Freedom of Species

We're joined by animal advocates Meghan and Harley who discuss changes in the movement over the decades, the importance of centering animals in the animal liberation movement and the place of animals in the environmental movement. Read Harley’s article ‘Whose Environment are We Fighting For? — Why the Environmental Movement Frightens Me as an Animal Ally’: https://medium.com/@harleymcdonaldeckersa...

We speak with Melbourne-based animal rights activist Kelly Gamble about the rise of direct action in 2019, the emotional toll of standing up against large-scale institutions, and the future of activism.

On this show, we introduce our newest team member, Madison Griffiths, who discusses growing opposition to the Melbourne Cup horse race, the common association between eating meat and masculinity, and the new Netflix documentary The Game Changers that challenges this connection by looking into athletes eating a plant-based diet. You can hear Madison as a guest on our show discussing animal rights a...

We speak with Elio Celotto, Campaign Director with the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses (CPR), about the dark secret of the Australian horse racing industry, as recently revealed by the ABC's 7.30 Report. Elio talks about the thousands of prize-winning racehorses that meet cruel brutal deaths in abattoirs each year, to be sold as pet meat or to be exported for human consumption. We also...

On this show, we discuss some of the talks and key themes from the recent Animal Activists Forum, which took place in Melbourne. You can find out more about this Forum and listen to talks from previous events here: http://www.activistsforum.com/resources/ You can watch a video of Harley McDonald-Eckersall’s talk from this year’s conference, ‘Animal Rights Under Occupation — Lessons from the Palest...

We discuss recent news in the world of animal activism and veganism, including a chat about the documentary 'The Game Changers', footage showing the horrors of the horse racing industry and animal testing.

Katja & Nick of local volunteer organisation Mange Management talk about the devastating impacts of the mange mite parasite on wombats.  They explain how mange can be identified, how it can be successfully treated by members of the public and landholders with Mange Management's support, and how the government could better respond to this issue that's causing immense suffering to our native wildlif...

This show features representatives from the new activist group Collectively Free – melbourne who discuss their Animals Against Animal Experiments campaign, Liberated Futures conference and the importance of standing up against all forms of oppression. Collectively Free – melbourne Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/cfmelb/ Animals Against Animal Experiments campaign: https://www.facebook.com/...

On this show we’re joined by activist Meghan Street, host of Green Left Radio on 3CR, who discusses the recent Global Strike For Climate marches and how vegan activists can better connect with environmental and Left movements. Meghan also covers how the desire for constant growth harms the environment and the other animals we share it with. You can listen to Green Left Radio on 3CR every Friday fr...

On Friday 20th September 2019, hundreds of thousands of Australians joined the Global Climate Strike. We took along a recorder to get a sense of how people were thinking about animals and agriculture in relation to the climate and climate action.  

Martin Stringer is a nature photographer & videographer who has become personally involved in crowd-funded tropical rainforest protection & restoration projects, both in Australia's Daintree and in the Amazon.  He explains these inspiring conservation programs and the huge benefits they're having on wildlife and carbon storage.   Halfcut www.halfcut.orgRainforest Trust www.rainforesttrust.orgRainf...

We are joined by Nikki Viveca, a Melbourne-based performer who brings a touch of theatre to stand-up. Nikki has performed solo shows, such as Asexual Healing, was most recently performing in the Comedy Festival improv show Completely Improvised Potter (which is great!) and won the 2019 Midsumma Poetry Slam. Nikki will tell us about her new fringe show Wasp Movie. When Nikki moved into her cute new...

This is a presentation given by Terry Hurtado, an environmental & animal rights activist in Colombia, at the Decolonizing Animals conference in New Zealand in July 2019.  "Colombia had a very strong welfareist tradition linked to dog and cat shelters, and to some extent, the welfare of horses used for pulling wagons. New generations took reasonability to fight against spectacles in which non-human...

We’re joined by social philosopher Paul-Mikhail Catapang Podosky who discusses his academic work exploring the way the meat-eating industry uses the term “humane” to avoid the questioning of the killing of animals. You can follow Paul-Mikhail Catapang Podosky on Twitter @PPodosky and you can view his publications, including the article ‘A Linguistic Method of Deception The Difference Between Killi...

In this weeks show we hear a talk by Laila Kassam titled, ‘How can we build a powerful mass movement for animal justice.’ Laila Kassam is a part of the Animal Think Tank Collective. You can find resources and more about the collectives work on their website. 

Reem Lascelles from EVER Sanctuary is in the studio, talking about the devastating plight of rabbits farmed for meat in Australia and why they are largely invisible in our society.  She describes the appalling conditions that they are subjected to, from birth to slaughter, and the physical and psychological impacts that such conditions have on a highly sensitive, social, and intelligent animal.  R...

We’re joined by PhD candidate Melissa Laing who discusses her research on social workers standing up for companion animals, in addition to their human clients. You can follow Melissa on Twitter @ylaingylaing and you can also hear her talk Encountering Interspecies Homelessness: Stories of Social Workers’ Resistance to Anthropocentrism, plus other talks from the Sociology and Animals session at the...

On this show we’re joined by Mary Merkenich, a member of Socialist Alliance and writer for Green Left Weekly, who discusses links between capitalism and the oppression of animals. We also play a talk by Dilan Fernando, Co-Founder of Young Voices for Animals, from the event Animal Liberation and Capitalism, which Mary Merkenich also spoke at, as well as Kristin Leigh, President and Campaign Directo...

We hear from Sue McKinnon & Peter Roberts, both of the Kinglake Friends of the Forest community group which is going head-to-head with the government-owned logging company VicForests, to save the little-known greater glider from extinction. Sue & Peter explain how, despite the greater glider's threatened status, VicForests continues to clearfell coupes throughout the native forests of Central High...

In this week's show, we are joined by two researchers who investigate the psychology behind veganism. Maddie North is a Deakin University PhD candidate investigating the role of social norms in veganism and the individual’s willingness to reduce meat consumption. Dr Madeline Judge shares their research into the psychological and ideological foundations of veganism and the stereotypes non-vegans us...

Conservation is a field of research and practice that works to protect the environment. Despite our efforts in conservation for over a century, we are still witnessing the significant degradation of landscape through habitat and biodiversity loss. Compassionate Conservation is a new movement within conservation that tries to respond to several ethical issues within the field. We speak with Dr Aria...

On this show we explore the world of "humane" animal products and the marketing of animal products. For more on this topic, you can view the resources below:https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jul/26/humane-milk-is-a-myth-veganism-advert-cleared-by-standards-bodyhttp://freerangefraud.com/http://humanemyth.org/https://www.igi-global.com/chapter/the-role-of-the-ideology-of-animal-welfare-i...

We share a presentation given by David Nibert, a sociology professor from Ohio's Wittenberg University, on the animal industrial complex. This recording was made available by Alternative Radio:  https://www.alternativeradio.org/

This is our annual Radiothon show!  Freedom of Species needs to raise $1650 to help 3CR Community Radio stay on the air for another year, as a lone radical & independent voice in Australia's corporatised media landscape.  Please consider making a tax-deductible donation at www.3cr.org.au   Also come along to our fundraising trivia afternoon at Euro Kitchen in Fitzroy on June 30.  Details & tickets...

With the Australian federal election around the corner, we want to help you understand parties policies animal issues. We were joined by candidates Tania Briese from the Pirate Party Australia, Ben Schultz from the Animal Justice Party and Jason Ball from the Greens. We discuss what the most important animal issues are for their party and their positions on specific policies topics.