The Vegan Report

What if I told you that cage-free campaigns are not only ineffective at helping hens, but may actually cause more suffering—and even set back the animal rights movement? That claim might surprise you, or even shock you, considering how many major animal rights organizations have embraced this strategy and how many millions of dollars have been invested in cage-free advocacy over the years. Yet thi...

Today, we travel to Japan and discover its burgeoning vegan and animal rights activist community. Japan is often considered one of the worst countries in terms of animal protection - compared to the West and to its Asian neighbors. But could that be starting to change? To discuss this topic, I am joined by Anita Dollar, also known as the Osaka Vegan. Anita is an animal rights activist and creator...

 "How many vegans are there? And is that number growing? Now, tucked away in this seemingly simple question is a minefield of inconsistent, conflicting, and missing data. And I recently did my best to make sense of it." LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bryant-research-ltd/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bryantresearch_uk Website: https://bryantresearch.co.uk/And Email: elise@bryant...

Become a monthly donor NOW: https://www.dharmavoicesforanimals.org/dana-circle-1 Dharma Voices for Animals is more than just an impactful organization—it’s a vibrant community grounded in compassion, kindness, and a shared commitment to helping animals. If you become a monthly donor today, you’ll not only make a lasting difference in the lives of farmed animals, but you’ll also receive a special g...

Have you ever heard of Palantir? Palantir builds data software that governments and corporations use to organize massive databases and... power mass surveillance. I won't go through every software they created, but you might know a few of them since their products always generate a backlash - like Operation Laser - which is a software that allows you to predict crimes. Yes, exactly like the movie...

For this episode, I want to take you back in time to the very first recorded moment someone used the phrase “plants have feelings” – or a version of that - as an argument against animal sentience. Not on Reddit, not on Twitter — we’re talking the year 1391 , in the late Middle Ages. And the person who said it wasn’t some random guy in a tavern. It was a Byzantine emperor , using this line of reaso...

For today's episode, we are talking about the limits of Effective Animal Altruism with Vera Flocke. She exposes those limits in a recent paper published in the Journal of Animal Ethics titled: The Repugnant Conclusion of Effective Animal Altruism. Vera Flocke has a PhD in philosophy from New York University and served for a few years as assistant professor at Indiana University. She is now the fou...

This was a fascinating conversation because we brought together two animal rights advocates from opposite ends of the political spectrum. David Michel was elected as a Democratic representative in the state of Connecticut, so he comes from the political left. Liam Gray, on the other hand, is a conservative, a veteran, and the founder of the animal protection think tank, the Wilberforce Institute....

Sign Up to MapYourHealth Now: https://mapyourhealth.info/ This is a group conversation with three trailblazers of the animal liberation movement: Paul Watson, Gary Yourofsky and Jerry Vlasak. Together, we discussed what it means to break the law for the animals, something Animal Liberation Front Activists have been doing for decades. Call it direct action, disruptive activism, underground activism...

Gail is the winner of the Albert Schweitzer Medal for outstanding achievement in animal welfare. She is the chief investigator for the Humane Farming Association. Her work as an investigator helped shut down some of the worst, most cruel animal‑exploitation operations in the U.S. But that's nothing compared to the impact of her first book, Slaughterhouse , which not only inspired many people to be...

 The content provided is entertainment, commentary, and informational purposes only. It does not constitute any legal, medical, or professional advice, and all views expressed our opinions, while based in part on publicly available information. No representations are made as to completeness or accuracy. Any resemblance to actual persons or events is purely coincidental, unless explicitly stated. I...

Animetrics is a women-led research and capacity-building organization, founded in 2023 by two economists from Türkiye, Gülbike Mirzaoğlu & Sueda Evirgen. They specialize in economics, impact evaluation, and research tailored to local contexts. They help animal advocates, especially in the Majority World (also called the ‘Global South') and Muslim communities, use evidence to strengthen their w...

Victoria Moran (Main Street Vegan Podcast): Everybody knows that the future is vegan, but it can also be a grand adventure right now. On her show, bestselling author and vegan OG Victoria Moran invites you into conversations with the best and brightest in this space. https://mainstreetvegan.com/category/podcast/ Jane Velez‑Mitchell (Truth Files): Jane Velez‑Mitchell is the founder and content edit...

Ella Wong is an experienced project manager in user research and stakeholder engagement. She has led stakeholder and market research projects related to the alt protein industry in China, as well as the animal advocacy movement in Asia. She is also in charge of the distribution of research insights and general operations for Good Growth. Connect with the Good Growth: https://www.goodgrowth.io/ Ema...

Today, we’re asking a fun—and maybe slightly provocative—question: are vegans smarter than most people? You’ve probably seen those articles listing brilliant minds who were vegetarian for ethical reasons—people like Einstein, Tolstoy, Mary Shelley, or Leonardo da Vinci. And if you’ve been with us for a while, you might remember episode 37, where we talked about one of those great minds: the litera...

Have you ever considered what it would mean if global religions echoed and supported our fight for animals? To explore this question, I have the honor of welcoming a true hero of the movement: Joyce D'Silva. Joyce has been vegan for 52 years—longer than I’ve been alive—and her contributions to animals are extraordinary. She wrote one of the first-ever vegan cookbooks, lead the adoption of major an...

Sign Up to MapYourHealth now: https://mapyourhealth.info/ A pipe collapse outside Washington, D.C., has spilled nearly 300 million tons of sewage into the Potomac River. In its wake, researchers have discovered high levels of harmful pathogens like E. coli and antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2026/potential-health-impacts-of-the-potomac-river-sewage-s...

Do you think ending factory farming is possible? If yes, what form of activism do you believe will stop factory farming for good? Institutional change? Street protests? Legal reforms? Well, our guest today, Bruce Friedrich, founder of the Good Food Institute, thinks ending factory farming is possible — but activism is not the answer. For him, the solution to this issue is cultivated meat: the perf...

Sandro Jenni is a researcher at the University of Zurich's Psychology Personality Lab. He is studying the political psychology of sustainable plant -based food system change. My LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/sandro-jenni Email: Sandro.jenni@psychologie.uzh.ch Link to my research group: https://www.psychology.uzh.ch/en/areas/sob/perspsy/team.html Links to my published papers from the episode: First...

Prevent Bhutan from establishing its first slaughterhouse : https://www.change.org/p/prevent-bhutan-from-establishing-its-first-slaughterhouse For today's episode, we explore the hidden face of vegan entrepreneurship. We often see vegan products mysteriously appear and disappear on the shelves of grocery stores, but how often do we stop to wonder what's happening behind the scenes? How did those p...

Today, we travel to Denmark to explore the amazing work of the Vegetarian Society of Denmark. I welcomed their Secretary-General, Rune-Christoffer Dragsdahl, to discuss why the Vegetarian Society of Denmark, despite its support of veganism, is not called the Vegan Society of Denmark, the art of building coalitions with people you disagree with, what if the annexation of Greenland into the US could...

Today, we travel to Europe where there is a fierce political fight taking place for the animals. And to address this topic, I have with me José Luis Murillo, the General Director of Animal Welfare Observatory. Jose and I discussed how Animal Welfare Observatory was able to make it a policy to have cameras in Spanish slaughterhouses and their plans to make it happen everywhere else in Europe, the c...

Have you ever watched a nature documentary in which a wild animal was filmed struggling for survival? Maybe running from a predator, desperately foraging for food or braving bad weather. What if I told you that we had a moral imperative to help that animal? To help all wildlife creatures. To play an active role in their welfare, even when their sufferings are not traced back to us. There is an org...

For today, a group conversation with two research scientists from Stanford University's Humane and Sustainable Food Lab: Seth Ariel-Greene and Jacob Peacock We discussed some of 2025 news and trends that affected animal advocacy, such as, artificial intelligence, the election of Donald Trump, the rise of the MAHA movement, the popularity of the vegan nudges concept among researchers, cultivated me...

Today, we’re diving into how Artificial Intelligence is becoming a real game‑changer for vegans, for animal rights activists, and for animals themselves. To explore this topic, I’m joined by Thomas Manandhar‑Richardson. He’s the Director of Research at Bryant Research and the Lead Data Consultant at Greener By Default. I asked Thomas whether he thinks AI is becoming sentient — and what we should m...