Aidan Alexander and Thom Norman: The Animals That Need Our Help the Most

"Our bodies have co-evolved over millennia with the help of all these other beautiful animal species, with the millions of species of bacteria, fungi, and viruses that live on our bodies and inside our bodies." – Parneet Pal This episode is a little bit different than what we usually do at Species Unite. We are still talking about an animal, but this time it's the human animal. Parneet Pal is an educator, science communicator and wellbeing expert working at the intersection of business, lifestyle medicine (nutrition, exercise, sleep, stress management, mental and emotional health) and behavior change. A Harvard- and Columbia-trained physician, she looks for the connections and interdependence within human and planetary systems that make them resilient and regenerative. Her work is focused on solutions for business leadership that architect the future of an equitable society: a wellbeing economy where health is the default. Parneet is the very first guest to come on the show to talk about humans. In many ways I don't find it all that much different because we're in just as much peril as most of the non-human animals across the globe. We are in a massive crisis, well, many of them and just like our non-human animal friends, we are also in desperate need of solutions. LINKS for Parneet Pal: https://www.parneetpal.com/ LinkedIn Twitter

5 Apr 202342min

"And then instead of heroes, we started being referred to as terrorists. But that made no difference to us. I mean, we kind of carried on regardless, and we started trying to do as much damage as we could to inflict economic loss on these companies." – Ronnie Lee Ronnie Lee founded the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) in 1974. The Animal Liberation Front is a global movement dedicated to the liberation of animals from human oppression. They engage in and promote non-violent direct action in protest against incidents of animal cruelty. Ronnie served three prison sentences in the 70s and 80s for actions he took against places like animal testing facilities and breeding facilities for testing. He has been vegan for 51 years and is still out there every day fighting for animals.

29 Mars 202343min

There's a fundamental mismatch between how we make plant-based meat and the facilities that are making it. When you're using the wrong tool, when you're trying to use a spoon to cut a piece of vegetable, it just doesn't work. It's the same kind of thing for making plant-based meat." – Christie Lagally Christie Lagally is the founder and CEO at Rebellyous Foods, a food manufacturing technology and production company. They make delicious plant-based chicken, but they also make production equipment. Up until now, almost all plant-based meat has been made in animal meat production facilities, which just don't have the capability or function to make plant-based meat. Five years ago, Christie left her job as an engineer at Boeing so she could transform everything that we know about producing plant-based meat. She's done it and later this year, Rebellyous is launching the Mock Two, production equipment that is not only going to transform the entire plant-based meat space, but it's also going to allow for price parity with animal meat. A game changer for the entire industry. Rebellyous Foods: https://www.rebellyous.com/

22 Mars 202327min

"But what the tour guide told us, was that eventually, as they grew, they now have their own octopus catchers. They called them the octopus whisperers, and they said that these people know exactly where the octopuses are going to be and when, so they know how to go get them and bring them back to the facility." – Laura Lee Cascada In October of last year, Laura Lee Cascada published an investigation into the Kanaloa Octopus Farm on the Big Island in Hawaii. The Kanaloa Octopus Farm was capturing wild Hawaiian Day octopuses and keeping them in these tiny, isolated tanks while also conducting breeding experiments, under the guise of conservation. What made it even more bizarre was that they were also a tourist attraction. People could pay to come to the octopus farm and see and touch and pet the octopuses in these tiny tanks. So, it was like an octopus petting zoo/breeding farm. What they were really doing was trying to figure out how to breed these octopuses, which is really difficult to do in captivity. But it's the first step to US octopus factory farming. In January, they received a cease and desist letter because they did not have the required permits for the above. So, for the moment, their octopus program is temporarily shut down. We need to keep it shut down and we need to ban octopus farming in this country before it really starts. The world's first octopus factory farm is set to open in the Canary Islands this year, adding to the very long list of cruel and abusive industries across the planet. Let's not let that happen here. I asked Laura to talk about her investigation and what all this really means for octopuses and for the future of farming them for food. Links: Laura Lee Cascada: http://www.lauraleecascada.com/ Every Animal Project: https://www.everyanimalproject.com/2022/10/09/octopus-farming/ Articles on Kanaloa Octopus Farm: https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2023/02/08/state-serves-kona-octopus-farm-with-cease-and-desist-order-lack-permits/ https://bigislandnow.com/2023/02/04/kanaloa-octopus-farm-in-west-hawai%CA%BBi-receives-cease-and-desist-letter-from-state/ https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-02-15/hawaii-says-octopus-farm-operated-without-proper-permits

16 Mars 202327min

"It's almost like the Animal Welfare Act is like a safety, a security blanket, because it's like, 'Oh, we have the Animal Welfare Act to protect the animals, they're okay.' And they don't realize that it's actually not very strong and that it's not being very aggressively enforced." – Rachel Fobar In February, Eric Kleinman from the Animal Welfare Institute was on the podcast. He came on to talk about the Envigo Dogs - the 4000 beagles that were rescued last summer from a breeding facility for lab animals, and trafficked monkeys, and the many many failures of the USDA to enforce the Animal Welfare Act. Before Eric and I met, he sent me a ton of articles on much of the above, and many of them were National Geographic stories written by Rachel Fobar. Rachel is a National Geographic reporter who covers wildlife crime and exploitation, everything from the USDA's failures to roadside zoos to monkeys being forced to work in Thailand's coconut trade. I asked Rachel to come on the show because I want to better understand why it is that we are allowing the USDA, who almost never does their job, to be in charge of the Animal Welfare Act. LINKS: Rachel Fobar: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/meet-the-team-wildlife-watch?loggedin=true&rnd=1677336327384 Rachel's Articles for National Geographic: https://www.nationalgeographic.com /author/rachel-fobar

8 Mars 202326min

"There was a law on the books [in New York], even back in 1917, that required that every publicly funded elementary school needs to provide instruction in the humane treatment and protection of animals." - Meena Alagappan Meena Alagappan runs an organization called, Humane Education Advocates Reaching Teachers, otherwise known as HEART. Heart is a full service, humane education provider in New York City, Chicago and Indianapolis. I met Meena because we, Species Unite are doing a wolf education program, so I asked her for some help and for some resources. She was beyond generous with both, and in the process I learned a lot about the work that HEART is doing - and what they're doing is changing thousands upon thousands of students lives and should be required in every classroom in this country. LINKS: HEART: https://teachheart.org/ HEART Educator Resources: https://teachheart.org/library/

1 Mars 202320min

"I have often asked myself, 'why is it that wolves don't kill people?' Every year there are records of lions, tigers, bears and other large carnivores killing people. For wolves it very rarely ever happens. They are certainly quite capable of hauling down much larger prey than ourselves such as moose and bison. I think it has a lot to do with the dramatically different way that wolves raise their young compared to most other large carnivores." - Paul Joslin Dr. Paul Joslin is a wildlife biologist who has spent decades with wolves and other predators in the US, Canada, India and Iran. His wolf research began in Ontario in the 1960s at a time when we did not know a lot about the daily lives of wolves. His is stories are extraordinary. He lived alone in the wilderness for months at a time, tracking wolves to gain a deeper understanding of their lives. He did this before google maps, before there were even trails in many of these places, so he created his own. His knowledge and wisdom on wolves go deep, while his work took him all over the world. I have been on a quest to understand the wolf hatred that seems to permeate the United States, especially Montana, Wyoming and Idaho, where we are currently slaughtering all of our wolves, but it's not just here, wolf hatred is global – as humans everywhere seem to abhor these remarkable animals. So, I asked Paul to come on the show and give his two cents as to why so many humans fear and hate an animal that does almost zero harm to us.

22 Feb 202332min

"I give a presentation to law students on animal law every now and then, and I tell them I can teach you everything you need to know about federal animal protection law in 10 seconds. I say there isn't really much. There are very few laws, especially at the federal level, protecting farmed animals." - Chris Wlach Chris is an attorney and he is an animal welfare and humane education advocate. He's a major force in New York City animal law and has advocated for many of the city's non-human animals, including the carriage horses in Manhattan. The carriage horse issue has been going on for decades, horses are hit by cars, they collapse in the street, it's a horribly abusive industry. Chris also advocates for animals up to the federal level. He came on the show to talk about animals and our legal system, its many limitations, and the places where he finds hope. Links: NYC Bar Animal Law Committee: https://www.nycbar.org/member-and-career-services/committees/animal-law-committee HEART: https://teachheart.org/

15 Feb 202336min