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258- Was Lady Macbeth vegan? (and other animal rights news...)
0 Playsin 22 hours
Wales' first plant-based hotel is soon set to open...but is it safe to stay in the old building with the Macbeths?!?! On a more serious note, we welcome David onto the show for the first times this week & along with Ant, Shane & Dominic, the gang take an hour to analyse a total of 10 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.animals24-7.org/2026/03/16/ridglan-farms-raid-on-march-15-2026-were-any-beagles-rescued/
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/12/us/politics/maga-animal-rights-experiments-trump.html?unlocked_article_code=1.SlA.EMU6.TkvECtlq4goj&smid=nytcore-ios-share
https://tvbrics.com/en/news/brazil-unveils-major-animal-protection-reforms-during-national-animals-week/
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/hundreds-march-for-animal-rights-in-city-seek-reforms-to-end-cruelty/articleshow/129593960.cms
https://news.stv.tv/scotland/greyhound-racing-banned-in-scotland-in-landmark-win-for-animal-welfare
https://worldanimalnews.com/2026/03/12/court-revives-new-york-citys-foie-gras-ban-in-major-win-for-animal-protection/
https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/news/meat-and-dairy-industries-are-derailing-climate-progress-report-finds/716414.article
https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2026/mar/17/washington-state-university-veterinary-school-chan/
https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/482758/what-a-massive-blind-taste-test-of-vegan-milk-cheese-and-ice-cream-found-explained-in-one-chart
https://www.veganfoodandliving.com/news/first-vegan-hotel-opens-in-wales/
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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!
Dominic, David, Shane & Ant
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Transcript
Introduction and Hosts
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello everybody, if you are on the hunt for animal rights and vegan news, look no further. You're in the right place. My name is Dominic and joining me for this episode are Anthony, David and Shane.
Humorous Veganism and Generational Awareness
00:00:11
Speaker
But that's enough of the falafel, it is time for Vegan Week.
00:00:16
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 flat-grown meat elsewhere. We're not doing that in the state of Florida.
00:00:28
Speaker
Should I call the medium 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 things.
00:00:40
Speaker
What is this? What kind of movie is this? It's comedy. Gobble, the media. Any form of social injustice.
00:00:50
Speaker
As long as you don't get the wee brunions with the horns you'll be alright. Does veganism give him superpowers?
00:00:59
Speaker
I cannot fly around the city. I don't have laser vision. Hello everyone, Anthony here. Welcome to this episode of Vegan Week. Thank you for being here. We'd be quite lonely if it was just the four of us.
Ridgeland Farms Rescue Story
00:01:12
Speaker
Hey everyone, this is Shane. If you're a new listener, this is our weekly news show where we cover the latest vegan and animal rights stories. Hi everyone, I'm David, but that's enough of the falafel. Let's hear what's been going on the news this week.
00:01:30
Speaker
For more details on the upcoming news stories, including links to our original source material, check out our show notes for this episode available on your podcast player.
00:01:42
Speaker
All right, we have a large number of stories. It's been a busy old week in the news. And we've got a story ah that Shane's going to talk about from ah the the source we've taken it from is Animals 24-7. And it's about a open rescue a raid for for beagles, for dogs on Richland Farms. Now, Shane, I know that you've got really strong views on this. but For people who aren't familiar with Ridgeland Farms, you want to give us a little bit of context on this story?
00:02:14
Speaker
Yeah, i feel like this is probably the biggest story of the week. It is all over social media. If you're at all tapped into any animal rights or vegan content and on social media, you've probably seen something about it.
00:02:27
Speaker
ah We are going to share this link to the story in the show notes and on social media. But I really didn't like um the way the story was written and I didn't think it was very well written. So I recommend if you want to see more about this, that you watch the videos that were put out by Wayne Sheung. and the Camp Beagle, or even just look up Google um Beagle Rescue at Ridgeland Farms. What did you not like about this story, about how this was written by this particular source, Shane?
00:02:58
Speaker
um It was it didn't follow a structure that was coherent to me. And I mean, there was a part where it was comparing the storming of the Bastille to the rescue. And I didn't think that was an apt comparison. And I love the French Revolution. I will go in any excuse to talk about the French Revolution, but I just didn't see see the point of it right there. um And so, for example, right now, I'm to talk to you about what happened historically, where this, why this rescue came about. That wasn't until the last page of the article where I think that might have been better if they'd opened with that or at least covered it in the beginning. So basically, um the story, the history behind this rescue is that in 2017, Wayne Chung and two other activists entered Ridgeland breeding kennels. and These are in Wisconsin and a county called Dane. And they filmed what they saw, which was rows upon rows of stacked metal cages with one or two beagles. And they were um inside these long windowless metal sheds. And if you watch the video of the rescue from March 15, you will see This is still exactly what it looks like all but nine years later. They removed three beagles from their cages. And and these beagles were spinning in place. They were injured. They were, I think later they realized one was blind. They took those three beagles out and then they published evidence of what they had done and what they had seen.
00:04:20
Speaker
Then in 2021, which is four years after this action, The Dane County District Attorney filed criminal charges against Sheung and the other for burglary and theft. The trial for their case was in March of 2024, but two weeks before the trial started, Ridgeland Farms asked the district attorney to drop the charges. Now, normally a defendant is going to be glad when their charges are dropped, but Sheng and his colleagues objected to the charges being dismissed because that was the whole point of why they did this. They wanted attention. They wanted this to go to court.
00:04:56
Speaker
So they joined a group called Dane for Dogs, and they filed a petition for the appointment of a special prosecutor to charge Ridgeland Farms with mistreatment of animals. And the Dane County judge granted that petition.
00:05:11
Speaker
Okay, so then... They had to pause for them to do the investigation. And after the investigation, they found over 300 violations of animal welfare standards.
00:05:24
Speaker
So the result of that investigation was that Ridgeland had agreed to surrender its Wisconsin breeding license. and stop selling dogs for research to avoid criminal charges. And I believe I covered this story at the end of 2025, I think. But the facility was still permitted to operate for internal research purposes and to breed animals for internal research purposes.
00:05:47
Speaker
But they were going to close on July 1st. And the court accepted this settlement. But what they did not do in the settlement was make any provision for all these dogs. I think Ridgeland was allowed to keep 300 for internal research purposes. But what about the I think there's 2500 dogs at the facility. So what about the other like 2200 dogs that were there? OK, so this is what Wayne Shung was addressing when he started calling for people to go in and do an open rescue.
00:06:17
Speaker
So um March 15, about 100 people broke into Ridgeland and they rescued about 30 something dogs, 23 of which were safely taken away. The others were confiscated by police.
00:06:29
Speaker
Eight activists were arrested. And i will note that Shung himself called the police. During the rescue on video, he called them and gave himself up during the rescue.
00:06:40
Speaker
If you watch the video, you'll see that they had the the activists had to park on a road and then they had to cross pretty a very long like cornfield to get to the facility and then they cut ah the gate and they got in.
00:06:53
Speaker
But as they were leaving with the dogs, there was a man believed to be an employee of Ridgeland Farms who used a truck to to try to run down the activists who were carrying the dogs. And he got very close to them, actually. And he wasn't able to run them down, but he did go and slash three tires of the vehicles that were meant to transport the dogs to safety, which reminded me of a story that we covered last week about hunters who are um trying to intimidate activists who are videoing them. So again, this were intimidation tactics.
00:07:25
Speaker
So I think the question that we're all asking is why would they wanna do this? Why would they wanna go in and do open rescue and put it all over the internet? And basically the reason is that Shung wants to be prosecuted in a court because he wants to test the legal argument for the right to rescue. He's a lawyer and ah he believes in what he's doing and he wants to test that. He says that the theory behind the right to rescue is the fundamental question of whether animals are persons or things. And he says these theories have not been tested and they may be rejected by a judge, but the main conclusion is clear. There are numerous provisions of law that plausibly create a right to rescue animals from abuse. And while many of these theories may initially lose in court,
00:08:13
Speaker
that does not mean that they are wrong. And so that is why all of this is happening. Now, as I mentioned, they only got out about 23 dogs. There are still thousands left.
Animal Rights News in Brazil and Scotland
00:08:23
Speaker
Wayne Shung just today, this is Saturday the 21st, he is putting out a call for 2,000 activists to join him on April 12th to go back into Ridgeland Farms and get the rest of the dogs out. Wow. Shane, we are lucky to have you on our podcast. I mean, you definitely gave a more insightful take on that than Animals 24-7. Thank you very, very much. We had quite a few other people lined up for the show to report on this one, but they've all been arrested. So we had to get Shane in at the last minute to cover it.
00:09:00
Speaker
Anytime. I think i think that the the article paints quite a pessimistic light and it's it's really great to hear your fire, Shane. And I think that um whether we ourselves can imagine ourselves engaging in that kind of activism or not, and that's a topic that we might have on a vegan talk show in the future perhaps, ah I think that we can all agree that that you know fire, if we don't have fire, for for things for which we feel passion, then, you know, what do we have? What do we have? Thank you. Thank you very much.
00:09:36
Speaker
ah Let's move over to a different story of the week. Let's go over to Anthony. Now, we do try and ah talk about events from all over the world. I think Anthony's got a story, is it from Brazil, your story you're bringing to us? thank what's What's happening in Brazil? And from the off, I will say i I had a friend from Brazil when I was in year two at school, but that's about as close to Brazil as I've ever got. And my understanding of the culture and the politics and things is minimal. So that is the lens through which I've accessed this article. This one's an interesting one, Dominic, because we've got the headline, Brazil unveils major animal protection reforms during National Animals Week. And when you're not a long in the tooth vegan who's been listening to this show for a few years, you might think, oh, that's great news. But actually, if you're an animal advocate living in the UK, experienced the last two years of the Labour government not delivering at all on what it promised for animals in its manifesto. And when you see other countries doing similar things where they're like, oh, animal protection's increasing. Look, look at what we're doing. And it sort of amounts to you can't leave your dog. tied to a lamppost outside the shop when you go and pick up a loaf of bread anymore or things like that. It just draws attention to the fact that these aren't the seismic changes that we're hoping for.
00:10:57
Speaker
However, what I'd always advocate people to do with this podcast, read fewer headlines read more stories, read more news stories, because when you get into this one and when you search around, and I've i've found this story reported in other places, it paints a better picture. The main sort of headlines from this one are that the new initiatives that the Brazilian government is said to be working on, stricter penalties for animal cruelty, the creation of a national policy for rescued animals during disasters, but that feels necessary, but also quite niche. You know, that's that's very rare that that's going to come into place. And the launch of a permanent national forum dedicated to shaping future animal welfare strategies. You can see how all of these things aren't actually really going to amount to much. But when you research around my understanding
00:11:53
Speaker
is that ah a lot of Brazilian politics and change does happen through these getting togethers, through these big forums where people come together. So that is actually a big deal. There's a brilliant report on National Animal Week that that happened in Brazil at the start of last week. It was actually organised by the Ministry of the Environment through the Department of Animal Protection and Defence. So is the government instigating these things. A group called the Pollination Project sent lots of activists there and have reported on it. And the biggest win for me, this is a bit of a tangent in a sense, the entire event...
00:12:33
Speaker
catered 100% plant-based food for the more than 1,500 participants. So you've got government officials there, people making laws, as well as activists, other associated organizations, and there wasn't a single animal product served. And so I'm feeling more hopeful about this than when I first read it, because you look at it and you say, oh, prison sentences have gone up slightly more in duration with this change. And you know you've got this thing about, oh, if there's a national emergency or ah a natural disaster, we need to have plans for for what we're going to do with animals. Yeah, of course, that's a great thing, but it's It's not like say Denmark has done recently where they're saying, no, we're, we're cutting our funding to animal ag and we're doing this, that, and the other. So I think there's, there's silver linings to what might be a bit of mundane policy change.
00:13:27
Speaker
Definitely good news about the the menu. Now, Anthony, you are a walking encyclopedia for the previous, uh, uh, vegan, uh, talk enough of the falafel shows. I'm always, uh, impressed when you go, oh yes, that's episode 502. Because I think we've done that 5 million and two of these now, haven't we? So I'm going to ask you, I'm going ask you, there was a, was it in Brazil? There was a story, was it Prince William or Prince Harry? You went over to Brazil and there was meat on the menu at an environmental, and that was the huge controversy, wasn't it? They got in a great bit. Yeah, it it wasn't on the menu. The chef,
00:14:09
Speaker
who who was going to be preparing for it said, oh, I'm going to serve up this rare Amazonian fish for everyone to eat. And he got the sack. Yeah. That was at COP30, I think, at the COP30 conference that Prince William was at. Yeah, yeah. What good news hearing about plant-based options. That's fantastic. That's fantastic. All right, we're hearing a lot about what's going on around the world. Regular listeners know that I live in Manchester and I have moaned about the most, maybe not the right word, I've complained, I have raged about how being in Manchester when I've worked for various offices, the number of times I've been considered the stick in the mud for not wanting to go to team events to work dues out and that involve things like greyhound racing. We've talked a lot about greyhound racing in the past. And I think, David, is there ah there's something about greyhound racing quite significant in the news this week, is it not?
00:15:09
Speaker
Yes, it is. So, yes, the big news out of Scotland in this article is that the Scottish Parliament has finally voted to ban greyhound racing entirely. The bill passed with a strong majority, making it illegal to operate tracks or race greyhounds anywhere in the country.
00:15:28
Speaker
um Supporters are calling it a landmark win for animal welfare, saying the sport is cruel and exploitative with dogs often facing injury or trauma before being rehomed.
00:15:40
Speaker
This article does a great job of showing why this ban happened, highlighting advocacy groups and ministers ministers for Scottish Parliament who pushed for it and even noting that Wales did something just a day earlier.
00:15:54
Speaker
So there is a real trend happening across the UK. Where it's less strong though is then given the other side of the story. there's no voice from the racing industry or commentry on the cultural, economic aspects of the sport. So people don't get the full debate.
00:16:11
Speaker
It doesn't really say how many tracks are still active or what happens to the dogs currently in racing programmes. That context would help us understand just how impactful the ban would be in practice.
00:16:23
Speaker
So overall, it's a clear win for animal welfare advocacy, but the story really leaves a few practical and industry questions unanswered. It's definitely a piece to think about if you're interested in in random animal rights, sport or Scottish part ah policy. I think that's a really good point, David, because actually if someone who is neutral on this or let's say they they just don't know much about this issue, if they're only hearing the animal rights side of things, it it does kind of raise suspicion that, oh, maybe someone's just submitted a press release here and it's' there's actually really bad stuff you know from from the other side of things, but we're not hearing from it. And actually hearing that there's only, I think it's 17 active tracks in Great Britain left, like actually reporting on that would actually bolster the animal rights perspective, I think, wouldn't it?
00:17:19
Speaker
Yes, definitely. I think so. I mean, there's lots to say about it. While the bill makes racing illegal, the article doesn't fully explain how many tracks, as you allude to, currently active in Scotland or whether racing is already in practical decline.
00:17:35
Speaker
that according to background sources, Scotland's last independent track has not been in regular loose regulate use since 2025 and there are very few facilities even before this law emerged. ah That context matters for judging how impactful this ban might be in practice.
00:17:54
Speaker
So it summarises the political vote and positions that doesn't bring in specific data on injuries, deaths or long-term welfare outcomes for racing is greyhounds, information that would help gauge the weight of the welfare argument.
00:18:10
Speaker
Welfare reports cited in policy documents suggest a mix of concerns related to injuries, kennel conditions and post-racing care, but the article just doesn't include that data.
00:18:22
Speaker
I think it's great that they've banned, finally banned greyhound racing. Close to where I live, they had a one, I think it was the biggest greyhound racing track in the UK. and it closed in 2020.
00:18:37
Speaker
um But that decision was made more for business reasons because of the COVID pandemic rather than welfare and protection of greyhounds. So this is great for Scotland.
00:18:51
Speaker
um But yeah I don't think this goes far enough in explaining everything. It's not as balanced as it could be. And it doesn't cover everything, as we've said, in my opinion. Is the age-old thing of the number of people who identify as dog lovers actually not even questioning anything wrong with a greyhound racing? I'm going to nail my political colours firmly to the mast and say that I'm really proud. Where I live, we've got a a Green MP been a acted elected. Hannah Spencer is very vocal about rescuing greyhounds. And it's wonderful that she's become a voice in Westminster. And that gives me hope that there'll be further progress on this. When they don't publish what the industry has to say about it, then we can't like make fun of them. So we're missing that. Yeah, it's a real missed opportunity. Well, someone who we're always happy to make fun of is Donald Trump. And we've spoken on previous shows about how sometimes saying to people, Oh, have you not thought of the welfare of animals? Have you not thought about the rights of animals?
00:20:03
Speaker
That's just going to be talking to a brick wall. But um we've reported on previous shows about how there are other ways that effective change can happen by appealing to a different sensibility.
Animal Rights in Politics and Global Stories
00:20:17
Speaker
And I believe, Shane, you've got a story about exactly that. Is that not the case? Yes, I have a story from the New York Times that seems to have broken through because I've had some um Republican Trump supporters send me this article. So and they were like, is this a good thing? they I guess they were wondering if I would get on Trump's side because of this.
00:20:40
Speaker
And the title of the article is Waste Fauci and, quote, Transgender Mice, How MAGA is Warming to Animal Rights. And it's basically a story about Anthony Bellotti, who is a Republican strategist. And apparently it's important for the Times to mention numerous times that he is also a devoted cat owner.
00:20:59
Speaker
And he has set out to defend animal rights. And he deployed a game plan to enlist conservatives to this cause. He founded the White Coat Waste Project in 2011. And that is very hard to say. So I'm going to probably fumble it every time. And basically, the White Coat Waste Project was painting animal studies as government waste. And he really broke through during the pandemic when he dug up some um information about Dr. Fauci, who, if you may remember, was one of the faces of healthcare in the United States during the pandemic. And they spotlighted that he, I don't know if he had experimented on, or he greenlit experiments on beagles and also some hormone studies on mice. So that kind of got the white coat waste project, I don't know, got up a foothold and with the Trump administration. So basically what's been happening lately, and we've been reporting on this, is that the cause of animal rights is being embraced by leading figures in and the Trump administration. And it is in a way, though, that fits into their anti-government and pro-meat-eating ethos, because I don't think anybody would look at that inverted food triangle that Kennedy put out and say that it wasn't pro-meat-eating.
00:22:17
Speaker
The Trump administration has been quietly cooperating with groups like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, And the and NIH director has been praised by PETA and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine for closing a beagle lab and directing money away from animal research. Their strategy is to appeal to pet lovers.
00:22:39
Speaker
And i feel like this kind of goes back to what we were talking about with the beagle rescue and also with the greyhound. That this is a the way the movement has been. i don't know. They've been ah focusing on pet lovers recently. They don't want to pick fights with factory farms. They don't want to advocate for a vegan diet. But they made gains. The White Coat Waste Project made gains by highlighting the work of government research who are experimenting on cats, dogs and primates. So I guess we said, do we care if they're focusing on cute animals, if the effect is the same? Probably not. I mean, hopefully they start looking at mice too, but maybe we can get cats, dogs, and primates out of labs. And then um my question I think would be, will these changes last when the administration changes? Because hopefully the administration will change in a few years and um it'll be interesting to see if these these changes last. Fingers crossed. It does sound like ultimately I wouldn't have thought of this method to get a really good thing happening.
00:23:38
Speaker
It's horrible that these are the methods having to be used. But, you know, a win for the animals is a win for the animals. Thank you, Shane. Thank you. um As I keep mentioning, we cover news from across the world. And I believe Anthony is taking us all the way to India next. And we've got a story from the Times of India. Anthony, what has been happening there? Before we go into the article, I do want to comment on the fact that it is the Times of India and the journalist Meghna Dulya is not somebody, judging by the other stories that she has authored, somebody who is putting out a lot of animal rights content. That's worth noting when you read this article, and you can follow the link in the show notes, to do so because it's incredibly sympathetic to the hundreds of citizens who walked from Tagore Garden to Rajuri Garden on Sunday of last week as part of an animal rights march in Delhi.
00:24:40
Speaker
Oh, New Delhi. It's the same place. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Fine. Thank you. So yeah, it's it's, it's incredibly sympathetic, peaceful yet powerful demonstration calling for structural reforms to end institutional animal cruelty. Now I will say before I'd read all the details in the context of the Brazilian summit and, you know, animal week or whatever it was and seeing the fact that all the food had been plant-based, I was thinking that this was the more impactful thing because because I've been on animal rights marches and they don't stop people in the street who go, oh my goodness, look at all those people. I must go vegan on the spot. That doesn't happen. That's what we hope will happen, but it it never does. But what it does do is it unifies people, it empowers people. And the amount of stuff that happens off the back of a big old march is quite powerful, I think. Similar to you know all getting together at a vegan festival, they're transformative events. So I was really excited to read about this. And you know I've not got a huge amount to say ah about it. you know and An animal rights march is an animal rights march. hundreds of people doing it. It's happening in Delhi, in India. Fantastic. I think that's the long and the short of it. But just, yeah, that the style of the the author, the journalist writing about it is great. She she focuses in on individuals.
00:26:02
Speaker
um I'm assuming she was just interviewing people what or someone else did whilst they were doing the the mark. My favourite bit, not far from him, she's talking about ah a previous activist, were Pankaj Sharma and his wife, who came from Ghaziabad. They left their eight-month-old child at home with family so that they could attend the march.
00:26:24
Speaker
Pankaj gently held his wife's hand as they walked. When you become parents, he said, you understand what separation means. A baby needs its mother. When we learn that animals are separated from their babies for dairy and other industries, it felt unbearable. And then it goes on to say how they found this out two years ago, they became vegan. And um yeah, it's a lovely little article. If youve got a couple of minutes, give it a read. You get a real glimpse into these individuals that make up the one hundred odd strong mob who make the news in the Times of India. So credit to everyone involved, including the, I'm presuming, non-vegan journalist who's reported it in such favourable terms.
00:27:06
Speaker
It is a fantastic thing. I've mentioned before how ah with my own work, that the poetry I write and tour, I've been over to India and I went to quite a rural part where everyone I met was vegetarian, many of whom were vegan. And I'd never experienced anything like that in my life to be around so many people.
00:27:26
Speaker
folks i just didn't see meat until going to new delhi uh because you know there are hotels there and even on the streets of new delhi you know meat was was everywhere you know sort of butchers on the street you know flies around you know uh stuff that was being sold it was it was not the same as where i had been uh so It is ah really fantastic to hear about this level of activism going on. It gives me lots of hope. A very good thing indeed. Thank you for reporting on that, Anthony.
00:28:03
Speaker
Okay. From New Delhi to New York, we have, do you know, Anthony, the difference between Delhi and New Delhi, ah Delhi is the kind of equivalent of the state and New Delhi is the city, a bit like New York in the state. There we are. Learn something new every day. Learn something new every day. So in New York City, in the state of New York, a court ah has ah revived the ban on foie gras, ah which is ah being touted in the World Animal News website as a major win for animal protection. David, what are the details of this story? So, yeah, i mean...
00:28:42
Speaker
I've been a vegetarian for most of my life turned vegan recently and never really understood what foie gras was. And when I have learned what it is, of I really don't understand why it's considered the delicacy that it is But this article, the reviving of this 2019 ban on the side of foie gras in New York has effectively allowing the city to enforce its law that has prohibited or that prohibits restaurants and retailers from selling the controversial delicacy. The ban had originally been passed amid growing concern over animal welfare.
00:29:21
Speaker
Foie gras is made by force feeding ducks and geese so their livers swell to many times their normal sight. This is disgusting. In a process, animal advocates argue causes suffering I can imagine the pain. The court decision restores the city's authority to implement the ban, but doesn't immediately remove foie gras from the menus because separate legal challenges and from producers are still ongoing. Now, this is always the way. um Advocates say the ruling is a major win for animal protection reflects expanding momentum against practices they consider cruel.
00:30:01
Speaker
This pis makes the core issue, animal welfare versus commercial eatery rights, very clear. Readers understand why the law exists and why it matters. I think that's very clear in the article. um It indicates reactions from animal protection groups which help illustrate the emotional and social impact of the ruling rather than just legal facts.
00:30:25
Speaker
um but it's missing a lot. We're told there's ongoing litigation from producers that could delay enforcement, but we don't get much detail on how those challenges work or their likelihood of success. That's key to understanding what this ruling actually means in practice.
00:30:42
Speaker
The article doesn't explain how common foie gras bans are globally or in other US jurisdictions. Context that would help us gauge whether this is a trend or just unique. For example, California has had foie gras laws in place for years and other countries prohibit force feeding outright.
00:31:02
Speaker
So it's not very clear. but The article centres mainly on animal welfare reactions. It would be more balanced if it included comments from said producers, chefs or restaurant associations explaining why they oppose the ban, which is part of the broader economic and cultural debate.
00:31:23
Speaker
So the headline and lead focus on it as a landmark win for animal protection, which reflects the publication's orientation and foresee priorities. While that's not inherently wrong, I think everyone should be aware of the source's perspective when weighing um the framing of this article.
00:31:42
Speaker
Thank you, David. Thank you. Well, every single week on this show, we cover a breadth of news stories, but we ask each person contributing to the show to choose one story on which they'd like to spend a little bit more time. So coming up, we've got a detailed look at climate change events.
00:32:03
Speaker
progress reports, we're going to talk a bit about universities and a lot about flavours of ice cream. 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 our show.
00:32:32
Speaker
So to access any of these written transcripts, head over to zencaster.com forward slash vegan week.
Industry Influence on Climate and Food Guidelines
00:32:40
Speaker
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 and then week.
00:32:54
Speaker
zencaster.com forward slash vegan hyphen week. and then each transcript is embedded with any of the shows you click on.
00:33:06
Speaker
Okay, Anthony, let's go to you for your pick of the week. So Anthony, our ah longest serving member of Enough of the Falafel has gone for, um you know, very a very serious story. ah I believe it's from The Grocer. What are The Grocer reporting, Anthony? Well, I'm going to i mean easy immediately shine the spotlight again on the author. Grace Duncan has written this article for The Grocer.
00:33:35
Speaker
And Grace Duncan is is far from a plant-based expert or and or, you know, just focusing on that. She particularly supports with the annual dairyman supplement for The Grocer. So that gives some context.
00:33:52
Speaker
And yet, the headline, Meat and Dairy Industries Are Derailing Climate Progress, report finds. The Dangerous Distractions report has revealed a coordinated effort between major livestock players to downplay emissions, attack independent science, and frame rising meat production as compatible with climate goals. Basically, they're pulling the wool over our eyes, to use a non-vegan phrase. And and it's being reported as such in the grocer. I think this is great news or incredibly lazy journalism from Grace Duncan, who's just like copy and pasted um a press release from this organisation, Changing Markets Foundation, Changing Markets Foundation, Other Folk, who authored this report.
00:34:42
Speaker
I don't think that's the case. I think she is genuinely just reporting on it. Dominic, I could do a whole podcast on this pick for the week. I'm not. I'm going to just limit myself to a few minutes. And I just, I'd really suggest listeners give this a few minutes of your time to follow the link in the show notes and read it. It's one of the most interesting reports and well written. And there's humour in there as well. Like, it's really good. It just exposes quite how hand in glove, if that's the phrase, Dominic as a poet can correct me, you know, these industries and the lobbyists are with people who are supposed to be impartial. You know, the the um United Nations, food and agriculture organisation. You'd think that would be an impartial organisation that's seeking to just advocate on behalf of the people of the world, the people of the United Nations. no No, no, They have said at the World Meat Congress There's a party I don't want an invite to. They said, the world needs more animal protein. They also said, when my stomach is empty, I don't have time to talk about sustainability.
00:35:52
Speaker
What? That's the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, a representative from there saying that. I'm not going to read out all of the examples that I've put down in my notes. I've literally got two A4 pages of quotes from this Changing Markets Foundation report that that Grace Duncan references in this article, the Dangerous Distractions Report. I'll just big up the report as well and say it's got a great bit of artwork to it. It's like ah a cartoon cow. They're in...
00:36:24
Speaker
They're in like red lights looking really sinister and and devil-like, and they're like putting their hoof up, giving a shush. Like, oh, it's all secret. Real clandestine stuff. But yeah, horrendous things that people who should be advocating on behalf of human beings, not not necessarily on behalf of animals, but for human beings, i.e.
00:36:47
Speaker
climate stuff. You know, COP30, we should be looking at this and and the future of our planet, really carefully, however as this report points out, that they basically spent the whole of the summit talking about food security and and and things like that, which is like, that that's not the point. That's not the real imperative here. It's a really good report. And like I say, ah I'd really recommend people read it. And it's it's difficult, isn't it? Because I don't know whether you guys have this, but I think sometimes as animal rights activists, we can sound like conspiracy theorists when we're saying things like, oh, you know, the industry is corrupt and they're taking bribes, they're taking backhanders.
00:37:35
Speaker
So perhaps we just need to prove it. um And I think this report does this. we've We've talked a few times on the show in the last few months about the latest American food pyramid and why Shane is now cooking everything in beef tallow. because she's very diligent and and follows the government's advice. um it Those guidelines were rewritten by a panel of nine reviewers, six of whom declared financial ties to the meat, dairy, farmer or growing wellness tech industry, including ties to the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, Nutritia, which is a subsidiary of Danone, General Mills and Dairy Management Incorporated. Like we need to highlight these actual examples because otherwise I think there's a risk that we say, oh, industry's corrupt. Oh, they know it's lobbyists. We need to be specific because otherwise it sounds like we've just had a,
00:38:31
Speaker
few too many fermented tempeh steaks and actually we're just you know hallucinating this stuff's really going on and well done to the great people at changing markets foundation for highlighting it in in such a great way is my opinion dominic that's really wonderful to hear. Where I live is not far from the universities in Manchester and I'm always hopeful that the university students will keep that fire in them because it's so fantastic to see them protesting, to see them
00:39:03
Speaker
actively engaged in political matters, campaigning. It's really good.
Advocacy and Listener Engagement
00:39:09
Speaker
And so often people move on from university and they get jobs which force them into compromising stances when it comes to ethics.
00:39:18
Speaker
And, you know, to to to hear two articles in a row from Anthony where people have of really, really, ah you know, exposed bad stuff. That's a really excellent way. Now, going back to universities, I'm talking about the universities by me in Manchester, but David has chosen for his story of the week a university-oriented of Washington, Washington State University's College of Veterinary Medicine. Now, there's been a lot of activity there, I believe, ah led by ah some of the students there. ah
00:39:55
Speaker
Pressure ah from animal rights groups campaigning, leading to ah the the WSU, the the Washington State University, abandoning terminal surgery. David, would like tell us a little bit more about this article?
00:40:12
Speaker
Yes, I would love to. i wish they are good to preise oh i always think it's a shame that places, universities, businesses, just that it takes public pressure and threats to make these changes. But um that has happened, which I think is really good. And this is what this article focuses on. As Dominic said, of The article reports um that Washington State University's College of Veterinary Medicine has changed part of its euthanasia-based surgery curriculum after the public pressure and threats have directed at staff. Specifically, wsun did the equine component of a large animal surgery elective and said it would not bring eight horses to campus for the course. Hooray!
00:40:59
Speaker
The school said safety concerns drove the immediate decision, though it also stated it had already been planning to phase out the equine component starting next um academic year, are convenient.
00:41:12
Speaker
um The controversy grew after veterinary student Luria Cottingham raised ethical concerns about terminal surgeries in which animals undergo procedures and are then euthanized.
00:41:26
Speaker
An ill-rights group, including the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals, PETA and the Beagle Freedom Project, along with vein veterinarian Crystal Heath and her non-profit Our Honor, amplified the issue publicly and urged people to pressure WSU leadership.
00:41:44
Speaker
The article presents the core dispute as a clash between two values, educational benefit versus animal welfare. WSU faculty and course materials argue that live animal procedures provide essential hands-on surgical training that simulations cannot fully replicate, while critics argue that training should shift towards alternatives that help animals in genuine clinical need. rather than using healthy animals in terminal labs.
00:42:14
Speaker
The ongoing debate. It also highlights within the veterinary school itself, Cottingham says she wanted a professional internal discussion about reform, but the issue escalated into a public campaign, leaving her feeling ostracised.
00:42:31
Speaker
The article ends on an unresolved note, including uncertainty about what will happen to the horses and goats involved. um I think this is a strong news feature overall because it captures the central tension clearly. It gives meaningful space to both the university and its critics. It does more than just report sheer outrage. It explains what the labs are. why defenders believe they matter and why opponents object on ethical grounds that makes it more nuanced than a simple campus controversy piece.
00:43:06
Speaker
One of the article strengths is that it identifies multiple causes for the curriculum change rather than reducing everything to one dramatic layer WSU cites threats as the reason for the abrupt immediate cancellation but the piece also notes that the school was already moving towards ending the equine portion.
00:43:25
Speaker
That detail stops the story from becoming overly simplistic. That said, the framing still leads towards conflict. The headline foreground foregrounds threats which is newsworthy but it can also subtly position critics in a shadow of intimidation even though the article does not establish that the advocacy groups themselves made threats.
00:43:49
Speaker
In fact, Heath disputes the implication and says she does not condone violent rhetoric. So the piece is fairer than the headline might initially suggest, but the headline still primes the reader to view the activism through a security lens first. There are also a few evidentiary gaps.
00:44:07
Speaker
The university says threats occurred, but the article does not describe their nature in detail or provide examples. That leaves the reader unable to judge their severity, credibility or source.
00:44:19
Speaker
Likewise, critics propose alternatives such as partnerships with local ranches and more clinically relevant surgeries, but the article does not explore how feasible those alternatives are, how common they are at other vet schools, or whether they even provide equivalent training outcomes.
00:44:37
Speaker
Another limitation is that PACE does not fully contextualise where Washington State University sits within a broader veterinary education landscape. It mentions that small animal terminal labs are increasingly a thing of the past, but it stops short of showing how many veterinary schools still use large animal terminal labs, what accrediting bodies recommend, or whether WSU is an outlier.
00:45:03
Speaker
that missing context matters because it would help everyone judge whether this is a stubborn old practice, a still common teaching method, or a field in transition.
00:45:15
Speaker
So it's a fair summary judgment, sorry, a fair summary judgment would be that the article is balanced and informative, but not fully complete. It succeeds at showing in the human ethical and institutional dimensions of the dispute, yet it leaves yet italy' key questions unanswered about the threats, the practical quality of alternatives, and how typical WSU's curriculum is compared with other veterinary schools.
00:45:43
Speaker
Thank you, David. Thank you very much. want to draw attention to the fact that um this show, we've got two listeners, Shane and now David, who were people listening into the show, who then turned into people up for sharing news with us. That's an absolutely fantastic thing. David's first show with us today. It's such a joy to have you with us, David. Thank you so much. Winnie Thorough, Winnie Thorough. That was well good. Thank you very much. It's great to be here.
00:46:13
Speaker
oh It's great to have you. So from praising David to praising Shane. Now, Shane, I believe we're going to ask the question, vegan ice cream, is it tasty or is it all a load of old nonsense? What do you what do you reckon, Shane? What's your response? i like I like vegan ice cream, but... Me too. But I don't know about the rest of the population.
00:46:43
Speaker
So i have I have an article from... I think I could call him my friend now, Kenny Torella Vox. And listeners, you think you thought you were going to get through an episode with me without an article by Kenny Torella, but I saved it for the end. This is, this is, I've got a string of good news stories this week. And I don't know, you can tell me at what you can write in and and tell us whether you think this is actually a good news story or not. I i like to think it's good news. So basically, um there was a massive blind taste test of vegan milk, cheese, and ice cream.
00:47:18
Speaker
And when i say they say massive, they mean 2,183 people. And what they found, and these were, I should say these were 6% of participants were vegetarian, 3% were pescatarian, and the rest considered themselves flexitarians or omnivores. So there were not any vegans in this study.
00:47:38
Speaker
So everybody drank milk and so on. And what they found was that plant-based milk, people thought it tasted good, almost as good or just as good as cow's milk in this study. Mozzarella-based cheese, yogurt, those were not rated so highly. And the whole point of this was so that researchers could get ideas on how to grow and improve the market on dairy-free products.
00:48:07
Speaker
And what they found was that they could work on funky aftertastes and dairy-free yogurt and sour cream. People who were in the taste test asked for increased richness for ice creams, cream cheese, cheddar, and butter. and they wanted increased stretchiness um as a common request for mozzarella. So those are things that industry could work on It's good for them to know what they could do so that these products could reach parity with dairy products. Of course, we have to also think about price.
00:48:42
Speaker
because you know that the dairy industry receives lots of subsidies in the United States and in the UK and probably all around the world. And so that keeps those prices unnaturally low. And they found that when plant-based milk costs even 25% more than cow's milk, that you have 43% fewer people who will buy it. So another thing that we've got to do is work on that price. But all in all, I thought this was good news that some of the products were being rated so highly. If you go look at the article, there's
00:49:15
Speaker
lots of bar graphs and flashy pictures. And I also think it's good news that there being these products are going to be improved. And hopefully, you know, one day people won't ever be able to tell the difference or they will think, hey, this plant based product tastes even better than the dairy product.
00:49:31
Speaker
Can I say something on this one? I've got the data in front of me here. You can go on to palletinsights.com and see that they're the folk who are ah sort of showcasing the data side of this.
00:49:44
Speaker
And what they seem to be doing is comparing... what they call the plant-based average. So the average of all the plant-based versions of let's say dairy milk with the animal benchmark level and then the plant-based leader. So let's say Oakley is the plant-based leader. Then the plant-based average is sort of you know an amalgam of all the average plant-based milks. And then the animal benchmark, let's call that semi-skimmed milk.
00:50:12
Speaker
That to me doesn't seem like a reasonable comparison because like i'm I've not got in my fridge all of the different plant milks. And so knowing the average between them is really important. I go for which one I like the best.
00:50:27
Speaker
And so the kind of animal benchmark that the norm people too, we're just going to go for the one they like the best. So really you're just comparing two things. i just thought that was a bit, ah a bit of a skewed way of looking at it. So like for for barista milk that I'm looking at now, They say, oh, the plant-based average needs improvements to better match the animal benchmark. Well, actually, when you look at it, it doesn't because the the plant-based leader has got a score of 47% and the animal benchmark is 51%. So basically the same. yeah um also Also, grow up everyone.
00:51:02
Speaker
Like, do you know what? Like, oh, it tastes a bit different. Oh, it's not like my normal one. Oh, okay. Okay. Off we go. We'll go and sexually exploit the cow then. Okay. We'll go and put a bolt gun through the animal's head. Like, come on, come on, grow up. And we've discussed in previous shows about how your taste buds change as well. So, you know, if you cut back on sugar, your tongue will become less sensitive sugar. And it's exactly the same with dairy or soy. If you have something you haven't had a lot of, it'll taste odd because it is odd to you. So, yeah, quite right. Thank you, everyone, for your picks of the week. What a joy. Now, I want to remind listeners that we're always keen to hear your opinions on any news, just like we've had ah Shane come forward and David come forward. You don't have to be presenting something. You can absolutely drop us an email or find us on the Instagram. There are loads of ways that you can find us. Here's how to get in touch.
00:52:03
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.
00:52:22
Speaker
Go on, send us a message today. enough of the falafel at gmail dot com All right, to round up the show, i want to just ah give a big shout out to the place I grew up. I am not someone who grew up in England. I grew up in Wales. And in Wales, we have the first ever vegan hotel.
00:52:44
Speaker
in which not just people but dogs are welcome uh food and loving vegan have given a great account of the historic welsh manor house the first ever fully vegan hotel in wales which is preparing to open this spring so it's promising sustainable luxury indulgent plant-based dining and magnificently beautiful countryside surroundings so we talked about andy and louise mcbeth uh in previous shows uh they have done ah stuff they they've uh hosted uh accommodation in the yorkshire dales prior to uh making uh this move to wales it's really really exciting um
00:53:31
Speaker
We can't complete the show without giving a big shout out to this amazing thing happening. It's little stories like this that give you big hope, big hope that there are people who are really on the right side of history.
00:53:48
Speaker
And yeah, let's all go there. Let's have a big old enough of the falafel. team holiday let's do it i'm concerned dominic i'm concerned yeah about a couple called the macbeths who are living in an old building i did think about that too No, no, no, no, no. doesn't sound very vegan at all. It's not in Scotland though. So we're okay. We're okay.
00:54:16
Speaker
Yeah, we're fine, aren't we? We're fine. Excellent. All right, everyone. Thank you so much for listening to our show. It's always always a joy. to put these together. But we'd be nowhere if you weren't tuning in. Yeah, thanks again, everyone, for listening. Thank you, Dominic, for hosting the show, navigating us through the week's news. And yeah, particular hooray for David on your first episode. It's been great having you. David, are you able to tell us when the next Vegan Talk episode is coming out? Yes, I can tell. Yes, the next Vegan Talk episode is coming out on Thursday, the 26th of March with Dominic, Paul and Shane. And it's called Why Am I Vegan? I do it for my mental health.
00:54:57
Speaker
Anyway, that's enough of the falafel for this episode. Thanks to David, Dominic, and Anthony for your contributions. Thanks again to everybody for listening. I'm Shane, and you've been listening to Vegan Week from the Enough of the Falafel Collective.
00:55:16
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.
00:55:31
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.
00:55:57
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 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, around a dozen news items from around the world week.
00:56:22
Speaker
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 thanks for your ongoing support wherever you listen to us from