The Animal Wellness Podcast

The Ongoing Horrors of Trapping--Episode 9

"Sport" trapping—an exercise in barbaric cruelty with no modern justification—remains a pernicious vestige of a by-gone era across much of the United States. Its horrors are well-documented: Animals who chew off their own appendages to escape. Slow, excruciating deaths. Orphaned younglings. The inadvertent triggering by protected species, family pets and even children.
In this episode, we speak with Brenna Galdenzi, the founder and president and co-founder of Protect Our Wildlife Vermont, an all-volunteer, grassroots, nonprofit that represents more 2,500 members and supporters across the state. She talks about her efforts to combat the malevolence of trapping by fighting for tougher laws, the enforcement of existing ones and education. Visit her website for more information.
Wayne Pacelle, the found of Animal Wellness Action, the sponsor of this podcast, outlines the many victories that have been made in the fight against fur, from the total ban of "sport" trapping in California to the many retailers who have pledged to go fur-free.
To learn more and to sign up for email updates about animal wellness, visit https://animalwellnessaction.org/.
Music from https://filmmusic.io: "Fearless First" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com); License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Corona Virus and Horse Racing Integrity Act Update--Episode 8

The coronavirus now making headlines across the world is, like the SARS epidemic in 2002-2003, an example of a disease originating in a non-human animal and ending up in the human-animal population. The zoonotic virus likely crossed the interspecies boundary at a "wet market" in Wuhan, where live exotic animals are sold as delicacies to affluent citizens.
The outbreak, says Animal Wellness Action founder Wayne Pacelle, is yet more evidence that animal welfare is very much related to human welfare, and that despite the apparent dual nature of life--mankind and animal kind on either side--it is very much one world indeed, and that we ignore the fact to our imperilment.
Also: Marty Irby, the organization's executive director, updates listeners on the legislative progress of the Horse Racing Integrity Act and the Wild Bear Protection Act.
To learn more and to sign up for email updates about animal wellness, visit https://animalwellnessaction.org/.
 
Music from https://filmmusic.io
"Fearless First" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com); License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
 

Fixing the Lethal Abuses in Horse Racing--Episode 7

About 1,000 racehorses a year die in contests they never asked to join. Doping and the overuse of therapeutic drugs are largely to blame, along with harmful overbreeding, making the vaunted Sport of Kings too often a spectacle of suffering and death. About 12 percent of the horses slaughtered for human consumption are former racehorses.
Guests for this episode are Arthur Hancock III and Staci Handcock, owners of Stone Farm in Kentucky, which has raised countless Thoroughbreds, including three winners of the Kentucky Derby. They join co-hosts Wayne Pacelle and Marty Irby to talk about two pending pieces of Federal legislation: The Horse Racing Integrity Act and the SAFE Act. Both have potential to help our equine friends but need the support of Churchill Downs, marquee trainers like Bob Baffert and others to be passed and signed into law.
For more information on the catastrophic extent of modern horseracing, read this October 2019 article by Patrick Battuello in the Washington Post, "The Time for Horse Racing Has Passed."
To learn more and to sign up for email updates about animal wellness, visit https://animalwellnessaction.org/.
 
Theme music from https://filmmusic.io. "Fearless First" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com); License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Checkoffs and The Abuse of Animals...and Farmers--Episode 6

The government requires most farmers to contribute to funds that are often used against their better interests. The results hurt family farms and lead to the increasingly brutal, mechanized treatment of animals. Legislation is pending that would require more transparency and purity of purpose for the use of what amounts to an $800 million yearly tax on agriculture.
Joining Wayne Pacelle and Marty Irby to discuss this legislation is special guest Mike Eby, chairman of the National Dairy Producer’s Organization. Eby promotes more humane and sustainable agriculture and has been published in The Daily Caller vocalizing the call for reform of the USDA’s checkoff programs, and he is currently one of three candidates vying for president of the National Farmer’s Union.
To learn more and to sign up for email updates about animal wellness, visit https://animalwellnessaction.org/.
 
Theme music from https://filmmusic.io. "Fearless First" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com); License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Fighting America's Wild-Horse Round-Ups--Episode 5

Thousands of wild horses each year are rounded up in a terrifying assault of helicopters and relocated to feeder farms, many of which are in habitats that are foreign to the animals. Why? So ranchers can have cheap access to public lands--your lands--to graze their cattle and then better profit from the beef they sell.
Suzanne Roy, head of American Wild Horse Campaign, joins host Joseph Grove and Animal Wellness Action founders Wayne Pacelle and Marty Irby to talk about this cruel practice, the needless capitulations some animal groups are making to appease the government, and how the public is being cheated by the practice.
To learn more and to sign up for email updates about animal wellness, visit https://animalwellnessaction.org/.
Theme music from https://filmmusic.io. "Fearless First" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com); License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Support for the Big Cat Public Safety Act with Carole Baskin--Episode 4

Wayne Pacelle, founder of Animal Wellness Action, and Marty Irby, the non-profit's executive director, talk with host Joseph Grove and special guest Carole Baskin about the need for the Big Cat Public Safety Act. Baskin operates Big Cat Rescue: An Educational Sanctuary in Tampa, Fla., and is an expert on the challenges confronting these coveted creatures when people try to monetize their cubs and keep them as pets.
To learn more and to sign up for email updates about animal wellness, visit https://animalwellnessaction.org/.
 
 
Theme music from https://filmmusic.io. "Fearless First" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com); License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Michael Vick, Cock Fighting in the U.S. Territories--Episode 3

Wayne Pacelle, founder of Animal Wellness Action, and Marty Irby, the non-profit's executive director, talk with host Joseph Grove and special guest Ana Maria Hernandez about the renewed attention on convicted dog-figther and NFL player Michael Vick as well as the December 20, 2019, deadlines for U.S. territories to be in compliance with federal anti-cock-fighting law.
To learn more and to sign up for email updates about animal wellness, visit https://animalwellnessaction.org/.
 
 
Theme music from https://filmmusic.io. "Fearless First" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com); License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

What's Up with Those Committee Chairs?--Episode 2

 
Wayne Pacelle, founder of Animal Wellness Action, and Marty Irby, the non-profit's executive director, talk with host Joseph Grove about the key role of committee chairman in expediting or halting the progress of federal animal-welfare legislation. Plus: Lawmakers take aim at shark-finning, and the battle intensifies against Thoroughbred deaths on racetracks.
To learn more and to sign up for email updates about animal wellness, visit https://animalwellnessaction.org/.
 
 
Theme music from https://filmmusic.io. "Fearless First" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com); License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)