Species Unite

There's not much that we can be certain about in such uncertain times but there are a few things. One is that unless we change the way that that we treat animals, the next pandemic is most definitely coming. Only next time, it could be much worse, much more infectious and even more fatal than the current crisis we're now facing.  COVID-19 most likely started at a wild animal market in Wuhan, China...

Today's episode was recorded on Wednesday April 15th as a live webinar conversation between Pei Su, the Executive Director and Co-founder of ACTAsia and myself. It's unedited and somewhat messy sound-wise but we wanted to get it out as soon as possible. There are a lot of rumors and misinformation getting passed around the globe in terms of China's wildlife trade and markets: what has been banned,...

"…but why do we treat animals like "animals"? We shouldn't be treating animals like animals, by which that means devalued under appreciated beings." – Lori Gruen  Lori Gruen is the William Griffin Professor of Philosophy at Wesleyan University and the Coordinator of Wesleyan Animal Studies.  She is also the author and editor of 11 books, most recently Critical Terms for Animal Studies and Animalad...

When it comes to fashion and good design, Joshua Katcher, the man behind the sustainable luxury fashion label, Brave GentleMan, cares a lot about beauty; but not in the way that most people think about it. He defines beauty not only as the end result - the dapper suit or the stylish boots; instead, he only deems something beautiful when the entire process that has created that something is beautif...

"As children, we learnt respect for our elders and for authority, we learnt etiquette too, but rarely was it suggested that we extend any feelings towards animals, or indeed that animals have feelings. And because of this, many children in Asia grow up assuming animals exist to serve us, feed us, entertain us and clothe us; animals are useful 'moving objects', a literal translation of the Chinese...

In neighborhoods all over the United States, there are homes with large predators, venomous snakes, and wild animals from every country on the planet. The desire to own and "master" some of the worlds most dangerous creatures, from lions to wolves to pit vipers, started to boom in the 90s – mostly because of reality TV. It's big business and it's very legal in many parts of the country. Not only i...

There is a tiger problem in the USA.  There are more tigers in captivity in the US then exist in the wild. The number of American tigers lies somewhere between five and ten thousand. We don't know the actual number because they mostly go unregulated. Sadly, most of these tigers live in cages in private homes, backyards, garages, or in cages in roadside zoos. Many of them are inbred, malnourished,...

If you were to take a brief look into Allison Argo's life, you'd see the definition of what it means to follow your passion - written in large neon letters. She grew up in the theater on Cape Cod and as soon as she was old enough and able, she moved to NYC with a hundred bucks in her pocket ready to pursue her dream of acting. She walked dogs and cleaned apartments until she landed on her first ro...

Jo-Anne McArthur is an award winning photojournalist and the founder of We Animals Media . For 20 years she has been photographing and bearing witness to our complex relationship with animals. She's worked in over 60 countries in just about every industry one can imagine - including: fur farms, factory farms, bear bile farms, zoos, rodeos, circuses, and marine parks with the mission to make the li...

Natasha Daly is a writer and editor at National Geographic where she covers animal welfare, exploitation, and conservation. She wrote National Geographic's June cover story, Suffering Unseen, the Dark Truth Behind Wildlife Tourism. If you haven't read it yet, read it.   It is the story of the bleak reality that is daily life for so many captive wild animals, including: elephants, tigers, sloths, d...

Many of us who have animals in our lives know that they experience emotion, we know because we've seen it. We've witnessed our dogs express joy when we walk through the door, watched them display jealousy toward another animal, or we've seen them mourn the loss of a companion. When someone asks, "how do we know?" usually, most of us say something along the lines of, "we just know... it's obvious."...

Are we being the best version of ourselves? That's a question that Beverly and Dereck Joubert asked quite often during this conversation and also one that they seem to live by. It's embedded into their work, their lives, their relationships - with each other, the wilderness, and the planet; as if the question floats above their heads as a gentle reminder of who they want to be in the world. And, t...

In the United States we still use millions of animals in laboratory experiments. It's a secretive industry and I think, many people are under the impression that it ended years ago. Not only is it still huge, but we test on just about every type of animal one can imagine, including dogs. 70,000 dogs a year are used in laboratory experiments and a great majority of them are beagles. The heartbreaki...

Elephants, great apes, dolphins, and whales are incredibly complex, social, and intelligent creatures, but our legal system considers them to be "things," meaning they have no more rights then a can of beans does. For too many years these animals have been taken from the wild, held captive, lived for decades in confinement, tested on, tortured, abused, isolated, or neglected.  Kevin Schneider is E...

On Sunday, June 23rd the winter racing season at Santa Anita racetrack in Southern California finally came to a close. And on Saturday June 22nd the 30th horse died in racing or training at Santa Anita this year. That's a lot of horse deaths. But there are a lot of horse deaths every year. In 2018, 493 thoroughbreds died in racing or training. And so, there's been a lot of talk about reforming hor...

Mike Wolf spent four years working undercover on factory farms. He has seen thousands of animals living in deplorable conditions and witnessed abuse that I think few of us can even imagine. He's now Director of Investigations for the animal protection organization, Compassion Over Killing.  Mike has led  investigative efforts  into meat, dairy, and egg facilities. He has overseen multiple investig...

Delcianna Winders is an animal law attorney, scholar, and professor. She has recently joined the Lewis and Clark Law School for Animal Studies where she will lead the newly formed animal law litigation clinic focused on the legal protections and rights of farmed animals. This is the nation's first-ever clinic focused exclusively on animal law litigation, and with its creation, Lewis & Clark Law Sc...

Kathy Stevens is the founder of the Catskill Animal Sanctuary, or CAS. It's based in upstate New York and she founded it in 2001 with a mission to rescue farmed animals, ignite social change to end their exploitation, and to champion vegan living. CAS has rescued and been haven to more than 5000 animals over the past two decades and currently has over 300 incredibly happy residents.  Kathy is also...

He has spent the past two decades fighting to create a better world for animals and it all started by accident. While he was in grad school in the 90s, he worked security at a hospital at night. One night he heard some horrible cries behind closed doors and he proceeded to investigate. And, what he saw changed his life forever – horrific experiments taking place on live kitten's brains. He took ph...

Chrissy Beckles is the founder of the Sato Project, an organization that has been fighting to save the dogs of Puerto Rico for close to a decade. They truly couldn't have a better leader than they do in Chrissy. Not only is she one of the toughest, most resilient human beings I've ever met, but she's also got real skills in the ring. She's a Golden Gloves champion boxer, and she uses every one of...

Susan Wagner is a hero to horses everywhere. She is the President and founder of Equine Advocates, a horse rescue in Chatham New York. They rescue horses from horrifically abusive situations and have saved hundreds that were literally en route to the slaughterhouse. For decades, they have been an enormous force in the fight against horse slaughter.  We don't slaughter horses on American soil anymo...

Dr. Andrew Halloran is the director of chimpanzee care at Save the Chimps in Fort Pierce, Florida. Andrew has spent the past 20 years working to improve and save the lives of chimpanzees, not only chimps in captivity here in the U.S. with, but chimps in the wild as well in Sierra Leone. He has truly dedicated his life to these apes, and he's got incredible stories, a wealth of knowledge and a huge...

Jan Creamer is the president and co-founder of ADI, Animal Defenders International , an organization that has been around since the nineties when Jan and her husband Tim Phillips founded it, and since then Jan and Tim have changed the lives of countless animals all over the globe. One of ADI's enormously successful campaigns is Stop Circus Suffering. Thanks to Jan, Tim, and ADI, the use of wild an...

Suzanne Roy is the Executive Director of the American Wild Horse Campaign. an organization that has been fighting for years to save America's wild horses. If you didn't know that our wild horses needed saving, or even that we had any wild horses, here is some back story: We do, we have 30,000 of them. They roam freely in 10 western states. They need saving because they are threatened, pretty much...

Ellie Phipps Price is the president of the American Wild Horse Campaign, an organization that has been fighting for years to save America's wild horses. If you didn't know that our wild horses needed saving, or even that we had any wild horses, here is some back story: We do, we have 30,000 of them. They roam freely in 10 western states. They need saving because they are threatened, pretty much si...