Freedom of Species

Dr Bianca Le and Ruth Purcell from Animal Agriculture Australia tell us about the developments in cell ag. Bianca is the Founder, Director and a Scientist at Cellular Agriculture Australia, an organization working to create a connected cell ag community in Australia. Ruth is a volunteer at Cellular Agriculture Australia and was previously a biologist at nourish ingredients, a food technology compa...

 Chay Neal (Executive Director) and Amanda Holly (Campaign Manager, Intensive Farming) from Animal Liberation Queensland speak with us about ALQ's approach to animal rights advocacy and some of their successful campaigns including their expose on live baiting in the greyhound industry, the amazing BEEF.ORG.AU campaign, their campaign for veganism Vegan4Life, rodeo campaigns and more.  Links:  Anim...

 Harley McDonald-Eckersall from Animal Rebellion discusses their campaign demanding McDonald’s goes totally plant-based by 2025. This campaign has included a blockade of a McDonald’s burger factory and distribution centres.  Links: Find out more about Animal Rebellion here: https://animalrebellion.org/ For more information on the McLibel case mentioned during the show, you can check out the docume...

 Trev and Davita chat with Vanessa Letico - author of the children's book Luca's Adventure From Table-to-Farm. Vanessa and the illustrator Diandra Hwan have published a compassionate and gentle book that vegans, vegetarians and vegan-curious people can read to their kids. Listen back for our interview with Vanessa about her book.   Links: You can find Vanessa's book here: https://www.dymocks.com.a...

On this show we analyse mainstream media reporting on plant-based meats and discuss the benefits of eating plant-based rather than animal-based meats, for animals and the environment.  Links: The article we discuss for most of the show is ‘Plant-based meat sales are soaring, but experts warn it may not be better for you or the environment’ by Cara Waters in The Sydney Morning Herald: https://amp.s...

Have you ever heard people discussing gene editing of predators to turn them into herbivores? Or to gene edit animals who have many offspring, to have them create far fewer offspring? These are some of the extreme suggestions coming from advocates to reduce the suffering of wild animals. So what’s up with WAS? Davita and Trev discuss ideas within this movement, and the many responses to it.   Link...

We speak with Robyn from Lamb Care Australia, a not-for-profit registered charity that resucues and rehomes orphanied lambs born during the lambing season in Victoria. We discuss how Robyn's experiences caring for newborn lambs prompted her and others to form the charity and how they help lambs in need with the support of exceptional carers. Robyn talks about some of the lambs that have really mad...

 On this show we are raising money to support 3CR Radiothon with our animal trivia show! Please donate via our GiveNow page: tinyurl.com/48yjk96v  3CR has supported Freedom of Species for over ten years. Anything you can donate is a big help! Thank you everybody who has donated already. Listen in and see if you can beat us to the correct answers! All hosts are live on air and the winner of this sh...

The recent snap lockdown in Melbourne provided a good opportunity for Trev and Davita to stay put and review what has happened in the past months in the animal advocacy world. Listen in to the Freedom of Species News Show for current events in Melbourne and Victoria’s activism groups, international activism, legislation and culture and media.  And please donate to our radiothon campaign, to keep F...

This show features the talk 'Anti-speciesism and the Fight for Global Climate Justice' by Harley and Jam from Animal Rebellion. The talk covers speciesism (discrimination based on species) and connections to other issues such as capitalism, colonisation and racism.  Links: Check out the video of the full talk on Animal Rebellion’s Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMBWOUnuicQ&ab_cha...

This show features Harley McDonald-Eckersall from Animal Rebellion on the role of individual veganism and system change within the animal movement.  Links for the show: Find out more about Animal Rebellion here: https://animalrebellion.org/ This show builds on the themes covered on our previous episode: 1 in 3 People Support Plant-Based Diets – Progress for the Vegan Movement! https://www.3cr.org....

We speak with researcher and author Dr Peter Li from the University of Houston-Downtown. Peter specialises in East Asian Politics whose research covers elite politics of China, Northeast Asian security, U.S.-China relations and China’s environmental and animal welfare politics. He also consults international animal welfare organizations. In march 2021, Peter published the book ‘Animal Welfare in C...

 Relisten to this show for a reflection on animal liberation, total liberation and the use of both legal and illegal direct actions. Trev and Davita are joined over zoom by Kevin Heller. Kevin used to be part of the support group of the Animal Liberation Front in the Netherlands and Belgium. We discuss the context and strategies of these actions in Germany, the Netherlands and the UK, and how anti...

Action for Dolphins campaigns to protect dolphins all around the world. We speak with Action for Dolphins CEO, Hannah Tait, about the risks faced by dolphins, the projects the organisation is working on and their past successes. You can learn more about Action for Dolphins and support their work through their website: https://www.afd.org.au/ During the show we showcased the Australian band, Grey W...

We speak with Dr Ash Nayate, clinical neuropsychologist, author and speaker about her book Staying Positive in a F*cked Up World, animal rights activism and activist burnout. You can find Ash on Facebook at Vegan Neurospychologist.  Adam mentions a related book Motivational Methods for Vegan Advocacy by Dr Casey T. Taft. We play music by Katie White, a West Australian singer songwriter turn vegan...

We discuss the recently release netflix documentary, Seaspiracy, with Bronwyn the organiser of advocacy group Melbourne Fish Save. We identify the good parts, some bad parts and some missed opportunities within the documentary. If you care about fish and want to get active to support them please consider joining Melbourne Fish Save, or your local fish advocacy group.

Davita and Trev fact check arguments for and against veganism in this show, related to health, ethics and the environment. We do not support an uncritical adoption of a vegan diet, so that's why often heard arguments within the vegan movement will be scrutinized too. Some of the arguments we discuss include: "It's natural for us to eat animals" - major red flags! What is this 'appeal to nature' ar...

This show features animal activist and lawyer Katie Batty on the UN Global Climate Poll and particularly the level of support for a plant-based food system. She argues that half the battle is nearly won when it comes to promoting veganism, with this UN Poll, the biggest ever opinion poll on climate change, finding that 30% of people support the promotion of plant-based diets. This, along with othe...

We speak with Dr Chris Hopwood, Professor of Psychology from University of California, Davis. Chris is an excellent and prolific psychology researcher asking the question, “why do people do the things they do?”; with an interest, among others, about why some people eat animals and others are vegetarian or vegan. Chris is also an organiser of the PHAIR Society (Society for the Psychology of Human-A...

Davita and Trev discuss the recent controversies with social media influencers in the animal rights movement, ranging from transphobia, to anti-semitism, and dodgy donations. We discuss all this while trying not to get sued!  Links: For more discussion on social media influencers, look up these pages: The cranky vegan - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTTIQEjQKBylegGc_CP2z1w Animal RIghts Zone -...

This show includes an interview with Kristy Alger, animal liberationist and author. Kristy's blog Writing Liberation is available on Medium and Kristy spoke with us about her book Five Essays for Freedom: A Political Primer for Animal Advocates. We also introduced Caroline to the Freedom of Species team and discussed activism.  You can read Kristy's blog at: https://writingliberation.medium.com/ S...

We test our Animal knowledge against each other in an inaugural Freedom of Species Animal Liberation Quiz. Play along while you listen and see how you go. This is our Subscriber Drive show – please subscribe to 3CR and you can support our show specifically by choosing 'Freedom of Species' under 'Program'. We appreciate any subscriptions! https://www.3cr.org.au/subscribeQuiz Image by Tumisu from Pi...

New FoS presenters Davita and Trev discuss the Valentine’s Day Outreach they will be taking part in with Melbourne Cow Save. This action raises awareness about both the animal ethics and human rights issues behind the many common chocolate products typically purchased for Valentine’s Day.  Links: For more information about Melbourne Cow Save events including the upcoming Valentine’s Day event, joi...

After a long hiatus from the 3CR studios we are back live! I make the case that 'Thinking With Animals' will help us recognise that the climate crisis is happening NOW and will help identify opportunities to tackle the crisis. Let's try taking an animal perspective when facing the climate crisis!

On this show we discuss cultured (lab-grown) meat and freeganism from an animal liberation perspective. Links: The article we discuss explaining a recent development in cultured meat: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/dec/02/no-kill-lab-grown-meat-to-go-on-sale-for-first-time For more on a vegan perspective on cultured meat: https://www.veganaustralia.org.au/the_ethics_of_cultured_meat ...