Species Unite

“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/

"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