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276- Eating ostriches...saves wildlife?!
118 Plays14 days ago
The bulltproof logic of so-called 'exotic meat' company The Lions Kingdom, who also declare themselves to be sellers of 'ethical meat'. Even this isn't as ridiculous as the story of the person who narrowly escaped fatal injuries after entering a tiger's enclosure in Germany...
As ever, we read behind the headlines and for this episode it's Anthony, Paul & Sahne with their magnifying glasses out & analysing the week's animal rights & vegan headlines.
Like what we do? Want to help it sound even better? Join our KoFi gang here: https://ko-fi.com/ENOUGHOFTHEFALAFEL
Thanks to Neil, Shane & Alex for their continued Ko-Fi support!
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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.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2026/05/17/two-baby-cows-were-saved-slaughter-their-rescue-is-now-documentary/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFlibYYrvuQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qb-9Q0YhVA
https://www.instagram.com/p/DYd0Q_ZjnOs/?igsh=ZzAyYmZtY2Q3eHVl
https://www.countytimes.co.uk/news/26117870.peta-want-tombstone-sheep-killed-powys-a489-crash/
https://worldanimalnews.com/2026/05/18/rhino-poaching-kingpin-big-joe-shot-dead-in-south-africa-amid-ongoing-rhino-horn-crisis/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2ev3p14kvlo
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/14/seafood-company-abuse-claims-fish-farming?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwy217yw7nxo
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/2205613/sainsburys-launches-different-meats-stores#
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/2205824/donkey-rides-uk-seaside-resort-banned/amp
https://www.agtechnavigator.com/Article/2026/05/18/are-climate-goals-undermining-animal-welfare-in-uk-livestock/
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/05/seabed-life-triples-after-bottom-trawling-ban-in-scotland-protected-area/
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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!
Shane, Anthony & Paul
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Overview
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello everyone. If you're wondering what's happening in the world related to animal rights and veganism, stay tuned because we have all the latest stories. I'm Shane and joining me for this episode are Paul and Anthony.
00:00:14
Speaker
But that's enough the falafel. It's time for vegan week. So I think vegans go looking for trouble even when they're not looking for trouble. That's not what butter is used for. Brrr! Roaty.
00:00:24
Speaker
Take your flat-grown meat elsewhere. We're not doing that in the state of Florida. Should I call the medium and say, hi, sorry.
Generational Awareness of Animal Practices
00:00:32
Speaker
True education. younger generation are getting to know how brutal these practices are.
00:00:37
Speaker
That leaves a lot of pizza delivery companies in problems with things. What is this? What kind of movie is this? It's comedy. Gobble, the media. Any form of social injustice.
00:00:51
Speaker
As long as you don't get the wee brunions with the horns, you'll be all right. Does veganism give him superpowers?
00:01:00
Speaker
I cannot fly around the city. I don't have laser vision. Hello, everyone. I'm Anthony. It's delicious to have you with us. Thank you so much for putting some time aside to have us in your ear for the next hour or so.
00:01:13
Speaker
Hello everyone, this is Paul. If you're new to the show, this is our news show where we through various vegan and animal rights news stories over the last week or so. Indeed, and if you're the kind of person that is really, you know, interested in the detail, wants to see the original sources, like always, if you click on the show notes for this episode, you will see links to the original stories where we got things from. I'm sure most of you will just Listen to us in your ear, but if you want to see where we've got things from, just follow those links to see more. But that's enough of the falafel. Let's hand over to Shane to hear what's been going on this week. Okay, thank you. To start us off, I have a quick rundown of a few stories of interest. We won't go into depth on these, but you can always find the links to them on Facebook or in our show
Vegan Films and Wildlife Conservation
00:02:04
Speaker
notes.
00:02:04
Speaker
So if we've been noticing that more a vegan and animal rights films are dropping recently, and one of these is from the dog and cat rescue site, The Dodo. It's called Cow Trip, and it's about a woman who rescues two calves from the veal industry and transports them to a sanctuary with her non-vegan father.
00:02:22
Speaker
It's about 27 minutes. The other film is The Dying Trade, and it's about a man who is a vegan activist, and he confronts his father, and the father works in a slaughterhouse, and that film is about an hour.
00:02:35
Speaker
Both are free on YouTube, and you can find the links to both in our show notes. And if you are interested in having us review one or both of them on the pod, then just send us an email, and maybe that will be a future episode.
00:02:48
Speaker
Our next story comes from Australia, and it's good news for the Glen Bogg State Forest. The New South Wales forestry removed the western half of the forest from a plan to bulldoze it, saving approximately 70 great glider den trees and And about 750 wombat burrows from commercial destruction. So that is good news coming out of Australia. And then our third story is a request that was made to the Shropshire Council from PETA.
00:03:19
Speaker
And this was a request to erect a tombstone memorializing the large number of sheep that were killed on May 12th. when a truck carrying 450 sheep overturned on the a four eighty nine between Churchstoke and Lidham.
00:03:35
Speaker
PETA is trying to make the point to drivers who see the tombstone that no sheep would have died in this crash if they weren't on their way to the abattoir and that everyone should go vegan. I have my doubts about whether the council is going to go for that idea, but um I think PETA is probably trying to bring some attention to this event that happened in
Animal Tragedies and Advocacy Efforts
00:03:54
Speaker
May.
00:03:54
Speaker
And then finally, alleged rhino poaching kingpin, Joseph Big Joe Nyalingu. ah He was accused of fueling the illegal rhino horn trade that was basically decimating wild rhino populations. And he has now been killed in South Africa.
00:04:10
Speaker
Big Joe was allegedly involved in a lot of organized crime activities as well as poaching. And these ties may be linked to his killing. We don't really know or they haven't reported on who they think killed him. And that's all of our quick stories. So let's dive into a few more of these stories of the week in depth.
00:04:29
Speaker
Antony, I was hoping you could start us off by telling us a little bit about this story out of Spain that related to swine fever. Yeah absolutely, so we have covered a few stories over the last year or so relating to African swine fever. That is a fatal disease for, well fatal virus I suppose would be more accurate, for pigs and boars. Ground zero, i.e. the kind of epicentre of the The most widely reported outbreak for this is Colcerola Park. It's a nature area on the edge of Barcelona. Not 100% sure exactly how it started, though a corpse of a deceased boar found, I think, just at the end of last year late november seems to be the the sort of closest data point that folk have got this story is basically a a boo-hoo isn't it hard for these poor pig farmers we're hearing from one saying oh I feel sad, angry, impotent. Once it's known that a country is positive for ASF, other countries will stop importing its pork. So when I was reading this, didn't know about you, Paul, and you Shane, well, I wasn't feeling much sympathy.
Swine Fever Crisis in Spain
00:05:47
Speaker
The interesting thing and the significant thing, I think, from a vegan activism point of view,
00:05:53
Speaker
comes further down when we hear about the link to wild boar and indeed how authorities seem to be trying to stem the flow of this disease. And that's that's quite worrying, actually. So basically the way that they want to kill, they way where they want to deal with the swine flu is that they plan to kill, i think it's between what, 60 90,000?
00:06:19
Speaker
Because they said the wild population was about 120 180,000 and they want to kill half of those wild Yeah, yeah, it's a lot. They've already killed 24,000. Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. it's it's It's really worrying. And I think that the other thing that worried me is the fact that normally when we are talking about zoonotic diseases and we are advocating for animals, we will be pointing out that animals kept in close proximity in an unnatural way like they are in animal ag, that's a breeding ground for zoonotic diseases. But actually the narrative here is, well, it's wild animals that cause this. So it doesn't fit into that narrative. It doesn't fit into that framework. So we kind of need to do some thinking about how, you know, we can't just wheel out the the usual line of, well, it's because animals being kept in such cramped circumstances. That's why it's happening. I mean, you can so you can still take other at angles, can't you?
00:07:16
Speaker
But it's, some yeah, we're having to do some more original thinking as to to how to advocate for animals in this instance. But if you look at, well, here's this example of swine flu being brought by wild boars. But if you look at bird flu, they also blame wild birds for bird flu as well. So if these are being spread by wildlife, Paul, does it seem like factory farming and wildlife can coexist? Yeah.
00:07:41
Speaker
It's a good question. i think the ah other point there that you were sort of starting to lead on to is interesting as well, because this you know this is obviously all about money at the end of the day. It's not about caring for animals. I did do a little bit of reading around and just without too much time spent on it. um There's various studies that show that ASF jumps...
00:08:03
Speaker
longer distances meaning that that's more likely to be due to things like infected pork transportation contaminated vehicles things like that rather than because the spread would be less less wide than that so there's definitely some suggestion here that perhaps wild animals are once again the and as we've seen with you know things like Badgers, for example, in the UK are really the victims or being vilified for something that is perhaps, at least in part, due to the way that humans are treating and containing animals for slaughter and meat production. So I think they are a scapegoat um and it it probably is trying to distract from probably what the real cause is. And we see that, you know, in in seen many cases, I think. i think it's...
00:08:57
Speaker
Though we can look about the individual circumstances to do with this, I think there are several circumstances why Spain's pork industry is under pressure at the moment. It's not just due to African swine fever. There are economic factors as well and probably lifestyle things as well and trends. And from my point of view, obviously it's awful how the boar are being treated as a result of this.
00:09:23
Speaker
But anything that puts an industry that exploits animals under pressure is good news. And I think as soon as people stop exploiting an animal, then psychologically they're more open to be sympathetic to that animal and to be more compassionate for it. So however we get people to stop exploiting this one animal, the closer we are to people being able to open themselves up for natural compassion for that animal. Of course, people will start eating a different meat, won't they, if if they don't eat pork. But I think it's, I so still think it's a move in a positive
Implications of Animal Exploitation
00:10:00
Speaker
direction. We we just need to hope as few boar are exploited by this as as possible because they're they're the real victims here. Yeah, i was going to say, you know, the question here is is, is there a benefit to animals? Is it a good news story? And I agree with what you say, Ant, because I think, sadly, in a lot of cases, people just switch to and a different meat to consume. I don't think we'd see much impact on people, say, going vegan, but that's that's a hypothesis. but so So I don't think it's necessarily, ah i don't think there's a lot to be taken here from ah from a potential beneficial stance for for animals in a whole... Thank you. I'm not sure that we can put a positive spin on the next story, but let's see. Paul, our next story details an animal outlook investigation into animal abuse and negligence on a salmon farm in Maine. This is something I believe was covered very, very briefly last week.
00:10:51
Speaker
And this now we're going into little bit more depth on it. What did you make of this story? Yes, I think this is, ah like you say, it's building on that. ah The main focus of this particular story is around attempts and and I think a drive by the government in the States to essentially supersize, is the phrase, the fish farming industry. like And there's a lot of comparisons to what happened in the nineteen fifty s to to chicken. um But again, no surprises. this is all about ah This is all about profit and greed again. We have covered in other stories about what sort of problems we can see from fish farming in terms of the
00:11:30
Speaker
disease and impact on the environment and the and the yeah the health of the fish and and dying. And it it seems to be very much this stance, a sort of Trump stance of making America sort of ah self-sufficient and not, it's all about trade and not having to um import fish and being ah self-sufficient in in this sort of product and it that's all ah what this is really about and really ignoring the evidence that is out there about what what happens when you increase this sort of activity.
Environmental Impact of Fish Farming
00:12:02
Speaker
i think something that's worth
00:12:04
Speaker
pointing out here is you rightly say, Shane, I don't think there's any positive spin on this at all. Obviously, we like to report positive stories on the show because that's a lovely reason for people to listen to the show. But I would hope that to some degree, people listen to the show to hear what's going on and for that to inform their activism and advocacy for animals. And to me, the increase in inland fish farms, seafood farms is something that is increasing. And that's some advocacy that we need to perhaps increase our efforts towards. I've just brought up here like what the proportion of
00:12:45
Speaker
fish and seafood that is exploited. how What proportion of that happens in inland fisheries and ponds and farms compared to out in coastal areas? And 62.6% was reported um in the State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2024 So normally the figure that we quote is 50%, but actually in many regards, it's even higher than that. So that's that's a big thing that we can very quickly convey to people, isn't it, as vegans and animal advocates. And just that one fact alone could really change people's perceptions of the animals that they're eating, which they might think live free and happy lives until the worst day of their life when they're asphyxiated unnecessarily. And I think that's a real quick and easy one that we can convey to people. i think there's a couple of things here i was just going to add in as well. and i think there might be a slight, well, there might be a slight positive here because it's talking about the um the the government, federal government, if you like, driving this as a direction change and supporting the industry. But but of course, and Shane will know this better than any of us on the on the on the ah show, that There is state laws that can sometimes prevent um and resist these sorts of change. And it does seem that Washington is called out as a state that has um last year banned commercial net pen aquaculture. So whether there'd be some resistance at a state level to this sort of drive is a possible. But, you know, you've got you've got crazy claims from the USDA saying aquaculture is one of the most environmentally inefficient ways of producing animal protein.
00:14:22
Speaker
but Well, we we know that's not the case in terms of the environmental impact. And also this whole article was a lot of articles that talk about meat is basically setting up saying like you've you've you've got to eat you've got to eat meat or some kind of protein and you've got to have um you've got to think about the environment. You know, it's A or B, whereas really the choice is C. C for compassion, stop eating animals. There you go. That's your solution. I i i think I read that the concern that Washington had was not necessarily about animal welfare, but about the fact that some of these salmon do escape into the waters around there. And I don't think they want their stocks or their wild stocks contaminated. I know a lot of people that eat salmon, a lot of salmon, and I don't know if they think it's a healthier choice or if they think it's like kinder. But I did notice in the the article that they were talking about how True North, which is the brand that the salmon is sold under, is certified as BAP, which is Best Aquaculture Practices.
00:15:22
Speaker
And I think this just shows you cannot ever trust these welfare labels. They're just all lies. you know Obviously, what was detailed in the story about how the fish were treated is not in any way a wealth view good for the fish. It could be considered animal welfare.
00:15:37
Speaker
Yeah, it's the same as, know, we've got the Red Tractor in the UK and they're they're just kind of covers for ah mock kind of welfare, I think, really. um Yeah, I think...
00:15:48
Speaker
i don't But I don't know how and how much people put credence on it in this country on that particular label. I think it's kind of got a pretty low value. But I guess some others in some other countries may well may well have some more credibility. Okay, well, let's see if you can find a positive spin on this next story.
Exotic Animals in Captivity
00:16:03
Speaker
Anthony, this one comes out of Germany. So we've been to the United States. We've been to Spain. Now we're heading to Germany. and This is a sad story, I think. um Can you tell us a little bit about what's happened here?
00:16:17
Speaker
Well, I'll give you the positive is that one of this tiger's exploiters was seriously injured. So there there we go. there There's something for us to rally behind and say that this tiger who now is no longer amongst us, and they've been shot dead by the police. But one of the BBC reports is one of its keepers. Well, yeah, literally a keeper, wasn't it? It was an exploiter. 72-year-old man seriously injured. after being attacked whilst he was inside the animal's enclosure. I mean, just pause for a moment and think, what must have had to happen to that animal such that one of its keepers felt that it could be safe to be inside the enclosure with it?
00:17:00
Speaker
Of course it wasn't, but you know that there will have been some element of risk assessing going on even just inside this man's head and you know, I'm being a bit tongue-in-cheek, of course I don't really want somebody to be seriously injured, but goodness sake, you you sometimes get what you deserve, don't you? So this is believed to be surrounding the controversial trainer and private owner Carmen Zander, who describes herself as Germany's Tiger Queen. Hmm, I can think of some but more apt phrases. Perhaps um one of eight big cats kept at an industrial site near the German town of Schuditz. Probably said that wrong. Someone can correct me if they want. Police officers shot the animal dead. It was a male tiger. to eliminate any further risk to the public. Nearby residents have said, oh my goodness, this is terrifying. This is worrying. um It's unthinkable. What could have happened if anyone else had been harmed?
00:18:00
Speaker
I mean, do we need any more signs that this is a stupid thing for people to do? Obviously, the the fact that these are such, don't want to call them dangerous animals, that that they're dangerous to humans if we're you know, fraternising with them.
00:18:14
Speaker
They don't need to be dangerous. We we normally keep well away from such animals, don't we? So yeah, I mean, the only hope can be that that this is a further underlying why this is a ridiculous pastime.
00:18:27
Speaker
And I mean, it's my perception that this is rapidly decreasing as an acceptable thing to do. Would that be your perception, Paul, Shane? i would have I'm surprised that Germany even allowed it. Yeah. Because um I would have thought that they would have outlawed this. It's been outlawed in so many places. i'm I'm surprised that she's allowed to keep these tigers because she does like pet, like has people come and pet them and and everything. And that seems very dangerous to the public. Yeah, I agree. I think exactly the same. I suppose we've certainly in the European context, you hold up Germany, and I think, as a fairly progressive country in terms of animal welfare. And this does seem to go against that because essentially what she's running here is ah is a kind of small mini circus, isn't it, really? And I i don't know what the German law is on on on circuses, animals ah in circuses, but it feels like it's kind of almost branching into that, but just in a kind of private party, you very expensive kind of experience. But it's she's ultimately exploiting the animals for profit. Lo and behold, always the way. Yeah, no love lost for the chap who got a little bit injured there. That's kind of on his own head, I think. I do wonder that, you know, with it we we read, well we've we've covered lots of stories, haven't we, where animals have escaped and the immediate human reaction is kill it kill it um and it's like well i don't know with some of them there might be cases saying we can't do anything else but you know are they are they not are they not some kind of stun or or sort of mechanisms that can be used and why don't the police hold that sort of equipment if if you know if they need it it wouldn't seem beyond the wit of budget or a reason with it so that was a strange one why don't the people who are insisting on keeping these animals captive why isn't that part of their risk assessment for keeping it if it is indeed legal surely you should have a measure that says if this animal does get out here's the way that we can safely but not lethally stop it in its tracks but of of course they're not they're not thinking in those terms are they
00:20:30
Speaker
Well, I guess my question is, to should they should a captive tiger ever be blamed for attacking a human when the humans have brought them into the situation? i mean, the tiger died and the human is still alive.
00:20:42
Speaker
So the the tiger got blamed for this. Absolutely. Absolutely. Silly, silly, greedy humans. Yeah, yeah. It's interesting, isn't it? The one thing that jumped out at me is the locals saying and yeah it was terrible and worrying, with one claiming the animals were not kept in the appropriate conditions, which I think you find might be the wild.
00:21:01
Speaker
You mean Leipzig? i mean you mean leipzig Yeah. The amazing light big tigers that you hear about. Yeah. yeah But if they know that, then why is this allowed to continue? Why was she allowed to keep these tigers if they know that they're not being treated well?
00:21:19
Speaker
It just seems like there were so many warning signs that something bad could happen and it was ignored. Yeah. Well, hopefully this is the catalyst for that change, eh? Oh, we can hope. So Paul, ah this next story is about a grocery store.
Ethics of Exotic Meat Consumption
00:21:33
Speaker
And this is Stainsbury's, which I believe is in the UK. And yeah, this news is out of the UK. But this store is carrying three new meats. And personally, I wouldn't think that would actually be a news story that a grocery store has some new products. But um maybe you can tell us what's significant about this. Yeah, this is ah from the Express, which is not is's more of a right-leaning newspaper for those of you not in the UK. It and it's underlying the obsession with yeah humans trying to find other sentient beings to... to eat and slaughter and make themselves ill on. Yeah, it's regarding an organisation rather, well, a laughingly, but it's not laughing, called Lion's Kingdom, um all about providing what they term exotic meat. So we're talking things like ostrich, I think, and um that kind of thing, antelope, buffalo, for example. You know, that whole image of, that whole classic image of like, you are not a lion, know, You are not going out on the Serengeti Plains to kill these things. You are going to Sainsbury's or Aldi to get this stuff. It's a bit comical in that sense. My initial reading on this, and they're billing this as a kind of healthy, ethical meat. I mean, yeah, i don't know where the evidence is for that, but that's what they're billing it as. My initial statement was to say, i reckon this will be off the shelves in a year.
00:23:00
Speaker
But sadly, I did a bit more reading about it. And this is also stocked in other big supermarkets over here. It's in Tesco's, it's in Aldi. Okada were selling it. So it feels a bit like a maybe it's a bit of a I'm hoping it's a flash in the pan is really not the right phrase. But um I think it might be something like that. And I also think psychologically that humans.
00:23:23
Speaker
who do eat meat are still a bit funny about what they eat. They're kind of, we've we've had years of tradition, not us, but there's years of tradition of eating certain types of meat. And I think a lot of people are just not ready to kind of try these other things. So I'm kind of hoping that drives its eventual um yeah demise, basically. Yeah, it's it's um ah for for me the most insidious thing about this, other than the fact that it's just another needless bit of exploitation of an animal that just doesn't need to be, is the fact that at the bottom of the packages here and ah for the Lion's Kingdom product, It has the audacity to mention a donation to lionlandscapes.org, charities protecting wild lion populations. How much is donated from these packs that ah retail between ยฃ4 and
00:24:15
Speaker
Two pence, two pence. That's yeah that's right. Between 0.5 and 0.33% of the retail price goes to charity. And you go on the website and the first thing they say that Lion Landscapes does, um we stop the loss of wildlife.
00:24:34
Speaker
Do you really? Well, I mean, this product is not doing that, is it? It's like you're literally taking animals that are synonymous with wildlife, ostrich, buffalo, antelope like how much more how much more cognitive dissonance does one need it's ridiculous i think you were getting close to the the truth paul in terms of what should happen i i think anyone that does want to eat like a lion wants to eat these things i think you know head out to the serengeti and go and live amongst them and you know best of luck to you best of luck perhaps you'll end up like the uh Like the Leipzig tiger keeper. I'm not advocating for people being killed, but, you know, yeah make your bed and lie in it, I reckon. there's ah Also, the marketing's a load of nonsense anyway, is it because it's they're saying about, oh, it represents healthier protein, but of incredible value.
00:25:30
Speaker
ah Well, oldie tofu, 89p. Yeah. 10 of chickpeas, 49p. Yeah, exactly. so It's just, it' it's a nonsense. What I thought was quite interesting, because it's got quite a tie-in with the rugby sort of image, because the guy who owns it as ex-rugby player, and he's got, as it might tinder, isn't it? And I think to help with the kind of promotion, I guess, really, whether he's on the board of directors, apparently. But I think this just portrays a really old-fashioned, retired athletic view
00:26:01
Speaker
um of like you know meat for protein and strength and stuff and your modern athletes as we know there's there's loads of them have issued meat now and then they're looking at a much more scientific approach to training and being elite athletes so to me this just represents like old-fashioned approach to to diet and you know again hopefully the more a younger generation will just just kind of see it as a nonsense but but i mean I know this is a ah complete bit of PR, that this piece, that is is clearly just a press release that they've sent in to the Express.
00:26:35
Speaker
But they do mention, they they call it ethical meat. The brand pride themselves in offering, amongst other things, ethical meat. That's not qualified anywhere. Yeah. I'm assuming it's ethical because they're donating to wildlife. That's what makes it wildlife.
00:26:55
Speaker
I mean, but that's what that's what I'm thinking makes their thing, makes it ethical. So by killing the wildlife, they're conserving the wildlife, which is what hunters are always telling us.
00:27:07
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, we we shouldn't expect there to be a watertight argument from ah from these kind of companies. But yeah, what load of nonsense, eh? Well, thank you, Paul and Anthony, for all your thoughts on those stories. um Just a minute, we're going to hear Ant and Paul's picks of the week. One is about donkey rides being banned.
00:27:30
Speaker
And one is asking if the UK's climate goals are harming animal welfare standards. Yes, but before we hear the picks for the week, remember that transcripts are available for every show. Head over to Zencastr, that's Z-E-N-C-A-S-T-R dot com slash vegan hyphen week.
00:27:48
Speaker
And from there, any show you click on will have a written transcript beneath it. Remember that these transcripts are AI generated, so they may not be 100% accurate, but nonetheless, they make our shows more accessible. And we're delighted they're available to anyone who's interested in consuming our content in this way. Okay, so Anthony, let's do your pick of the week first. Go ahead and give us a breakdown of the story. Tell us why you chose it.
00:28:11
Speaker
Well, this story also comes from The Express that had the yeah press release about ostrich steaks et al.
Animal Welfare Concerns in Public Spaces
00:28:20
Speaker
And like Paul says, they tend to be not the most vegan-friendly of institutions, but Their headline here, though, we've got donkey rides at UK Seaside Resort banned after 100 years of operation. And then the little sub headline mentions the fact that the practice has been criticised for years. So they are are not taking the line of, oh, this is awful. Oh, these these things used to be brilliant. And now they're being taken away, which there is some comment on Facebook about. But actually, if you follow this story on Facebook, you find that almost everyone is saying, thank goodness for that. Like, I i don't like the fact that there have been donkeys on this beach for a long time. like When I looked into it, i thought, oh, i wonder if
00:29:09
Speaker
some vegan news site somewhere has got wind of this, published it, and then, you know, a hundred people have commented against it. But it doesn't seem to be just clicking on random people's names. They seem to be Welsh names. They seem to be people who live in and around the vicinity. So Porth Call is the the beach resort in Bridgend County in Wales.
00:29:31
Speaker
They have been having donkey rides on on the beach for more than a century. Obviously, lots of people have criticised that, but not enough for it to stop. The reason, however, it is stopping seems to be, or the official reason, is the fact that this beach, like many beaches that have quite a lot of tourists or lot of visitors in the summer months, they have a ban of dogs on the beach between May the 1st and September the 30th. So in in Britain, that's that's the hottest time of the year. And that ban is normally in place because of hygiene and just the number of people who are on the beach and and things like that. And the the local authority is saying, well, we're extending this ban now to include donkeys.
00:30:18
Speaker
I'm interested in in that. I wonder whether they're giving that as a palatable reason, but perhaps they're thinking, hmm, don't think this is is a good idea anymore. I guess we won't know unless we manage to find someone from the from the council who's willing to to go on the record and say something.
00:30:36
Speaker
But the bottom line is is that it's been banned. There's a bit of pushback from people saying, oh, I'm in the donkey riding business. This is awful. This is my family's business. There's also, it seems like this town has had quite a few changes recently. The amusement arcade on that beach, I think, was closed last year. That that wasn't anything to do with animals or animal rights or anything like that. So I think there's a few people saying, oh These attractions are going, no one will come here anymore. I mean, I'd be surprised if anyone went to that beach specifically for the donkey riding. But if you did, get with the times. It's 2026. Most people don't seem to be in favour of... of it. There was one person on on Facebook, bless her, she did what a lot of vegans will do when there's a non-vegan story on online, you know responding to every comment by saying, well, consider the alternative, blah, blah, blah. Sarah Jones has really has really put in a lot of work, but the public consensus on social media is not with her. you know She got one or two likes for her comments and all the ones saying, hooray for the donkeys. We're getting like 100 likes. I know that's just ah a crude barometer. Quite a few folks saying, ah what's going to happen to these donkeys? they going to be rehomed? And that that is ah a valid query. But I mean, a few people seem to be saying, well, what's going to happen to those donkeys now? They need rehoming. Well, yeah, OK, but that's like a better problem, isn't it? You don't just say, well, let's continue to exploit them because we don't know where they're going to live if we stop exploiting them. that's That's not really an argument. So yeah, good good news there. I think the more kind of similar to our our first story where we were saying, well, African swine flu isn't necessarily the the way that we might choose for the pork industry in Europe to be in the decline. But if it if it helps put a nail in the coffin,
00:32:38
Speaker
then we'll take it And I think where there's legitimate reasons for, whether it's horse carriages in New York or or whatever, where there's legal loopholes that that help us get a foot in the door, I think there's a lot of people that don't like seeing this stuff going on, just everyday people in this town.
00:32:56
Speaker
just seem to be saying, we don't want this anymore. Like, please stop doing this. We're delighted that this practice is stopping. So however this has come about in truth, not just the official line, well done to whoever's made it happen would would be my opinion. i think my concern, too, was about the donkeys, not because I think we should keep exploiting them, but just like what is going to happen to those donkeys. And it sort of bothered me that the local council just sidestepped the issue of the donkeys by saying, oh, we're banning all animals from the beach. I wish they had addressed the issue of the donkey rides and maybe made some provision for them. But maybe, i don't know, they're just afraid of of people arguing with them or something. I don't know why they why they made this ruling the way that they did. that I think the the risk, I mean, this is this risk is being significantly lowered now. But when people's experience of non-human animals is in domestic environments, human-centric environments, whether it's having them as companion animals in their home animals, animals being exploited on the beach, in the circus, at the zoo, or what have you.
00:34:07
Speaker
You're always going to look at things through a human-centric lens. And you're not going to Like some of the comments on Facebook... know I keep going on about Facebook here. But like people saying, oh, that that they really enjoyed their job. that The donkeys really enjoyed the company. Or they'd say things like, oh, they... One person said, the donkeys are looked after better than some kids. I mean, I think that might just be a comment on how well kids are looked after in Porthcourt. But like... I don't think if you see donkeys in a natural environment and then you see them on the beach in Porthcourt, you're going to say things like, oh, they they used to love it there. They don't.
00:34:42
Speaker
like They might have shown interest in when a human comes along because they associate humans with food. But if you if you give them the choice of living in that exploited environment or, oh, I can just wander around with my pals in in the wild. I don't know anywhere where donkeys do just wander around in the wild, but but, but, but it would have happened at one point, wouldn't it? Or their, their ancestors would have done like the, the donkey's not going to say, yeah, go on, put a muzzle on me. Like have a kid on my back. I'll have a sniff of an ice cream. I'll be looked after better than the children of Porthcourt. Like they're not going to choose that, are they? So we,
00:35:17
Speaker
We kind of need to take animals out of these unnatural environments to kind of give us a chance as a species to look at animals in the real light, as opposed to this distorted world that we've created, I think. Yeah, I think there's that there's always that danger of, and it's the word I've always struggled to say, that anthropomorphize. Have I said it right? Yeah, I think I have. yessh of of And and and no vegans are guilty doing that as well, but that kind of is a bit childish. she to go, oh, well, it looks happy because it's sort of standing there and not kind of saying, i don't like this. it so well you're Not trying to bite your face off. Yeah, it looks happy.
00:35:52
Speaker
It's not a scientific study, is it, really? I thought what's quite interesting with this one, and I hadn't thought of your view and about maybe that was how the council were trying to kind of do it a bit kind of um surreptitiously. But it does say it's a weird statement. Actually, Bridgend Council said it recognises the importance of seaside attractions such as this.
00:36:13
Speaker
Now, I don't know. kind of open to interpretation. Does it mean things entertain children or things that involve animals? I don't quite know how to interpret that. So it's an interesting statement, I thought. But, yeah.
00:36:25
Speaker
yeah But you don't usually associate donkeys with the seaside. i mean, the you know, yeah a seaside attraction to me is like a... boat or something i don't know we've got some weird practices in the uk so i'm learning yeah yeah i mean i think i as i always think it's interesting as well to look at what the the carers slash owners of the of the um animals are saying as well um and they're saying here we have to keep the donkeys because they're our lives we can't get rid of them what they really mean is they're our they're income that's what we can't get rid of them it's not like we wouldn't get rid of them because we love them it's like so I'm not going to sell my taxi because that's how I make my money basically so you know no no um no sympathy there um and you know you've got I think you said and some of the comments are a bit silly someone's saying it's ripping the heart out of the community we want a seaside town so we need to attract tourists i mean I guess they might be making ah a bit of a pitch for a sea world or something like that in Porthcool so who knows Maybe they could just get some bicycles and the kids could ride bicycles by the beach. That seems like a safe thing to do. Maybe they could have monkeys riding the bicycles or toucans or something like you get. That's probably they want. No, no. Just for those German tigers down there. That sounded pretty safe and foolproof to me. yeah
00:37:46
Speaker
Let's not give them any ideas. ah Paul, you had a pick of the week as well as also out of the UK, and it was also about animal welfare, in a sense.
Climate Goals vs. Animal Welfare
00:37:57
Speaker
So what was your pick about? So this, this is a really, this is a really interesting article. And I'd say to anyone listening, if they don't normally ah click on the links, I would really urge them to have a look at this one because it's It's quite quite and it's quite a long read, I guess, for an article, and it really does throw up different thoughts as you read through it. Certainly did for me anyway, but ultimately what this article is trying to say...
00:38:24
Speaker
and we'll get on to why it's trying to say it, I think, is that the drive to produce, sorry, the drive to reduce environmental emissions is, as a consequence, impacting animal welfare in a negative sense. So when I first read that, I thought, OK, where's where' is this coming from? Because it sounds like an absolute...
00:38:48
Speaker
classic case and initially to me of someone making something up to try and defend something whether it's your industry or profit etc so what you have here is um a a government advisory body who are and this is the awc as animal welfare committee basically saying If we keep almost like a singular focus on um environmental impacts, so of as we all know, so the the methane that's produced from cows, for example, that that may mean that we start making decisions that impacts animal welfare negatively.
00:39:29
Speaker
So I was reading through it and it's a really interesting read and I feel like I haven't quite done it justice yet and I need to read through it again. But there seems to be some good suggestions or some some some reasonable justification for it.
00:39:44
Speaker
But I kept getting a feeling that it wasn't genuine and that you know there was a lot a lot of methane to be smelt here. um I think there is...
00:39:55
Speaker
underlying this when you go through the story some way it calls out the fact that you've got food chains including kfc nando's wagamamas and burger king have all pulled out of the better chicken commitment to not use so-called franken chickens and switch to slower growing breeds and ah this is where i think it starts to smell a bit bullshitty because nando's are quoted as saying switching would almost double the carbon footprint because they need more feed, more space and more time to grow. All those nasty things for animals, you know. So it very much starts to feel like a bit of a, you got, we care about animals. So what we're going to do is you don't want to start doing these environmental things because that will be bad for animals. And I think it's starting to feel just like a bit of a front for it, basically. But it's really difficult because I looked into the AWC a bit and they seem to have made some quite interesting stances for animals in the past. They're made up by an interesting group of people. There are a lot of vets on there, but, you know, we all know that vets can be in the pocket of industry quite a lot, I think, in terms of agriculture.
00:41:01
Speaker
What the article doesn't mention is that there's also farmers on this board, and that seems to be the only job, if you like, that they don't mention in their in their article. So that that seems a bit suspicious. So yeah, i as I say, it's a long article, needs a bit of a read, but ultimately I'm left with a bit of a sour taste that it's probably not ah a genuine article. And it feels like it's probably been hijacked. They sort of hijacked the um the environmental concern to try and essentially reduce animal normal welfare and and the final bit i was just going to say on this before i let others speak is that it does seem to all the things it quotes about that are negative effects of focusing on environmental aspects seem to be the things that farming as an industry is doing already without that driver so you know pushing for maximum profit maximum yield e etc so
00:41:56
Speaker
I think it's just, this is stuff that would already go on anyway without having that driver of environmental laws or, um you know, um changes that need to be made in the industry.
00:42:08
Speaker
Yeah, I think you're right, Paul. That's, in a sense, the arguments being used here are moot. i I think if you were to take some of the conclusions of this article, you would be highlighting what a hardcore animal, abolition an abolitionist vegan would say is that like, well, this is this is the danger in in and sort of trying to do things incrementally to to improve outcomes for animals is that you...
00:42:36
Speaker
you know, you reach a dead end and and so things backpedal. I'm not sure I disagree, sorry, I'm not sure I agree with that entirely in that if you imagine trying to have a sort of very Socratic and ah philosophical conversation with somebody about animal rights and veganism, you wouldn't just keep saying, go vegan, go vegan, go vegan. You would explore different things with them and and incrementally shut down each avenue where they were saying, yeah, but what about this? Or how about if I do it like this? So I i don't necessarily think this is proof that a welfarist approach doesn't work in in conjunction with a more hardline abolitionist approach but it's it's maybe maybe we start to see more and more of these efforts from animal ag to say well what about if we do it like this maybe we kind of need them to try that so that the public
00:43:36
Speaker
perception is, well, you tried that and it didn't work. So what other solutions have you got you know to to satisfy the... that that There is an appetite from the public for you know the food they eat to be environmentally sound and to be high welfare and and things like that. Even though we know a lot of that is nonsense and is just marketing. I do think that exploring these avenues and proving them to be not possible is maybe part of the journey and of evolution that we need as a species to move towards a ah vegan world. Or it might just be being needlessly optimistic. Well, one thing I remember us discussing when we were talking about the chicken producers and the frankenchicken relates to this article article because one of the arguments for the frankenchicken was that it's more climate friendly because
00:44:31
Speaker
if you allow chickens to grow more slowly, then they are going to produce more waste. They're going to be, it's going to be worse for the environment. remember discussing that at the time and saying that, you know, basically what they were arguing was like, oh, this like treating chickens badly. Well, I mean, it's all bad, but treating them this horrible way is better for the climate. And that's what this article is saying, that you can't have...
00:45:00
Speaker
climate and animal welfare together. That's exactly it I think it's it's, again, it's that bit like that earlier article. It's kind of going, you got ah you can have A or you can have B. And either choosing A or B means that the industry is protected.
00:45:15
Speaker
If you have A and B, which is what kind of going on, they're going to lose money and they don't want to do that. So that's that's that's the feeling I had. It's kind of almost going, well, if you you can only have one thing and then we'll be we'll we'll be okay with that. But you can't have both because that just means we're not going to make enough money. Yeah, and I think that um really what the government's trying to do is just, they're just twisting themselves into knots to make animal agriculture climate friendly. But what they could do is just do the actual climate friendly thing of getting rid of animal agriculture.
00:45:45
Speaker
And that would be better for everybody, for the climate and the animals. Yeah, because I mean, even even even in the article, it says, um you know, we're we're we're in this ah growing tension in modern agriculture of how to reconcile climate targets with animal welfare outcomes.
00:46:00
Speaker
Well, go vegan. That's that's the solution. Chickpeas. There you go. it's The answer is simple, but they don't want to look at the simple answer. No, they'll eventually have to, won't they? Let you know. i know animals are suffering and they're in a state of emergency, but i I do think sometimes people need to be left to explore that there are no other alternatives. And yeah, veganism really is what you need to do. Come on. You've had a look at all the alternatives. Now, now, now come over to the light side. No, no, grow up. No.
00:46:32
Speaker
All right, well, let's hope that that happens soon. um Listeners, if you have enjoyed the the podcast or if we have said something that just really annoys you, let us know. We are happy to hear your opinions, good or bad. You can get in touch with us by messaging us on Instagram or Facebook or by emailing us. Paul, what is our email again?
00:46:54
Speaker
Our email address is enoughofthefalafel, that's a one word, at gmail.com. And just a reminder that um we read each and every response and email that we get. And, you know, we'll look to feature them on our mailbag shows when we have those. Unless, of course, you don't want us to.
00:47:10
Speaker
Thank you. We've got one last story to cover on this episode, and it it is about a trawling ban in
Positive Outcomes of Trawling Ban
00:47:16
Speaker
Scotland. So it's been nearly a decade since Scotland established the South Arun Marine Protected Area.
00:47:23
Speaker
Okay, thank you. Marine Protected Area and banned bottom trawling across much of it. And in that time, they found, a new study found that life on the seafloor has thrived and scientists studying the area found three times more seabed organisms and twice as many species as compared to the nearby unprotected waters.
00:47:42
Speaker
Okay. So one thing I thought interesting in the story, and Paul, what do you think? i've I found that they said that Europe's seabeds are the most trawled in the world And that heavy fishing gear has been dragged across the seafloor there since at least the mid 14th century, destroying those ecosystems. So did, I mean, did that surprise you at all? It surprised me because I hadn't read the story much earlier on and I've only just heard that now. And it just jumps out as a kind of like, whoa, you know, cause it's, I'm kind of what, what were they using? Like there's straight away. It's like, yeah, I didn't know that at all. And that, that that is is surprising in more ways than one. Yeah. Yeah.
00:48:20
Speaker
Anthony, had you read this story? Do you have any comments on it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. yeah it's it's um It's lovely to see but but because very often, you know, real wilding or just leaving nature alone is cited vegans, animal advocates as a viable thing to do And we will say, if we just do that, you know, nature will find a way. It will return. It will recover. It will be better for everyone.
00:48:49
Speaker
And that you know there aren't many examples of it because capitalism, greed, etc., etc., it's more likely that nature is being displaced by you know greedy farmers and animal exploiters. So to find examples of where a government or or whoever has decided, let's just let things return to their natural state,
00:49:11
Speaker
When we do have that, we we want to capitalize on it. Hooray for Ben Harris, the marine ecologist at the University of Exeter, for highlighting the positive things.
00:49:22
Speaker
Though, discerning listeners will remember it wasn't that long ago that we were reporting on the horrendous, horrendous shrimp welfare project, University of Exeter thing, where they were saying, look at all the sustainable king prawn that we can farm inland. University of Exeter have have said, look, we found these ways that we can exploit millions of animals. with And and i'm i'm I'm wondering whether their approach or people in the department
00:49:54
Speaker
of marine biology at the University Exeter is not saying, oh, don't don't bottom trawl the ocean. it's It's bad for the ocean. It's a bad thing to do Go vegan. I'm wondering if they're saying, don't bottom trawl the ocean. It's a bad thing to do Use inland shrimp farms. That's that's the solution. And and we've got to hope that that's that's not the case. But um this in isolation is is great news, isn't it?
00:50:21
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's great news that it's finally being left alone after hundreds and hundreds of years. And you've got these lovely little pictures, like if you scroll down, of these tiny little beings that have flourished and are doing really, really well. So yeah, that's a nice positive thing. Don't put that in an inland fish farm, you know?
00:50:42
Speaker
just Just let it be. It's fine. Eat some chickpeas, season it with seaweed. Everyone's a winner. Thank you, Anthony and Paul, ah for your contributions today. Thank you to those of you also who have donated to our Ko-Fi page. If you have a few extra dollars or pounds or euros that you want to throw our way, you can find us at ko-fi.com, K-O-Dash.
00:51:06
Speaker
F I.com slash enough of the falafel. And that link's going to be in the show notes. If you're not sure how to spell all that, ah you don't have to donate a lot. We accept as little as one pound a month.
00:51:17
Speaker
Anthony, are there any other ways that people can support the show? Oh, loads, loads. Most podcast apps give you the chance to rate the podcast you're listening to. So that helps.
00:51:28
Speaker
I mean, as long as it's a positive one, but you wouldn't say anything else, would you listeners? ah Sometimes you can comment on episodes. Spotify allows that. So just leaving a little comment after you've listened tells Spotify that ah people are engaging with this episode. Maybe it's interesting. So that helps. But probably favourite one is just tell someone that you think will like it because if they like one episode, they might like loads. And it's like a free gift that you're giving to someone. So that's a lovely thing. Another thing you could do is you could listen to something that we've said in the show and think,
00:52:02
Speaker
ah I could do something about that. I could sign a petition. I could blow blah, blah, blah. The story you mentioned very briefly at the top, Shane, about Peter wanting a tombstone for the sheep killed on on that road um in Shropshire, that is literally about 10, 15 minutes drive away from me. So i'll I'll give them a few weeks and see if they put something up. But if not, I might hammer a little sign into the roadside myself you know why not then everyone wins don't they but yeah thank you in advance listeners for anything you can do to spread the love so thank you everyone for listening the next enough of the falafel episode coming out will be vegan talk and that will be available from the 28th of may and that will be featuring all three of us here now and that's anthony shane and myself and we'll be discussing in inflatable animals and animal costumes at protests and demos from a vegan perspective
00:52:56
Speaker
I was thinking that that could be like inflatable animals. I was thinking puffer fish. Are there any others that like inflate themselves? I can't think of any more. Jellyfish? Toads.
00:53:07
Speaker
Toads. Toads. Yes. but from But crucially, they're choosing when they inflate themselves. That's that's their choice. Yeah. their bodily autonomy. Anyway, that's enough of the falafel for this episode. Thank you, Shane. Thank you, Paul, for your contributions. Thanks everyone for listening. We wouldn't do it without you. I've been Anthony. You've been listening to Vegan Week from the Enough of the Falafel Collective.
00:53:33
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. We use music and special effects by zapsplap.com.
00:53:48
Speaker
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.
00:54:14
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...
00:54:35
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.
00:54:49
Speaker
Thanks for your ongoing support wherever you listen to us from.