Our Hen House: Vegan & Animal Rights Movement | Stories from the Frontlines of Animal Liberation

The latest episode of Rising Anxieties covers a week of predictable chaos in the animal agriculture world. Billie Eilish said what many of us were thinking — eating meat is inherently wrong — and the left proceeded to embarrass itself with a barrage of bad-faith counterarguments. Meanwhile, the federal government is finally going after Big Beef and Big Egg for antitrust…

In this powerful episode, Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan sit down with Lindsey Soffes, Head of Programs at Rise for Animals, to explore the growing movement to end animal experimentation. From the explosive Ridglan Farms story to landmark federal legislation, Lindsey breaks down why this moment may be a turning point for animals in laboratories — and what advocates can do…

In this episode of The Hen Report, Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan are joined by Matthew Dominguez, U.S. Director for Compassion in World Farming, for an urgent deep-dive into the Save Our Bacon (SOB) Act — dangerous preemption language hidden inside the Farm Bill that could strip states of their right to pass and enforce farm animal protection laws, wiping out…

In this episode of Rising Anxieties, Mariann digs into the uncomfortable gap between what institutions say and what they do — starting with Harvard Law School’s baffling decision to shutter its fully-enrolled Animal Law Clinic. From there: the industry’s coordinated PR campaign against plant-based alternatives (spoiler: they’re scared), the ongoing farce of in-ovo sexing technolo...

In this week’s interview, Jasmin and Mariann sit down with filmmaker Ray Cruzzola, founder of World Change Media, to discuss his moving documentary I’m Trying — a tribute to Canadian animal rights activist Regan Russell, who was killed in 2020 while protesting outside a pig slaughterhouse. Ray shares how he uses cinematic storytelling as a tool for social change, why he…

In this episode of The Hen Report, Jasmin and Mariann cover a wide range of topics: Jasmin shares behind-the-scenes moments from her theater rehearsal, including an organic conversation about veganism, tallow lotion, and gelatin that unfolded among cast members without any agenda-pushing on her part. She also pays tribute to the legacy of Tommy Raskin, animal rights activist and son of…

The animal rights movement has found its big tent: everyone hates factory farming, right? In this solo rant, Mariann Sullivan ponders “anti-factory farming” as a unifying movement strategy — specifically, the inconvenient fact that being against something isn’t the same as having a plan to replace it. She also takes on a growing narrative that out-and-proud veganism is somehow th...

In a landmark ruling, a federal court in the Northern District of California struck down four of six challenged Trump administration regulations that had significantly weakened the Endangered Species Act’s core enforcement mechanisms. Host Mariann Sullivan speaks with Noah Greenwald, Endangered Species Program Director at the Center for Biological Diversity, about the case — what was challen...

In this episode of The Hen Report, hosts Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan speak with Julia Reinelt, Executive Director of AVA International, about the upcoming Animal and Vegan Advocacy (AVA) Summit in Toronto (May 21–24). Julia walks listeners through what first-timers can expect, highlights the conference’s Whova app for networking and scheduling, and previews standout speakers — includi...

This week on Rising Anxieties, Mariann doesn’t let you look away — from the chaotic and heartbreaking Ridglan “rescue” that wasn’t, to a Yale study proving that just showing people a picture of a pig reduces meat orders by 22% (yes, really). Along the way, she covers a vegan vendor pushed out of Time Out Market for refusing to serve dairy,…

In this interview episode of Our Hen House, Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan sit down with vegan zoologist, author, and activist Jordi Casamitjana for a wide-ranging conversation about the philosophy, legal landscape, and long-term vision of the vegan movement. Ethical veganism as a protected belief: Jordi shares the full story behind the landmark 2020 UK legal case that held that ethical…

In this episode of The Hen Report, Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan cover a range of stories at the intersection of animal rights, activism, and culture. They dive deep into the ongoing Ridglan Farms beagle rescue situation — with a planned April 19th action drawing thousands — and the support from Congressman Mark Pocan, who pushed back on Ridglan’s request for…

This week on Rising Anxieties, Mariann runs through a lineup of stories that have the animal agriculture industry sweating — from a ballot initiative that could make killing animals for food illegal in Oregon, to the egg board spending a cool million to get scrambled eggs into school cafeterias, to bird flu quietly turning dairy cows into a mammalian petri dish.…

Rose Patterson, Director of Animal Rising in the UK, joins Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan for a deep dive into one of the most daring and legally complex animal rescue stories in recent UK history. Rose shares how Animal Rising evolved from a climate-focused Extinction Rebellion offshoot into a frontline animal rights organization, and what it really takes to challenge the…

In this week’s Hen Report, Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan mark Mariann’s 76th birthday with a wide-ranging conversation touching on animal rights, food trends, and the power of changing your mind. Mariann reflects on her Rising Anxieties episode, connecting the Declaration of Independence’s “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” to animal rights, while Jasm...

It’s Mariann’s 76th birthday, and instead of cake, she’s serving up a surprisingly coherent framework for moving the animal rights movement forward — one that borrows from the Founding Fathers, sidesteps the usual vegan vs. welfarist cage match, and lands on a deceptively simple idea: animals deserve the right to pursue happiness, starting with the right to raise their own young....

In this episode, Mariann sits down with Bruce Friedrich, Founder and President of The Good Food Institute and author of Meat: How the Next Agricultural Revolution Will Transform Humanity’s Favorite Food and Our Future, for a wide-ranging conversation about why the plant-based and cultivated meat revolution isn’t dead — it’s just getting started. Alternative proteins are a global...

In this episode of The Hen Report, Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan tackle three meaty topics: the psychological toll of watching graphic animal footage, the loaded politics of the word “vegan” (is it an identity, a type of food, a diet, or a moral theory?), and the bizarre cultural obsession with meat as a symbol of masculinity — from a Texas…

Mariann Sullivan returns with another serving of industry-grade anxiety, covering everything from animal rights extremism accusations and the Trump administration’s failed egg lawsuit to cultivated meat bans, dairy farmers who think new brushes make up for everything, and a New York Times writer who is absolutely certain her sled dogs are volunteers. It’s a lot — but that’s kind...

When Canadian animal rights lawyer and Animal Justice Executive Director Camille Labchuk discovered that a Manitoba horse exporter had shipped 97 horses to Japan in December 2022 — on a rerouted flight projected to exceed Canada’s 28-hour transport limit and without a legally required contingency plan covering the full journey — she did something almost unheard of in Canadian animal law:&#82...

In this episode of The Hen Report, Jasmin and Mariann are joined by open rescue pioneer Adam Durand to discuss the dramatic March 15th Ridglan Rescue — a coordinated action in which 100 activists descended on a Wisconsin beagle breeding facility supplying dogs to medical research labs, ultimately freeing 22 dogs despite reinforced doors, an aggressively blocking vehicle, and on-site arrests.&#8230...

This week on Rising Anxieties, Mariann digs into the messy, maddening world of animal agriculture — where trade economics trump bird lives, hunting bans aren’t actually hunting bans, a Wisconsin egg farm is trying to buy public wetlands to keep nature away from its chickens, and the dairy lobby is running a protein campaign that conveniently forgot soy milk exists. Avian…

Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan sit down with Penimah (Penny) Tehilah, Executive Director of the Animal Activism Collective (AAC), and Suzie Stork, Executive Director of the Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade (CAFT), for a deep dive into the strategy, structure, and surprising effectiveness of grassroots animal rights campaigning — and why winnable, targeted pressure campaigns are one of the mo...

In this episode of The Hen Report, Jasmin and Mariann dive into the emotional and political landscape of animal advocacy — from the dramatic DXE rescue operation at Ridglan Farms in Wisconsin to a surprising New York Times piece on MAGA figures warming up to animal rights. They also celebrate a major legal win for the long-stalled New York City foie…

Mariann Sullivan is in her feelings — and honestly, same. This week on Rising Anxieties, she unpacks the emotional rollercoaster of the Ridglan beagle rescue, where activists risked arrest to free dogs from a Wisconsin testing facility, and then pivots to the slower-motion disasters unfolding in legislatures and regulatory agencies across the country. Ridglan Farms rescue – 22 beagles freed, 8&#82...