Freedom of Species

"Dairy is often promoted as a ‘no harm’ industry, yet at the core of this multi-billion dollar business is the exploitation of the dairy cow and her calf."Voiceless sat down last year with a dairy farmer, a vegan, an academic and an animal activist to talk about the ethics of high production dairy farming in Australia.

We hear from Shir Friedman of Israeli food biotech start-up SuperMeat, about the anticipated arrival of cultured meat into our supermarkets. "Cultured meat packs a triple punch. First, it helps drastically reduce unsustainable environmental impacts that are common in the current meat industry. Second, it will set free countless of animals who currently undergo tragic conditions prior to slaughter....

This week we are very happy to be presenting our interview with Dr Jonathan Balcombe. Jonathan Balcombe is the director of animal sentience at the Humane Society Institute for Science and Policy and the author of a number of books, including Second Nature, Pleasurable Kingdom, and the newly released What a Fish Knows. Balcombe has three biology degrees, including a PhD in ethology from the Univers...

19th August is the deadline for sending your submissions to the Kosciusko Brumby management, or put more aptly, the brumby eradication plan. Don't let that date literally mean the DEAD line for thousands of brumbies! We play conversations with Jill Pickering, President of the Australian Brumby Alliance & Lynette Sutton from Hoofs2010 Brumby Rescue about their objections to, and frustrations with,...

Paul Bashir, co-founder and director of Anonymous For The Voiceless, explains the motivation and method behind this new highly effective direct action and public outreach initiative in Melbourne.  He details how his astonishingly successful approach gets passing pedestrians to commit to veganism on the spot.www.facebook.com/anonymousforthevoicelesswww.aussiefarms.org.au

This week we chat have a chat with Andy Meddick of the AJP about the recent Australian federal election, and then hear a recorded talk by Jasmijn de Boo, founder of The Animal Welfare Party (UK).https://www.facebook.com/AndyMeddickAJP/

We chat with Steven Wise, the central figure in the outstanding new documentary Unlocking the Cagethat will screen at the 2016 Melbourne International Film Festival. Unlocking the Cage follows animal rights lawyer Steven Wise in his unprecedented challenge to break down the legal wall that separates animals from humans. After thirty years of struggling with ineffective animal welfare laws, Steve a...

We feature a talk by Dr Andrew Knight, recorded at a recent Animal Justice Party seminar in Melbourne. Andrew describes how he got to where he is today - setting up a new centre for animal welfare at the University of Winchester in the UK. He discusses how people may become professional animal advocates, and also about the upcoming distance learning Masters course in Animal Welfare. Andrew's websi...

MORE THAN GAME: THE 30-YEAR CAMPAIGN TO BAN DUCK SHOOTING IN VICTORIA.Despite three out of four Victorians wanting duck shooting banned, it continues. This program looks at why and how the thirty-year campaign to protect Australian native waterbirds that are deemed game species is stronger than ever. A formidable campaigner stepped up its involvement, changing the rules of engagement, thereby maki...

Have you thought about a vegan or vegetarian diet for your cats and dogs?  We ask Professor Andrew Knight from the University of Winchester , who is also a veterinarian,  why would we?  and how? For more info: http://www.vegepets.info/For more info on the new course in Animal Welfare: http://www.winchester.ac.uk/research/attheuniversity/FacultiesofHumanitiesandSocialSciences/centre-for-animal-welf...

We hear about social and environmental impacts of livestock farming in rural Africa from Geoff Russell who's the author of "CSIRO Perfidy" and a candidate for the Animal Justice Party in South Australia, and Gerard Wedderburn-Bisshop of the World Preservation Foundation and Beyond Zero Emissions. We also hear from Dr Marco Springmann of Oxford University about his team's widely-publicised study of...

We talk with Damien Mander, the Australian founder of the International Anti-Poaching Foundation, about his work in southern Africa, the future prospects of the rhino, and being unwussy.  www.iapf.org

Lauren Ornelas is the founder/director ofFood Empowerment Project (F.E.P.), a vegan food justice nonprofit seeking to create a more just world by helping consumers recognize the power of their food choices. F.E.P. works in solidarity with farm workers, advocates for chocolate not sourced from the worst forms of child labor, and focuses on access to healthy foods in communities of color and low-inc...

We chat with Shakira Free Miles from SaveABulls, a veterinary led campaign to create awareness about breed specific legislation, promoting responsible dog ownership & an end to breed discrimination. We also discuss the reecnt recommendations regarding BSL in Victoria after an extensive inquiry into the legislation in Victoria, Australia with Bruce Poon from the Animal Justice Party.

Fancy living with other like-minded folk in a self-sufficient paradise? Well, now you can! We hear from co-founding members behind Vegoa, a new vegan ecovillage initiative taking shape in Portugal. We also have a presentation from Melbourne's recent Sustainable Living Festival by Sea Shepherd volunteer Claire, about Operation Icefish. www.vegoa.orghttps://www.seashepherd.org.au/news-and-commentary...

We ask Athans Steffen from People Against Canned Hunting about how the selfie has become a weapon of mass destruction when it comes to wildlife & how we must start sizing up the very idea of big cat sanctuaries.

 Kangaroos are in "plague proportions" and everywhere aren't they? Isn't roo meat the green choice? We talk with Elise Burgess from Voiceless about their new campaign for kangaroos, "Their fate is in your hands"

We ask Hannah from Humane Research Australia why the Easter Bunny threatens to boycott Easter. We also discuss the opening of the duck shooting season with duck rescuer & long time Coalition Against Duck Shooting supporter, Kate Gracey. To take action in the cruelty -free campaign: http://www.becrueltyfree.org.au/becrueltyfree/take-action-be-cruelty-fre...- See more at: http://www.freedomofspecies...

We share the excellent talks given by Paul Mahony (climate change activist/blogger & Melbourne Pig Save co-founder) & Mark Doneddu (President of Vegetarian Victoria) at Melbourne's 2016 Sustainable Living Festival. They speak about the massive toll that animal agriculture has on climate change, human health and poverty.  These talks reference the Australian and international contexts.  Both speake...

More cruelty footage of pig farming cruelty was exposed recently by Animal Liberation from the Yelmah piggery in SA. Tune in Sunday 1pm 3CR 855AM -We ask why pigs in the food production system literally have no chance in hell in escaping cruelty under present regulatory systems. We speak with Campaign Director for Animal Liberation, Emma Hurst, Chris Delforce from Aussie Farms & Pete Crosbie from...

On this week's show we meet Vincent Berraud. Vincent has been involved in animal liberation for two and a half decades. He took part in the creation of Paris’s first animal lib group, magazine and radio show in the early 1990’s. Vincent has recently been involved in setting up Friendly and Pragmatic Vegans and Vegetarians, a successful facebook space promoting a rational and non-dogmatic approach...

2015 ANIMAL ACTIVIST FORUM PRESENTATION - ONE BAD DAY: A LOOK INTO THE TRANSPORTATION & SLAUGHTER OF ANIMALS IN AUSTRALIAANGELA POLLARD & JOSH AGLANDAnimal Lawyer | Ex-Industry InsiderYou often hear the justification “my animals are treated well and they only have one bad day”.This “one bad day” refers to the day the animal is transported and slaughtered at an abattoir. Josh Agland spent three yea...

We revisit World Vegan Day 2015 in Melbourne when we asked festival attendees about veganism. And wow, what a cornucopia of thoughtful insightful responses we received!