Our Hen House: Vegan & Animal Rights Movement | Stories from the Frontlines of Animal Liberation

Almost everyone loves an elephant. Or an orangutan. Or a tiger. So, how can we leverage that love to save the planet? This week, Leif Cocks joins us again to discuss his many projects that help protect forests, including The International Tiger Project. ABOUT OUR GUEST Leif Cocks is the Founder of Wildlife Conservation International, which incorporates The Orangutan Project, International Elephant Project, International Tiger Project, and Forests for People. Amongst many roles, Leif is currently: a Technical Advisor for PT Alam Bukit Tigapuluh (a company leasing and protecting rainforest), Head of International Elephant Project, head of International Tiger Project, Vice President of Orang Utan Republik Foundation and on the Advisory Board for Forest, Nature and Environment of Aceh. Leif is also the author of the books Orangutans and their Battle for Survival (2002); Amazon best seller, Orangutans My Cousins, My Friends(2016); and Finding our Humanity (2019). In 2019 Leif was awarded the Order of Australia Medal (OAM) from the Australian Government, and his university’s highest award, the John Curtin Medal, for his work in species conservation. RESOURCES A streetcat named Stanley I’m Worried About Overfishing. Should I Give Up Fish? Commercial fisheries in the Great Lakes borrow an idea to help revive their industry   Big Milk has taken over American schools Animal Law Podcast 108: The Case of Compelled Dairy Promotion    Leif Cocks’ website Leif Cocks on Facebook Leif Cocks on X (formerly Twitter) Leif Cocks on Instagram Leif Cocks on LinkedIn International Tiger Project website                                                    International Tiger Project on X (formerly Twitter) International Tiger Project on Instagram International Tiger Project on Youtube Scarlet Spark’s Leadership Skill Sparks Scarlet Spark’s FREE Leadership Skills Workshops Scarlet Spark’s Leadership Tools Scarlet Spark website INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT We are thrilled to expand the accessibility of our podcast by offering written transcripts of the interviews! Click here to read this episode's interview. _____________________________________________ Thank you for listening to the Our Hen House podcast! If you enjoy our podcasts, believe in our mission to effectively mainstream the movement to end the exploitation of animals, find community and solace in our shows and resources, and would like to show your support for vegan indie media, please make a donation today. Subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcatcher, and don’t forget to leave a 5-star review! Check out Our Hen House’s other podcasts: The Animal Law Podcast, The Teaching Jasmin How to Cook Vegan Podcast, and the Antiracism in Animal Advocacy Audio Series. Follow us on social media! You can find Our Hen House on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or X (formerly Twitter). The Our Hen House theme song is written and performed by Michael Harren.

We all wish for the superpower to understand what animals are communicating. This week, we are joined by biologist Mickey Pardo to discuss his work studying animal communication and social cognition in animals ranging from elephants to woodpeckers. ABOUT OUR GUEST Mickey Pardo is a biologist specializing in animal communication, animal cognition, and wildlife conservation. He earned his PhD from the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior at Cornell University, where he studied vocal communication and social cognition in Asian elephants and Acorn Woodpeckers. He then completed a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellowship at Colorado State University, where he studied vocal communication in African elephants and made the discovery that elephants have names for one another. He is currently a postdoctoral associate at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, where he is using audio recorders and AI to non-invasively monitor threatened bird populations in Southern California. Mickey regularly volunteers with Anonymous for the Voiceless and is an organizer with Pro-Animal Future, which is seeking to ban fur and slaughterhouses in Denver, CO, through ballot initiatives. He is also assisting the Nonhuman Rights Project as an elephant behavior consultant and has recently signed up as a mentor for Animal Activism Mentorship. Mickey has published multiple pro-animal op-eds and has a relatively new YouTube channel where he discusses studies on animal cognition and makes a scientific case for animal rights. RESOURCES NEWS: Casar Introduced a Farm Bill Amendment to Hold Companies Accountable for Illegal Child Labor in Meat Packing Plants — Republicans Blocked It NC will pay $885K in attorneys’ fees after unsuccessfully defending “ag-gag” case Mickey Pardo’s website Mickey Pardo, PhD on Youtube Mickey Pardo on X (formerly Twitter) Mickey Pardo, PhD on Instagram Pro-Animal Future website INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT We are thrilled to expand the accessibility of our podcast by offering written transcripts of the interviews! Click here to read this episode's interview. _____________________________________________ Thank you for listening to the Our Hen House podcast! If you enjoy our podcasts, believe in our mission to effectively mainstream the movement to end the exploitation of animals, find community and solace in our shows and resources, and would like to show your support for vegan indie media, please make a donation today. Subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcatcher, and don’t forget to leave a 5-star review! Check out Our Hen House’s other podcasts: The Animal Law Podcast, The Teaching Jasmin How to Cook Vegan Podcast, and the Antiracism in Animal Advocacy Audio Series. Follow us on social media! You can find Our Hen House on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or X (formerly Twitter). The Our Hen House theme song is written and performed by Michael Harren.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could keep land from falling into the hands of animal agriculture and just give it to wild animals instead? That is exactly what the U.K.’s Vegan Land Movement is doing, and Gina Bates is here to tell us how they are doing it and why you should do it too. ABOUT OUR GUEST Following art college and a career in design, Gina Bates left London for the far north of Scotland. In 2018, she bought the assignation for an 80-acre Highland croft along with 100+ acres of common grazing, which will soon be reforested under a Native Forest Scheme. Named Highland Veganics, it’s being designed as the first vegan plant protein croft in crofting history. Gina is also one of the founders of Vegan Land Movement, a Community Interest Company that aims to buy areas of animal agricultural land to restore to nature. The aim is to also eventually transform some parcels of land to produce food veganically alongside creating wildlife and animal sanctuaries, raising awareness of complex ecosystems, and working with nature rather than against it under the vegan principles of least harm. RESOURCES Are Plants Intelligent? If So, What Does That Mean for Your Salad? YES ON J A citizen initiated ballot measure to prohibit Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations in Sonoma County Vegan Land Movement website Vegan Land Movement on X (formerly Twitter) Vegan Land Movement on Instagram Vegan Land Movement on Facebook Vegan Land Movement on Threads INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT We are thrilled to expand the accessibility of our podcast by offering written transcripts of the interviews! Click here to read this episode's interview. _____________________________________________ Thank you for listening to the Our Hen House podcast! If you enjoy our podcasts, believe in our mission to effectively mainstream the movement to end the exploitation of animals, find community and solace in our shows and resources, and would like to show your support for vegan indie media, please make a donation today. Subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcatcher, and don’t forget to leave a 5-star review! Check out Our Hen House’s other podcasts: The Animal Law Podcast, The Teaching Jasmin How to Cook Vegan Podcast, and the Antiracism in Animal Advocacy Audio Series. Follow us on social media! You can find Our Hen House on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or X (formerly Twitter). The Our Hen House theme song is written and performed by Michael Harren.

Darwin was onto something. So how did scientists then go so completely wrong in understanding who animals really are, and where are we now? This week, we are joined by field biologist, professor, and author Marc Bekoff for a glimpse into The Emotional Lives of Animals. We also hear more about his friendship with Jane Goodall and how that led to the recent Jane Goodall at 90 essay collection. ABOUT OUR GUEST A professor emeritus of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder, Marc Bekoff has published 31 books and won many awards for his research on animal behavior, animal emotions, compassionate conservation, and animal protection, worked closely with Jane Goodall, and is a former Guggenheim Fellow. His latest books are Dogs Demystified: An A to Z Guide to All Things Canine, the second edition of The Emotional Lives of Animals: A Leading Scientist Explores Animal Joy, Sorrow, and Empathy―and Why They Matter, and Jane Goodall at 90: Celebrating an Astonishing Lifetime of Science, Advocacy, Humanitarianism, Hope, and Peace. He also publishes regularly for Psychology Today. RESOURCES Chicken for Linda! movie review Plant Based News on Instagram How Good, Kind, Caring People Became The Bad Guys Marc Bekoff’s website INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT We are thrilled to expand the accessibility of our podcast by offering written transcripts of the interviews! Click here to read this episode's interview. _____________________________________________ Thank you for listening to the Our Hen House podcast! If you enjoy our podcasts, believe in our mission to effectively mainstream the movement to end the exploitation of animals, find community and solace in our shows and resources, and would like to show your support for vegan indie media, please make a donation today. Subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcatcher, and don’t forget to leave a 5-star review! Check out Our Hen House’s other podcasts: The Animal Law Podcast, The Teaching Jasmin How to Cook Vegan Podcast, and the Antiracism in Animal Advocacy Audio Series. Follow us on social media! You can find Our Hen House on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or X (formerly Twitter). The Our Hen House theme song is written and performed by Michael Harren.

How do we put farmed animals on the agenda for policymakers? This week, Gabriel Wildgen joins us to discuss the Animal Policy Alliance, a project of The Humane League that is working to connect state and local animal organizations across the US to each other and help them get what they need to compete with animal agriculture. ABOUT OUR GUEST Gabriel Wildgen is the Director of Public Policy for The Humane League and is heading up the new Animal Policy Alliance, a national network of local and state level policy organizations uniting to end large-scale animal cruelty through policy change. Gabriel formerly represented the Good Food Institute on Capitol Hill, where he helped secure the first-ever Congressional appropriation for alternative protein research. Gabriel holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a Bachelor of Journalism from Carleton University. Animal Policy Alliance website The Humane League website The Humane League on X (formerly Twitter) RESOURCES Environmental Connections Got Milk? Then you need the full story on bird flu Kristi Noem has somehow made her puppy-killing scandal worse Kristi Noem defends killing dog: ‘I’m tired of politicians pretending to be what they’re not’ Scarlet Spark’s Leadership Skill Sparks Scarlet Spark’s FREE Leadership Skills Workshops Scarlet Spark’s Leadership Tools Scarlet Spark website INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT We are thrilled to expand the accessibility of our podcast by offering written transcripts of the interviews! Click here to read this episode's interview. _____________________________________________ Thank you for listening to the Our Hen House podcast! If you enjoy our podcasts, believe in our mission to effectively mainstream the movement to end the exploitation of animals, find community and solace in our shows and resources, and would like to show your support for vegan indie media, please make a donation today. Subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcatcher, and don’t forget to leave a 5-star review! Check out Our Hen House’s other podcasts: The Animal Law Podcast, The Teaching Jasmin How to Cook Vegan Podcast, and the Antiracism in Animal Advocacy Audio Series. Follow us on social media! You can find Our Hen House on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or X (formerly Twitter). The Our Hen House theme song is written and performed by Michael Harren. __________________________ This episode is brought to you in part through the generosity of A Well-Fed World. A Well-Fed World provides the means for change by empowering individuals, social justice organizations, and political decision-makers to embrace the benefits of plant-based foods and farming. Learn more at awfw.org.

How did humans’ relationship with the other animals go so completely awry? The incomparable Jim Mason – author, lawyer, thinker, and animal rights OG – joins us to discuss his seminal work, An Unnatural Order: The Roots of Our Destruction of Nature, for a discussion about where humanity went wrong, why it matters now more than ever, and how we can start to put it right.   ABOUT OUR GUEST Jim Mason is an author and attorney focusing on human/animal concerns. He is the author of An Unnatural Order: The Roots of Our Destruction of Nature and co-author with Peter Singer of Animal Factories and The Ethics of What We Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter.  He is a contributor to A Cultural History of Animals and The Oxford Handbook of Animal Studies, and his writings have appeared in Audubon, The New York Times, New Scientist, and numerous other publications. RESOURCES Avian flu outbreak raises a disturbing question: Is our food system built on poop? THE TRUTH ABOUT ORGANIC MILK: Cows are suffering on even the most “humane” dairy farms. Jim Mason’s website Jim Mason on X (formerly Twitter) INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT We are thrilled to expand the accessibility of our podcast by offering written transcripts of the interviews! Click here to read this episode's interview. _____________________________________________ Thank you for listening to the Our Hen House podcast! If you enjoy our podcasts, believe in our mission to effectively mainstream the movement to end the exploitation of animals, find community and solace in our shows and resources, and would like to show your support for vegan indie media, please make a donation today. Subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcatcher, and don’t forget to leave a 5-star review! Check out Our Hen House’s other podcasts: The Animal Law Podcast, The Teaching Jasmin How to Cook Vegan Podcast, and the Antiracism in Animal Advocacy Audio Series. Follow us on social media! You can find Our Hen House on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or X (formerly Twitter). The Our Hen House theme song is written and performed by Michael Harren. __________________________ This episode is brought to you in part through the generosity of A Well-Fed World. A Well-Fed World provides the means for change by empowering individuals, social justice organizations, and political decision-makers to embrace the benefits of plant-based foods and farming. Learn more at awfw.org.

Rescued animals at some sanctuaries are now facing a new hurdle before they can be truly safe: climate change. We are joined this week by Kathy Stevens of Catskill Animal Sanctuary to discuss this new challenge. ABOUT OUR GUEST Kathy Stevens is the co-founder and executive director of Catskill Animal Sanctuary. Since then, Catskill has saved more than 5,000 non-human individuals through direct rescue — and exponentially more through programming that encourages humans to adopt veganism. Kathy is also the author of Where the Blind Horse Sings and a contributor to books, podcasts, and articles on animal sentience, animal rights, and veganism. Catskill Animal Sanctuary Website Catskill Animal Sanctuary on Facebook Catskill Animal Sanctuary on TikTok Catskill Animal Sanctuary on Instagram Catskill Animal Sanctuary on X (formerly Twitter) Catskill Animal Sanctuary on YouTube RESOURCES Exes & Ohs Substack The New York Declaration on Animal Consciousness Environmental Connections on WXXI Sanctuaries Can Protect Animals From Abuse, but Not From Climate Change Our Hen House Episode 272 w/ Bob Comis Environmental Connections: Whether or not to have kids amid the climate crisis Our Hen House Episode 708 w/ Sweet Farm Sanctuary Our Hen House Episode 683 w/ Odd Man Inn Sanctuary Scarlet Spark’s Leadership Skill Sparks Scarlet Spark’s FREE Leadership Skills Workshops Scarlet Spark’s Leadership Tools Scarlet Spark website INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT We are thrilled to expand the accessibility of our podcast by offering written transcripts of the interviews! Click here to read this episode's interview. _____________________________________________ Thank you for listening to the Our Hen House podcast! If you enjoy our podcasts, believe in our mission to effectively mainstream the movement to end the exploitation of animals, find community and solace in our shows and resources, and would like to show your support for vegan indie media, please make a donation today. Subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcatcher, and don’t forget to leave a 5-star review! Check out Our Hen House’s other podcasts: The Animal Law Podcast, The Teaching Jasmin How to Cook Vegan Podcast, and the Antiracism in Animal Advocacy Audio Series. Follow us on social media! You can find Our Hen House on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or X (formerly Twitter). The Our Hen House theme song is written and performed by Michael Harren. __________________________ This episode is brought to you in part through the generosity of A Well-Fed World. A Well-Fed World provides the means for change by empowering individuals, social justice organizations, and political decision-makers to embrace the benefits of plant-based foods and farming. Learn more at awfw.org.

Humans’ relationships with the other creatures on this planet range from deep love to dreadful cruelty and everything in between. What are the roots of this confused and contradictory reality? This week, we are joined by Dr Pia Salk to discuss the mysteries of human psychology as it relates to animals. ABOUT OUR GUEST Pia Salk is a clinical psychologist and expert on the human-animal bond. In her clinical work and her writing, Dr. Salk addresses topics ranging from the loss of a companion animal to the unique stresses of animal welfare work and the climate of animal welfare as it relates to social justice on a larger scale. Dr. Salk’s media appearances cover topics such as how adopting an animal not only saves lives, but is also good parenting that promotes prosocial behavior in today’s youth. She lives and practices in Sleepy Hollow, NY. RESOURCES Damien Mander on Instagram Help Stop the World’s First Octopus Farm In Move to Protect Whales, Polynesian Indigenous Groups Give Them ‘Personhood’ Dr Pia Salk’s website Scarlet Spark’s Leadership Skill Sparks Scarlet Spark’s FREE Leadership Skills Workshops Scarlet Spark’s Leadership Tools Scarlet Spark website INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT We are thrilled to expand the accessibility of our podcast by offering written transcripts of the interviews! Click here to read this episode's interview. _____________________________________________ Thank you for listening to the Our Hen House podcast! If you enjoy our podcasts, believe in our mission to effectively mainstream the movement to end the exploitation of animals, find community and solace in our shows and resources, and would like to show your support for vegan indie media, please make a donation today. Subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcatcher, and don’t forget to leave a 5-star review! Check out Our Hen House’s other podcasts: The Animal Law Podcast, The Teaching Jasmin How to Cook Vegan Podcast, and the Antiracism in Animal Advocacy Audio Series. Follow us on social media! You can find Our Hen House on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or X (formerly Twitter). The Our Hen House theme song is written and performed by Michael Harren. __________________________ This episode is brought to you in part through the generosity of A Well-Fed World. A Well-Fed World provides the means for change by empowering individuals, social justice organizations, and political decision-makers to embrace the benefits of plant-based foods and farming. Learn more at awfw.org.

What does a night out at the theater (or theatre, in this case) have to do with activism? A whole lot if it’s up to Anastasia Bunce & Grace Howarth, who join us this week to discuss Patch Plays, the vegan troupe that is producing theater that pays attention to the lives, and deaths, of animals.  ABOUT OUR GUESTS Grace Joy Howarth is a playwright, author, and composer from London. She is one of Patch Plays’ Associate Writers and has been vegan since birth. Theatrical writing credits include ‘Blood on Your Hands’ (Southwark Playhouse, The Cockpit Theatre, BBC Writers Room Longlist, Masterclass Pitch Your Play Longlist), ‘Birdie’s Adventures in the Animal Kingdom’ (The Greenhouse Theatre, Harrow Arts Centre, Polka Theatre R&D) and ‘She is Taken Lightly’ (Hope Mill Theatre). Her work has been produced in scratch nights across the UK, and she self-produced a radio play, ‘Until We Can’t See the Sky,’ on Resonance FM and Chapel FM. Grace has been shortlisted for the New York New Plays for Young Audiences showcase and longlisted for the British Youth Music Theatre Award. She has over a dozen short stories published in publications such as the H.G. Wells Short Story Award Collection, The National Archives Writing War, Writing Peace anthology, and Miniskirt Magazine. She holds a First Class degree in Songwriting and works as a freelance sustainability writer and editor. Anastasia Bunce is a theatre and film director based in London who specializes in directing new writing with a political heart. She is the Artistic Director of Patch Plays, a company devoted to staging work that explores animal ethics and the environment. Stylistically, she is interested in utilizing expressionistic devices that enable the poetry of a piece to become its focal point, as this, for her, is where stories start to shape into art. Anastasia trained in MA Theatre Directing at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in 2020. Recently she directed the critically acclaimed Offest finalist one-woman show ‘Meat Cute‘ by Bibi Lucille (Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Gilded Balloon 2023), ‘Darkie Armo Girl’ by Karine Bedrossian (Finborough Theatre 2022), ‘Birdie’s Adventures in the Animal Kingdom‘ by Grace Joy Howarth (Harrow Arts Centre 2022/Greenhouse Theatre 2023), ‘Blood On Your Hands‘ by Grace Joy Howarth (Southwark Playhouse 2024, Cockpit Theatre 2022). Short films include ‘Meat Cute‘ by Bibi Lucille, ‘Push‘ by Julia Melinek, ‘Swipe Left‘ by Bella Glanville and ‘Yoghurt is Not Sexy‘ by Jessica Friend. RESOURCES Why a leading bird flu expert isn’t convinced that the risk H5N1 poses to people has declined A Cruel Way to Control Bird Flu? Poultry Giants Cull and Cash In. “Assisted Suicide,” “Euthanasia,” and “Depopulation” — What’s in a name? Exes and Ohs Substack Patch Plays website Patch Plays on Instagram Patch Plays on X (formerly Twitter) Patch Plays on Facebook patchplays2020@gmail.com Grace Howarth on Instagram Anastasia Bunce on Instagram Scarlet Spark’s Leadership Skill Sparks Scarlet Spark’s FREE Leadership Skills Workshops Scarlet Spark’s Leadership Tools Scarlet Spark website INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT We are thrilled to expand the accessibility of our podcast by offering written transcripts of the interviews! Click here to read this episode's interview. _____________________________________________ Thank you for listening to the Our Hen House podcast! If you enjoy our podcasts, believe in our mission to effectively mainstream the movement to end the exploitation of animals, find community and solace in our shows and resources, and would like to show your support for vegan indie media, please make a donation today. Subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcatcher, and don’t forget to leave a 5-star review! Check out Our Hen House’s other podcasts: The Animal Law Podcast, The Teaching Jasmin How to Cook Vegan Podcast, and the Antiracism in Animal Advocacy Audio Series. Follow us on social media! You can find Our Hen House on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or X (formerly Twitter). The Our Hen House theme song is written and performed by Michael Harren. __________________________ This episode is brought to you in part through the generosity of A Well-Fed World. A Well-Fed World provides the means for change by empowering individuals, social justice organizations, and political decision-makers to embrace the benefits of plant-based foods and farming. Learn more at awfw.org.

Everyone who lives with an animal would think it rather obvious that they dream, but believe it or not, this is not an accepted fact in the scientific community. This week, we speak with David Peña-Guzmán about his book When Animals Dream: The Hidden World of Animal Consciousness. ABOUT OUR GUEST David M. Peña-Guzmán is an associate professor of humanities at SF State and co-host of the podcast Overthink. He specializes in animal studies, the history and philosophy of science, theories of consciousness, and 20th century French philosophy. He is the author of When Animals Dream: The Hidden World of Animal Consciousness, and co-author of Chimpanzee Rights: The Philosophers’ Brief. Overthink Podcast website David Peña-Guzmán on X (formerly Twitter) When Animals Dream: The Hidden World of Animal Consciousness book RESOURCES Eating for the climate: exploring sustainability and food choices Scarlet Spark’s Leadership Skill Sparks Scarlet Spark’s FREE Leadership Skills Workshops Scarlet Spark’s Leadership Tools Scarlet Spark website INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT We are thrilled to expand the accessibility of our podcast by offering written transcripts of the interviews! Click here to read this episode's interview. _____________________________________________ Thank you for listening to the Our Hen House podcast! If you enjoy our podcasts, believe in our mission to effectively mainstream the movement to end the exploitation of animals, find community and solace in our shows and resources, and would like to show your support for vegan indie media, please make a donation today. Subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcatcher, and don’t forget to leave a 5-star review! Check out Our Hen House’s other podcasts: The Animal Law Podcast, The Teaching Jasmin How to Cook Vegan Podcast, and the Antiracism in Animal Advocacy Audio Series. Follow us on social media! You can find Our Hen House on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or X (formerly Twitter). The Our Hen House theme song is written and performed by Michael Harren. __________________________ This episode is brought to you in part through the generosity of A Well-Fed World. A Well-Fed World provides the means for change by empowering individuals, social justice organizations, and political decision-makers to embrace the benefits of plant-based foods and farming. Learn more at awfw.org.