duke University and National Centre for Biological Sciences.

 

She has spent the past 24 years doing research in India and Asia, much of which has focused on the many issues in the surrounding the human side of wildlife conservation.

 

Krithi has served as editor for Conservation Biology, Conservation Letters and currently Chief Editor for Frontiers in Ecology and Environment- Conservation Section. Her conservation and research work has been featured in 3 award-winning BBC Series - The Hunt, Big Cats and Dynasties, and documentaries by CBC and PBS. I have co-produced 4 documentaries Wild Seve, Humane Highways, Wild Shaale and Flying Elephants. In 2020 I co-starred in Save This Rhino: India by Disney Hotstar and National Geographic.

 

The work that Krithi and her colleagues at the Centre for Wildlife Studies are doing is changing everything for the animals and the humans with whom they share land throughout rural India. We in the US could (and should) learn a thing or two from their work, especially when it comes to building tolerance for wild animals like wolves and creating solutions for sharing the land.

 

Please listen and share.

 

Links:

https://cwsindia.org/

https://www.instagram.com/cwsindia/

https://www.facebook.com/cwsindia/

https://twitter.com/cwsindia

"We sat down and we ordered omakase, which is essentially the chef's specialties, and they just keep bringing food out until you say I'm done. So we ate and ate and ate everything you can imagine for the better part of 3 hours before we even dared to do order whale" – Heather Rally

 

 

Dr. Heather Rally spent the last decade at the PETA Foundation as a supervising veterinarian for captive animal law enforcement. What that means is she's led investigative and enforcement actions in cases of abuse of animals in roadside zoos, circuses and pretty much anywhere captive animal are on exhibit in the US. And, sadly, there are a lot of these places.

 

Heather's training is in marine mammals. For seven years, she worked with the Oceanic Preservation Society to document and expose environmental crimes and animal welfare violations across the world by doing undercover investigations for the documentary film, Racing Extinction.

 

In that time, she helped expose and put an end to the illegal sale of endangered species and brought global attention to the exponential rate of extinction that's happening all over the planet.

 

Heather truly is a superhero. Listen to her episode and I think you'll agree.

 

Links:

PETA Prime:  https://prime.peta.org/news/dr-heather-rally-my-adventures-as-petas-chief-veterinarian/

 

Whale Sanctuary Project: https://whalesanctuaryproject.org/people/heather-rally/

 

Racing Extinction: https://www.opsociety.org/our-work/films/racing-extinction/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwkt6aBhDKARIsAAyeLJ3Q4AjM5RfUfeNdHMiYvKyiquwzOk-lW0LceMku-O5H6ChjT03tmjgaArrMEALw_wcB

"We talk very badly nowadays about fashion, right? Because of the environmental impact and so on. But at the same time, there is also value in fashion. If not, we wouldn't be so obsessed. It's inspirational, it makes you dream… Let's keep the good thing, the positive thing that gives you a good feeling and toss away and eliminate the bad things. It can be done." Claudia Pievani

 

 

Claudia Pievani is the founder of Miomojo, the cruelty-free and sustainable Italian fashion brand that is making some of the most beautiful bags I've ever seen. They are recycled and up-cycled and – use the entire range of incredibly innovative, next-generation materials – derived from plant-based resources, including apples, corn, cactus and pineapple.

 

 

"Over time, we have proved that a beautiful object doesn't have to come at the expenses of other living beings or our planet. With creativity and compassion, we have proved that it is possible to have fashion without fashion victims." – Claudia Pievani

 

 

https://www.miomojo.com/en/

"And I'm just having this urban, agrarian, techie renaissance thing with my hipster neighbors and it's just so rich. And I think to myself, 'wow, we've have to share this experience. How do we spread this?' – Josh Whiton

 

Josh Whiton is an eco tech entrepreneur and a social innovator who is helping to repair the Earth.

 

When Josh was 23, he founded the transit tech company, TransLoc., for which he was named a champion of change by the White House and Trans Loc was later acquired by Ford.

 

His latest innovation is called Make Soil. Make Soil matches people who compost with people who want to learn how to compost, kind of like a Tinder for composters. It's already being used in 53 countries and growing really fast.

 

Please listen and share and then, go make some soil.

 

Makesoil.org

"One day I was leaving the animal shelter and I would always go and have lunch at this restaurant down the street and I'd get this pork barbecue sandwich. I remember it so vividly. I can remember the booth I was sitting in. I can picture the place. And I just remember thinking, I spent all day helping this one animal and now I'm eating another animal." - Stephanie Downs on the moment everything changed

 

Stephanie Downs is the CEO and co-founder of Uncaged Innovations. Uncaged is a biomaterials company that combines nature and technology to reimagine leather. After two years in stealth mode, they have launched a bio leather (made from many plants) that will transform the fashion, automotive and home goods industries. It has the same quality and durability of leather without the use of any animals. It's sustainable, scalable and it's stunning (I've seen it in person).

 

Stephanie has been working to get animals out of the food and materials system for decades. She's worked with animal welfare organizations to create enormous change in the food, fashion and automotive industries and she is a co-founder of the Material Innovation Initiative and a co-founder of Good Dot, the largest plant-based meat company in India.

 

Solutions are what is going to change the world for animals. We can (and should) scream about the horrors of the meat, dairy, leather and wool industries all day long but we need solutions. Uncaged is a big one.

 

https://www.uncagedinnovations.com/

"It was just this love I developed of life, all life and how much life can be a joy to witness and experience if we're not severing ourselves or severing other lives from our own. And then you start to see all the connectedness and it's like a drug." - Mari Andrew

What if healing wasn't about fixing yourself—but about remembering what it means to be alive?

This conversation is with  writer artist, speaker, teacher, and deep feeler Mari Andrew about her new book, How to Be a Living Thing— an exploration on animals, embodiment, and the wild, wondrous mess of being human.

Through stories of rats and oysters, cardinals and bears, Mari explores the quiet wisdom of creatures who live without apology, who don't shrink themselves to be loved, who remind us what it is to be curious, connected, and enough.

Links:

Mari Andrew: 

https://bymariandrew.com/

How To Be A Living Thing: 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0593831667?tag=randohouseinc7986-20

"The pets tend to be the most behaviorally disturbed, I would say. They have the hardest transition most of the time into kind of sanctuary life, because with the pet trade, infants are usually taken from their mothers within a few days or a few weeks after they're born. And most primate species in the wild will stay with their mothers for at least a couple of years, if not for most of their life. So that's incredibly damaging right off the bat, because that separation is very traumatizing." – Devan Schowe

 

Devan Schowe is the Campaigns Associate for Born Free USA, a nonprofit wildlife organization with the largest primate sanctuary in the country. Born Free recently release and report on the extensive suffering of giraffe in zoos. I read the report and wanted to talk to Devan about giraffes but also to get her expert perspective on captivity and why it's so harmful to all animals, particularly in zoos.

 

It completely baffles me that in 2022, most people have no issue with zoos. Maybe they don't know that no matter how "nice" the zoo is, it's still a prison for animals.

 

Born Free USA https://www.bornfreeusa.org/

"We have to look at those structures. If we don't look at those structures, if we don't look at the economic structures and we don't look at the instrumentalization of animals, the use of animals, the devaluation, the lack of dignity that's given to animals, we're just going to perpetuate our sort of grotesque use of these creatures." – Lori Gruen

 

 

Philosophers, Alice Crary and Laurie Gruen co-wrote the recently released book, Animal Crisis: A New Critical Theory. The book is a deep dive into the many systems that are failing both animals and humans and makes the case that there can be no animal liberation without human emancipation.

 

 

"What we're doing is bringing out the possibility, making it possible to recognize that some of the structures that harm human beings also harm animals… and to show that that these ties aren't accidental." – Alice Crary

 

 

Alice Crary is University Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the New School, where she's a co-founder and steering committee member of the Collaborative for Climate Futures.

 

Laurie Gruen is the William Griffin professor of Philosophy at Wesleyan University, where she coordinates Wesleyan Animal Studies. Lori has been on the podcast before, and I am very happy and honored to have her back.

 

Links:

Animal Crisis: https://www.amazon.com/Animal-Crisis-New-Critical-Theory/dp/1509549684

 

 Lori Gruen: https://www.lorigruen.com/

 

Alice Crary https://alicecrary.com/

"We have this this sort of human exceptionalism or human supremacy that that is used as the kind of baseline foundational justification for exploiting animals, that humans are just more important and we're more special in some way." – Dr. Syd Johnson

 

 

Dr. Hope Ferdowsian and Dr. Syd Johnson  recently published an essay in the Hastings Center Bioethics Forum called, Primates and Medical Research A Matter of Convenience, Not Sound Science. I read the essay and quickly realized how much there was that I didn't know about animal testing and research (and I thought I knew a lot).

 

The essay begins with one rhesus macaque who will spend her life in a cage as part of an Alzheimer's disease experiment. They tell the story not only of this individual primate, but of animal research as whole, how and when it started all the way up to where we are now, and also what an enormous failure most of it has been.

 

Around 90 percent of drugs that pass in animal testing fail on humans. With numbers like that, in any other industry I'm pretty sure that we'd have given up by now. Not only is animal testing insanely cruel, but it's incredibly ineffective.  So, why are we still testing on tens of millions of animals and spending billions of dollars on mostly bad research year after year? Money and because we've "always done it this way," (and we have, since 6 BCE).

 

All systems that exploit, torture and abuse animals desperately need to change and the thing is, all of these systems can change. We have solutions. They exist and are getting bigger and better by the day. There are solutions to replace animals in the food system, in fashion, in entertainment and in medical research.

 

But the money train that goes into using animals in research isn't slowing down, and not enough of us are demanding otherwise (and we are who is paying for it). I think in part, because not enough of us are aware of the cruelty and the inefficiency that is animal testing. We are paying the bill simply because this is how it's always been done.

 

But it's not how it should be done.

"The number one thing is to respect us as a country and a lot of people are not - people who feel privileged in their life, they own a very nice yacht, they have money, they're wealthy, they live in Florida, they live the golden life, they live a grand life. I'm not saying there's anything bad about that, I want to be that way too. But at the same time they have a responsibility to be respectful of our laws and they have to respect our marine life. They should follow [the law] and not try to hurt things that are native to our country and just do whatever they think is arbitrarily good for their own spirit and their own soul, which is damaging our livelihood. And they should learn and work with the Bahamian people. Let us teach you." - Keith Cooper 

 

 

Keith Cooper is the founder of the Bahamian based West End Ecology Tours on Grand Bahama Island. Over the past 16 years, Keith has formed a bond with many of the stingrays in the Bahamian waters, earning him the name, The Stingray Whisperer throughout the island.

 

I went down to Grand Bahama to a couple of weeks ago to meet Keith and some of his stingray friends and to learn more about the horrible situation that many of these stingrays and lemon sharks (that live in the same waters) are in.  

 

An enormous amount of them have been getting hooked, meaning that people are fishing them, the lines break and the sharks and rays are left with enormous metal hooks in their mouths. I learned from Keith that much of this cruelty is being caused by boaters that are coming to the Bahamas from Florida and are doing it "because it's fun."

 

I spent a couple of days with Keith and we swam with the stingrays and the lemon sharks and swam very close to them so that we could easily see the gigantic metal hooks in many of their mouths. Something that should have been absolutely magical was instead, devastating.

"If a bill has been passed in another state, then you know who the opposition was, you know who the supporters were. And it really helps grease the skids for another state to get something through. It builds and then eventually you get a critical mass. And then hopefully at that point, Congress takes a look at it and passes something nationwide." – Roland Halpern

 

 

 

Last week, Allie Taylor was on the podcast. She runs New York Voters for Animal Rights. Allie and I spoke about how real change happens for animals in the US and that much of it happens at the local level.

 

The problem is that many people just don't know where to start or how to get involved so that they can actually affect said change. So, Allie and I agreed that it'd be a good idea to bring on some other people running organizations that are similar to hers from other states.

 

So that is what we did. This conversation is again with Allie Taylor from Voters for Animal Rights of New York, Roy Afflerbach of Pennsylvania, Roland Halpern from Colorado, and Jo-Anne Basile of Connecticut.

 

It's a conversation about how and where change happens.

 

LINKS: 

New York: https://vfar.org/

Colorado: https://covotersforanimals.org/

Connecticut: https://www.ctvotesforanimals.org/

Pennsylvania: https://humane-pa.org/about-us/about/senator-roy-afflerbach-ret/

"We didn't do any type of advertising. We didn't do any press around it. We just did what we do well, we quietly lobbied the city council and worked until we had a majority of the council co-sponsoring the bill. And then we said, okay, now it's time to actually move this, we need a hearing, we need to bring this up for a vote. So by the time the foie gras industry realized what we had done, it was too late." Allie Feldman Taylor

 

Allie Feldman Taylor is the founder and president of Voters for Animal Rights in New York, also known as VFAR. Allie founded VFAR in 2016, and in 2020 she ran VFAR candidate endorsement process for more than 50 animal rights candidates for the New York State Senate and Assembly. In 2019, she led the campaign to ban foie gras in New York City. She's also helped pass New York City laws making it a crime to steal wild birds and to ban wild animals in the circus.

 

I asked Allie to come on the podcast because I really wanted her to explain how everyday citizens can influence and change laws to help create a better country for animals.

 

Even though it feels like a hopeless time and like a lot of our political actions are meaningless, the local level is where they can be super meaningful.

 

LINKS:

 

VFAR https://vfar.org/

 

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/votersforanimalrights/

 

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/votersforanimalrights/

 

Twitter https://twitter.com/theanimalvoters

"The planet is sustaining way more than just 8 billion human beings because we are consuming second-hand protein. We could have just directly, you know, eat plant-based protein. And again, if there's still any argument that, oh, we're not going to get enough strength, get enough nutrition, I mean, come on. Where do animals get their protein to start with? Right. I mean, come on. I mean, they eat plants." David Yeung

 

David is the co-founder and CEO of Green Monday, a movement to educate and encourage the public to give up meat one day a week. They just celebrated their ten-year anniversary, and what they've accomplished in one decade is unbelievable. 40 percent of Hong Kong participates in Green Monday, for real.

 

David is also the CEO of OmniFoods, a food innovation company that makes plant-based pork and plant-based seafood. They launched in 2018 and have already taken Asia and many other parts of the world by storm. There is a reason for that – Omni products are probably the best tasting plant-based pork and seafood on the planet. They've just entered the US market. You can find OmniFoods in the US here.

 

LINKS: 

Green Monday: https://greenmonday.org/en/

OmniFoods: https://omnifoods.co/us

"If you saw a celiac bowl on a menu, you would never order that unless you have celiac disease and you're gluten free. But if you see a Thai peanut rice noodle bowl, that sounds delicious. You're not even thinking about the fact that it's gluten free. It's the same thing with vegan for a lot of people. They think, "oh, that is only for vegans, if I'm not a vegan, that's not for me.'"  - Katie Cantrell

 

Katie Cantrell is the Director of Corporate Outreach for the Better Food Foundation and Co-Director of Greener by Default.

 

Greener by Default makes plant-based food the default option in businesses, universities, conferences, and many other places where people eat, while it still gives people the choice to opt into meat or dairy. It's seriously one of the smartest projects that I've ever heard of.

 

Katie also founded the Factory Farming Awareness Coalition where she spent a decade leading food policy workshops at universities, government agencies, and Fortune 500 corporations.

 

If you want Greener by Default to come to your business, contact Katie: katie@betterfoodfoundation.org

 

Greener by Default: www.greenerbydefault.com 

 

Better Food Foundation: https://www.betterfoodfoundation.org/

 

Factory Farming Awareness Coalition https://ffacoalition.org/

"We need to move away from animal derived materials, but we also need to move away from petroleum based traditional materials. So what is out there, what can we do? That demand is strong and supply is where the issue is."  - Sydney Gladman

 

 

On June 12th the New York Times put out an article titled, How Fashion Giants Recast Plastic as Good for the Planet. The article, written by Hiroko Takeuchi, caused quite a stir within the Species Unite and I'm sure many other vegan communities. It criticizes something called the Higg Index, a suite of tools that assesses social and environmental impacts of products, including animal based and synthetic materials. The article left many people confused and I received a lot of emails asking me, "should we even be wearing vegan leather?" (The answer is yes.)

 

In order to be better able to explain what the article was really about, I needed some help. So, I reached out to my friend Nicole Rawling, the executive director at the Material Innovation Initiative (MII), the non-profit that's advancing next gen materials. Next gen materials are high performance, animal free and more sustainable for fashion, automotive and home goods. MII provides expertise while bringing all the key players together to get these materials from concept to commercialization.

 

Nicole introduced me to Sydney Gladman, the chief scientific officer at MII and Ranjani Theregowda, MII's environmental data scientist, so that they could answer my many questions about the article, about the future of materials as well as our current situation. I have been excited about next gen materials for a long time, but I'm even more so after speaking with them. It's happening - we're on the way and to a future that no longer uses animals for fashion, autos, and home goods. And, MII is doing everything that they can to speed that future up.

 

LINKS:

https://www.materialinnovation.org/

 

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/materialinnovation/

 

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MaterialInnovation/

"The fear factor is probably one of the worst. I mean, if you've ever been deeply afraid, or had a near accident or had somebody pursuing you, if you've ever been really afraid, that's their life 24 hours a day, except when they are able to sleep. And, how they are able to sleep on metal slats with nothing that's comforting, no ability to control the temperature ever, whether it's very hot to very cold, no freedom. And studies show that when the knob on the door turns in the room they're in or the door starts to open, their blood pressure goes through the roof, their hearts start pounding in their chests, their adrenaline soars. So, here's your research subject who is in a state of absolute catatonic fear."  -Ingrid Newkirk

"The fear factor is probably one of the worst. I mean, if you've ever been deeply afraid, or had a near accident or had somebody pursuing you, if you've ever been really afraid, that's their life 24 hours a day, except when they are able to sleep. And, how they are able to sleep on metal slats with nothing that's comforting, no ability to control the temperature ever, whether it's very hot to very cold, no freedom. And studies show that when the knob on the door turns in the room they're in or the door starts to open, their blood pressure goes through the roof, their hearts start pounding in their chests, their adrenaline soars. So, here's your research subject who is in a state of absolute catatonic fear."  -Ingrid Newkirk

 

 

Ingrid Newkirk cofounded PETA in1980. I don't there has been a single day in the past 40 years that she has not fought against injustice toward animals. She is a hero for animals, for people, and for showing all of us how to make change happen.

 

Ingrid came on the show to talk about her book, Free the Animals. She wrote it in 1992 and it was just rereleased for its 30-year anniversary. It's about the beginnings of the Animal Liberation Front in America and it's about animal testing.

 

There is a chapter in the book that starts with a quote by Nicholas Chamfort, "Do you think that revolutions are made with rosewater?"

 

That quote makes me think about everything that Ingrid and PETA and the ALF have accomplished in the past 40 years. It also makes me think about what's happening in this country right now. The fight against injustice toward animals only becomes more difficult as people in this country lose more rights. It's all connected. We're all connected. How we treat animals is very much connected to how we treat humans and at the moment, we're not treating anyone very well.

 

So, please listen, share and then go start a revolution.

 

LINKS:

Free the Animals: https://www.amazon.com/Free-Animals-Amazing-Liberation-Anniversary/dp/159056670X

 

PETA: https://www.peta.org/

 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/peta/?hl=en

 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/peta/

 

FB: https://www.facebook.com/official.peta/

"So I think this whole idea of cumulative culture is a way to make humans exceptional. But it's clear to me that humans are exceptional, and seeing it through baboon glasses, I can understand in a different way why they're exceptional. But many of the things that we think are uniquely human are actually present in other animals." - Dr. Shirley Strum

Dr. Shirley Strum is a groundbreaking anthropologist who has spent over five decades living alongside wild baboons in Kenya. Her work has transformed our understanding of these intelligent, socially complex animals — their relationships, their adaptability, and the intricate societies they create.

In her new book, Echoes of Our Origins, Shirley challenges long-held beliefs about evolution, the human-animal divide, and what it truly means to coexist. This conversation is about science — but it's also about humility, hope, and the messy, beautiful complexity of life on Earth.

Links: 

https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/53757/echoes-our-origins

https://anthropology.ucsd.edu/people/faculty/faculty-profiles/shirley-strum.html

"Animal agriculture can be gone tomorrow. it's not foundational. That's why I find it very puzzling, the amount of pushback because it seems to be the actual… low hanging fruit. You write a book about socialism and no problem at all, people are like. "yeah, sure get rid of capitalism. No problem." Get rid of animal agriculture, they get very mad." -Drew Pendergrass

 

Drew is a PhD student in environmental engineering at Harvard. He is also the co-author with Troy Vettessee of  Half Earth Socialism A Plan to Save the Future from Extinction, Climate Change and Pandemics.

 

In order to save the planet while at the same time, make life better for all beings on the planet, Drew and Troy have come up with a plan, that includes:

 

• Rewilding half the earth to absorb carbon emissions and restore biodiversity
• A rapid transition to renewable energy, paired with drastic cuts in consumption by the world's wealthiest
• Global veganism to cut down on energy and land use
• Worldwide socialist planning to efficiently and equitably manage production
• The involvement of everyone

 

The authors also collaborated with designers from the Jain Family Institute and Trust to create a video game based on the book, at play.half.earth. Check it out, it's pretty awesome.

 

LINKS:

Drew Pendergrass: http://www.drewpendergrass.com/

 

Half Earth Socialism: https://www.versobooks.com/books/3818-half-earth-socialism

 

Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Half-Earth-Socialism-Extinction-Climate-Pandemics/dp/B09RYSRQT9/ref=sr_1_1?gclid=CjwKCAjwwo-WBhAMEiwAV4dybYXDPoin0LESVXaEvZYEfSwJiNMy_sYbybG0fVxHXjbY1vRZPdQfpBoC2Y8QAvD_BwE&hvadid=604540475728&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9004347&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=20350736513252476&hvtargid=kwd-1546784652895&hydadcr=7668_13469272&keywords=half+earth+socialism&qid=1657027341&sr=8-1

"We are fed things like Little Red Riding Hood and the Three Little Pigs and, you know, we grow up on this stuff, that the wolf is the big, bad character. And what the real wolf is like is so totally different." - Suzanne Asha Stone

 

 

A couple of months ago, we did a series on wolves. The episodes  focused on the massacre of entire wolf populations in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. At the time, I said that we did enough wolf episodes. But the truth is we didn't do enough because  wolves are still not on the endangered species list in those states.

 

Until they are, I don't think I can shut up about what we're doing to wolves, its egregious and its devastating.  

 

Suzanne Stone has been on the front lines of wolf restoration in the Western USA for her entire career, since 1988.

 

In 2008 she founded the Wood River Wolf Project to demonstrate that wolves can coexist with sheep operations on national forests when adequate nonlethal deterrents are consistently applied.

 

She is a member of the IUCN Canid Specialist Task Force, the world's chief body of scientific and practical expertise on the status and conservation of all canid species and is also the Executive Director of the International Wildlife Coexistence Network where she is now helping to protect wolves and other imperiled wildlife with communities around the world.

 

Suzanne has proven many times over many years that proactive non-lethal coexistence methods work. Yet for some inane reason, the slaughter continues.

 

"If we keep going, if this is allowed to keep going, eventually we will have zero wolves. There's no way that this can be sustained. It's just brutal." – Suzanne Asha Stone

 

LINKS:

Wood River Wolf Project https://www.woodriverwolfproject.org/

 

International Wildlife Coexistence Network  https://wildlifecoexistence.org/

"The idea is that we take and take and take from the planet. And we've been taking and there's all this talk about how can we get to neutral? And our company wanted to do something a little bit differently. We wanted to give back more than we were taking." – Tina Bhojwani

 

 

Tina Bhojwani is the co-founder and CEO of AERA, a luxury vegan footwear brand. In a past life, she held key leadership roles at global brands including Donna Karan, Theory and was President of Dolce & Gabbana North America.

 

Having spent over two decades in the fashion world, Tina's had front row seats to fashion's impact on the planet as well as on people and animals.

 

AERA is her answer to how the fashion world (and those of us who frequent it) can do better. All of AERA's components are made from non-animal ingredients, they use as many eco-friendly materials as possible, ensuring that the end result is of the highest quality, and are committed to evolving their materials, with the ultimate goal to one day be able to create a shoe with zero environmental impact.

 

"Our shoes are certified Vegan. We went to great lengths to ensure that all components are made from non-animal ingredients, yet still maintain the quality and style expected from a luxury shoe." - Tina Bhojwani

 

They're also stunning, insanely comfortable and, as Tina likes to point out, "they don't look vegan."

 

Please listen and share and check out AERA's shoes.

 

AERA https://aeranewyork.com/

 

Instagram  https://www.instagram.com/aeranewyork/

 

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/aeranewyork

Brown Bear, Germany, 2008

 

I'm aware of what you are

and I'm also aware of what you're

thinking. You're a human being

 

I'm aware of what you are

and I'm also aware of what you're

thinking. You're a human being

and you are thinking I am something else

 

I'm aware of what you are

and I'm also aware of what you're

thinking. You're a human being

and you are thinking I am something else

put here for your entertainment.

 

 

I'm aware of what you are

and I'm also aware of what you're

thinking. You're a human being

and you are thinking I am something else

put here for your entertainment,

that makes it easier for you to ignore me.

 

I'm aware of what you are

and I'm also aware of what you're

thinking. You're a human being

and you are thinking I am something else

put here for your entertainment,

that makes it easier for you to ignore me

and the wire mesh that surrounds me.

 

I'm aware of what you are

and I'm also aware of what you're

thinking. You're a human being

and you are thinking I am something else

put here for your entertainment,

that makes it easier for you to ignore me

and the wire mesh that surrounds me;

the wire mesh that separates us.

 

I'm aware of what you are

and I'm also aware of what you're

thinking. You're a human being

and you are thinking I am something else

put here for your entertainment,

that makes it easier for you to ignore me

and the wire mesh that surrounds me;

the wire mesh that separates us,

and your way of thinking from mine.

 

Gordon Meade

 

 

Gordon Meade is a Scottish poet and animal advocate. His 10th book of poetry is called Zoo Speak. It's about the inhumane and appalling conditions for animal who live in zoos and other terrible places. He wrote it to accompany the photographs in Jo-Anne McArthur's, Captive a haunting book of photographs featuring animals in captivity.  

 

If you are unfamiliar with Jo-Anne's work, go to We Animals Media and take a look. It will change you. I read/looked at Captive years ago and I truly did not think it could get more powerful or feel more devastating then it felt right then, and then I came across Gordon's poetry. It offers an entirely new dimension to the photos, one that makes you look at the animals and really see and feel their perspective on the situation. It floored me.

 

Please listen and share and then, read Gordon's poems.

 

LINKS 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnrR1DWog7Y&t=6s

 

https://www.etsy.com/listing/778801047/zoospeak-gordon-meade-with-jo-anne

 

Captive: https://joannemcarthur.com/captive/

"You see, most of the people in the cultured meat world are usually either biologists that are excited about the biology or physicians that work with stem cells and regenerative medicine. They're asking, "can we make a steak? Can we make a muscle?" They are not asking what is the cheapest way of making this? They're assuming somebody else is going to come and solve it. The difference between them and us is that I am an engineer. So that, yeah, I can make a muscle. I made a muscle back then. I'm pretty certain that the biology is simple. The big question is, should I? And then how much does it cost?"  

– Koby Nahmias

 

 

 

 

 

Yaakov Koby Nahmias is the founder of Future Meat Technologies. Future Meat is a cultured meat company, meaning they make meat from animal cells without having to raise, harm or slaughter any animals. They are based in Israel but are coming to the US next year.

 

Future Meat's technology is different than many other cultivated meat companies, which allows their products to be cost-effective, sustainable, and scalable. They are the first cultivated meat company to break the $5 cost barrier. They are making cultured meat for a $1.70 per pound. Their meat is made entirely from animal fibroblasts that grow in stainless steel fermenters and provides the same texture and taste as farm-raised meat.

 

Future Meat will play a big role in the agricultural revolution that is going to allow future generations to live in a world with fewer greenhouse emissions, less land and water use, and far less cruelty to non-human animals.

 

LINKS:

https://future-meat.com/

 

twitter https://twitter.com/FutureMeat1

"I mean this is the crazy thing about it, in 35 years of doing animal protection investigations I didn't know this existed. It wasn't even a thing, because it sounds it sounds too crazy to actually believe - that you'd get blood from pregnant horses and then it helps productivity in pigs." – Gemunu de Silva

 

Gemunu de Silva is the co-founder of Tracks Investigations.  He is a filmmaker and an activist who's been investigating and documenting animal rights abuses since the 1980s. Tracks has completed over 260 investigations. 35 animal rights and protection organizations have benefited from their work in 57 countries.

Gem has been on the podcast before -  - in fact, he's becoming a regular. This time is is here to talk about one of Tracks most recent investigations, horse blood farms in Iceland.

Yes, it's as horrific as it sounds:

Semi-wild pregnant horses are corralled into restraint boxes to have their blood taken, for the hormone, Pregnant Mare Serum Gonadotropin (PMSG).  

The PMSG is then converted into powder and shipped to factory farms in the US, UK, and EU.  It's used in pigs (mostly), to increase reproduction.

We do an astonishing number of terrible things to non-human animals all over the planet, but this one really shocked me. Not only is this industry incredibly cruel but it's also really creepy.  

Not many people know that this industry even exists. After Track's investigation was released in Iceland, much of the country went into an uproar. 

It was an absolute honor to have Gem back on the show to kick of Season 8!

Learn More About Tracks Investigations Follow Tracks on Instagram

Species Unite will be back next week, June 2nd, with a brand new season. Until then, we are re-sharing some of our favorite episodes. Today's is a conversation with Jo-Anne McArthur.

 

Jo-Anne McArthur is an award winning photojournalist and the founder of We Animals Media. For 20 years she has been photographing and bearing witness to our complex relationship with animals.

She's worked in over 60 countries in just about every industry one can imagine - including: fur farms, factory farms, bear bile farms, zoos, rodeos, circuses, and marine parks with the mission to make the lives of these invisible animals visible.

Her images tell the stories of unseen suffering, the stories of what happens when we stop paying attention, of what hopelessness looks like, and of thousands of little lives that would have otherwise gone unnoticed.

She is also co-founder of the Unbound Project and the author of two books, We Animals and Captive. And, she was the subject of Liz Marshall's acclaimed documentary, The Ghosts in Our Machine.

I have been a super-fan of Jo-Anne's for years, so it felt like a real honor to be able to spend this time with her. I learned a lot in this conversation, about suffering, about empathy, and mostly, about grace. I hope that you will be as moved by Jo-Anne and her work as I am.

Learn More About We Animals Media Learn More About The Unbound Project Jo Anne's Books: We Animals Captive Liz Marshall's Documentary, The Ghosts in Our Machine

Species Unite will be back on June 2nd with a brand new season. Until then, we are re-sharing some of our favorite episodes. This week's is a conversation with Lori Marino.

"In a natural setting, these animals would be swimming maybe a hundred miles a day, diving deep. They have their social lives, their social networks, roles to play in very tightly-knit family groups. They raise their children. They have cultures, different ways of doing things in different populations. They can explore and play and come together. 

None of that is available in the concrete tank. None of it. They don't have any place to go. They don't have any place to dive… what you see is a lot of mortality, a lot of sickness, a lot of behavioral abnormalities. Everything that makes life worth living for a dolphin or whale is absent in marine parks and concrete tanks. None of it is available."

– Lori Marino  

 

Lori Marino is a neuroscientist and an expert in animal behavior and intelligence. Much of her work is focused on whales and dolphins. She's currently the president of the Whale Sanctuary Project, which will be a seaside sanctuary for former performing orcas and belugas that have spent their entire lives in concrete tanks.

Lori is also the founder and Executive Director of the Kimmela Center for Animal Advocacy, an organization that bridges the gap between academic research and on the ground animal advocacy efforts. 

She has appeared in several films and television programs, including the documentaries Blackfish, Unlocking the Cage, and Long Gone Wild, which is a 2019 documentary that picks up where Black Fish left off, and is also where the Whale Sanctuary Project begins.

The Whale Sanctuary Project is going to change the world for the lucky orcas and belugas that will end up there. They will also be a model for future sanctuaries for cetaceans – as we need a ton of them, there are way too many of these animals living in captivity. 

It stuns me that even after documentaries like Blackfish, people all over the world (including many in the US) still visit marine mammal parks. Mostly, people go because they don't know. They don't know how miserable life is for the whales and dolphins and they don't know how intelligent and emotionally complex these animals are. Keeping them in tanks is cruel, inhumane, unjust, and it needs to stop. 

Lori has made it her life's work to not only study their intelligence but to advocate and fight for their lives. This conversation is an important one, after listening to Lori, I think it'd be very difficult for anyone to give another dollar to a marine park anywhere on Earth. 

I hope that you learn as much as I did.

Learn More About The Whale Sanctuary Project Like The Whale Sanctuary Project on Facebook Follow The Whale Sanctuary Project on Twitter Learn More About The Kimmela Center for Animal Advocacy

Species Unite will be back on June 2nd with a new season. Until then, we are re-sharing some of our favorite episodes. This week's is a conversation with Aaron Gross. 

 

We all have a food story; the story that we tell ourselves about what we eat and why we eat it. It's that story that runs the show when it comes to how we shop, cook, and feed our children. 

It was most often taught to us by our parents and their parents, most who thought they were passing on good values and deep traditions and were only doing what was best for their kids. But our food story is more than that. It was also passed on to our parents and to us from advertisers, marketers and a food industry that uses words like values and traditions to get us to buy into a narrative that has damaged our health, destroyed the planet, and caused endless suffering to billions of animals. 

But once we come to terms with the fact that it's just a story and not something that we can't change, there's a whole new world waiting. And, like in so many other industries that are inherently broken in America and around the globe, the pandemic has exposed the gaping holes in our food system. But it's also given us the opportunity to take a deeper look into what and how we eat and decide that we can change the story. 

Aaron Gross is a professor of theology and religious studies at the University of San Diego, and he's the CEO and founder of Farm Forward. Farm Forward was founded as the nation's first nonprofit devoted exclusively to ending factory farming.

Recently, Aaron and the writer, Jonathan Safran Foer published a piece in the Guardian called, We Have to Wake Up: Factory Farms are Breeding Grounds for Pandemics. 

There's a paragraph in there that says, "The link between factory farming and increasing pandemic risk is well established scientifically, but the political will to curtail that risk has, in the past, been absent. Now is the time to build that will. It really does matter if we talk about this, share our concerns with our friends, explain these issues to our children, wonder together about how we should eat differently, call on our political leaders, and support advocacy organizations fighting factory farming. Leaders are listening. Changing the most powerful industrial complex in the world – the factory farm – could not possibly be easy, but in this moment with these stakes it is, maybe for the first time in our lifetimes, possible."

Aaron graciously joined me from his quarantine in San Diego to talk about how we do this; how we change the story around how and what we eat and ultimately, how we change our food system. Aaron is one of the smartest guys out there and it was beyond a privilege to hear his thoughts and ideas on how we forge ahead. This conversation was enlightening, inspiring, and incredibly informative. I hope that you learn as much as I did. 

We can change our food industry. As bad as most things across the planet are right now, there's real opportunity in front of us. Let's not waste it.

Visit FarmForward.com Like Farm Forward on Facebook Follow Farm Forward on Twitter

Species Unite will return in a few weeks with Season 8. Until then, we are re-sharing some of our favorite episodes. Today's is a conversation with Melanie Joy. 

Melanie Joy is a Harvard-educated psychologist, specializing in the psychology of eating animals, social transformation, and relationships. She is the award-winning author of six books, including the best-selling, Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows. She is the founder of the non-profit, Beyond Carnism, dedicated to exposing and transforming carnism, the invisible belief system that conditions people to eat certain animals. 

Melanie is a recipient of the Ahimsa award for her work on global nonviolence. This award was previously given to the Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela. She also received both the Peter Singer Prize and the Empty Cages Prize for her work developing strategies to reduce the suffering of animals. 

Melanie's TEDx talk called, Toward Rational Authentic Food Choices has received over 800,000 views.

No matter what your diet consists of, I hope that this conversation will inspire you to delve a little deeper into the systems and beliefs that quietly run the show when it comes to the psychology of what (and who) we eat. 

Learn More About Melanie Joy Learn More About Beyond Carnism Follow Beyond Carnism of Facebook Follow Beyond Carnism on Instagram

 "I sit in the camp that is going to defend wildlife, and I will live and die in that space. Even though what I see is in the West, wolves have a bad reputation. It's still there…" -Jeffrey Reed  

 What if we could understand wolves? How they communicate, what they might be saying? Jeffrey Reed, is a computational linguist, naturalist, and technologist who's doing just that—using artificial intelligence to decode the wild.

Jeff is the founder of the Cry Wolf Project, a groundbreaking bio acoustic study capturing hundreds of thousands of hours of wolf vocalization across the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

From howls and chorus howls to teeth clacking and whines, Jeff's work is uncovering the complex ways wolves and many other animals communicate with one another. His company, Grizzly Systems, is creating cutting edge tools to help people and wildlife share the land more peacefully and intelligently.

This conversation is about wolves, language, the future of wild soundscapes, and how technology might help us become better neighbors to the beings that we've long misunderstood.

LINKS: 

https://www.thecrywolfproject.com/

How individuals can donate to Yellowstone National Park's Wolf Project via this link: https://www.thecrywolfproject.com/donate 

Grizzly System's conservation technology: https://www.grizcam.com ​

Jeff's forthcoming (2026) book on wolf communication, via this link: https://www.thelanguagesoflife.com/excerpt

Jeff's TED Talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/jeffrey_t_reed_can_ai_help_us_speak_with_wolves

Jeff's social presence: https://www.facebook.com/jefftreed, https://www.instagram.com/thecrywolfproject, https://www.linkedin.com/in/jefftreed, and https://www.youtube.com/@crywolfproject

"It's funny because with art, with literature, with music, we are all connected. It's emotion. You know, like if I say, "have you read this or that," or… "do you know Alice Coltrane? Do you know John Coltrane?" Whatever it is you've got a language and there's a connection going on. And, we should have that with the world. We should have that feeling of like an artistic sensibility to the world. We do have that with other things. People can talk about movies and they feel connected in a way. Religions connect people… we should be all connected by the Earth." – Warren Ellis

 

 

 

 

Musician and composer, Warren Ellis of the Dirty Three and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds had an extremely productive pandemic. Not only did he release two albums, two film scores and a book, but he also opened a wildlife sanctuary in Indonesia.

 

Last spring, Warren co-founded Ellis Park, a forever home for disabled wildlife in South Sumatra. It's a haven for animals who have been rescued from wildlife trafficking who are either too traumatized or too handicapped to be returned to the wild.

​

Ellis Park will also be used as a hub to educate the public, locals and visitors to the park about the negative impacts on wildlife used in the tourism industry and those saved from the illegal pet trade and wildlife smuggling.

Last fall, Warren published his first book, Nina Simone's Gum. It's about a piece of gum that Nina Simone was chewing during her final concert in London. As she left the stage, she placed the chewed gum on her piano. Warren noticed and quickly snatched the gum. He kept it for over two decades… until a few years ago, when the gum took on a life of its own. The book is about meaning and connection and trusting intuition when it calls on you to follow a thread, and it's about the love and the magic that we humans are capable of. In many ways Ellis Park has a very similar story.

​

Links:

 

Ellis Park:  https://www.ellispark.org/

 

Ellis Park Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/ellisparksumatra/

 

Ellis Park facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/EllisParkWildlifeSanctuary/

 

Ellis Park Twitter:

https://twitter.com/EllisPark2021

 

Warren Ellis Twitter: https://twitter.com/warrenellis13?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

 

Warren Ellis Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thewarrenellis/

Damien Mander is the founder and CEO of the International Anti-Poaching Foundation (IAPF).

He is a former Australian Royal Navy clearance diver and a special operations military sniper who became an anti-poaching crusader and an environmental and animal welfare activist. 

In 2009, while traveling through Africa, he was inspired by the work of rangers and the plight of wildlife. He liquidated his life savings and established the International Anti-Poaching Foundation.

Over the past decade, the IAPF has scaled to train and support rangers which now help protect over 20 million acres of African wilderness. 

In 2017 Damien founded 'Akashinga - Nature Protected by Women,' an IAPF program that has already grown to over 240 employees with 7 nature reserves in the portfolio. They are the only group of nature reserves in the world to be protected by women. And, these women are changing the game in terms of what it means to fight poaching.

Damien was featured in the James Cameron documentary The Game Changers and has now released another documentary with James Cameron and National Geographic about his work with the women of Akashinga – "The Brave One's." 

He is a resident of the National Geographic Speakers Bureau, has spoken at the United Nations, is featured in June 2019's National Geographic Magazine, and has been featured three times on 60 Minutes. And, if you haven't seen it, watch his TEDx Talk at the Sidney Oprah House, it's just awesome. 

It was an honor to spend time with Damien. He is a warrior, a hero, and a man who understands what it means to never stop evolving.

"This is their second chance. They were rendered extinct in the wild. And so now this is our second chance to get it right. We killed them off and hopefully they have enough of what they need that they can take the second chance and run with it." – Maggie Howell

 

This is the last episode in a series that we are doing on wolves. It's probably not the final episode because I'm not going to shut up about wolves until they're all back on the endangered species list. But for the moment, it's the last.

 

It's a conversation with Maggie Howell. Maggie is the executive director of the Wolf Conservation Center, an organization that is working to protect and preserve wolves in North America. And they do it through science-based education, advocacy, and they participate in the federal recovery and release program for two critically endangered wolf species, the Mexican gray wolf and red wolves.

 

Maggie is also a founding member of Relist Wolves, a campaign to put all wolves back on the endangered species list. 

 

Please listen and share and quickly go to Relist Wolves to help get ALL of these remarkable animals back on the endangered species list.

 

Wolf Conservation Center https://nywolf.org/

Relist Wolves https://www.relistwolves.org/