Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
137- California wildfire victims receive vegan respite
84 Plays2 months ago
The terrible wildfires raging across California at the moment are truly awful news, for human and non-human animals alike. One tiny kernel of positivity amidst the horror however is the actions of plant-based pop-up Vurger Guyz, who have provided over a thousand plant-based meals to some of those affected by the tragedy, as well as receiving support from actor Tabitha Borwn, and plant-based giants, Beyond Meat. As well as this story, Carlos & Anthony look at ten stories from the vegan & animal rights space from the last week or so.
****************
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.
******************
This week's stories:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?fbclid=IwY2xjawH1HEZleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHbDrUp5F0V3wCR0wjnsVQXYfxKoPGob6ktBpAGEJ_PtGr58ZYyZAPJaFrw_aem_HnIrrqr8efyq2urcA7lQIw&v=bCWssx4GBLE&feature=youtu.be
https://plantbasednews.org/culture/film/vegan-documentary-food-for-thought/
https://www.farminguk.com/news/tory-council-blasted-for-running-anti-dairy-campaign_65937.html
https://plantbasednews.org/lifestyle/health-and-fitness/meat-free-care-home-residents-double/
http://koreabizwire.com/animal-rights-group-criticizes-mass-euthanasia-at-newly-consolidated-shelter-in-changwon/303710
https://www.farminguk.com/news/dairy-farm-told-to-pay-out-10k-after-illegal-discharge-of-slurry_65944.html
https://www.theanimalreader.com/2025/01/15/investigation-into-cruelty-at-us-dog-breeding-facility-ridglan-farms/
https://www.unilad.com/news/animals/morocco-dogs-execution-fifa-world-cup-381217-20250115
https://plantbasednews.org/news/activism/tabitha-brown-vegan-food-truck-wildfires/
****************
Thanks everyone for listening; give us a rating and drop us a message to say "hi"; it'll make our day!
Carlos & Ant
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Humor
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello everybody and welcome to your one-stop shop for this week's vegan and animal rights news. I'm Anthony and joining me for this episode is Carlos but that is enough of the falafel. It is time but is used for.
00:00:20
Speaker
protein. Take your lab grown meat elsewhere without doing that in the state of Florida. What about your protein and what about your iron levels? So they call the media and say, hi, sorry. They're arguing like, oh poor Woe is me. Hang on a minute, you always pick
00:00:47
Speaker
as you don't get the wee brilliant with the horns, you'll be all alright. Does veganism give him superpowers?
00:00:55
Speaker
No,
Vegan News Highlights
00:00:56
Speaker
I cannot fly around the city. I don't have laser vision. and Hey, hello, everybody. This is Carlos and welcome to Vegan Week. And thanks so much for listening to us. Absolutely. Anthony here. Great to have you with us, everyone. That is enough for the falafel. Let's get straight into it and hear what has been going on in the news this week.
00:01:20
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.
00:01:33
Speaker
Well,
Joey Carbstrong's Exposé and Controversy
00:01:34
Speaker
they've been battling against the social media algorithm and all sorts, but Joey Carbstrong and his group of activists have this week released their second in a series of three exposés on the Muller Dairy Company and specifically the farms that they use to exploit cows and their secretions for they've released a lot of stuff on on Facebook basically appealing for people to
00:02:05
Speaker
to do their bit to get the video out there too, because it seems that YouTube have almost as soon as the video gone up, they've restricted it to 18 plus, which obviously greatly restricts the reach. They've appealed against this this age restriction, and but it's been immediately denied. So kind of an immediate call to action for this week would be, you know, if if you're happy to, would be to to follow Joey and the team's advice and to to do what you can to help get the video out there, it shows all sorts of of horrid stuff but actually I mean I would say Carlos it's it's another one where theyve they've done it quite cleverly in in terms of putting footage of what actually happens adjacent to stuff that all of themselves are saying is is is what they do well and and and showing the contradictions in in what
Age Restriction Debate
00:03:00
Speaker
they're saying.
00:03:00
Speaker
Yeah and isn't it telling that this video is restricted to 18 plus and one could even say that it's warranted that it's restricted to 18 plus in a way because it's absolutely ah horrific content and obviously we don't want it to be restricted to 18 plus because everybody should should see it including young people who might be horrified by it but they certainly can can you know start to gain awareness and at a younger age and then kind of grow to to be vegans or at least vegans vegan adjacent in a way. But yeah, it's a shame that it's been restricted. I don't know how much the public can do about these things and how much actual there's like an actual human at YouTube looking at these appeals. And on the other hand,
00:03:43
Speaker
to kind of play you know play the other side of what I just said. I'm sure Mueller spends a lot of money advertising on YouTube and other Google ah property but platforms and properties online. So there's quite a lot of interest in this video not being shown to most people.
00:03:59
Speaker
yeah
Shock vs. Aspirational Content
00:04:00
Speaker
i mean i don't really think that that youtube in this specific example can win really because actually if they if they made it so that anyone could see it they they would surely face a backlash from people saying my child saw this video and were traumatized they couldn't sleep for weeks or whatever you know that no matter how social justice minded you are but i mean that the fact is it's ah in my opinion it's ah it's a well made video it's about 11 minutes long it's going to upset you if you if you watch it that's the reality unless you're a sociopath but and you know it's well done it it shows some of the commonplace facts of the dairy industry so no matter
00:04:42
Speaker
you know, what grade of dairy, how how high welfare it is, that there are universal facts about that industry that the video shows well, as well as exposing, you know, horrific practices that will be against guidelines, but will probably be quite commonplace anyway. Yeah, wouldn't it be good, though, if this 18 plus restriction created enough of a backlash that made this video go out to more people because it would appear in the news?
00:05:12
Speaker
You know, ah sometimes controversy is is a ah great marketing tool. Yeah, absolutely. And we we saw this last year with an advert I think that was banned. It was put out by Viva and it was banned. And um I think they then subsequently released a press release saying this video was actually seen by more people because it was banned. So ah who knows? it It could work. But yeah, call to action if you're happy to is to is to get this video out there and shared and comment and liked.
00:05:41
Speaker
and what have you. So where justice can be done for those poor, poor dairy cows. Another film that is setting to premiere this
Film Announcement: 'Food for Thought Revolution'
00:05:49
Speaker
month. In fact, if you're London Way in a week's time, as we record now on a Friday night, you can watch the premiere at the Royal Geographical Society of London, Friday the 24th of January 730. It's called Food for Thought Revolution or Evolution. It's a feature-length documentary by actor and born free foundation patron Dan Richardson.
00:06:12
Speaker
and director Giles Alderson explores the growth of the vegan movement around the world through interviews with animal rights activists, philanthropists, athletes, plant-based food developers, podcasters, not us I would say,
00:06:26
Speaker
And Rockstars includes the CEO of Compassion in World Farming, Philip Limbury, Beyond Meat founder, Ethan Brown, YouTuber and personal trainer, Paul Curtin, better known as Hench Herbivore. Richardson, who co-directed and co-produced the film, said, amongst our top priorities was to create something unique in the genre. ah We were determined from day one that whilst we hoped to take the audience on a journey on which they'll find themselves both laughing and crying,
00:06:54
Speaker
the film will ultimately be a positive and uplifting film and one which would leave people feeling understood, included and hopeful. Carlos, we've both seen the trailer. What were your early thoughts? Yeah,
Positive vs. Negative Vegan Messaging
00:07:08
Speaker
so there there seem to be two two styles of videos than to promote veganism, right? One of them is like the kind of disgust and outrage video, as we talked about, for example,
00:07:20
Speaker
you know, in that video about from Joey Carp Strong, about the dairy industry. And then there's kind of the aspirational side, which is like, hey, look, you want to be that there's nothing wrong with being a vegan. In fact, it's it's pretty cool being a vegan. you You can be like all these other cool people who are vegans already. So there seem to be like these two arguments and these two types of videos. This is definitely on that kind of the latter one.
00:07:45
Speaker
And I think it's a really, really positive video. Instead of talking about veganism and in this sort of kind of you know as a negative thing, as in you you're kind of removing things, pleasant things from your life, it talks about kind of the positives of being a vegan and and and kind of shows a very kind of aspirational vegans and and then and kind of the community and so on and so forth. So I believe research has has shown I will provide no no sources for this, but I can look them up later. I believe, actually, if you're trying to convince somebody to make a change to their lifestyle, showing like the positive aspects is actually a stronger argument for it. Because a lot of people will look at like horrific things and they will immediately try to forget about them and try not to have them affect their lives. Whereas if you show them something good, they they'll want to associate with that
00:08:39
Speaker
thing, which is good. And and the obviously the this ah this new this documentary also shows kind of, you know, the kind of the the bad aspect of food production and so on in and animal exploitation but it's mostly focused like on humans who are vegans and and and how aspirational or even attractive that is yeah yeah i mean you know if you you can compare it to the film that we were just talking about the short film that that joey carbstrong's produced it's it's a different audience a different time a different place but it's um yeah it looked like like you say there's lots of
00:09:18
Speaker
Aspirational stuff in there. I mean the soundtrack for the trailer was like so euphoric and there are claims of you know It's the best thing that you'll ever do and um I'm I'm 87 and I'm a healthier than I've ever been and and all of this, you know It's um it's ticking a lot of those boxes And um yeah, it won't be for everyone, but but nothing is, is it? So yeah, it'd be interesting to see how it is received and and what people think about it. And um like I say, if you're in or near London in a week's time, you can check out the World Premiere. Right. Moving on to... Bollocks.
Gloucestershire Dairy Campaign
00:09:52
Speaker
...of the week, a Tory council campaign to get people to swap cow's milk.
00:09:57
Speaker
for vegan alternatives such as oat or almond has prompted backlash from rural campaigners. Gloucestershire council launched the swaps in seconds campaign recently which it claims could help reduce people's carbon footprint and i I don't think really we could we could dispute that but nonetheless it's got people upset. um A spokesperson for the council have said dairy is one of the big producers of methane so our suggestion is every so often instead of having milk with your coffee, as in dairy milk, ah you instead have oat milk or soy. um They added that this would make a small difference in the overall impact of your lifestyle on the environment but the countryside alliance
00:10:40
Speaker
who campaign for rural businesses and farmers describe the move as an attack on freedom of choice and urge the council to drop the demand. I mean I will continue to give the rest of the story in a moment but just an attack on freedom of choice. I really don't understand how ah they've got that. um i think there's opposite of Opposite world isn't it? Opposite week if you're calling that that's attack on freedom of choice, surely freedom of choice is being able to choose plant-based milks, right? Yeah, well I don't think Gloucestershire Council has is provided a mandate here, or there's going to be people, you know, starzy breaking down people's doors, enforcing an occasional swap to a dairy alternative, but I mean perhaps they have, perhaps I need to read more on the story.
00:11:27
Speaker
um The cheek chief exec of the countryside allowance said it was astonishing that the council would choose to prioritize a milk-snatching campaign. I mean, talk about hyperbolic language. At a time when farmers felt pressure from inheritance tax changes. I mean, that's that's irrelevant, isn't it? there's There's nothing to do with carbon footprints. It's of no business of the council whatsoever what the public choose to consume I mean, it is if if there's no if there's no ah local council left because we're all under water or, you know, we've been burnt to a crisp from climate change. But anyway, um they should get on with fixing the basics,
00:12:06
Speaker
fixing the basic not normalize anti livestock farming tropes. I hope the council opt to engage with local dairy farmers and ditch this campaign as quickly as possible.
00:12:18
Speaker
Oh goodness, Carlos, we're where yeah I mean, we've already started. It's impossible to read that out without going. What what are you talking about? Well, for starters, I mean, who who who makes who makes oats and soy? Surely it's farmers as well. No, no, no, no, no. It's the main cities are we growing goats and and soy in our cities? Yes. I mean, it's all about right. and and And you know, but we This podcast has has talked about Tim Bonner and the Countryside Alliance plenty of times. this is They're not representatives of the countryside or of farmers. They, for example, one of their most active campaigns is is related to fox hunting, for example, which has nothing to do with farming. And they spend quite a lot of time campaigning for lifting the ban on fox hunting, for example. So, I mean, who who makes oats? Who makes soy? It's it's just it's just total nonsense, this.
00:13:13
Speaker
and and relating it to the inheritance tax as well, has not one thing has nothing to do with the other. Besides, how much of a dent is Gloucestershire Council you know doing a a small, like this small campaign to to change from cow milk to, from animal milk to plant-based milk, how much of a dent is that really gonna make in in in the profits of dairy farmers? yeah i mean It's purely ideological, and I think i think even I think even even the farmers can understand this. Yeah, I am genuinely interested as to whether this is quite a cynical opportunity
Veganism in UK Care Homes
00:13:53
Speaker
that the Countryside Alliance are taking to to put some, you know, we back farmers stuff out there, or rather genuinely that triggered and that angry that one council saying, do you know what, occasionally maybe swap this milk or whatever, are they really that sensitive that they're like, Absolutely not. This is unacceptable. And I really don't know. I don't know if you have a hunch, Carlos, like the hyperbolic language it almost seems a bit much. I wonder whether they're just like, oh, let's get some keywords out there and and kind of create a backlash that actually we don't really believe in. Yeah, maybe maybe it was a slow week at the Countryside Alliance.
00:14:32
Speaker
ah Because um you know there' it's been quite cold in the UK recently, so they haven't been able to go out fox hunting because of that. So yeah they just wanted to latch on to something else for it. They were just sat in the office and doing nothing and just thought, you know what, we should we we should go after vegans now.
00:14:51
Speaker
Yeah well I mean the amount of hot air and kind of red fuming necks of sort of you know i'm I'm picturing Jeremy Clarkson all the time with this but anyone just getting hot under the collar that will that will soon help thaw the frozen ground and they'll be out to... Yeah is ultimate milk woke?
00:15:10
Speaker
oh yeah 100% yeah 100% woke it right 100% woke guarantee uh anyway let's let's move on to uh well i suppose we could say this is this next story isn't propaganda from ah the opposite side of things but it is a research group at Swansea University that have carried out research on behalf of vegetarian for life and they have been looking at the number of vegan and vegetarian care home residents in the UK. They reckon that the numbers will continue to climb over the next five years. Here are some numbers and some projections. Currently over 31% of care homes catered to at least one vegetarian um or vegan I suppose
00:15:53
Speaker
in 2024 which is up from 22.7% in 2014. So we're like what another 50% increase over 10 years by my maths there. Two and a half percent of care homes catered to vegan residents. the proportion That's not necessarily saying two and a half percent of residents in care homes are vegan it is two and a half percent of care homes have at least one vegan in them. They expect the numbers to more than double in terms of vegetarians by 2031, so in six years the number of vegetarians in care homes to double. ah The total number of vegans could triple in that time to reach nearly two and a half thousand
00:16:39
Speaker
VFL, which is Vegetarian for Life, they describe the research as a call to action for the care sector. They highlighted how both the 2010 Equality Act and the 2005 Mental Capacity Act obligate care providers to respect dietary preference. They urge providers to adopt best practices, equip staff with essential knowledge about plant-based nutrition, and collaborate with nutritionists and suppliers. And they also cite that um this year's Veganuary campaign is the perfect opportunity for care homes to reassess their approach to dietary inclusivity. I mean, Carlos, obviously, vegetarianism and and veganism aren't the same thing, but it's I guess this is something that's going to be more and more the case. I think we would have kind of predicted that anyway without the need for research, but good opportunity for a press release.
00:17:27
Speaker
Yeah, i like to believe I like to believe one day I might be in a care home and and and I'd be kind of surrounded by other vegans. Wouldn't that be amazing? And and kind of be pay perfectly catered to. I guess i guess vegans and vegetarians aren't the same thing, but I guess for the purpose of kind of care home like logistics, they're quite close, isn't it? They're going to kind of be very similar. In the same way, for example, my niece in her school, she always has like a vegetarian option at her school.
00:17:56
Speaker
ah for lunch. Bear in mind this is in Portugal, not not the UK, so a country that has far fewer vegetarians and vegans than the UK. And she always has a vegetarian option. And and sometimes this vegetarian option is like a vegan option. So there's like a lot of, you know, people use the terms interchangeably. Obviously, in this in this regard, in this piece of news, they they kind of are separating the two. But in logistical logistic terms in terms of training catering staff and and and stuff at the care homes, it's going to be quite similar in terms of the training compared to a non-vegetarian diet with meat and so on. But it's great that they've done this study because often we we it's easier for us to get like very gloomy about the the growth of vegetarians and vegans in the UK. and and this But this study kind of shows quite a, I have kind of a quick browse of it, and it shows quite a good methodology to it. And it's very encouraging to to read.
00:18:56
Speaker
Yeah and I think I've known about Vegetarian for Life for a little while. I think they used to do ads in some vegan magazine or another that I used to get probably about 10 years ago and they seem to do a lot for advocating for people in care homes to make sure that their rights with regards to dietary and lifestyle choices are being listened to so yeah.
00:19:23
Speaker
all in favor of that. Our next story is the first of a few where if you're any kind of dog lover, which I think would apply to all of our audience, whether or not you live with one or not, quite upsetting, to be honest. It's
Changwon Dog Euthanasia Controversy
00:19:36
Speaker
definitely not been a good week for dogs. This first one comes to us from South Korea, ah where an animal rights organization has condemned the city of Changwon for euthanizing numerous dogs shortly after consolidating three animal shelters into one.
00:19:53
Speaker
They've called it an inhumane decision driven by space constraints. At a press conference held at Changwon City Hall on the 14th of January, the Animal Empathy Alliance criticized the city's actions. They say the current integrated animal protection center has space limitations that prevent it from safely housing all abandoned animals. Volunteers had pre previously expressed concerns about excessive euthanasia due to space constraints during last year's shelter consolidation, but the city repeatedly in short assured them that no animals would be euthanized due to space limitations.
00:20:32
Speaker
However, they report that 89 animals were euthanized indiscriminately at the Integrated Centre last month. The forced consolidation, which ignored persistent concerns about capacity and protection capabilities raised by civil society, seriously threatens animal welfare and right to life, added the group.
00:20:54
Speaker
and The city has defended its actions saying that the euthanasia procedures were part of originally planned procedures that coincidentally occurred after the consolidation I mean it's kind of missing the point if you're a dog lover isn't it just saying oh no no no no we were gonna kill those dogs anyway oh all right then oh fair enough carry on yeah yeah it's it this is not really defending your actions like saying i'm gonna do a bad thing and then i actually did the bad thing wait you still did the bad thing it doesn't matter it doesn't matter that you said you were gonna do it and you still went ahead and did it look i i i admit i don't know much about the history
00:21:34
Speaker
around animal rights in South Korea. And if this is sort of standard procedure of the sort of thing that happens there all the time with no backlash. So it's really hard for me to comment. It's just it's just really sad news, isn't it? Yeah. But I also know that ah people in South Korea have been struggling quite a lot in terms of, you know, living standards and and kind of being able to afford a place to live and so on. Even though it's kind of, in theory, rich country, the standard of life isn't isn't incredible, isn't that good. So like I can imagine a lot of kind of that a lot of animals have been surrendered to shelters recently because of that in the past few years.
00:22:13
Speaker
I know, for example, that the one of the reasons or the main reason the birth rates in South Korea are so low is because people just can't afford to have kids, can't afford to like buy a bigger house or rent a bigger flat to have kids and kind of raise them. And so, i met you know, but be extrapolating from that, I would imagine that they don't have the space or money or time because of the work working culture to have pets. And if things are getting worse in that regard, then more pets will be surrendered to shelters. We've seen that happen.
00:22:43
Speaker
in the UK as well with the cost of living crisis. It's just sad that money could not be found to not consolidate these rescues and kind of keep these animals alive.
00:22:55
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, it's like you say, when the when the squeeze comes, it's it's those at the the bottom of the hierarchical ladder, if indeed there is one, that that that suffer. And and i I guess, I mean, you know stray dogs and straight stray animals can can breed and and and reproduce, of course, so that's that's another issue. But actually, if if you if you have people who are making money and encouraging breeding themselves, that that is this is always going to be a problem.
00:23:23
Speaker
isn't it? it you know and any Any kind of animal breeding industry is always going to be at risk of ah producing more animals than than people can safely look after. That's the root of these things very often. yeah That's how it goes, unfortunately. Yeah, indeed. Right, our next story comes to us from one of the most helpful news sources out there.
00:23:47
Speaker
Going undercover and filming footage of animal agriculture is hard work. Sometimes activists need a day off too. Oh that's why we are delighted that this next story comes to us from the great guys at Farming UK who dish the dirt on British animal agriculture every week to save animal rights activists from having to do all the work themselves. Farming UK. Sometimes it's just easier if the trash takes itself out Yes, the Countryside Alliance have been going blue in the face trying to put positive spins on Animal Act, but Farming UK just keep releasing stories saying about the horrendous job that they're doing. um Including this one, a Lancashire dairy farm have been ordered to pay out over £10,000 following a prosecution brought by the Environment Agency. It's all about slurry. So E and&A Foreshore, who operated a dairy farm in Ulster, appeared at Lancaster Magistrates Court
00:24:44
Speaker
ah at the very start of this year for center sentencing. The partnership pleaded guilty in November to two charges of an illegal discharge of slurry into a nearby brook. the tun Brooke, they also pleaded guilty to breaching regulations around the storage of slurry by extending it too close to the watercourse. Now following the sentencing, Nicky Rushton, who is an area environment manager for the agency, noted that the regulations on how to construct slurry stores has been in place for more than 30 years. He explained, all farmers need to be aware of their legal responsibilities to prevent pollution events like this
00:25:24
Speaker
from happening, we will take action against anyone who fails to act in accordance with environmental laws. um So they were fined £3,000, ordered to pay costs of over 7,300, I assume that means legal costs, as well as the £300 victim surcharge. I mean, when you break those numbers down, the headline looks good, like, oh, a dairy farmer's been prosecuted over, you know, illegally dumping slurry. And then you see what the fine is and you think that's pennies really, isn't it?
00:25:52
Speaker
Yeah, I mean this is this is hardly going to affect their their their bank account is it or their kind of running costs. Yeah, it's it's really it's really nothing. I guess the only good news is that it kind of shows up in the news and people search for it. They they will see this, ah although I really doubt any company looking for a supplier of dairy is going to He's going to think twice about this anyway. Why should they care, really? I mean, this just reinforces that you know we're ruining our planet for nothing, really, um or for tradition, I guess, the tradition of theory.
00:26:30
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. And, um you know, we were talking about alternatives to to dairy milk in ah in a story a couple of couple of stories ago. And again, you know, and an oat milk producing facility. I don't think there's much slurry produced there, to the best of my knowledge, though. What do I know? What do I know? But yeah, like you say, good that it's got in the news. And I mean, ah as well, it's it's kind of like an education piece on on the fact that actually in order for you to have dairy products in your life. There need to be institutions who you know they they might prevent pollution events like this from happening, and you know in the words of the Air Environment Manager, but they're still producing a heck of a lot of slurry and and awful stuff even before you go into you know the the conditions for animals and and what they go through. so
00:27:16
Speaker
Good to keep people up to date with this. It's bad for the humans, it's bad for the animals, and it's bad for the environment, and for nothing really. Indeed, indeed. Right, we'll be back with our picks of the week.
00:27:37
Speaker
OK, we've already given a heads up. We're going to be talking more dog related stories. Carlos, why don't you start us off? What's what's your pick of the week? Yeah,
Animal Mistreatment Investigation in Wisconsin
00:27:45
Speaker
so we're playing on the topic of dogs and it's the news that the Wisconsin. So that's in USA.
00:27:51
Speaker
A Wisconsin judge has approved an independent prosecutor to investigate, I think it's pronounced, Ridgeland Farms, the second largest dog breeding facility for experimentation in the US. The facility is accused of severe animal mistreatment with reports indicating dogs are kept in isolation without outdoor access and showing signs of distress, as which is very easy to understand why. The investigation was prompted by efforts from animal rights activists, particularly members of direct action everywhere, or DXC as they're known. In 2017, three DXC members, including Wayne Shung, entered the facility and rescued three beagles. Though initially charged with felonies, all charges were later dropped. And I would say this is something that happens a lot with animal rescuers, because they'll be prosecuted for you know essentially stealing property. But then
00:28:45
Speaker
Often these facilities don't want their names to be in the news, so they will they will kind of drop charges, so you know kind of things get covered up. Anyway, the most compelling compelling evidence for this Wisconsin judge kind of appointing an independent prosecutor came from two former employees, Scott Gilbertson and Matthew Reich.
00:29:06
Speaker
who testified about disturbing practices at the facility, including, and I think this is ah a good time to ask for listener discretion discretion if you want to kind of cover your ears or just ah maybe skip the next 20 seconds if you're sensitive to this kind of stuff. So they were performing surgeries without anesthesia or painkillers.
00:29:28
Speaker
debarking procedures on 30, 40 dogs at a time, and this include this is basically removing the vocal cords, which is as horrific as it sounds, no anesthesia, and these surgeries being performed by non-veteranarians, which violate Wisconsin law. Animal rights activists hope this investigation will lead to the closure of vigilant farms and the rehoming of all dogs, similar to what happened with Invigo in 2022,
00:29:56
Speaker
following a PETA investigation. In fact, I believe we covered this story in Vegan Week as well. The case represents a significant shift. Rather than the activists being prosecuted for their rescue efforts, the facility itself is now under investigation for potential criminal negligence and animal cruelty. What do you think? I mean, just when when you hear what goes on,
00:30:17
Speaker
in these facilities, it's it's so crude, it's it's it's almost like a parody or something, isn't it? like who's Who's taking the bark off a dog? Do you know what I mean? like i know I know we could you know really broaden out and become very philosophical and say stuff that's happening to dogs is is no worse than things that are happening to to other animals but like to to get a bit of an in and to to get people who aren't yet vegan on on the side of an animal rights perspective in life like this is the kind of story to show people like this is what happens when we decide
00:30:56
Speaker
that non-human animals are our property and we get to have dominion over them and decide what is right what is for the greater good and and and things like that and and actually you know i'm a big believer that you know that the truth will out and and things will gradually write themselves far more slowly than we would like but actually the fact that yeah they're they've appointed a prosecutor to investigate this breeder, the second second biggest in the in the country of the USA, which is obviously a very big country. like That's the kind of progress that
00:31:33
Speaker
that will inevitably happen, but it it does rely on on activists continually you know rolling this boulder uphill and and and doing the thankless tasks and things. I've got faith that things will go in the right direction, ultimately, but because you can't you can't listen to those facts that you've just read out there.
00:31:53
Speaker
and those testimonies that but like their own employees have come forward. And that there'll be risks for them doing that, won't there? you know that if you If you asked a whole workforce to come forward and testify, there would be people who would understandably say, I don't want to appear in court. I can't afford for that to for that personal risk or or whatever. The facts speak for themselves.
00:32:14
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, there are, of course, whistleblower protections in the US and in the UK. I still think people would think 12. But it's still risky because, you you get I mean, if this is the industry you work in, unfortunately, you you you will be blacklisted.
00:32:28
Speaker
you will never work in this industry again. So there there are risks. i'll just I'll just say a few points about this. Obviously kind of performing surgery without anesthesia or any care for the animals happens in the meat industry all the time. You know what they do with with the tails of pigs for example and testicles of male pigs and what they do with the beaks of chickens. I mean so there's lots of kind of this stuff going on in the media meat industry But in terms of getting laws to protect the animals, of course, dogs are going to have it a bit fairer. I know we have a lot of listeners in the US, but we have a lot of listeners in the UK. And can I just say that we have dog breeding facilities for medical experimentation in the UK as well. In fact, I visited the protesters outside one of them ah who are known as Camp Beagle.
00:33:16
Speaker
They just kind of shut set up shop a few years ago near MBR acres in in near Cambridge in Huntington. They're just full-time protesters. they just They just live outside the facility as full-time protesters. And so if this sort of thing outrages you and you live in the UK, and if you want to kind of support people who've been protesting this for essentially dedicating their lives to protesting animal experimentation,
00:33:42
Speaker
and breeding dogs for that purpose, you know please visit and support Camp Beagle in hunting them. Yeah, there's there's lots of ways you can support them as well. The best of my knowledge, their website gives gives you a ah ah good old list of what you can do. ah but Obviously financial support is is welcome, but also I i think I've, like when I was running a business, I think we donated a raffle prize to them because they'll do like regular raffles and and things like that. So, you know, if you've got a Christmas present you don't want, actually kind of like donating that to a raffle that someone would then pay money for.
00:34:15
Speaker
is is a way that you know you can raise money for them without having to necessarily give your own money if you're feeling a bit hard up at the moment something else i i just wanted to say about this story i mean that they so they cite in the article which you can read in full um in the show notes that they cite how the behaviors of the dogs were what unnatural and i think because culturally you know in in in our country certainly people are very aware of what natural or certainly domesticated dog behavior looks like when they see it in they see different behavior from from dogs that are in confinement socially isolated in laboratories blah blah blah blah blah it's very stark and it's it's noticeable and I think something that a lot of the general public if you like are not aware of is that the behavior we see from farmed animals
00:35:10
Speaker
is not their natural behavior you know and and people might say things like oh you know pigs are stupid or sheep are stupid or you know that people would use various derogatory terms towards farmed animals because of the behavior that is sort of synonymous with them but that that is their behavior in this very specific exploitative environment and it's not their natural behavior and i think Yeah, the more we can spread that message, the better as well. Yeah, that's that's one of the real benefits of animal sanctuaries, for example, is to kind like have these traditionally farmed animals i'm also expressing their their natural behaviors and and and essentially how they how they are when they're not stressed and fearing for their lives.
00:35:55
Speaker
Absolutely, absolutely and good good little link there Carlos to an episode coming out on Thursday this week where um the two of us and Mark are talking about animal sanctuaries. Right we'll we'll move on to my pick for the week which I've got to say unfortunately is no more positive than the one we've just been discussing. um
FIFA and Morocco Dog Cull Allegations
00:36:14
Speaker
Now I'm a ah big football fan, I'm embarrassingly when ah any of your listeners who use Spotify to listen will at the end of a calendar year you'll you'll get a sort of Spotify wrapped or whatever it is that shows you what you've been listening to over the last 12 months and actually Vegan Week was my third most popular podcast to listen to because there were two football podcasts that were number one and two so it's a culturally it's a big part of my life so this one caught my attention because
00:36:44
Speaker
Activists are urging FIFA, world football honchos, to take action as they claim as many as three million dogs will be executed in Morocco ahead of the 2030 men's football World Cup tournament. Morocco have already started preparing to host the event which is taking place in five years time and apparently part of those preparations allegedly included removing stray dogs from the streets which understandably and rightly animal rights activists are claiming is being done in the form of a cull. Previous claims made to FIFA
00:37:22
Speaker
from Morocco alleged that the killings ceased in August 2024. However, conservationist and activist Dr. Jane Goodall has teamed up with the International Animal Welfare Protection Coalition to take a stand as the alleged killings have been found to still be ongoing. So that I guess the idea here is that people from all over the world visiting Morocco for the Football World Cup, the Men's Football World Cup,
00:37:51
Speaker
in five years time would see that stray dogs in the street is is unsavory and and you know that they don't want that sort of image to tarnish them. So there's this huge cull that's secretly, I guess, being being done. ah Yeah, there seems to be a ah trend, isn't it, to kind of make the cities cities which are venues to big, big events. There always seems to be like a cull of street dogs and and and street cats even, and other animals, but is it is it is it really does it really make this the city and the whole city look better than having these massive calls which then appear in the news anyway? Well, I mean, i I'm not sure that anybody going, ever you know, if I was going abroad to watch a football match, like before I was vegan, yeah let's say, or before I was even vegetarian, if there were loads of stray dogs,
00:38:47
Speaker
i I don't think I'd give two hoots. I mean, for football fans, like they they want to know where's a good place to go for a drink. you know Is there a big town square where we can watch the match if we don't have tickets? Are people friendly? ah you know Am I going to get my things stolen? Am I going to be welcomed? They don't care if there's a stray dog. like what ah I think it's obviously we're not going to agree with the culling of of animals.
00:39:15
Speaker
but like I think it's completely misguided even if you know this wasn't to be to be drawn to the attention of but I think as as we saw in the the Qatar Football World Cup for the men a couple years ago like if you do enough shady stuff in the build-up to a big sporting event like this like people will shine a light on it and you you don't necessarily get away with it. Yeah I mean it it it is it Yeah, as you said, is it really that important to to people that the city has some stray dogs or a few stray dogs compared to compared to kind of, you know, you you you go online before you you come to an event and you see on the new you Google?
00:39:59
Speaker
you know Morocco or something and then this news comes up, doesn't that make it the city look much worse for it and less less attractive? Well, I mean, i mean but obviously our hope is that it doesn't happen at all and that and that people are able to prevent it happening. But I think, like you say,
00:40:14
Speaker
that if it does go ahead, which sadly my hunch would be that it that it will, unless enough momentum can be generated with with the protests and and and activism, I think it does make them look far, far worse. And that there will be conscientious people who will say, well, I don't want anything to to do with that. we We saw that with the Qatar Men's Football World Cup. There were people who were saying, you know, for human rights reasons, um these were people saying, well I'm not, either I don't feel comfortable going to that country or I don't i don't agree with it, I don't want to support that country's tourism industry with with my money. I mean in terms of the the pushback that has happened already, I mentioned Dr Jane Goodall has has been involved, she shared her concerns in an open letter to FIFA's Secretary General
00:41:04
Speaker
saying, I was absolutely appalled to see that Moroccan authorities are engaging in large-scale killings of street dogs to make football World Cup venues more presentable to foreign visitors. Football fans, many of whom are animal lovers, will undoubtedly react with calls to boycott the country and pressure sponsors like Qatar Airways to withdraw. I mean, ah I'm not sure Qatar Airways have got... but yeah a great conscience themselves but anyway good try she warned FIFA that the actions could damage its reputation ah again FIFA's reputation for human rights and and you know corruption and things like that it's it's really poor anyway so and unfortunately I don't think they care but
00:41:45
Speaker
Nonetheless, she said, if you fail to act, FIFA will be known for its complicity in a horrific act of barbarity on your watch. Yeah, one of one of many. But some I guess it's it's one of those. It's still five years out, this this tournament, like we can we can spread news of that and we can we can be part of organisations putting pressure on it. So it is the IAWPC,
00:42:11
Speaker
or in other words, the International Animal Welfare Protection Coalition. So that we'll put a link in the show notes for for people to to join that campaign and and put pressure on if indeed that is something you would like to do. And indeed, we love hearing from you. met Perhaps there are other campaigns to this end or indeed other stories that we have not found from this week's news roundup that you would like featured. Here is how to get in touch.
00:42:40
Speaker
To get in touch with us just send us an email at enough of the falafel at gmail dot.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.
00:42:59
Speaker
Go on, send us a message today, enough of the falafel at gmail dot.com. Now we know
Tabitha Brown's Plant-Based Meal Initiative
00:43:06
Speaker
probably all of our listeners have been made aware of that the horrific wildfires that started a couple of weeks ago in Los Angeles in the U.S. that have been huge, unusually early for the for the time of year, unfortunately they are.
00:43:22
Speaker
a regular thing but they've been especially large and destructive this year partly due to the climate crisis according to UCLA researchers. Anyway there is a bit of a silver lining good news story that we've we found from this and that is that Tabitha Brown have partnered with the plant-based food truck Virgo Guys to provide free meals for those affected by the ongoing Los Angeles wildfires. The food truck has been parked in Pasadena this week. They're going to serve food from 10 a.m. each day. I mean, I'm saying this in the in the future tense. This has probably just happened at the time of recording. um So they've served food from 10 a.m. each day.
00:44:06
Speaker
until the ingredients run out, in their words they aimed to feed at least a thousand people. that Just for context, the palisades blaze alone which is just 30 miles from Pasadena where they're situated, currently the largest is destroyed at the time of recording, nearly 25,000 acres so far,
00:44:28
Speaker
made thousands of people homeless around 90,000 Californians across the region remain under evacuation orders and that is before you even come to discuss the the implication for the local wildlife and non-human animals but the the Virgo guys ah are doing this pop-up um so to try and, you know, bring some positivity and I guess respite for those humans who have been affected. They're a pop-up and event-based company. They serve all of Southern California and they quote themselves as serving some of the best burgers you've ever had in your life, all completely
00:45:05
Speaker
plant-based. Tabitha Brown will be supplying ingredients for the next few days and Verga Guys will be serving the meals. Brown says, your unwavering kindness and generosity continue to inspire so many and this act of love is yet another testament to the pureness of your heart. You've always been a beacon of love and light and the way you show up for others reminds us all of the power of compassion and just another kind of plant-based link to this story earlier in the week, Virgo guys thanked Beyond Meat for stepping up and providing ingredients to support first responders and those affected by the wildfires. I mean Carlos, I don't think any of us would think that this would be a ah sort of cynical opportunity for
00:45:52
Speaker
PR or and anything like that, but it's um in in difficult times like this. You know, it's is's great to see organizations popping up and doing this and and great when they're plant-based organizations too. Yeah, it's's it's great this happens regardless. It just so happens that there's a link between the two things. And you can talk about, I mean, obviously that's not what why they're doing it. It just hopefully it helps people make the connection between what's happening with climate emissions and animal farming as opposed to ending animal farming. So clearly we we know there's a connection there. That's not why this is happening. It's still good that vegan organizations show kindness, not just to animals, but to
00:46:37
Speaker
Well, not to non-human animals, but also to human animals. Once again, as we discussed in the beginning of the episode, it's nice to have veganism associated with good things as well, not just kind of through showing the bad side of our opponents, but also showing our good side. Yeah. And I think sometimes um vegans can rightly or wrongly be be perceived as, you know, misanthropic and and not particularly pro-human.
00:47:04
Speaker
you know You'll sometimes hear people say, oh, you you know care about care about animals, but you you don't care about this human rights violation or this you know crisis in this this war here or whatever. And I think, generally speaking, that's not the case. i I understand why people can, at times, lose a bit of faith in humanity. But I think, generally speaking, vegans are compassionate. That's where it comes from. And that extends towards humans too, which is,
00:47:30
Speaker
exemplified too. I mean it's interesting. I hope so. Well yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Well I think it's the way it has has to be if we possibly can summon up the the compassion um amidst all the horrid stuff going on. I found that bit of research from UCLA interesting in terms of suggesting, I i mean I'm not quite sure how they've come up with this research so quickly, but but suggesting that human-induced climate change may have made these these fires work i mean at worse. sorry um I've got the report in front of me here and it seems to be suggesting that because of climate change there
00:48:10
Speaker
The fuel, i.e. the wood and the trees and stuff themselves, but were sort of drier than they ordinarily would have been. So it's never the fire was easier to start or is is spread more easily. Difficult to prove, I guess. But ah again, an an opportunity to to sort of, like you say, make a link there and say, do you know what? there's There's stuff we can do about this. We can mitigate against this in the future.
00:48:36
Speaker
Yeah, it it all feels a bit hopeless when when we talk about climate because it's such a macro thing, isn't it? We can say, well, I stopped eating meat and I've saved X amount of animals by becoming a vegan. But it's very hard to say, well, I started recycling, which meant the change of one degree it been in the heating of the atmosphere. But that's really hard you know to do. But hopefully, I mean, the These kinds of events are just more and more frequent these days and the the causal link is has been backed by science and I think people are becoming increasingly aware of those, even the more skeptical people. Among the things we can do, this is one of them. Yeah, that there's definitely a time and a place to to kind of share the sort of going vegan for the environment sort of thing now and I think there's
00:49:30
Speaker
probably now is not quite it, is it? and you know If you're in the middle of a a wildfire crisis, ah the time for vegans to be wagging their fingers and saying, well, you know if you'd have blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, I think probably ah not now for for that thing, but definitely definitely good to see that people are ah clubbing together and then trying to provide some sort of small relief for for those going through horrific stuff at the moment.
00:49:58
Speaker
If you've enjoyed today's show we'd love it if you could take just a few seconds to share it with someone else you think might enjoy it too. We don't have a marketing team or a budget to spend on advertising so your referrals are the best way of spreading the free enough of the falafel joy further still. And if you haven't already, we'd be really grateful if you could leave us a rating on your podcast player. That will also help the show pop up when people search for vegan or animal rights content online. Thanks for your help.
00:50:34
Speaker
Thanks, everyone, for listening. And here's a heads up that we've got ah about the next enough of the falafel episode coming out. And that will be a vegan talk, which will be available from Thursday, the 23rd of January, which will feature me, Anthony and Mark. And the topic of that vegan talk is our animal sanctuaries to resource heavy. Goodness me. Controversial, controversial. Great. were just to give a spoiler we have already recorded that episode and it was a very interesting discussion really encourage you all to tune in for that one anyway that is enough of the falafel for this episode thank you Carlos for your contributions thanks all of you out there for listening we would definitely not be doing this without you I've been Anthony and you've been listening to vegan week from the enough of the falafel collective
00:51:28
Speaker
This has been an Enough of the Falafel production. We hear 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 zapsplat.com and sometimes if you're lucky at the end of an episode you'll hear a poem by Mr. Dominic Berry. Thanks all for listening and see you next time.
00:52:09
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? That is right Dominic there's over a hundred episodes on there featuring a 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 each week so check back on your podcast player to hear previous episodes and remember to get an alert for each new episode simply click like or follow and also subscribe to the show thanks for your ongoing support wherever you listen to us from