Freedom of Species

This week we are very happy to be presenting our interview with Dr Jonathan Balcombe.Jonathan Balcombe is the director of animal sentience at the Humane Society Institute for Science and Policy and the author of a number of books, including Second Nature, Pleasurable Kingdom, and the newly released What a Fish Knows. Balcombe has three biology degrees, including a PhD in ethology from the University of Tennessee, where he studied communication in bats. A popular commentator, he has appeared on Fresh Air with Terry Gross, the BBC, and the National Geographic Channel, and in several documentaries, and has contributed features and opinions to The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Nature, and other publications. He lives in Florida. Find him on Facebook, follow him on Twitter at @Jonathanpb1959, and visit his website at www.jonathan-balcombe.com

19th August is the deadline for sending your submissions to the Kosciusko Brumby management, or put more aptly, the brumby eradication plan. Don't let that date literally mean the DEAD line for thousands of brumbies! We play conversations with Jill Pickering, President of the Australian Brumby Alliance & Lynette Sutton from Hoofs2010 Brumby Rescue about their objections to, and frustrations with, the proposed government draft.TO TAKE ACTION! Get your act together please and write individual or group submissions! Follow this link:http://australianbrumbyalliance.org.au/how-you-can-help/help-the-kosi-brumbies/The August 2nd Rally in Sydney:http://australianbrumbyalliance.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Save-Our-Brumbies-Rally.pdf

Paul Bashir, co-founder and director of Anonymous For The Voiceless, explains the motivation and method behind this new highly effective direct action and public outreach initiative in Melbourne.  He details how his astonishingly successful approach gets passing pedestrians to commit to veganism on the spot.www.facebook.com/anonymousforthevoicelesswww.aussiefarms.org.au

This week we chat have a chat with Andy Meddick of the AJP about the recent Australian federal election, and then hear a recorded talk by Jasmijn de Boo, founder of The Animal Welfare Party (UK).https://www.facebook.com/AndyMeddickAJP/

We chat with Steven Wise, the central figure in the outstanding new documentary Unlocking the Cagethat will screen at the 2016 Melbourne International Film Festival.Unlocking the Cage follows animal rights lawyer Steven Wise in his unprecedented challenge to break down the legal wall that separates animals from humans. After thirty years of struggling with ineffective animal welfare laws, Steve and his legal team, the Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP), are making history by filing the first lawsuits that seek to transform an animal from a thing with no rights to a person with legal protections.Supported by affidavits from primatologists around the world, Steve maintains that, based on scientific evidence, cognitively complex animals such as chimpanzees, whales, dolphins, and elephants have the capacity for limited personhood rights (such as bodily liberty) that would protect them from physical abuse. Using writs of habeas corpus (historically used to free humans from unlawful imprisonment), Wise argues on behalf of four captive chimpanzees in New York State.Nonhuman Rights Project www.nonhumanrightsproject.orgOfficial Unlocking the Cage documentary website www.unlockingthecagethefilm.comSave the Chimps sanctuary www.savethechimps.orgPhoto courtesy of "Unlocking the Cage" filmmakers.

We feature a talk by Dr Andrew Knight, recorded at a recent Animal Justice Party seminar in Melbourne. Andrew describes how he got to where he is today - setting up a new centre for animal welfare at the University of Winchester in the UK. He discusses how people may become professional animal advocates, and also about the upcoming distance learning Masters course in Animal Welfare.Andrew's website www.andrewknight.infoUniversity of Winchester's Centre for Animal Welfare www.winchester.ac.uk/research/attheuniversity/FacultiesofHumanitiesandSo...

MORE THAN GAME: THE 30-YEAR CAMPAIGN TO BAN DUCK SHOOTING IN VICTORIA.Despite three out of four Victorians wanting duck shooting banned, it continues. This program looks at why and how the thirty-year campaign to protect Australian native waterbirds that are deemed game species is stronger than ever.A formidable campaigner stepped up its involvement, changing the rules of engagement, thereby making the 2016 season like no other.TAKE ACTIONSHARE this podcast.WRITE Premier  Daniel Andrewsdaniel.andrews@parliament.vic.gov.auMinister for Agriculture  Jaala Pulford jaala.pulford@parliament.vic.gov.auYour local MPJOIN the duck rescue team http://www.duck.org.au/join-rescue-teamASK your regional council to commit to protecting waterbird populations on their local wetlands. ADDITIONAL INFORMATIONCoalition Against Duck Shooting - understand the thirty-year campaign to ban duck shooting in Victoria -  http://www.duck.org.au/BirdLife Australia http://birdlife.org.au/Animals Australia Save Our Ducks website http://www.animalsaustralia.org/features/duck-shooting-is-not-a-sport/Animals Australia Duck Shooting fact sheet http://www.animalsaustralia.org/factsheets/duck_shooting.phpRSPCA Victoria Duck Shooting http://www.rspcavic.org/issues-take-action/duck-shooting/RSPCA Victoria Out for a Duck report http://rspcavic.org/documents/Campaigns/duck/RSPCA-Out-for-a-duck-Dec-2012.pdf The Australian Greens Duck Shooting http://greens.org.au/initiatives/vic/end-duck-shootingThe Australia Institute http://www.tai.org.au/Game Management Authority Annual report  http://www.gma.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/317347/9316-DEDJTR-GMA-Annual-Report-2015-15_WEB.pdfACKNOWLEDGEMENTSThank you to all the interviewees who contributed to this program; most were extremely busy and some were fighting horrid winter lurgies.Music creditsLay down your Guns  - Daniel Trakell https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktVQP9jM_-w&feature=youtu.be & https://www.facebook.com/daniel.trakell/Who Stole the Soul & Old Devils -  William Elliott Whitmore http://williamelliottwhitmore.com/Photo creditKate Luke Photography

Have you thought about a vegan or vegetarian diet for your cats and dogs?  We ask Professor Andrew Knight from the University of Winchester , who is also a veterinarian,  why would we?  and how?For more info: http://www.vegepets.info/For more info on the new course in Animal Welfare: http://www.winchester.ac.uk/research/attheuniversity/FacultiesofHumanitiesandSocialSciences/centre-for-animal-welfare/Pages/centre-for-animal-welfare.aspx

We hear about social and environmental impacts of livestock farming in rural Africa from Geoff Russell who's the author of "CSIRO Perfidy" and a candidate for the Animal Justice Party in South Australia, and Gerard Wedderburn-Bisshop of the World Preservation Foundation and Beyond Zero Emissions. We also hear from Dr Marco Springmann of Oxford University about his team's widely-publicised study of the astonishing projected benefits of vegan and vegetarian diets if widely adopted worldwide, and also from Dr Michael Greger from NutritionFacts.org who summarises research on the dietary links between health and climate woes.Photo acknowledgement:  Luca Esposti