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268- A thousand activists descend on Ridglan Farms
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If a couple of dozen activists can liberate 23 dogs in March, how many dogs can be liberated by a thousand activists in April? Tragically, none. But is the national news coverage worth it in the long run? Anthony, Julie & Mark dissect this story amongst several others from the last 7 days of animal rights & vegan news.
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Enough of the Falafel is a community of people who love keeping on top of the latest news in the world of veganism & animal rights. With the Vegan Week podcast, we aim to keep listeners (& ourselves) informed & up-to-date with the latest developments that affect vegans & non-human animals; giving insight, whilst staying balanced; remaining true to our vegan ethics, whilst constantly seeking to grow & develop.
Each week we look through news stories from the past 7 days in the world of veganism & animal rights.
If you spot any news stories that might catch our fancy, or have an idea for a discussion topic, get in touch via enoughofthefalafel@gmail.com.
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This week's stories:
https://www.motoringresearch.com/car-news/mercedes-benz-c-class-vegan-interior/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8x72lvlgwlo
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/cp864m61d0mo
https://www.veganfoodandliving.com/news/moby-pledges-coachella-profits-animal-rights/
https://www.wharfedaleobserver.co.uk/news/national/uk-today/26042148.greggs-update-vegan-sausage-roll-supply-problems/
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/04/19/us/animal-rights-protest-wisconsin
https://www.democracynow.org/2026/4/21/ridglan_farms_animal_rescue_robinson_dane4dogs
https://www.theanimalreader.com/2026/04/18/live-rescue-of-2000-beagles-begins-day-early-at-us-facility/
https://ourworldindata.org/most-people-care-about-farm-animals-our-food-system-doesnt-reflect-that
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c24882dem6po
https://www.theanimalreader.com/2026/04/22/iceland-faces-pressure-over-possible-return-of-fin-whale-hunt/
https://www.thecanary.co/uk/news/2026/04/21/mp-leads-cross-party-call-for-mandatory-animal-welfare-labelling-on-meat-products/
https://www.nutritioninsight.com/news/tosla-geltor-signaling-collagen-shot-beauty-supplement.html
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Thanks everyone for listening; give us a rating and drop us a message to say "hi"; it'll make our day!
Mark, Julie & Ant
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Transcript
Introduction to Vegan Week and Vegan Perceptions
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello everyone! Well what's been going on in the vegan and animal rights world? Well i'll tell you what, we'll fill you in because that's what we do Enough of the Falafel. Who's we? It's me Anthony, it is Julie and it is Mark. But that is enough of the falafel, it is time for Vegan Week.
00:00:18
Speaker
I think vegans go looking for trouble even when they're not looking for trouble. That's not what butter is used for. Take your flat-grown meat elsewhere. We're not doing that in the state of Florida.
00:00:30
Speaker
Should I call the media and say, hi, sorry? True education.
Vegan News and Innovations
00:00:34
Speaker
younger generation are getting to know how brutal these practices are. That leaves a lot of pizza delivery companies in problems of things, you know.
00:00:42
Speaker
What is this? What kind of movie is this? It's comedy gold, maybe. Any form of social injustice has occurred. connection with another. As long as you don't get the wee brunions with the horns you'll be alright.
00:00:54
Speaker
Does veganism give him superpowers?
00:01:00
Speaker
cannot fly around the city. I don't have laser vision. and Hello everyone you are listening to Mark. Welcome to the show and thank you for being here. Hello everybody, it's Julie here. This is our news show where we look through the vegan and animal rights news from the last week or so. But that's enough of the falafel. Let's hear what's been going on this week.
00:01:25
Speaker
For more details on the upcoming news stories, including links to our original source material, check out our show notes for this episode, available on your podcast player.
00:01:39
Speaker
Okie Coke, we're changing things up just a little bit this week just to keep things fresh. So we're going to start off with just a few headlines of things that we're not going to go into, but we're just going to let you know stuff that's been going on before then coming onto the stories that we're looking at in more detail. So really positive sounding news this week with regards to Mercedes. The new electric Mercedes C-Class has been certified as vegan by The Vegan Society, the second Mercedes model to offer a fully animal-free interior. So hooray for that.
Animal Activism and Legal Issues
00:02:15
Speaker
We've reported on the show several times this year of folk who have disrupted horse racing events, getting off scot-free at their trial. um And that has been repeated again this week. Five times.
00:02:28
Speaker
Protesters who staged a protest at Doncaster Racecourse in 2023 have been cleared of wrongdoing. No evidence was even brought by the prosecution. So that was great news there. We've seen further upsetting developments in the wild boar. Prevalence in the streets of Warsaw in Poland. Humanoid robots chasing them through the streets, trying to stop them from eating food that's been left really upsetting scenes there but that's been a bit of viral content that's been plastered across the internet this week to lift our spirits from that we can read that electronic music legend Moby has announced that he's donating a hundred percent of his festival profits to animal charities particularly after he got off the stage at the Coachella festival he he announced that all of those proceeds were going to animal rights charities so hooray for that
00:03:22
Speaker
And ah we never cover news from Greg, so we definitely won't go into this one in detail.
Challenges in Vegan Product Availability
00:03:27
Speaker
But when researching for the show this week, every other article that popped on my feed was about the fact that it's been very hard to get hold of vegan sausage rolls this week in Greg's, but they've not discontinued it.
00:03:39
Speaker
There's just been some sort of supply issues. So there's some light headlines in brief, but now let's do what we do best and get into things in a bit more detail.
00:03:50
Speaker
A few of us were watching this live this week as it unfolded. We've covered already on the show earlier in in the month, the fact that in Dane County, in the USA, Ridgeland Farms and their beagles that are soon not to be able to be bred there, not to be able to so be sold to to anyone else. that They're on the way out, but we've had an open rescue in March, I believe it was, the end of March, where 22, 23 dogs were liberated. And last weekend, as we record this at the end of April, about a thousand or so. Protesters, open rescuers, animal activists, call them what you like, tried to rescue the remaining 2,000 dogs from the facility at Ridgeland Farms. And they were they were not allowed to do so, were they? I mean, Julie, Mark, did either of you see see any video footage of this? It was it was quite a drastic, wasn't it? Yes, absolutely. Rubber bullets and tear gas and one of the protesters got two of their teeth knocked out, apparently.
00:05:04
Speaker
Yeah, it was absolutely over the top. Really, really vicious. Yes, I
Protest Tactics and Legal Discussions
00:05:10
Speaker
saw it as well. And it was dramatic in the way the US police can only make it with their their ultra macho approach to stuff like this with their guns and their tear gas. And I noticed that none of the or the footage I saw, there wasn't any of the demonstrators were also wearing gas masks. which is a legal thing to do. I've done it myself in many demonstrations around Europe, and it saves you from bawling your eyes out as a result of the tear gas, which is extremely painful. and So I would recommend anyone ah considering doing something like this, these very brave activists are doing, to wear a gas mask. You can buy them pretty cheap. It actually reminds me of the the halcyon days of the 1980s in the UK, where the mass open rescue tactic came to the fore with the Animal Liberation Leagues. And and we've done ah an episode, a special episode about these guys quite some time ago, where they would specialize in massing up maybe three or 400 people and storm a university or ICI laboratories or what have you and go in in in in daylight but not with no masks on. It wasn't publicised the way this Ridgeland Farm action has been publicised. So the police knew weeks in advance what was happening, when it was happening. Although they struck a day before their
00:06:31
Speaker
announced today to sort of catch the piece in the office. Yeah, read that on the Animal Reader. They were sort of reporting live, as it were, and they were saying, oh gosh, it started sooner than we thought. But like you say, Mark, that the Ridgeland Farm knew that this was happening. And so they dug these trenches, hadn't they, and filled them with manure and watching the live feed as as I was, I think Kate and Shane were watching it too, regular contributors to the show. I was watching at the point at which some of the protesters were rolling hay bales up to these trenches to sort of act as a bridge. I mean, the long and short of it is that they didn't get in.
00:07:09
Speaker
Did
Debating the Impact of Exposing Animal Cruelty
00:07:10
Speaker
they? That's, that's, that's the bottom line, which is, I mean, ah Julie, if we can come to you first, like what's your overall take on this? Because um obviously it's, it's really upsetting the fact that people have been treated so brutally and the dogs haven't been liberated. Are there positives to be gleaned nonetheless? It's difficult to find any. um i suppose it is exposing what's going on because the article you know covering this event goes into the living conditions of the dogs, the fact that they are living on wire flooring, that they're not seeing the light of day and that they are in some cases undergoing a procedure called debarking which involves
00:07:57
Speaker
i'm you know non-veterinary people literally taking forceps down these animals' throats and pulling their vocal cords out, presumably without pain relief or anaesthesia or anything like that. and So it's kind of getting that exposure of all of those horrors. What people can do about that, I do not know. It's hard, isn't it I mean, the there There are people out there, including these activists, that are obviously opposing animal experimentation, which is where these beagles are being bred, the destination that they are being bred for. But a lot of us are still party to the results of the knowledge gained through that research. It's very hard to resist it, but we can do some things and we can...
00:08:51
Speaker
where we can find it support organisations like Animal Free Research. So as well as joining campaigns, I mean, we can't all be storming these breeding facilities, but we can do our bit to support Animal Free Research, you know, to sort of voice our protest in that way and also to donate to the the charities that are doing these rescues because had they been successful, and I wish they had... If they had released a high number up to 2000 beagles or in there, if they had even rescued half of those, you know, where were they going to go and who is going to pay the vet bill if, you know, to get them back to health? It's, you know, it's going to be a staggering amount of money. so um we can support these things from the outside but we can only do so if we know who it is that's going in and why they're going in so that's the only positive i can see is it's it's getting what's happening behind closed doors into the public sphere yeah i mean it was it was widely reported i have to say i i don't know whether you saw it mark but like the the coverage on CNN, despite the fact that this is ah this is an institution that has been found by a state judge to have likely broken Wisconsin animal cruelty laws, despite that, that they're still being portrayed as the victim on like news sources like CNN.
State Response to Animal Activism
00:10:23
Speaker
that that They're saying this this wasn't a peaceful protest. These are militant activists. It was remarkable to read that coverage.
00:10:30
Speaker
Yeah, I think i think just despite what the what the media or state might say, when whenever people see this stuff happening on their TV screens, they they know who who's who's the aggressor and who's the victim here. i assume that Wayne Hsiung and Direct Action Everywhere knew that there would be a massive state response to their publicised action. This is the second time that they've they've had done this in as many months. The first time was successful because they caught them on the hop.
00:10:55
Speaker
The police were werenrant weren't ah about to allow them to be getting away with it this time. I think they're they're trying to trial original forms in the courts of public opinion and actions like like this really bring it to the fore. I can't remember in recent years when the issue of vivisection has been quite as pronounced in the public mind as it has been recently and that's largely down to the number of open rescues that have been taking place in NBR Acres and Cambridge in UK and obviously here in Wisconsin. So it's a tactic and I think they knew they weren't going to get far, even if they'd got in and rescued the dogs, they wouldn't have got away with it.
00:11:34
Speaker
You know, they they wouldn't have been able to transport them to places of safety and all that because there was just too many dogs. It was too open a place. It was too far to, to go to, to bring these dogs to place rescue and so on. So I think they knew there was going to be a massive state response and they were depending on it to be quite ugly and shift public opinion towards them.
00:11:54
Speaker
I think that was the entire rationale of, the of, the of the day really. Yeah, very, very possibly. 25 people to date have currently been reported as having been arrested, including Wayne Sheung that you mentioned there, Mark, who was sort of certainly the figurehead, if not also the the sort of main organiser of things. He released a statement um saying only a deeply corrupt system will use tear gas and rubber bullets against peaceful activists saving dogs. We're seeing the worst in humanity today, but in the courage of the rescuers, also the best. I also particularly liked... um a statement um from Rebecca Robinson, who is a Wisconsin resident and longtime animal rights activist who was arrested during the action. They said that the protesters were teachers, veterinarians, students, and software engineer software engineers, ordinary citizens who were trying to help these Ridgeland dogs to go in and take them to safety, get them to veterinary care that they needed. and what they were met with was overwhelming police brutality. So hopefully that's the the narrative that that gets across and hopefully the dogs can can have safer homes ah in that in the not too distant future.
Critique of Law Enforcement Tactics
00:13:13
Speaker
I mean, the the the timescale of these things, just for those who've not been following this story, their license, their state breeding license on July the 1st will be surrendered Ridgeland Farms. So they they will not be able to breed or sell dogs.
00:13:28
Speaker
to other laboratories. They also have the right though under some federal laws to continue to breed these dogs for their own experimentation apparently. I do not know what on earth that's about but you know something? i don't know if I'm being naive here, i probably am but if the activists are right and I assume they are and when July the 1st comes these dogs will be you know put down, put to death then they are no longer profitable or of any use to Ridgeland and they're going to cost them money to get them euthanised. So actually they should have just opened the doors and said, listen, help yourselves.
00:14:11
Speaker
Do you know what they that Because that's them, the activists doing their job for them, taking the dogs away because they're of no commercial value to them, probably even by now. you know what mean?
00:14:25
Speaker
They're just going to cost them money. I do agree with you, Julie. I wonder whether we're we're seeing the the sort of extreme side of um US law enforcement, aren't we, in the in the last 12 months. ah I wonder whether the late March action where 22, 23 dogs were successfully liberated, I wonder wonder whether that's prompted a really strong backlash from higher ups in in law enforcement saying like we can't be seen to be
00:14:57
Speaker
giving into this goodness knows what will happen if people think that they can take the law into their own hands well any country that has an act called the animal enterprise terrorism act you know when we're talking about vegan plant consuming peaceful kind folk trying to save innocent animals lives you know having to be subject to an act that's got the word terrorism in it just yeah it doesn't make any sense does it and And this on the side of the people who who are also saying on their website, Ridgeland Farms, they say there's been no credible evidence of animal abuse, cruelty, mistreatment or neglect at Ridgeland Farms.
Public Opinion on Animal Farming Practices
00:15:38
Speaker
Yeah. as you write Indeed. Indeed. Well, that story got a lot of coverage, rightly so, in the last seven days. I fear as much credibility we may be about to give ourworldindata.org. I'm not sure they got quite the same amount of of column inches or clicks or or ad revenue or what have you. However, it nonetheless has piqued our interest. There is a report on there that we've put a link in the show notes for by Pablo Rosado, dated on April the 20th, 2026.
00:16:12
Speaker
twenty twenty six The headline, most people care about farm animals when Our food system doesn't reflect that. and Surveys worldwide show that most people find common animal farming practices to be unacceptable, even in places where meat consumption is high. I mean, that's pretty much everywhere in the world, isn't it meat consumption is high. So, i mean, this article starts off by saying, well, the world often feels quite polarized. People have got very different opinions. However, we've got this topic where everyone in principle seems to agree. And there's a a very useful infographic citing lots of different common animal ag practices, such as killing newborn chicks using CO2 gassing or meat grinders. removing calves horn buds using hot iron, keeping pigs in cages in which they cannot turn around for several weeks. So they've got um nine of these common animal ag practices.
00:17:15
Speaker
And then people's responses have been graded in three different ways. acceptable, not acceptable, or don't know and or no opinion. And basically that the headline here is that no, none of these practices had any more than 13% of acceptable responses. So none of these nine common practices drew any kind of Hooray, yes, that's good. We're in favor of that. The highest was 13% of people thought that it was acceptable for newborn calves to be castrated by cutting or crushing the testicles. Really unpleasant things to talk about, but important to do so. So that's an interesting bit of data. There's another similar survey that is cited a bit further down where the data was collected last year in the US. We'll perhaps come on to that in a minute. Mark, can we come to you first? What did you make of this report? In a sense, it's, hooray, look at this. People really don't like these cruel things. But of course, we know that most of the people who've said, oh, no, that's unacceptable, you shouldn't do that, are funding it at the same time. Yeah, yeah. What I found, one of the things that stood out to me was the level of unacceptability of something like, so the two most unacceptable farming practices that people were opposed to were both practices that involve restraining an animal. So 2% of people think it's acceptable to keep chickens in the space of an sheet paper.
00:18:58
Speaker
paper per bird and 1.5% of people think it's really it's acceptable to ah keep pigs in cages where they kind of turn around 13% of people thought it was acceptable to get a newborn calf and crush his testicles without any anesthetic as someone who has testicles I would find it, I i just found it a bit bizarre the the way things were, know, things were unacceptable ah and and i <unk> and so on. It was a bit strange that that that things that involved restraining an animal whilst not causing acute pain like crushing the animal's testicles were less acceptable than
00:19:36
Speaker
keeping an animal confined was it was ah it was ah it was a little bit weird but the overall uh takeaway is that most people find most farming practices unacceptable and the same people pay these farmers to do these things and we've been going around and around this for for decades where we engage people out on street protests or street theater or or what have you and ask if they love animals Yes, I love animals. Do eat animals? Yes, I eat animals. And then the debate starts about the morality or the ethics of this. it It is bizarre to me that so many people are opposed to what they do themselves and i don't feel the need to change. I find that really bizarre. it's both ah There's a positive and a negative there, I suppose.
Influencing Public Perception on Animal Cruelty
00:20:19
Speaker
Most people are on our side. Most people agree with what vegans stand for. At the same time, most people are against the idea of themselves personally going vegan.
00:20:30
Speaker
They find it too hard or too extreme or so on. and So it's it's we we have people on our side in theory, but not in practice. And how how do we bridge that gap? and what do people need to see or or hear to make them actually take the the step towards doing something about this? It is it is ultimately, me it's it's a source of frustration and a source of inspiration as well. It's it's like you you agree with me, but you're not going to do anything about it. And and how do you change that? Would it be easier if people actually theoretically disagreed with us and then could be engaged in an argument? And then if if we swayed them,
00:21:08
Speaker
then they would become vegan or as close as. It's it's weird. and So, yeah, so people are just being... very doing things that they deeply oppose doing. And so bringing things to their attention by showing them footage of these things can drive the message home. But we're still facing people who knowingly and willingly engage in practices that they they openly find abhorrent. Julie, i I'm guessing that Pablo Rosado hasn't published this to try and depress us. I'm guessing that that that there's a sort of kernel of hope there. Is is is that something you share? is Is there something to be taken from this? Yeah, probably. i mean, I would be interested to find out the the way that the questionnaire appears to have been worded, these sort of procedures or living conditions or whatever, they weren't just named, they were described to a certain extent, weren't they? So it's not like you could say, well, I didn't quite know what that term meant, so I just said it was fine. You know they have been described, but
00:22:13
Speaker
And they, from the description, they all sound cruel, don't they? even Even if you were coming at it from a fairly neutral standpoint, they sound cruel. So I think the clue was in the description. So you'd have to be pretty hard and...
00:22:32
Speaker
ah you know a particular type of disassociated human being to say oh yeah well now that's fine you know to do that to animal whatever I think it was quite sort of slanted towards the persuading people to be nice and say oh of course I don't support that regardless of what's in my shopping basket or whatever But I would be interested interested to find out, because I think from the people I talk to on a daily basis, who talk to me on a daily basis about my views of animals and about the sheep in my life and things like that, I get a quite a good...
00:23:12
Speaker
understanding of people's thought processes on a very regular basis and I think people are just kind of when it comes to things like meat and stuff they're just sleepwalking through their choices They just really are. They're just not thinking about it. they They're quite, it's not innocent is not the right word, but the kind of brainwashing is so deep rooted and it's from so way back in our upbringings usually. They're just not thinking about it or questioning anything at all. But I think if you were to not just give people the descriptors of these aim methods of ill-treating animals, but if you were to show them a short video and then give them the questionnaire, I think you'd get an even more kind of pro-animal response. I don't know what difference it would make to people's buying habits.
00:24:15
Speaker
I've got a funny feeling it might change them for the next time they go shopping and then they would just default back. Yeah, maybe. you know but i I did have that thought, though, in in in that, like on first reading, you're looking at this going, oh, wow, like people really don't find common agricultural practices acceptable.
00:24:35
Speaker
And yet they're still supporting it financially. But actually what this data doesn't show us is how their behavior changes in the week after they've been asked this question or the month after. i mean, it depends. if you If you're just asked this question and then there's no follow-up,
00:24:51
Speaker
then I think that's going to have less impact. But it might still have some. That sleepwalking you're describing, Julie, I reckon that would be less after you've just been asked this question. you know Do you find it acceptable that that chickens have about an A4 sheet of paper to to live on in in in most farms? Do you find that acceptable?
00:25:10
Speaker
that That is planting a seed. But like you say, if it can be followed up by even just 30 seconds, of conversation about that afterwards. would Did you know that all these nine things are common um and and they're allowed and that there's an alternative, you don't have to support it?
00:25:28
Speaker
I wonder whether you would see a change, not as big as we'd like to see, but still a ah positive change. i would There's also disinformation out there as well that we're having to kind of battle with
Dietary Choices and Consumption Trends
00:25:42
Speaker
here. in that people are somehow giving messages about animals and what animals can and cannot feel or experience. I come across that quite a lot. I've had people surprised that sheep, for example, can feel pain.
00:26:03
Speaker
I've had people say, oh, can can sheep feel pain then? You know, I mean, yeah so no wonder some people, even if they do know that certain processes happen, you know, and very horrible, cruel and physically vicious things get done to sheep as well as these animals, you know, in the kind of, you know, other industries, know,
00:26:28
Speaker
here but do you know what I mean they just literally think that animals don't feel pain so they think it's okay they can maybe relate to an animal being confined in a small space being a bad thing they can sort of relate to that in a way because they recognise that animals are used to bigger spaces you know in other settings but think when it comes to the infliction of pain they're they're just not seeing it because they think that animals can't feel Lots of work to be done.
00:27:01
Speaker
Lots of work to be done. Did either of you see the the graphs and graphics further down in the article in terms of um self-reported dietary choices in the UK in the last seven years? Basically, nothing's changed in the last seven years was my takeaway from that. But the one of that land animals slaughtered for meat in the last 60 years, my goodness, that's really changed. I mean, the headline for listeners there is There have been changes. And I'd say apart from chickens, things seem to peak in the mid 90s and have gradually declined since the mid 90s. So that's positive. But the number of chickens, oh my goodness, it's almost exponential, isn't it? 1.2 billion annually. And that's just in the UK.
00:27:49
Speaker
What's that horrible phrase that they quote? And it's because of smaller body, but the higher numbers because of smaller body. So there's less meat from each little life. So there's ah a horrible phrase that is used. I can't remember it now, but that's why it's a higher number. Because obviously it takes more of these wee chickens to, you know, create a certain amount of meat, you know, just because they're small.
00:28:16
Speaker
Yes, ah yes i suppose there is that. There's also a cultural shift in terms of... um ah This is just off the top of my head, but... I would imagine in the UK, what was being eaten in 1961, when this data starts, is going to have less Caribbean food, Indian food, Chinese food.
00:28:37
Speaker
And, you know, a a lot of that chicken is a ah staple of, isn't it? You know, that's an animal that's exploited a lot. And and i I would have thought that as ah as a culture, we're we're eating more of that nowadays. But who knows? But yeah, it did it did make me think... Gosh, I really want to advocate on behalf of chickens, um like seeing those numbers, huge, huge increases. Interesting data, interesting
Escaped Wolf Incident and Societal Reflections
00:29:02
Speaker
data. I definitely recommend listeners checking out even just for a quick peek at those infographics. There's there's some interesting stuff there. Okay, one last story we're going to look at briefly before we go on to Julie and Mark's pick of the week. We've taken it from the BBC's website, Howl Recordings and an AI Image. inside South Korea's long hunt for an escaped wolf. So last week, in fact, as this is reported, we're probably looking at a couple of weeks ago now, a young wolf burrowed under a fence at his zoo, calling it his zoo is an interesting choice of phrase there, at the zoo in which they were being held captive in the South Korean city of Daejeon.
00:29:48
Speaker
and they escaped becoming the country's newest furriest fugitive. I mean, I'm not going to comment anymore on the on the wording of this article. Suffice say, I'm not a fan. But basically, it seems like South Korea has become obsessed with this one wolf that has escaped from its captors. um It's a two-year-old wolf. um And at the time of recording, it's still not been returned. Hooray. Well done. Oh, no, he has. Oh, they have. he has Oh, Julie, tell us more. Tell us more. Sadly, after nine days, wolf was returned. oh He's back in prison.
00:30:30
Speaker
sorry to say. yeah Well, I mean, as well as it being... as well as escaping i thought it was great news because that they shut down temporarily the place that it had escaped from and they were doing all these desperate moves like playing wolf noises over the tannoy system but also like the public announcements that apparently the wolf grew up listening to its a load of old nonsense they were using thermal imaging firefighters that will have just told them where to stay away from well exactly like what's
00:31:03
Speaker
what they think he's lost oh bless him oh he wants to come home no he doesn't no he doesn't oh but he's been found well that's that's really sad I mean bizarre I mean I guess there is ah a safety concern for a wolf that's that's just in a public area they they shut down temporarily a school as a safety measure but like like what's behind this obsession of of trying to catch it and return it is it just safety do you think Yeah, it's it's sort of a hard one, and and I noted about 10 years ago a puma escaped from the same zoo. So ah I wouldn't like to live in the neighborhood of that zoo for period of my own life. It is bizarre when when an animal like this and escapes or is taken out of its context that everyone understands it it to be in in this case inside a zoo to be gulped at by paying tourists. So it's there to turn a profit for his or her owners. And then when these animals escape, the amount of attention that is heaped on the drama of this is
00:32:06
Speaker
is amazing really. But um yeah, the the the the animal wants to be free. It shouldn't be in a zoo and it should be just left to do its thing. The amount of resources that are spent to try and get get this poor beast back is seemingly completely out of out of out of their proportion. i mean, who who's there paying for hundreds of firefighters to come down and search for this wolf? You know, is this Is this taxpayer money? Is this is this insurance? is this Is this the zoo itself?
00:32:31
Speaker
Why are they pouring so much money into? Surely you would be cheaper for for them to to ah buy another wolf, right? I'm not encouraging them them to do that. But yeah, it seems seems completely out of proportion and unwarranted attention.
00:32:45
Speaker
attention, you would you would have thought that they would have let it slide and not have mentioned it for fear of bad publicity or something. But and yeah, it's it's a bizarre little story. It sort of happens every so often, doesn't it? An animal escapes on the way to the slaughterhouse or from a zoo or from a factory farm and then everyone's... It's huge attention and and a lot of people are actually gunning for the animal, even though the animals are in there be because of those same people's buying habits, you know? So yeah.
00:33:13
Speaker
Again, it's it's it's a bizarre reflection. It's a schizophrenic type of of reaction to this whole thing, the same as we saw in the previous article about people who say they're against practices and farms but then buy these same products. you know So there's an ongoing fault line in people's heads where what they say and think is completely different to what they actually do in real life. Well, and and to the extent that this wolf was part of a program at this zoo to to restore the Korean wolf, which apparently once roamed the Korean peninsula, presumably before it was hunted or or starved to extinction. But then we can't we can't let one
00:33:55
Speaker
you know, it it had got to some forest, hadn't it? Or to some woodland, Julie, I'm right in saying. Yeah. it so He was on his way to do some repopulation. Yeah, exactly. But, oh, no, no, no, no we weren't ready for it yet. did did deep The um gap between the demilitarised zone that that zone between North Korea and South Korea, there's like a valley or something. It's a few miles wide and very, very long. And no human being has been in there for decades. Or if they have, did they didn't last very long. They were shot or arrested by either side. So it's the it's the it's the space between the borders between the two warring countries still of North and South Korea. And in that space, because it's huge it's been human free since the nineteen fifty s
00:34:39
Speaker
Apparently, it's a whole ecosystem after ah growing up there and thriving similar to Chernobyl, but without the radioactive waste. As soon as it take humans out of the equations, nature begins to replenish and to and to repopulate itself. And this is going on in the DMZ between these two countries as well as an interesting side.
00:34:58
Speaker
Yeah, no like like the sound of that. It's a shame it takes a war for for that to happen. But yeah, the final thing I wanted to say was some entrepreneurial person released a meme coin with the wolf on there recording a trading volume of over £100,000 equivalent. I mean, i hope that that some of that money is is to be donated to some sort of supporting wolves or similar animals in in the wild. like what ah Like, it's just a further... example of just how sick and twisted the human mind can be. Oh, I think I can give you a better one than that. go on. One of the local bakeries made a pastry with a wolf's face on it.
00:35:46
Speaker
And the city are considering naming this Nooku as an official mascot. It's bizarre, isn't They can't make their mind up, though. Like, is is this, like, do we want them to be free? Do we want them to be held captive? Like, can we make up our minds? We'll just do whatever makes us look good and makes us a bit of money yeah and entertains us with romantic ideas and all the rest of it. But yeah, if they like the idea of wolves being free, they should stop supporting zoos and campaign for their closure. Yeah, indeed.
Animal Welfare Labeling Debates
00:36:21
Speaker
Indeed. Well, thank you for that one, Julie and Mark. We're going to take a quick break. And when we come back, we're going to hear Julie and Mark's pick for the week. And so sometimes with picks for the week, you know, it's a pretty black and white issue. And, you know, we want to have a good rant about it or we want to shine a different angle on it. But I have to see both of Mark and Julie's pick for the week's they're controversial topics this week. Goodness me, we have got fin whale hunting and MPs talking about mandatory animal welfare labelling on meat products.
00:36:56
Speaker
As well as producing these audio-based shows, our podcast hosts at Zencaster also provide the written transcript for each show. This is AI generated, so it might not always be 100% correct, but nonetheless we hope that this will increase the accessibility of our show.
00:37:16
Speaker
So to access any of these written transcripts, head over to zencaster.com forward slash vegan week. I'm going spell it all for you. Zencaster is Z-E-N-C-A-S-T-R dot com, then a forward slash, and then the word vegan, V-E-G-A-N, then a hyphen, and then week.
00:37:38
Speaker
Zencaster.com forward slash vegan hyphen week, and then each transcript is is embedded with any of the shows that you click on.
00:37:50
Speaker
Okay, Mark, let's start with yours. Your pick of the week comes from the Animal Reader and we're talking about the possible return of fin whale hunting in Iceland. It's not happened for the last couple of years, has it? But there's a ah threat that it could be on the horizon next year? Yeah, so the reason I picked this article above the others is because there there is a striking, it's a very Hollywood sort of story here. So the the in in Iceland, the whaling fleet, and it used to comprise all of four ships.
00:38:25
Speaker
and in 1986 the sea shepherd at that time led by the famous or the infamous Paul Watson sent in two operatives to Iceland who and posed as ah ah tourists who were traveling through the country one was British one was American and they got a job in the whale meat processing plant in Iceland and they were working there for a few months and they got to know the area and one night they struck, they they scuttled half of the Icelandic whaling ah navy, which was two ships and there was two ships scuttled and then they escaped on an airplane a few hours later and and then they declared to the world that it was them that had done this and if Iceland wanted to press charges in the international courts that they were willing to see them in court but Iceland never did because what they were doing was deeply against public opinion. So the ah the Icelandic whaling fleet was halved but by their action, but it still exists.
00:39:21
Speaker
And the guy that runs it is a guy called Kristin Lofton. And if you look at his personal biography ah online, he looks similar to Paul Watson. He's around the same age and he's been involved in this since the 1970s when he inherited Iceland's only whaling company called Svans. Valor Incorporated. ah Valor is the Icelandic term for whale, so the name of his company is Whales Incorporated. They're the only commercial whaling company in Iceland, and they've been able to whale to hunt down and fin whales for the last couple of years, three or four years, but they've refused to do so. And the guy, Christian,
00:40:01
Speaker
Lofson isn't saying exactly why, when we and we and we can only speculate, but in a way, and if I was a Hollywood ah producer, script writer, there is a story here to be told about how Christian Lofson versus Paul Watson has been going on for decades, actually, and the two of them not sure if there similar personalities in any sense, but Christian Lofsen doesn't need to continue whaling. In fact, it doesn't make him much money, and his main business is is elsewhere. he's a He's a millionaire, but he's made his money from stuff other than whaling. Whale meat isn't particularly popular in Iceland. Most of it's exported. i think 90% of it it is exported to Japan, where it is quite popular as a delicacy. So this, in a sense, is is a story of these two massive personalities, Paul Watson and Christian Lofsen, clashing, coming from and coming at this this issue from very different, polar opposite points of view, but both very determined to get their way. And Christian Lofsen, when you read interviews with them, and there's a few online stories, He does this, he continues wailing or has the potential to continue wailing almost out of spite to Paul Watson rather than any need commercially or anything else to sort of continue doing so. So they've been able to hunt fin whales for the last three or four years, I believe.
00:41:23
Speaker
there is the ah The Icelandic government are considering putting a a stop to this, but right now they they are still legally and able to go out hunting fin whales, which I think are a protected species as far as I know, but this doesn't seem to stop whales.
00:41:39
Speaker
Christian Lofston, but they haven't done so so far this year. He acc keeps he keeps threatening that that he will send his Navy out soon to find more Finn Wells, but I think it's done more to piss off Paul Watson than it is ah ah that then he actually has ah ah much intent to do this.
00:41:58
Speaker
ah yeah It seems very much um almost a personality thing now between the the head of the the ah the ah the Icelandic whaling company and what's in foundation and who's going to blink first sort of thing, you know?
00:42:10
Speaker
Yeah. Well, I mean, the animal readers reporting of the situation suggests another personality is significant in this, in that you have got the Minister of Industries, Hannah Katrin Friorixson. There's a... ah a letter from the Icelandic alphabet that I don't know how to pronounce there. But I've looked her up online and yes, she is she is you know an isolatli Icelandic politician and businesswoman. She's also a former national handball player. So it seems like the decision as to whether the Icelandic government is going to let this happen
00:42:47
Speaker
is is basically in her hands as well. um So it's it's all, in a sense, it it seems all very niche and eclectic. And, of course, the the victims here, or the potential victims, are the second largest animals on Earth, ah a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, fin whales. So we can only hope it's ah it's a third consecutive year of fin whales.
00:43:13
Speaker
of of no hunting, of of barren whale boats. Goodness me. Well, thank you for that one, Mark. Julie, you're talking about a MP cross-party call for mandatory animal welfare labelling on meat products. Does that mean there's a group of and MPs from lots of different parties who agree on something?
00:43:37
Speaker
and And do you agree? um They may well agree. I definitely don't agree with this. so Tell us some more. You won't be surprised to hear I'm criticising something that some politicians are doing in de relation to animals, of course. So this is a story that comes from a publication that I had never come across before called The Canary.
00:44:01
Speaker
And it describes itself as a radical media outlet. And it's based in London, here in the UK. And they're very kind of, you know, all about social justice and things like that. When it comes to humans, they're big on that. But they seem to be dipping their toe here in some, you know, an issue connected with, not animal rights, sadly, but our old friend, ah animal welfare.
00:44:31
Speaker
So the kind of leading personality behind this um movement is a lady and called Sarah Dyke who is a lib damne Liberal Democrat MP and environment spokesperson. She comes from a staunch farming background, by the way, of 250 years standing. So she's very pro-farmer.
00:45:00
Speaker
If you look her up online, she is all about the farming. So the fact that she has some responsibility to be an environmental spokesperson is just frightening. She has a flock of Shetland sheep as well. So she's a vested interest here. Anyway, she has led cross-party letter to DEFRA, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, asking the government to bring forward mandatory, clear and consistent animal welfare labelling requirements
00:45:36
Speaker
specifically on meat products. And also she is mentioning the fact that there should be stronger enforcement against misleading claims in food marketing. I think specifically what this group of politicians are talking about. And also I should mention that there are some animal welfare organisations backing this also, including Animal Law with i Foundation, Compassion and World to Farming and Humane World for Animals UK. What they are also against, and I don't disagree with this bit, but the other thing that they are wanting to get rid of is the fact that at the moment,
00:46:27
Speaker
people who are factory farming animals when they're the people who take the so the supermarkets for example who and receive these dead bodies from the factory farms when they're promoting the finished product and their sale of the finished product they're showing images of animals grazing outside for example when the animals and were never outside. They were in factory farms. So they want to do away. That's the only point of agreement. i can I can see that I think it would be very helpful if instead of the images of cows grazing in lovely lush green pastures, let's have some images of factory farms and see if people still want to buy this stuff.
00:47:17
Speaker
So anyway, going back to the article and what these people are saying in particular, they are saying that they want to reward so-called responsible farmers, and restore trust in food labels and strengthen the UK's reputation for high animal welfare standards. Well, a label doesn't do any of that, actually. you know Only these things being an actual reality in themselves do any of that. It it doesn't come from a label at all. The thing that they are kind of looking over their shoulder about and why this has possibly come to the fore is at the moment, of course, the UK and the EU are negotiating with each other about an agri-food trade deal. And that will change some of the legislation that we've currently got that is putting processes in the way of trading, you know, between these two groups, if you like, So if this deal goes ahead, then it could be a lot easier for the UK to buy food from eu countries and to sell to them as well. So their worry, though, is that this trade deal could mean that the UK would have to align itself with EU meat labelling laws. So if we manage to get it into law that we have to have this method of production labelling that's supposedly clearer about how animals have been treated, it might then all fall by the wayside if we've then just got to fall into line with the EU labels because they don't they they will not have to have that. So the labels that Sarah Dyke and her friends want are method of production labels. So at the moment we have got them for chickens and for fish. You might have seen them. and where it's not just, you know, where did these animals come from, what country, you know, whatever.
00:49:36
Speaker
On the labels for fish and for chickens, the seller needs to have a description of whether it was, for example, in the seat in the case of chickens, whether it's been a barn they were raised in or whether it's been an enriched cage or whether it's been free range or whatever. So we have that for that. So they are just wanting the same for animals who are murdered in the meat industry. But if you look at the labels aim for chickens, for example,
00:50:09
Speaker
The descriptions aren't very descriptive. they You know, it it's not really telling people what conditions are like for these little animals at all. They don't sound like they appear, if you see what I mean. And for anybody reading into even a tiny bit further...
00:50:31
Speaker
They only talk about kilograms per square metre of space, for example, for little chickens. And how many people know how much a little chicken weighs and how many chickens does that mean in a space? It's not something that anybody could easily relate to. So I don't know how much use these labels would be, to be honest with you. But I can see why they're wanting it because the people who are not doing factory farming, and they're the minority, I mean, the the most conservative estimate is 85% of the animals in our country that are brought into this world and killed for meat,
00:51:13
Speaker
and and are living their lives in factory farms 85% you know are living their lives in factory farms so the amount that we'd have that label on and the amount that we'd have we're not in you know dealing with you know when this doesn't come from a factory farm it would be tiny you know it doesn't mean that lots of other horrendous things are happening to these animals just because they're not in a factory farm of course but And I am critical of the fact that they are calling the people, they keep calling people, the animals that are not raised in factory farms are higher welfare.
00:51:53
Speaker
Well, that's implying that there's some kind of welfare going on in factory farms when we know that they are absolutely hell on earth. So, you know, I could see consumers going, oh, well, I could pay a lot of extra money for higher welfare, but oh, no, I'll just go for welfare. That sounds fine, you know. So that would just be not getting anybody anywhere. I think a lot of it depends on the sentiment behind it from a government's point of view. I mean, like Mark has pointed us towards like the Danish government and their their stance over the last few years. They don't seem to be pulling any punches. I feel like the Netherlands as well are being quite strident in measures they're taking to effectively encourage people to move away from animal ag. And I think any government that is still inherently either scared of farmers or not willing to to go too much against them, any kind of labelling is not going to reflect anything significantly, is it? Like like if you if you if you look at what happened with cigarettes in the late 90s and the early noughties, there was a huge shift there. There there was no there was no ambiguity there. It was clear that the government was anti-smoking and that was reflected in all packaging. And I think until we see something like that, it's it it wouldn't make a difference.
00:53:20
Speaker
Well, look at the, I mean, at the moment we have a voluntary scheme, don't we? We've got a few. We've got RSPCA Assured and we've got the Red Tractor and we've got something called Pasture for Life as well. And they're not enforced. So how would anybody enforce this in any way? And Lidl, they've got something going on called Welfare Windows, which I hadn't heard of, but I saw that today. Have you seen the Welfare Windows descriptions? Yes.
00:53:49
Speaker
No. It makes the different types of egg production. It's like something from a holiday brochure. You know, so words like spacious, you know, can describe in the hen's living conditions. Little chalet with an en suite. Yeah, yeah, it's so awful. It's really, really full of absolute platitudes and things like that. So, yes, I think this labelling thing, my worry is it will cost money.
00:54:20
Speaker
So who's going to have to pay for it? The taxpayer, if it's a government thing and it's mandatory. So will we, as people who don't buy any of this stuff and want to see it gone, end up having to pay through our income tax for labelling.
00:54:37
Speaker
because what we're labeled Just remember what we're labelling here. We are labelling murdered bodies. if that was them i mean I'm going to be extreme here, but I am extreme, so there you go. But if that was the murdered body of a person or a child,
00:54:53
Speaker
But it it was like, oh, well, but they had a good life or, oh, but they, you know, we made sure before we murdered them that they had quite a nice house to live in or whatever. It would just be the most obscene thing ever. And that's what this is.
00:55:07
Speaker
Yeah. We're never going to want it. We're never going to want it. I'm with you. I think this could be argued that this is the flip side of the pressure put on the EU and they finally caved in about vegan alternative meats that couldn't be referred to as burgers and sausages and so on. So I think this is the sort of flip side of this, right? So if we can't call vegan food sausages, then you can't label your food cruelty-free or insinuate that it is, and you have to put on exactly what's on your packet the way we have to put on exactly what's on our packets here. So maybe there's a war going on between the packaging wars, there's a presentation
00:55:53
Speaker
a clash going on as to how you can refer to and word your product or so-called product. If I thought there was even a ghost of a chance that that labelling was going to be accurate and properly descriptive with good photographs and all the rest of it of actually how these animals lived and died, i would be all over this.
00:56:13
Speaker
But I don't have any faith in it being in any way enlightening for people. I think it will be full of platitudes, just like the welfare window stuff. But I would love the labelling to be, you know, absolutely, really clear about the methods, of so-called methods of production. That would be a huge help. well be yeah Yeah, I think ideally, and you can see this the way the ah the images on packets of cigarettes went, and and and you you were alluding to this earlier, when labelling came in on cigarette packets, it was a tiny bit of black print at the very bottom of the back of the packet. It was designed to not be seen. But as time went on, it it ended up with ah photographs of someone's teeth that had been
00:57:02
Speaker
messed up by smoking or or a blackened heart or lung, graphic photographs on the front of the packet that really told you what what what you what you were doing to your body. So maybe, Julie, over time, we will see really clear graphic photographs of the insides of factory farms where these animals were imprisoned before they were killed to to be to be consumed. So maybe this is the start of something that will go on to be something much more graphic and obvious, in which case I think it could do the movement a lot of good because it certainly did it with the tobacco advertising where you couldn't get the images out of your head.
00:57:43
Speaker
you know And it was designed to be like that, but it took years for them to get to that point. So maybe this is the the first step in it a long process. Either that we just get on our computers and make our own labels and go to the supermarket and stick them on. It's been done, yeah.
00:57:59
Speaker
Well, I live, i mean, any investigative listeners will be able to work out where I live from this next passage, but I live about a quarter of a mile away from the self-proclaimed home of British corned beef. And I was going um on my run today and and running past the the front of the... um front of the factory. I will say to give them their due, they do have the closest public defibrillator to me. So, you know, they're doing their bit the community. But the outside of the building... That's because they cause many heart attacks with their crappy food. Yeah, exactly.
00:58:36
Speaker
But um yeah, out on the outside of the building, there was half a dozen ah rat traps. And i've known I've never known any building institution or individual who was proactively put a rat trap out just saying, well, we haven't got any rats, but we're just trying to prevent, you know. So I did think to myself, do you know what? I might pop out tomorrow with my phone and just take a few pictures and them leave them a little Google review with some some pictures of the outside of the business. So there's all sorts of pictures that we could turn into labels to put on the outside of products. they Let's get creative, everyone. We could have ah a poster competition, perhaps.
00:59:16
Speaker
There are animal rights charities out there who, from time to time, do produce labels that you can purchase from, know what I mean, and and go and stick her in your supermarket. Animal Aid, I have have done them in the past, certainly.
00:59:31
Speaker
good Good way to spend one's shopping trip. Definitely improves the quality of it. Thank you for that one, Julie. And thank you for your pick of the week, Mark. We put all of, or almost all of the news stories that we cover each week onto our social media pages. You'll find us at Enough of the Falafel on Instagram and Facebook. And you can comment um on things and start a conversation with us. Hello, Welsh vegan allotment holder. we We love seeing your comments as well as other people's on there. And we are recording next week our next mailbag show. It won't come out until, ooh, I want to say the middle of May because we're a few weeks ahead on our vegan talk. shows, but we are recording it next weekend. So if you want to join Sven and Neil and several others who have got their emails in in time, and we'll be featuring their ah comments and suggestions, then you're going to need to send us an email. So here is how to get in touch with us.
01:00:32
Speaker
To get in touch with us, just send us an email at enoughofthefalafel at gmail.com. We see ourselves as a collective. our listenership stretches all around the world and everyone's opinions, questions, feedback and ideas are what helps shape the show.
Vegan Beauty Product Launch
01:00:52
Speaker
Go on, send us a message today. enough of the falafel at gmail dot com Okay, we've got one last story we're going to cover briefly before rounding off the show. and We're going to be talking about collagen. And collagen is not something that is exclusively an animal-derived product or a non-animal-derived product. For folk that don't know, because I i wasn't 100% sure, I had to look it up, animal collagen
01:01:22
Speaker
is, these are not my own words, um it's a structural protein derived from the connective tissues, skin, bones, and hides of animals, primarily cows, pigs, and fish, primarily composed of the amino acids glycine, proline, and hydroxyproline, which form a unique triple helix structure that provides strength and elasticity to tissues. So lots of ways that that is used for better or for worse. Obviously, if it's coming from an animal, we're not a fan of it. However, we've got a report this week from nutritioninsights.com. Vita Foods Europe 2026, Tosla and Geltor launch vegan collagen beauty shot. So they have launched a vegan cherry raspberry collagen shot. This is to be drunk. It's not an injection that happens to smell of raspberries.
01:02:22
Speaker
It features a rare biotechnically produced signaling polypeptide called Primacol. It apparently utilizes specialized flavor technology to mask the taste of active ingredients. They're really selling it here, aiming to improve consumer adherence. Adherence. Imagine that. It's not like enjoyment. No. we're trying to improve your adherence. And clinical studies show the formula significantly improves skin firmness, elasticity and wrinkle depth, but it currently lacks regulatory authorisation in the EU and UK.
01:03:00
Speaker
However, Mark, You live in New Zealand, so tempted? i had heard of collagen and and the the whole thing about there's another Botox and all that, I think, because that's a similar sort of stuff. I don't know much about this. I've never really looked into it. When I was reading this first, yeah i did I did come across the raspberry tasting. sort of I always thought was stuff that it was injected into your skin. I didn't know that you could also drink it like a shot, basically.
01:03:29
Speaker
and So it it it it improves the elasticity and the the firmness and the the look of skin, i think is what I'm getting getting from this. it It isn't an area that I've ever given much thought at to, but I am glad there is a vegan alternative to injecting and li liquidized bits of cow body into your skin, which seems really grotesque and counterintuitive for natural-looking skin. It sort of reminds me of... Adolf Hitler in the final days of World War II in the bunker, he was getting massive injections of bull semen and crushed up bits of bulls all that. So Hitler was never vegetarian. He didn't eat meat because he didn't like the taste of it, but he injected bits of animals into his body for years before he died. So it's it's it's it's quite a grotesque sort of industry, I think. and It's a very new thing. As I say, I'm glad there's an alternative to it, but I don't think I'll be taking it at it anytime soon. Even if it tastes of Raspberry, I'll i'll just stick with Radina. Thanks. I did collaborate with a, I don't know what you'd call it, a beauty salon or some somewhere that people go to look better and feel better. um Many years ago when I was running a cafe and you know got there got their drinks menu and stuff all set up with all all vegan suggestions and and everything like that. So they they had an entirely vegan drinks menu, or I'll say plant-based, because then the owner said, okay, that's great. and We're also going to offer collagen shots as well. And that was the point at which I said, well, look, my involvement clearly ends here. I you know i did try to extol the virtues of finding things that that weren't from animals. But yeah, it it's an interesting, this
01:05:09
Speaker
on this one i mean julie do to what extent are we like are we duty bound to like promote things like this because whether we feel this way or or not ourselves that there are people to whom this this is important so if there are ways of doing so that don't exploit animals like even if it's not our bag is there an argument that that we need to push it and champion it Oh, that's a tricky one because I wouldn't normally, you know, regardless of the fact that it's coming from plants, I wouldn't be promoting this or advocating it. I do have female friends and acquaintances in my social circle who...
01:05:53
Speaker
chug massive amounts of bovine and marine collagen in the mistaken belief that ingesting something into their digestive system from an animal or from ah a little animal who lives in the sea is going to translate into conversion into human collagen for them And I'm sorry, but it just ain't so.
01:06:17
Speaker
It really isn't. There is not a shred of medical evidence to support any improvement in people's anything with these things because there is no independent research into them. There's industry-led research.
01:06:34
Speaker
That's all there is. that the The companies themselves doing their own wonky, shonky research. So, to suit their own ends, really. And how it's just typical of certain people in the human race that they want to do things that cause damage to themselves.
01:07:03
Speaker
And they want to swallow something to solve the problem. You know what I mean? Rather than sort of, well, the first thing is we're all going to get older and we're all going to get changes to our skin and bodies as a result getting older. Get over it. It's going to happen. Accept it and all the rest of it. If you are somebody who is vegan, to my mind, you, no matter what age you are, you are already beautiful.
01:07:33
Speaker
because it's all about the you inside, not the you outside necessarily. So there's that. But, you know, why this obsession with, well, we want to have, you know, skin that looks younger than our age or whatever that's, it doesn't seem healthy. Just be who you are, look the way you look and and be the age you are, whatever. But if you are, and it's okay to want to be healthy and to look healthy, Well, you know, we could
Closing Remarks and Listener Engagement
01:08:05
Speaker
try that. We could maybe not fry ourselves in the sun or maybe not smoke or maybe not drink to excess or whatever. These kind of things that we know that are going to cause a bit of damage to the old physique, you know what mean? You're going to... you're going to get a few wrinkles from doing that but yeah you can't you can't drink yourself out of these changes I don't think and it's a bit unhealthy to think that you can so I don't really want to advocate for something that is duping people really that's the thing but perhaps there's stuff in this drink that is quite good for your health I can't imagine it I think that you know, nice fruit and vegetables and whole foods is probably going to do your face a lot more favour than these raspberry things out of a lab, you know. Yeah.
01:09:02
Speaker
Well, in my own wonky shonky ah research, um the the one... vegan that I've known who followed a strict raw plant-based diet was in her early 40s when when I knew her and she looked like she was about 13 it was remarkable like she just looked so vital and fresh and vibrant and yeah she everything she had was was raw and and whole foods and But that could be genetics. Most of it show up is genetic. I mean, I know there's epigenetics, there's how you're there's what the DNA blueprint is and then there's how it shows up and they're two different things. But, you know, by and large, you're sort of dealt the hand you're dealt with. And if you're if your mum and dad looked pretty good for their age, you probably will too. you know what mean?
01:09:51
Speaker
Yeah, but just think, just get over it, goodness sake. Yeah, indeed. no no point having elastic skin and being a monumental wally, is there? You know, that's that's not the right way around. um No, indeed. Wise words for for us to round off our news stories there. Thank you both. Thank you for listening, everybody. We're really grateful that you've done so. If you fancy doing something for us, the best thing you can do for us is tell somebody about the show we know that there's loads of people out there we try and reach some of them by you know by having a social media profile and and and through advertising the show ourselves individually as as those of us who appear on it but you can help us out by doing that too so we'd we'd love it if you could do that there's lots of other things you can do too so let's hear from kate and carlos who are going to give you some suggestions with some groovy music in the background
01:10:45
Speaker
If you've enjoyed today's show, we'd love it if you could take just a few seconds to share it with someone else who you think might enjoy it too. We don't have a marketing team or a budget to spend on advertising, so your referrals are the best way of spreading the free Enough of the Falafel Joy further still. And if you haven't already, we'd be really grateful if you could leave us a rating on your podcast player.
01:11:10
Speaker
That will also help the show pop up when people search for vegan or animal rights content online. Thanks for your help.
01:11:22
Speaker
Thank you everybody for listening. The next Enough of the Falafel episode coming out will be a Vegan Talk episode and that's going to be available from the 30th of April and it will feature Anthony, Julie and Mark discussing the global food cycle. Anyway, that's enough of the falafel for this episode. Thank you, Anthony and Julie, for your contributions. Thanks again, everyone, for listening. I've been Mark, and you've been listening to Vegan Week from the Enough of the Falafel Collective.
01:11:59
Speaker
This has been an Enough of the Falafel production. We're just a normal bunch of everyday vegans putting our voices out there. The show is hosted by Zencaster.
01:12:09
Speaker
We use music and special effects by zapsplap.com. And sometimes, if you're lucky, at the end of an episode, you'll hear a poem by Mr Dominic Berry. Thanks all for listening and see you next time.
01:12:40
Speaker
This episode may have come to an end, but did you know we've got a whole archive containing all our shows dating back to September 2023? twenty twenty three That is right, Dominic. There's over 100 episodes on there featuring our brilliant range of different guests, people's stories of going vegan, philosophical debates, moral quandaries, and of course...
01:13:01
Speaker
around a dozen news items from around the world each week. So check back on your podcast player to hear previous episodes. And remember to get an alert for each new episode, simply click like or follow and also subscribe to the show.
01:13:15
Speaker
Thanks for your ongoing support wherever you listen to us from.