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256- Is it speciesist to have so much dog news in one week?
17 Plays35 minutes ago
We can honestly say it was down to luck! A mixed bag for dogs this week, with a convicted dog abuser winning top prize at Crufts, dog-rescuers at MBR Acres avoiding convictions and the confusing story of British vets flying to China to care for dogs. As well as canine stories, Ant, Shane & Kate analyse a total of 9 bits of animal rights/vegan news from the last 7 days.
Like what we do? Want to help it sound even better? Join our KoFi gang here: https://ko-fi.com/ENOUGHOFTHEFALAFEL
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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.google.com/amp/s/metro.co.uk/2026/03/10/crufts-champion-convicted-animal-cruelty-keeping-filthy-dogs-kennel-27345556/amp/
https://wildbeimwild.com/en/choking-spitting-death-threats-hobby-hunters-versus-animal-rights-activists-%E2%80%93-a-documented-pattern/
https://www.thisisoxfordshire.co.uk/news/25920197.oxford-campaigners-join-greyhound-racing-awards-protest/
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/14W6vpxdze1/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8xy79llvero
https://www.farminguk.com/news/uk-sheep-numbers-fall-to-lowest-level-in-living-memory_68136.html
https://progressivegrocer.com/ahold-delhaize-usa-renews-commitment-cage-free-eggs
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.express.co.uk/news/politics/2179206/labour-270000-vegan-diet-research-farm-closures-record-defra-net-zero/amp
https://www.idausa.org/campaign/wild-animals-and-habitats/latest-news/tell-canada-protect-seal-families-not-the-brutal-fur-industry/
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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!
Kate, Shane & Ant
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Transcript
Introduction and Show Structure
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello everyone, it's vegan and animal rights news time and you are in the right place. My name's Anthony, I'm here with Kate, I'm here with Shane, but that is enough with the falafel, it's time for vegan week.
00:00:12
Speaker
So I think vegans go looking for trouble even when they're not looking for trouble. That's not what butter's used for. Brrr! Brody! Take your lab-grown meat elsewhere. We're not doing that in the state of Florida.
00:00:24
Speaker
Should I call the media and say, hi, sorry? True education. younger generation are getting to know how brutal these practices are. That leaves a lot of pizza delivery companies in problems with their fingers.
00:00:36
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.
00:00:49
Speaker
Does veganism give him superpowers?
00:00:55
Speaker
I cannot fly around the city. I don't have laser vision. Yay! Hello everybody. It's lovely that you're here with us today. this is Kate with you.
00:01:05
Speaker
Thank you so much for listening to us. And now I'm going stop falafeling and hand over to Shane. Hey, everyone, this is Shane. You're listening to Vegan Week, which is our weekly news show where we discuss vegan and animal rights news from the last week or so.
00:01:23
Speaker
But that's enough the falafel. Let's hear what's been going on this week.
00:01:29
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.
Ethics of Dog Breeding for Shows
00:01:41
Speaker
Okay, we are starting just a couple of dozen miles down the road from me where last weekend crufts the notorious, from an animal rights point of view, or famous, ah probably for most of the population, animal show, specifically dog show that's been going on many, many years. It's been making the headlines this week.
00:02:06
Speaker
We've got this one from the Metro. Cruft's champion was convicted of animal cruelty for keeping filthy dogs in kennel. This has been covered in many different news sources.
00:02:19
Speaker
I've got mixed feelings about it because it does seem to be a ah little toxic, sort of gratuitous, oh, we're going to revel in the fact that somebody did something bad in the past once.
00:02:30
Speaker
However, when you look at the facts, there are clearly innocent sentient beings suffering at the hands of somebody that's won a big gong this week. So the name of the chap is Lee Cox. He led four-year-old Clumber Spaniel Bruin around the main arena in the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham. More than two decades ago, in 2001, he was prosecuted by the RSPCA over concerns about the state of Caston Kennels. When he was then 29, that's when that was happening, he was convicted of causing unnecessary damage to a black cocker spaniel man. Named Adam Cox alongside his business partner Roger Stone received a three year conditional discharge and were ordered to pay £5,000.
00:03:23
Speaker
five thousand pounds Neither of them were banned from keeping dogs. It was reported at the time Shane, we've asked you to look at this one. Did you get any hint of the kind of like, oh, I don't like the dragging up things that happened in 2001? Or is it it is it just, is it different when it comes to animal abuse? You know, it should it be that you do something bad 20 years ago that that should that should change things? Well, just think that this is one of those stories that vegans would be like, well, of course he's been convicted of animal abuse. Basically, the whole dog breeding industry is animal abuse. And finally, the media had the same feeling that we had.
00:04:05
Speaker
And um they were like, wow, isn't this ironic that somebody who's supposed to care about dogs was abusing them? And it makes you wonder, you know, if just because he hasn't been convicted again in 20 years, if that's, you know, if he's really had a clean record or he just hasn't been investigated again.
00:04:23
Speaker
i think the theme of this story, as usual, is about profit. I feel like a lot of times we're covering stories about corporations making a profit off of animals. And my stories today are more about individuals being at fault.
00:04:38
Speaker
And i think the whole competition, the whole crafts competition is cruelty because basically what's happening in a competition like this is that breeders are engineering extreme features in dogs in order to win.
00:04:51
Speaker
So Bruin, who is, like you said, a clumber spaniel, I had never heard of that breed. So i I, you know, looked at the pictures in the article and then I also went back and looked at like pictures of them a long time ago, the clumber spaniels, and they don't look the same.
00:05:07
Speaker
And what they talked in this article and and some other places that I read is that that dog's been bred to have entropion and ectropion, which are where the eyelids turn inward or they droop. And if you look at clumber, you can see his eyes are very, very droopy. And um this is supposed to be, veterinarians say it's very painful. They also are a breed that have long back and short legs, and those features have been exaggerated. And this, of course, leads to spinal problems and hip dysplasia.
00:05:34
Speaker
But this isn't new this year for for Bruin. In 2024, Crufts gave an award to a bulldog who had no discernible nostrils. And people were arguing that it they were afraid that he couldn't breathe properly. it didn't stop him from giving the award. In 2016, they gave a deformed German Shepherd with a very sloping back and a painful-looking, very obvious limp an award.
00:05:56
Speaker
So these dogs are just being bred for profit, and I don't think it's really any surprise that the breeders are treating them like things and not like living beings. Because if you want to maximize your profit, you're not going to spend money on vets. You're not going to pay to have your cages cleaned three times a day, like at a shelter or a rescue. And that's basically what was happening back in 2001.
00:06:18
Speaker
There was a dog named Adam who had an ear infection that was allowed to get so bad that they had to and end up amputating part of his ear, his inner ear. um And what what the ah Lee Cox did is he didn't want to pay for a vet, so he just used some medication from another dog and it didn't work. And also the the cages were filthy. The dogs had um scabs and and um all sorts of sores from not living in clean conditions. And I think the really the worst thing about this, other than the way these dogs live, despite what breeders always say that they will tell people, oh, these dogs are like our family. We treat them like family. And, you know, this is just not true. They are commodities.
00:06:58
Speaker
That there's just millions of mixed breed and purebred dogs in shelters. And according to the statistics, 568 dogs are killed in U.S. shelters every day.
00:07:09
Speaker
So that means that in the time that we've been discussing this article, i don't know, like two dogs have died just since we've been discussing this that could have been adopted out of a shelter. But what happens is you have crufts who what I understand is yeah um on TV and everything is glamorizing breeds and breeders and buying dogs instead of rescuing them. And that just contributes to the problem of overpopulation. because people will go and buy a dog then. And then what happens to these dogs when they're done is that they're either shot or drowned or killed in some way by the breeder. They are mistreated like what happened to Adam. He was a um retired stud dog. So of course they don't, he's not worth anything to them.
00:07:51
Speaker
Or what I saw working in rescue is that they just dump the dog, the breeder dumps the dog, or they bring the dog to a shelter. And it's usually at the female a female because they don't need as many male dogs. So it's usually a female who they can't give birth to litters anymore. And then a breeder will bring it in. They're in horrible condition, almost always. And that's what happens to these dogs when they aren't show dogs and they aren't like brewing and able to win. Yeah, it's it's a litany of disgusting things, isn't it? And I really really appreciate, Shane, that the the passion and the information that you're bringing to things there. And I think the more informed we are, the more we understand these things, the better it is to advocate against something that in the uk you know this is seen as an institution people would will hold it up as oh what a brilliantly british thing and actually whether it's just talking to somebody that you know or like some activists that i've done some work with in the last few months who went and um stood outside the nearest train station to the crufts venue the national exhibition center and and handed out flyers as people got off the train and tried to either discourage them from going or just in informing
Animal Rights Activism and Legal Victories
00:09:05
Speaker
them. Like but that's the way that we hack away at this ah at this institution and show it for what it yeah really is. So yeah, I think in yeah in future years, it will be great to to have this as another example of, well, k Cruft ain't all that.
00:09:19
Speaker
Yeah, brilliant, Shane. It also, i think, encourages all these horrible backstreet, you know, um illegal, so-called illegal, you know, puppy breeding facilities as well, which also are horror even arguably more horrible because nobody even knows that they're there. They're never getting investigated. So, yeah, it's all, yeah. Adopt, don't shop, people. Mm-hmm. Indeed. I think the public just thinks, oh, isn't it cute how these people bring their dog and the dog is so cute and wins an award. And that is not how it is at all. It's an industry. It is abuse of these dogs. And there is ah so much behind the scenes that people don't see.
00:10:04
Speaker
And i'm I'm kind of glad of the story because it's just giving people a little peek behind that curtain of what's really going on. Yeah. And and it's by saying that there are competitions about, you know, how a dog looks or or things like that, that solicits people doing these things, doesn't it? If you if you were just like, oh, we're going to, we're just going to randomly pick a dog and say, well, then you want a prize for being great. And oh, you've got a fun looking blah, blah. Yeah. I'm not coming up with particularly good examples here because I just generally find ranking things like ranking living things a really weird thing to do. But yeah as soon as you say the prize is going to go to the person that manages to bring us the dog that does that, then then people are going to manipulate that, aren't they? Yes.
00:10:52
Speaker
horrid stuff. We've got quite a dog-themed show this week. Our next story is more positive. I got it first from Juliet Galatly's Facebook feed. i'd I'd recommend following Juliet Galatly because as well as being the founder of Viva and being a fantastic, outspoken animal advocate, she often breaks a lot of news first, for for me anyway, when i'm I'm scrolling. She said three days ago as we are recording, fantastic news, congratulations to Animal Rising and the Beagle Rescuers on this powerful acquittal. And that is the second historic not guilty verdict for the Beagle Rescuers. We've also put a link in the show notes to Wayne Shung's substack. which has got the catchy title, My Wife Broke Into a Lab to Rescue Dogs. Here's Why a Jury Found Her Not Guilty. Sounds like a title to a Jerry Springer show or the Jeremy Kyle show, but um it's a lot more informative than that. Kate, you've had a look at these. Can you give folk just a, like legal trials can be so complicated. you able to just quickly summarize, break down what's happened and why it's a cause for celebration?
00:12:01
Speaker
Yeah. So we have been following this, some of these other trials, haven't we? And this, of course, is MBR Acres, where they breed beagle puppies in horrible conditions for... um you know exporting out for scientific research, but they also do some hideous procedures there to the puppies themselves.
00:12:25
Speaker
Quite a few people went in, did an open rescue. so they were wearing bright pink T-shirts, that all their tools were bright pink. They were to they weren't sneaking about.
00:12:39
Speaker
It was completely obvious they were there and they sort of handed themselves in as well. So there's a theft act, 1968, apparently. in In order to prosecute, ah you need to prove that there was dishonesty.
00:12:55
Speaker
involved, which they were not dishonest, basically, they were completely open about it. I think that this is like the second trial that they've been found not guilty. And there's been two trials where the defendants have been found guilty. So they are learning, changing tactics. And also, I think,
00:13:16
Speaker
you know I think the first judge was was didn't allow any evidence at all to be shown to the jury in court. So there is a jury. and this time they were allowed to show graphic evidence, even though, of course, the prosecution said, but all this is perfectly legal. But the defendants, they I think the last time as well that the that the people were let off, they were telling stories They were telling stories of why they were motivated to show kindness towards animals in general and to why they felt they absolutely must go in and rescue these puppies. They were, and um um Wayne, like um Shane,
00:14:02
Speaker
shared Wayne shengg Shun, sorry, Wayne Shun, thank you, his writer, because his wife was actually, Rose Patterson was actually one of the defendants in this latest trial.
00:14:14
Speaker
And, you know, he described how they were not they were coming ah they they they they were vulnerable, they were humble, they were driven to acts of bravery.
00:14:25
Speaker
The prosecution tried to ah get them to fall into the trap, you know making out that they were imposing their view on society and all of that, whereas they they were like,
00:14:39
Speaker
no, we've we've had to do this. And, you know, and and the jury actually acquitted them. Chris Packham gave a character witness for Rose Patterson. i think all of this helped turn the jury. They side sided up.
00:14:58
Speaker
with the activists and acquitted them. And this goes alongside also, there's 170,000 people have signed an open letter, including 50 MPs, some of the the great and the good, like ah Joanna Lumley, Amanda Holden and Chris Packham, and ah in it demanding that MBR acres be shut down.
00:15:24
Speaker
And it looks like the public are finally siding with the animal rights people. And who knows? We can only hope that that's what's going to happen. Following what happened in Italy, where the same company was shut down. So hopefully that's what's going to happen.
00:15:45
Speaker
Yeah, feels like the tide could be turning here. And I i mean, I was thinking about that this legal case and we've we've finally had the um the final nail in the coffin for the EU labelling in this last week as well, which we're not reporting on the show because we've talked about, you know, whether you can call a sausage a sausage many, many times over. But I think on reflection, I'd i'd rather this one I'd rather things had gone the way that they did rather than, oh, we we can keep our vegan sausage names. But actually, you know, juries are are saying that it's illegal to to rescue dogs from from these sorts of conditions. it It does seem like the right way around. and Yeah, well done for for all those campaigning for it. let's Let's see that continue. Our next story doesn't feature dogs. Don't worry, dog fans. We've got more more dog stories coming up. This one comes to us from Wild Bime Wild. We have mentioned their stuff before. They are a Swiss website that's prolific in reporting anti-harm. hunt stuff um and other sort of wildlife crimes, I would say, in Central Europe, particularly in Switzerland.
Violence and Cultural Concerns in Animal Rights
00:16:53
Speaker
The headline here, choking, spitting, death threats, hobby hunters versus animal rights activists, a documented pattern. And the particular incident that we're leading with here, because it happened just five days ago, as we record, was where an amateur hunter attacked an activist, a hunt watch activist, more about that organisation in a minute, called Olivia Biley. They attacked them by the neck in front of this big hunting facility. So the Swiss hunting fair, obviously at a very controversial event. The Wild Bind Wild group protested against the event with a petition of and 850 protest emails to their local community. municipality and at the trade fair activists demonstrated peacefully in front of the entrance but as I say an amateur hunter grabbed one of the activists Olivier Bailey by the neck another stole his mobile phone and an unknown assailant allegedly threatened Bailey again asking him if he wanted to be punched in the face there's been more violence online on forums and
00:18:05
Speaker
afterwards with all sorts of horrid death threats and the sort of ridiculous things that people do say online. But nonetheless, it it continues to build this picture that's that's horrible for anyone who's looking to peacefully stand up against animals. Shane, I found this quite an upsetting read. I'm glad that it's been shared because I think...
00:18:27
Speaker
the folks who have been directly ah attacked here, knowing that people know about it can can bring something, can't it? And that you know they'll doubtless get messages of support and things like that. But it's it's it's not a nice picture of society that peacefully protesting something can result in this. I feel like it's similar to the hunt saboteurs.
00:18:48
Speaker
um I know we've had an interview with one on the podcast and some of our contributors ah do hunt stabbing and they are often victims of abuse from the people involved in the hunt. And the goal just seems to be intimidation basically because the article lists several incidents over the years of people who were attacked violently physically but also might have had their tires slashed on their car or had emails sent to them that were threatening. And so it's basically intimidation that hunters want that to be able to continue unopposed and and not be challenged.
00:19:26
Speaker
I thought the end of this article probably spoke about something that maybe is the most important takeaway for me anyway. And it was that violence against animals is often violence against humans.
00:19:38
Speaker
And this is something that we don't, I don't think we talk about enough in the vegan and animal rights community. The link between hurting animals and hurting people For example, there was a study by Northeastern University and the SPCA that revealed that people who abuse animals are five times more likely to be violent toward humans and that violence against animals does not act as a release valve for aggression, but as a training ground that lowers inhibitions. German language studies found that recreational hunters rate themselves as significantly more aggressive than non-hunters,
00:20:12
Speaker
resolve conflict more frequently through dominance and control and have a different relationship to violence. And repeated acts of violence can damage an emotional response to suffering and erode empathy toward animals as well as humans.
00:20:25
Speaker
So I have mentioned before that I used to be a teacher. And as an educator in the United States in the age of school shootings that the government it will do nothing about, I used to read a lot about the connection between animal abuse and school shooters because I was looking for signs, you know, that a certain kid could could potentially, you know, be a problem.
00:20:49
Speaker
And um I know that the reviews of school shootings from 1988 to 2012 found that 43% of the shooters had a history of animal cruelty. And that might be even higher now because even in the most recent school shootings, they found that the perpetrators had often posted videos online of cruelty toward animals or they had bragged to friends about it.
00:21:11
Speaker
So I think we really need to look at the hunting culture and the culture around it. And it needs to be considered a danger to youth and the community and that people who are hunters really probably shouldn't be given a license, but they probably should be given therapy. I can't imagine that would endear us to that hunting community. They'd probably really not like hearing um our take on them for that, but um maybe we should start looking at them that way. Yeah. I i mean, credit to anyone who puts themselves out there to to protest things, and it's it's horrid that this has happened. I think i think you're absolutely right, Shane, and in what you're saying. and ah about those links i i know this is just a very small amount of evidence from personal anecdotal experience but my feeling of when i've been part of a group sort of in ah in effect picketing events so i've said a few times i i've stood outside greyhound racing tracks with a group of people recently a few times
00:22:11
Speaker
And when people have become verbally aggressive, not physically aggressive, thankfully, but when that has happened, it's felt like somebody's just lost control. And that that's not negating what you've said, Shane, because like you you say, there's a ah pattern of people resorting to physical or verbal violence as a, as a recourse rather than, well, I'm going to discuss this, but it's felt like someone has just been really triggered rather than a calculated, what we need to do is intimidate these people and then they won't come back next time. And I think it's a more direct and a more scary version, I guess, of the kind of thing that you see when, you know, you just tell someone that you're vegan and, ah or they find out that you're vegan and and they'll start being really, really defensive really, really quickly. It feels like an exaggerated version of that, perhaps more so because you're seeking out an event that they're attending and you're protesting it. So you are kind of, silently pointing ah a finger of shame or something like that. But it's unfortunately, it's part of fighting the good fight, isn't it? And I think it's something that we have to we have to know that might might be a side effect of of going to these things. But like you say, these these people need help, really. a fifth if Goodness me.
00:23:36
Speaker
And a lot of these incidents that were mentioned in the article were actually people that were filming, like as people were tracking or as they were processing. Well, we say processing basically as they were cutting open an animal and and preparing the bit for food. So I think that makes it even scarier because there you're dealing with people who are carrying guns at the time that you're that you're confronting them. And even in one instance, in amateur two amateur hunters attack verbally attack someone and then he was running away and they fired a shot as he was running away. I mean, that's just so scary because so easily that could have turned into ah a death, a situation where her somebody was killed. Absolutely. They don't often cover really positive stories on Wild Byme Wild, but I'd encourage folk to to check their things out because they're so well written and they're prolific. They put so much stuff out there. Admittedly, I think most of our listenership, it's not relating to their geographical area, but inspiring what um a group of of small committed people can
International Animal Welfare Efforts
00:24:39
Speaker
do. So well done to those. as head back talk about dogs, shall we? This one from the BBC.
00:24:44
Speaker
Interesting story, this one. UK vets to help dog meat trade survivors in China. So this is vets from a Surrey practice just south of the capital of England, London.
00:24:58
Speaker
They're set to fly to China to help injured survivors of the dog meat trade walk again. So together with volunteers from UK charity called Broken Biscuits, interesting name, specialist orthopedic veterinarians, Vanessa Waite and Callum Marshall from the vet station in Mosey will travel to Harbin in Northeast China on the 15th of March. So the day before this episode is released, during the visit, they'll support a rescue shelter caring for dogs, save from the meat trade, and help some of the most severely injured animals regain mobility. And Tim Giles of the Broken Briskets charity said, this mission is about giving those dogs a real future and also sharing our vet's knowledge so many more dogs can be helped long after we leave.
00:25:54
Speaker
Kate, I don't think anyone's going to criticise these people for choosing to do that, unless you're being really fastidious and saying, well, I think of the carbon footprint or, oh, there are dogs closer to home that need support.
00:26:10
Speaker
I'm interested that this one gets press coverage today. What do you think to that? I'm always a little bit worried about xenophobia when we're kind of like going, oh, look at what they're doing in China. They're eating dogs whilst munching on a leg of lamb. do you know i mean? Who eats a lamb? Who eats a beautiful chicken? Like, it's just as bad. But we're certainly not criticising folk for helping animals out, but it's...
00:26:37
Speaker
and in does interesting things to you, doesn't it, reading this? I can't help it. That was my initial response as well, the xenophobia bit. I thought, Yeah, because there's no mention of any connections with animal advocates in China at all. You know, it's all a kind of UK going flying in and, you know, i'm mean, great, brilliant. And also like chewing on a leg of lamb. I i did check out Broken Biscuits and they seem to be great. But I was a bit like, oh, disappointed when I clicked on the Amazon thing, you know, Instagram. you know kind of um help us fund and look after these um dogs you know and it's like chickens dog food and beef oh really oh my my l you know it's just oh dear ah but you know it's just what we would usually expect i i suppose i just like continuously disappointed Do you think there's a difference then? but between Because that sometimes we'll we'll we'll talk about, you know, activism that we don't necessarily...
00:27:49
Speaker
feel is our style you know you might say well I ah it's not how I'd go about my advocacy but you know it's still contributing to the overall message of don't exploit animals so you crack on but then there's other things where we might say no I I think you shouldn't be doing that or or you're you're overlooking so many things there but i need to say something would would that fall in the latter category for you for this story ah Yes, so i yeah I would like to say to them, it's all it's all very well, yeah, dogs, they really need our help, but it speciesism again. And, you know, so many people, you know, say, oh, I love animals. And, you know, and then, you know, like my friend is very fond of saying, no, you don't love animals, you love pets, you know, and there is a difference there, unfortunately.
00:28:41
Speaker
I mean, still, you know, you can't knock them. They're doing a good thing. They're sharing skills and knowledge. I also thought, oh, are they just going to swan in take some of these dogs back, you know, rescue them? No, they are actually going to help by, you know, teaching some skills. I do wonder if they, you know, if if they'll be able to, people be able to get hold of some of the specialist equipment they'll need for some of these very disabled dogs. Yeah, the the the the book their contact ah in China is also, she's i think she's Irish, but there are and they have they there are lots and lots of Chinese animal charities that are, it some of them working with Humane World for Animals.
00:29:30
Speaker
But working with dogs rescued from the meat industry, which is horrendous. And the photograph, actually, it looks like they look they look like they could be somebody's pets. They don't look like, you know...
00:29:47
Speaker
a lot of of kind of meat industry dogs they they look very kind of almost generic if you know what i mean from from the photographs i've seen but these there's like one which is like a lab and one's a little fluffy pooch and and i and in fact a lot of uh the the dogs go into the meat industry are people's stolen companion animals. And they're all like put into a massive truck, driven thousands of miles across ah the country in horrendous conditions. And there's a little bit of meat which is wondering whether it's at all possible to for for them to try contacting or sending out messages saying, is do you think this is your companion animal?
00:30:32
Speaker
animal because if I'd had my dogs stolen, I'd be desperate to get them back. I don't know about what you think. but shipped halfway around the world. so yeah Yeah, it's it's ah it's a really odd one, isn't it? And and like, I mean, my takeaway from this, I've got a takeaway and a thing I'd like to suggest to to listeners. and My takeaway is look how much people care about animals. Like sometimes we doubt it and we think, oh gosh, do we live in a really terrible world? No, look how moved people are. to do things. Yes, we can say it's misguided. And that's where, you know, vegan and animal rights education comes in. But look how much people care about animals. That's a cause for hope. My, my message to that this is just my opinion. This is not enough of the falafel's opinion. This is Anthony's opinion. We all just represent ourselves here. I don't think vegans and animal advocates should talk about the dog meat trade in China. I don' ah i don't think it's a ah ah thing for us to draw attention to. I think there's such a risk that it portrays a group of people in in another part of the world as demonic and horrible. it's not It's not. We're all humans. We're all people. And there's atrocities closer to home wherever you live. If you live in China and you want to rally against it, then do so.
00:31:53
Speaker
But i I just think it's there's too big a risk that it misses the point if we add if if we're saying, look at this, we need to do something about this. Just my opinion. Agreed.
00:32:05
Speaker
susan Cool. Right, that's that then. We'll move on. Now i've had my say. um Shane is going to comment on our next... Dogs. Dogs! More dogs! More dogs! Yeah, I came across this story in my WhatsApp feed because it does feature the Shutdown campaign, who campaign against greyhound racing, and they've targeted the Greyhound Board of Great Britain's annual awards ceremony, held on Thursday evening this week at the very posh East Hampstead Park in Wokingham.
00:32:42
Speaker
Apparently around 26 protesters. I love it when people say around 26. You've given a very specific number. Can we just say 26? 26 protesters, many of whom were from Oxford, according to the article. I i think they're drawing the...
00:32:57
Speaker
that The press release that shut down of sense to them has done that say, look, look, this is relevant news for This Is Oxfordshire. Gathered from 5.30, displaying banners and speaking to attendees arriving for the black tie event. um About an hour or so later, three protesters attempted to enter the King Suite where the awards were taking place. The rest continued along the hotel drive, chanting through megaphones, and speaking to guests about welfare concerns associated with the industry. Police attended and confirmed that the protest was lawful, allowing it to continue. And they've got it they've got it in the news, Shane. They've got some statistics out there.
00:33:40
Speaker
People reading this can can learn stuff that that perhaps they didn't know altogether. seems like a Seems like an effective action, or am I just being biased? You're allowed to disagree with me. I don't know. I hadn't thought about whether it was effective or not. I'm not sure.
Economic and Social Factors in Animal Industries
00:33:56
Speaker
i think maybe their point was just to get it in the news because i think if the Greyhound Board of Great Britain is having an awards ceremony, those people will probably aren't going to listen to what the protesters have to say. i do think... I might disagree with that. I wonder if you're somebody that doesn't like social embarrassment or conflict, it might put you off attending next year's event.
00:34:21
Speaker
Well, i we can only hope. We can only hope. um I thought that this story had a lot in common with my first story about crufts because greyhound racing and dog breeding um are primarily people run primarily by people who are profiting off dogs. And like I said in the cruft story,
00:34:44
Speaker
That when a breeder is done with an animal, they dump him or her, or they kill the dog. And that's pretty much the same with greyhound racing. They talk in the article about how when dogs are not considered fast or profitable enough, they may be euthanized or simply vanish from records. A practice the industry calls wastage.
00:35:03
Speaker
And it also talked in this article about how the dogs are kept in poor conditions. Again, going back to breeders. They are kept, these greyhounds are kept in small kennels with little enrichment and limited veterinary care. And of course, bigger kennels and veterinary care, that that all cuts into profits. And these people are all about profits.
00:35:24
Speaker
So the Greyhound Board of Great Britain shot back and said, we are proud to uphold the highest standards of welfare across our licensed sport, which offer far greater protections to racing greyhounds than are afforded to domestic pets and other working animals.
00:35:42
Speaker
So I guess what they're trying to say is that they treat their greyhounds better than people treat their family companion animals. i'm not sure how that can be true when the facts are that a dog dies on a British racetrack every three days and there were 3,809 injuries recorded on UK tracks in 2024 123 deaths.
00:36:08
Speaker
And most people don't force their companion animal dogs to race and when they even race when the dog is is not healthy and they're going to get injured or die. So I i think that's pretty much ridiculousness. And and again, it all just comes back to profit. Yeah, that the the injury and death statistics for this, quote, sport are ridiculous. And it just highlights how unconsensual it is. i've I've repeated this statistic before on the show. But if you apply the same rate of death to Premier League footballers in just in the top league in England, it would be like a player dying every 10 weeks.
00:36:49
Speaker
Like that. the the sport wouldn't continue. It would it would it just cease. You know, if there were two deaths in a season due to people playing matches, they'd just stop it. They'd say, this is ridiculous. Like, we need to investigate. So good on everyone who's highlighting it. But I think you also can't tell me that people aren't aware of this and that it's nothing new because, i mean, this is very anecdotal, but I was watching All Creatures Great and Small. that It was just like a non-vegan. I know it's very non-vegan. There's things about it that bother me, but they did have an episode on this last season where they go and and they're at like a dog racing track because they need a veterinarian. And The people who are at the track are trying to race these dogs like with a full stomach or whatever. They weren't gri greyhounds. They were whippets. But they were trying to race them with a full stomach and then they won't run very fast. They were like trying to game the systems. And of course, you know, they people in the show rescued that dog or whatever. But I mean, it was kind of silly. But I was like, OK, this is a real issue. It's still going on. I like that they were highlighting it. And so I thought, well, if they knew about this back in 1940s, then how is how are we pretending it's not still going on now? Right.
00:38:00
Speaker
I mean, one good bit of progress from the 1940s with regards to Greyhound racing is just how few tracks there are now active in the UK, less than 20. Whereas, I mean, even a couple of decades ago, there were scores and scores and scores of of tracks out there and they're declining at a rate of several per year at the moment. So long may that continue. Well done, everyone campaigning against it. One last story before we take a quick break and then hear Shane and Kate's pick for the week.
00:38:33
Speaker
Sorry, dog fans, you've had your fun. We're talking about sheep now. And really, if you're fans of sheep, this headline is going to sound, well, really is a good good bit of news in that UK sheep numbers have fallen to their lowest level in living memory. that If you're not animal rights savvy, you might think, oh no, that's a bad thing. I love sheep. we We want them to be more. Well, think about what they're being used for. So it's merciful that fewer of them are being subject to horrible exploitation. This comes to us from Farming yeah UK, and they're not hiding the fact that Britain's sheep sector is under mounting pressure.
00:39:11
Speaker
Breeding ewe numbers are have fallen to their lowest level in living memory. They say it raises fresh questions about the future of sheep farming across the UK. You've got to love farming UK for just hoisting themselves by their own petard. Oh, we're all doomed. According to a BBC report examining the state of the industry, the national flock dropped to 30.4 million sheep in 2025. So still plenty of poor animals being exploited there.
00:39:38
Speaker
A level not seen since the mid-20th century when Britain's population was significantly smaller. Kate. cause for celebration or are we still focusing on the fact that there's still 30 million sheep being abused and in a couple weeks time pretty much everyone's going to be gnawing on a leg of a defenseless lamb to celebrate a festival that most people don't actually religiously believe in like what was your take on this I initially was like, oh slightly positive story.
00:40:16
Speaker
Yeah, you've reminded me that it's Easter soon. That's horrid. But think of all the vegan Easter eggs. Oh, yeah. There's loads, to be fair. There's loads. There's some corkers out there.
00:40:29
Speaker
Anyway, sorry, back to sheep. Yeah, sheep, sheep, we love sheep. Yeah, i was like, oh, great, sheep numbers are falling. I wonder why that is. And um yeah, it's true. People are actually, in fact, the numbers are now ah about what they were in the 1950s. And we have a larger population. So it actually means that directory change is real. And um on average, people eat 128 grams instead of 200.
00:41:04
Speaker
um two hundred and Oh, sorry. No, they did eat 128 grams and they now eat like 23 grams per week, which isn't us, of course. I just pictured ah like a Yorkshire farmer reading that statistic out.
00:41:18
Speaker
In 1980, average UK household purchased 128 grams of sheep meat. Anyway, I thought, oh, that's going in the right direction. but ah it's not just that that is putting pressure on the on the great British flock. It is, you know, post-Brexit, loss of subsidies from the EU and the British government not making it up.
00:41:48
Speaker
and because they're basing it more on, you know, sustainability and all that kind of thing. Well, it's headed that way anyway. But also lack of young people, surprise, surprise, wanting to become ah sheep farmers and farmers in general. Fuel costs and fodder costs.
00:42:06
Speaker
Guess what? Sheep just don't eat, they don't just eat the grass, they have to have extra feed. And most people don't, they they let most people think that that's not the case. And hey, this is all that upland grass is useful for feeding sheep and and this is all they eat. No, that's not true. And that's all gone up twice as much as what it was before.
00:42:28
Speaker
so But also, big thing, and trade deals with Australia and New Zealand um and they the kind of sheep meat coming in from there is partially filling the gap that um out at the British sheep um has left, the less British sheep. And also, of course, some dietary change towards plant-based diets.
00:42:55
Speaker
But Overall, meat consumption in the UK has actually gone up for in the last 10 years from 56 kilograms to 61 kilograms per person in the UK. So i guess people must be eating more chicken and
00:43:16
Speaker
pork, whatever, I don't know. And that's tricky, isn't it? when you When you actually picture these things in terms of, I mean, we've spoken before about the limitations and perils of comparing different forms of animal exploitation, but if you picture UK's meat diet primarily being sheep,
00:43:36
Speaker
then you might think to yourself, well, at least they're out in fields and and things like that. Whereas if it's chickens and even if they're quote free range, they're all crammed into a barn and never seen the light of day really, aren't they? So it's... It's true. It's so hard to compare. I mean, it's like... No, I don't think there's any point, is there?
00:43:53
Speaker
As Julia's told us, you know, the sheep, they they look happy out there, but actually they're really living on an edge and they're only just surviving. But apparently the halal market is propping it up. A lot of Muslim people are still eating quite a lot of sheep and about 30% of the market, British um sheep market is for that.
00:44:19
Speaker
But super bad news is that global demand is projected to grow 15% by 2032. um by twenty thirty two so ah Yeah, overall, sorry, gang. It's not a good picture. We tried. We tried. We were sucked in by the headline, clearly.
00:44:40
Speaker
know. But anyway, they can't survive without the subsidies. They can't. So, you know, something's got to give. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And I do take heart from the fact that, you know, in a capitalist world where you've got animal exploiting farmers and, you know, meat sellers and what have you, they want to increase the viability of their product. So if they're failing,
00:45:05
Speaker
even if it means another sector, chicken sector, is is doing better. i I think there's grounds for optimism there. There's inroads that we can carve into more.
00:45:15
Speaker
Thank you for that one, Kate. We're going to take a quick break now. When we get back, we are hearing from the gammon-munching, red-faced fury monsters of the Daily Express and the forward-thinking folk at the Progressive Grocer.
00:45:32
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 shows.
00:45:52
Speaker
So to access any of these written transcripts, head over to zencaster.com forward slash vegan week. going to spell it all for you. Zencaster is Z-E-N-C-A-S-T-R.com and then a forward slash and then the word vegan, V-E-G-A-N, then a hyphen,
00:46:13
Speaker
and then week. Zencaster.com forward slash vegan hyphen week and then each transcript is embedded with any of the shows that you click on.
00:46:25
Speaker
Okay, Shane, we're going to come to you first. We come to you first, Shane. Yeah, you're the progressive grocer, aren't you? Mm-hmm. What an exciting publication title. And it sounds like it could be a positive headline. A Hold Del Highs USA. I have no idea how to pronounce that. I don't either. So was waiting for you to say it first.
00:46:46
Speaker
ah Well, I'm going for that. i hold Let's just call them AD USA. okay Renews their commitment to cage-free eggs. Now, we've heard a lot in the last few weeks about people saying, oh, yeah, we're committed to cage-free eggs and then conveniently forgetting about it or changing their commitment.
00:47:06
Speaker
What's the story here? Are there then more grounds for optimism in the US of A? So they their goals reduction in conventional eggs in 2032. And they have um been meeting with animal right welfare organizations. I got to say, no, it's not rights. It's animal welfare organizations and to update their timetable.
00:47:31
Speaker
And so in 2028, they want to reduce conventional eggs by 60% with a unit sales And then in 2030, they're going to reduce more. And then by 2032, they want to have um be doing cage-free sales. The animal equity who has been working with them, that group, has been commending them and saying they're doing what's necessary by eliminating one of the cruelest farming practices in industrial agriculture.
00:48:02
Speaker
and Like you said, this is good news, I think. And in the and the wake of the slew of stories we've covered recently about companies who are not honoring their pledges to serve cage-free eggs or chicken. So at least this company is trying. They're making a clear effort.
00:48:16
Speaker
I think that shows the um lies that the other companies are perpetrating by saying that they can't do it when this company is able to do it.
00:48:28
Speaker
I will note that there was a line in the article where AD said that they were mentioning how AV and flu had hampered some of their efforts to meet goals. And I do wonder if if they can't meet their goals, then they might bring that up again and say, well, it's the AV and flu.
00:48:45
Speaker
But I think that we have to remember that cage-free is not cruelty-free. And so I know a lot of people, not vegans, but just regular people have the idea that chickens that were raised cage-free, know, oh, well they're just running around free, but they are put in massive barns. There's overcrowding. They don't have windows. They have poor air quality. There high ammonia levels. And I know I've read interviews or heard interviews with undercover investigators, you know, who will go in and film conditions and they will talk about how when they
00:49:18
Speaker
get into these barns that they cannot breathe and their eyes start stinging after just a few minutes because of the ammonia levels. And we have to remember that this is where those chickens live their whole entire lives. Also because of the overcrowding, that animals tend to be become aggressive toward each other, which I think is completely understandable. And so instead of fixing the overcrowding, the industry will mutilate the birds and ah trim their beaks without pain relief.
00:49:46
Speaker
And then just like in the dog stories, we have selective breeding of these chickens so that they can produce the maximum amount of eggs. And that leads to problems in the hens like osteoporosis and keel bone fractures, which is an upwards of 85% of all of these hens. And I had to look up what a keel bone is. It's basically like that, sort of like a sternum bone, it looked like to me. Then you've got the male chicks that just like in caged eggs or caged um situations you have, male chicks who are killed at you know just after hatching because they are not profitable. And um then these chickens who are laying eggs cage-free, they're still going to be killed when they're no longer able to ah produce the amount of eggs that the industry thinks they're They should. They're not going to go to a picturesque farm like in a storybook. So I'm glad there are fewer chickens who are going to experience the worst cruelties of factory farming. But cage-free eggs are still cruel. And i mean, just the bottom line is that we cannot feed the world meat and eggs without these cruel methods. There just is not a way to satisfy that demand. And that's why everybody needs to go vegan. It's simple, isn't it? It is simple. Yep. Yeah, it's some like like you say, that's that's the direction that or that's the destination people need to get to if they stop off at cage-free eggs on their journey. Then I suppose that's better than caged eggs. Approximately 5 million hens are in their, quote, supply chain. Ahold, Del Heights, USA. So that's...
00:51:20
Speaker
you know if if indeed it is a better life to to be cage free then that's a big incremental increase in these things but like you say shane people need to find the
Media Bias and Animal Welfare
00:51:30
Speaker
many ways that you can enjoy food without eggs i've eaten many egg replacements in the last 48 hours i'm thinking of some tofu things that i've had and some cakes and some yeah all sorts it's doable the information's out there Thank you for that one, Shane. So that was The Progressive Grocer. International listeners might not know about The Daily Express and the the joys of it.
00:51:53
Speaker
I'm on their website at the moment and there's a big picture of Nigel Farage looking very cross, looking very red-faced, shouting about how everyone's becoming Muslim. And Donald Trump's on there looking cross and shouting about some other thing that he's cross about. So that's the general vibe of the the website. And then we've got this lovely opening line for Kate's pick of the week.
00:52:17
Speaker
Labour has been accused of wasting up to £270,000 of taxpayers' money on researching how to push more Britons towards veganism as farm closures hit record levels.
00:52:31
Speaker
Well, Daily Express readers, plants grow on farms too. Kate, why is this your pick of the week? Well, partly just because I think it's funny, but also i just want to take a moment, just a little moment to celebrate this headline because ah just find it amazing that the Daily Express, one of the UK's, I don't know how how leading it is actually, newspapers that they they've got this in their newspaper and going apoplectic about um you know what they see is the government trying to turn everybody vegan you know the snowflakes yeah turning everyone vegan everyone muslim
00:53:16
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. And yet they should be grateful because if it wasn't for Muslim people, then the sheep industry would be absolutely going down the line completely. So, you know. But honestly, when I first went vegan, you know, I hardly knew what I was doing myself. I hardly knew what it was myself, let alone anyone else. And yet it's in a national newspaper and we're being blamed for, you know,
00:53:44
Speaker
making labour spend or waste sorry yeah £270,000 of taxpayer money which actually is a complete tiny tiny little drop in the ocean when you consider that um farms around the UK get a total of like oh gosh how many billions is it is it like £4 billion pounds or something in subsidies I've probably just made that up because I've forgotten. I'm not very good with figures, but it's billions, billions. And um so it's just a tiny, tiny little drop in the ocean. But yeah, I just i just found it funny as well because they they're just going off on one. Yeah, they're actually, so they're actually trying to get some...
00:54:27
Speaker
people in to do a study. The year long project will model how dietary changes could influence greenhouse gas emissions from the food system. Its advert says this project is informed by growing evidence demonstrating demand side dietary change is likely to be essential for meeting u k net zero goals. Well, who doesn't want a livable planet for, you know, what's, you know, it's it's incredible.
00:54:56
Speaker
And yeah, just there's a quote here, Tory MP Victoria Atkins, the Shadow Environment Secretary said, in the last 12 months, this government has overseen the highest number of farm closures on record, plummeting investment and farming cash flow crises. Do you not think that's absolutely ridiculous? Like from a Tory MP said that the people who've been running the country for the last however many, like over 10 that they're saying in the last 12 months, i.e. the 12 months when we just left office. But remember, we were in office for like a good 10 or so years before then. um All these horrible things have happened to farmers. like Well, that's
00:55:37
Speaker
If that's the case, it's clearly because of how you were running the country for the 15 years beforehand. Exactly. And they set us all up for Brexit as well. And, you know, and all that has come back down onto the farmers who most of them, I believe, voted for Brexit as well. And that now have lost their EU subsidies. So the whole thing is ridiculous. So as you said, while Labour ministers continue attacking the rural way of life, we Conservatives are backing British farmers and helping consumers to buy British food with our
00:56:10
Speaker
close the flag loophole campaign, ensuring the Union Jack or the phrase made in Britain can only be used for genuinely British food. um It's all just a load of nonsense. And, you know, actually...
00:56:27
Speaker
I'm really pleased that the government is doing this. This is a tiny thing, but it's a big the beginning. i mean, we've already got Denmark is already pushing ahead with moving towards ah more net zero farming policies and research into plant proteins.
00:56:47
Speaker
More people are actually wanting to eat plant-based food. And actually, under the current system, the the people that look after our land, i e the farmers, we have become the most nature depleted country in Europe.
00:57:05
Speaker
And purely from a ah human-centric, selfish point of view, we have to change. We have to change because the climate is going down. Biodiversity is going down. You know, our health is going down. All these things. I mean, how dare the government want to try and stem some of those things? How dare they want to try and, you know, kind of smash their way through the the farming system and, you know,
00:57:33
Speaker
i It's just complete nonsense, the whole thing. It's one of those where if if the author of this article, Aaron Newbury, hope you're listening, Aaron, was to just read this out like as a speech or to an audience, it would be ridiculous because he's got this headline, he's got that opening sentence of, oh, Labour been accused of wasting all this money. And then the second sentence is, of course, what DEFRA are doing is they're researching for a more sustainable and healthy diet so that we can achieve net zero by 2050. It completely undermines the whole the whole thing. Nonsense.
00:58:09
Speaker
I mean, Kate, you are you are a wonderful example of the fact that people can change their lifestyle and and their habits and and and things like that for for the better at any stage of life. I note through a bit quick bit of Google researching that the average age of a Daily Express reader is 69. And I don't know, maybe maybe sort of in terms of being set in one's ways, perhaps that's that's attributing to the tone that this that Aaron has laid out for his readers. Maybe but honestly these people people do change that age and also they have children they have grandchildren you know they're doing their their grandchildren a complete disservice and actually we do want a just change don't we we do want a just transition and there are organisations working towards that including the
00:59:06
Speaker
vegan society and Viva and people like that, a Vegan Organic Network and people. And, um you know, i'm mean, the government are not saying, oh, we're just going to take everything away from you and make you change straight away. I'm sure they're, you know, they're got they're looking at it. They want this research to be done. And then they are going to do it in a way. I mean, in Denmark, apparently it's voluntary at the moment. People are, you offering up their their land their farms in order to become more sustainable and they're getting paid for it it's not like they're not going to get paid for it or anything like that it's just you know just complete fear-mongering i think so and bashing bashing over the head with a flagpole with the british flag on it so nonsense Yes, indeed. it's It's a wonder that there are any Union Jack flags left. There are so many ah bloody lampposts at the moment. When one of you drive anywhere, yuck.
01:00:08
Speaker
Don't come to Texas if you don't want to see flags everywhere. ah Man. Yeah. I mean, someone somewhere in a flag warehouse is making an absolute fortune, aren't they? Thank you for that one, Kate.
01:00:24
Speaker
That is the end of our picks for the week. Now, we've got one more story to cover. But before we do so, we're going to invite you to take a look at our social media pages. Shane's been featuring some little profiles on some of our contributors. we've I've seen Paul's recently, Shane. ah Mark. Mm-hmm.
01:00:43
Speaker
ah Kate. Kate was on there too. Yeah. I was on there. I featured myself. Good. Absolutely. You next you you are next week. Oh, excellent. Wow. Get ready for that. Some people, yeah, some people haven't submitted it. So if i if you don't see one from someone, it's not because I don't like them. It's just because they didn't submit anything. So.
01:01:04
Speaker
Which is fine. It's totally optional. Indeed. you Listeners can make up details on those people and guess what their favourite film is and what have you. But it's all going off on the socials and we generally put all the news stories that we featured in the week there. So easy place to find them, comment on them, share on them. We also like your emails. If you've forgotten our email address, here's Julie and Dominic telling you more.
01:01:29
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.
01:01:48
Speaker
Go on, send us a message today. enough of the falafel at gmail dot com Okay, last story of the week. This is from
01:02:06
Speaker
The headline, Tell Canada Protect SEAL Families Not the brutal fur industry. Quite provocative title. What has led this? Well, if you weren't aware, and I wasn't until I read this, the Canadian commercial seal hunt is set to begin again. This year, in defense of animals, are calling on the government to halt the killing for the sake of mother seals and their babies, whose lives are violently cut short by hunters. IDA USA have done some social kind content on this too, short form videos that you can watch embedded within the article. And then they give a ah good lowdown, I say a good... ah a factual, a thorough lowdown of this industry, which I'd say is worth reading if you weren't aware of it. I i don't know about you, Shane and Kate, but like the, the cliche of clubbing seals, I think is almost, ah do do you have that in, in the U S Shane, is that often used as a ah sort of, I dunno, almost exaggerated form of like animal violence, people saying like, Oh, there'll be clubbing seals next. Is is that a phrase? ah No one has ever said that nice's him in my presence, no. But I do remember the campaign to stop the hunting of baby seals. I know I had like a button that said, stop the baby seal hunt or something, because you know the baby seals are white and they're so cute. And and from reading this article, it sounds like that has now been out outlawed.
01:03:43
Speaker
So they're not allowed to hunt the baby seals when they are still white. They have to wait till their their ah fur changes color. One thing I took from this article is, is it Women's History Month everywhere in the world? Or is that just a USA thing?
01:03:57
Speaker
I got confused in this article because it's about Canada, but it's USA based article. International Women's Day was last weekend, wasn't it? So that's international. So because because in in the United States in March, it's Women's History Month.
01:04:13
Speaker
Like February is Black History Month and March is Women's History Month. And they did talk about- The year of Men's History Month, presumably. No, there's like there's other history months too. but um Yes, other 11 months are men's history, but um they're not all white men history. ah February is black men history. Yes, it's during Women's History Month, a time when we recognize strength, resilience, and the power of women, including mothers, we cannot ignore the extreme suffering of seal mothers and their young. I thought that was a really interesting tie-in.
01:04:46
Speaker
And I thought it was something that we haven't heard discussed on this pod very much or even on other podcasts that I listen to is really how very much animal agriculture is primarily about exploitation of females and female reproduction.
01:05:02
Speaker
because you have milk, which comes of course from female cows who have just given birth. You have eggs that come from hens whose eggs are literally part of the reproductive process. In farming pigs, you've got sows who are shut in those horrible farrowing crates. And really in almost every aspect of factory farming, you have the female animals who are forcibly impregnated through artificial insemination, which seems a horrible process for not only the females, but also the males of the species.
01:05:30
Speaker
um So now in this article, we have attention being called to hunters who take advantage of the seal's maternal instincts to stay close to their calves. And they use that to kill the mother seals, which seems really reprehensible.
01:05:43
Speaker
So and then, of course, in a few weeks after the baby seals are old enough, they're allowed to kill them as well. So it just goes back again to animal abuse and hunting. Yeah. Well, I mean, even and that's if the pups live that long in the, if you're bludgeoning the nursing mothers, yeah there's a very good chance they, they won't survive. Right. I mean, Kate, don't know how much of this, the facts of this article were news to you. i did take heart from the real clear,
01:06:16
Speaker
list of calls to action at the bottom of it. Were were you aware of of this industry and and what what goes on? Sadly, yes, because I'm old enough to have watched an ITV programme. I had to look it up because I'd forgotten what it was called, but it was called Survival. It was on in the 1970s.
01:06:35
Speaker
It actually had footage of hunters ah on the ice clubbing. I think it was like the baby white seals as well at them at that time, and you know clubbing them and...
01:06:54
Speaker
gutting them and that was horrendous ah it was like my first experience I think really of understanding just how cruel people could be towards other animals it was just something that I hadn't really I'd not even thought about ever I don't think yeah it was I remember it being really really shocking Well, I think culturally that that's must surely be where that throwaway phrase that's that's still used in British culture today comes from. And I wonder whether people just think, well, it it can't possibly still happen, can it?
01:07:33
Speaker
And I mean, it gets under my skin because it implies that, oh, that's the extreme end of animal of of animal exploitation. But of course, nothing like that happens anymore. Certainly doesn't happen in the UK. It's like, well, of course it does. Mm-hmm. I think graphically as well, you know, you've got all you've got the white snow, you've got the blood on the white snow. it just it looks incredibly shocking as well.
01:07:59
Speaker
Yeah, it's just horrible to think that it's still going on year after year after year. um It also kind of goes against like typical hunting practices because usually they have hunting season would be after the babies are old enough to fend for themselves and they usually don't want to people hunting when the babies can't fend for themselves because then where's your population for next year? So it seems kind of strange that it's now. And apparently the population is declining, isn't it? So in the last five years, it's harp seals, isn't it, I think? Yes.
01:08:37
Speaker
Yeah. And their population has dropped 20% in the past five years, so which doesn't... bode well at all because they of course they have other pressures they have pressures from climate change and the ice retreating and from all the horrible ghost netting left by the fishing industry they get trapped in that as well so it's like a perfect storm and i think they're they have they're on a um ah they're on a status i forget what it's called but you know that they're they're not um
01:09:12
Speaker
you know they're they're kind of worried about their numbers dropping. So they're not in such a good place. And I saw that, um so they've got a quota of about 400,000 that they are allowed to kill. I mean, that is just mind-blowing, isn't it? 400,000, that's just her horrible. but But there's been such a drop in demand that they, i say, only killed 30,000 people.
01:09:40
Speaker
um animals, but you know you just think, who who is buying this horrible supposed inverted commas product you know um and the canada is you know is is quite a big big thing there still the fur the meat the oil russia imports uh the perhaps the pelts for clothing norway's got processing factories there apparently
01:10:11
Speaker
And China and Korea, they they they import the meat, not necessarily for themselves, but for like pet food and stuff. so I do remember going on holiday to Canada over 20 years ago now, accidentally buying a deerskin glasses case. I just like the look of a glasses case. And it wasn't until what you know a few days later when I was looking at it carefully with my glasses on. that I saw it it said on there oh oh genuine deerskin like a selling point and I remember I mean I wasn't even veggie at the time but I remember being horrified thinking oh my gosh like I absolutely wouldn't have bought it if I hadn't had known that but yeah interesting that it's Some folks see these things as a great thing, whereas others of us are just like, oh God, no that's terrible. But yeah, lots of calls to action at the bottom of this article. Weldon in defense of animals for raising the profile of this and giving lots of different ways that you can harass the Prime Minister of Canada ah to try and persuade them to change the law on this one.
01:11:14
Speaker
Now we do a little bit of, it's not harassment, but we do encourage you each show, if if you like what we do, to share it, to follow us, all those things.
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Speaker
There's a gang of folk who are part of our Ko-Fi community. I've just looked at it now. We're 26% towards our goal of providing new tech for those of our contributors to the show regularly who need a new microphone or things like that. So if you're financially able to and you value what we do, there's really easy ways you can become a Brunjan with the horns. Sorry, Julie, that was almost imitating your accent there. I stopped just short, I think, just rolled my eye.
01:11:56
Speaker
rolled my R's and then veered quickly away. There's that one. There's a vegan who goes looking for trouble. I didn't even try Carlos's accent there. You see, I've learned. And a vegan with laser vision. Three different tiers you can do for regular contributions, or you can just do a one-time one. Anything's welcome. And there's lots of other ways you can help us if you're so inclined. Here's what you can do.
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01:12:56
Speaker
It's been really great having you here. ah The next Enough of the Falafel episode coming out will be Vegan Talk, available on the 19th of March. with Aunt Julie and Paul, reviewing the Channel 4 YouTube channel short film, Thousands of Hens vs. Four Children. Anyway, that's enough of the falafel for this episode. Thanks to Anthony and Kate for your contributions. Thanks again, everyone, for listening.
01:13:27
Speaker
I've been Shane, and you've been listening to Vegan Week from the Enough of the Falafel Collective.
01:13:37
Speaker
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01:13:52
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.
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Speaker
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Speaker
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