The Animal Wellness Podcast

Will the Supreme Court side against animals? The attack on Prop 12 | Episode 44

In the latest but perhaps most appalling subversion of animal welfare since assuming control of the executive branch, the Biden Administration has targeted the nation’s most important farm animal welfare law. In an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Department of Justice sided with the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) and the American Farm Bureau Federation (Farm Bureau) in their dubiously grounded efforts to overturn California’s Prop 12.
 
Approved with more than 62 percent of the vote in 2018, Prop 12 stipulates that any California farmer raising breeding sows, laying hens, and veal calves must provide minimum space allotments to the animals. The law also bars sale in California of pork, eggs, or veal coming from farms that rely on the most extreme confinement methods. If out-of-state farmers want their animal products to find shelf space in the large California market, they must play by the same rules that in-state farmers must observe. It’s a level playing field for all.
 
Wayne Pacelle, president and founder of Animal Wellness Action, and Kate Schultz, senior attorney, talk about the implications of the case and what it potentially means for animals.
 
Executive Director Marty Irby also joins host Joseph Grove.
 
Music from https://filmmusic.io: "Fearless First" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com); License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

The fight to spare animals through FDA Modernization | Episode 43

One of the critical campaigns of Animal Wellness Action is to ensure the modernization of FDA drug-testing standards, which currently require the suffering and entail the deaths of countless thousands of animals each year. Key to this modernization--and the alleviation of this toll on animals--is to eliminate the requirement in the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act of 1938 for animal testing as the only test method for any new drug development protocol. The pharmaceutical industry is burdened by outdated FDA statutes and regulations that bar the use of faster, cheaper, and more reliable test methods.
 
Recently, the work has become more challenging. Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina has introduced legislation to strip all riders from the bill, leaving just the base funding package for FDA.  That maneuver would block key reforms of FDA and keep the status quo when it comes to animal testing. 
 
There is urgency to address the problem because between 90 and 95 percent of drugs found safe in preclinical tests fail during human clinical trials due to toxicities not predicted by traditional animal tests or because of lack of efficacy. This exposes the public to unacceptable risk and stifles the movement of life-saving drugs into the marketplace.
 
The broader results are extraordinarily high costs for drugs, inordinately long wait periods bringing drugs to market, and, even after the drugs are approved for common use, the potential of serious side effects for consumers. However, significant investments in technology development and research have resulted in transformative breakthroughs in alternative methods, enabling us to leave most animal testing behind.
 
One of the many organizations also in this fight is PETA. Kathy Guillermo, a senior vice president at PETA, joins our founder and president Wayne Pacelle to discuss her organization's work to uncover animal abuse related to medical testing, improvements in science such as organs on a chip, and legislative work to ensure passage of the initiative.
 
Marty Irby, executive director, joins host Joseph Grove.
 
Music from https://filmmusic.io: "Fearless First" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com); License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

How a California lawsuit may change things for kangaroos | Episode 42

Animal Wellness Action has been pressuring Nike, Adidas and other retailers of "k-leather" soccer shoes to discontinue the models. More than 2 million kangaroos a year are slaughtered, including joeys, just so athletes can don prestige shoes with no performance-enhancing value.
Natasha Dolezal, deputy director of campaigns, and Scott Edwards, general counsel, update listeners on our work for kangaroos, including recent protests and the filing of a lawsuit against California retailer Soccer Warhorse, which we allege has been violating state law by selling kangaroo-sourced soccer shoes.
Marty Irby, executive director of Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy, also joins host Joseph Grove.
 
Music from https://filmmusic.io: "Fearless First" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com); License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Monty Roberts, ”The Man Who Listens to Horses,” talks whipping horses in races, the wild ride of Rich Strike, and the Queen | Episode 41

Monty Roberts, "The Man Who Listens to Horses," talks whipping horses in races, the wild ride of Rich Strike, and the Queen
 
Monty Roberts is one of the most celebrated and admired horse trainers ever to take the reins. Not only has he sold more than 6 million copies of his blockbusting "The Man Who Listens to Horses" and published hundreds of training videos, he has been repeatedly called in for service by Queen Elizabeth II and traveled at her behest to more than 40 countries.
 
In this episode, he weighs in on the topics of whipping horses during races, the wild ride of Rich Strike in last month's Kentucky Derby, the fate of notorious trainer Bob Baffert, and what he hopes to do next, in the twilight of his career.
 
Marty Irby, executive director of Animal Wellness Action, joins the show and provides an update on the organization's legislative efforts as Congress approaches the summer break.
 
Joseph Grove is the host.
 
Music from https://filmmusic.io: "Fearless First" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com); License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Animal Abuse and the Connection to School Shootings | Episode 40

Statistics show a strong correlation between animal abuse and the perpetration of violence on humans. Both of the teens involved in the Buffalo and Uvalde massacres, for example, had previously tortured and killed cats, with the latter assailant even boasting about it on social media.
Wayne Pacelle, founder and president of Animal Wellness Action, calls a history of animal abuse "the reddest of red flags" when it comes to identifying teens and young adults who may one day walk into a crowded building or school and begin killing people.
He and special guest Steve Dale, a noted writer and speaker on animal issues, talk about this connection and argue that now more than ever, it's time for Congress to pass the Animal Cruelty Enforcement Act.
Joseph Grove is the host.
 
Music from https://filmmusic.io: "Fearless First" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com); License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Wild Horses and their Mishandling by the BLM | Episode 39

When it comes to telling the truth about wild horses, the Bureau of Land Management comes up short. Leadership there seems determine to subjugate the well-being of the U.S.'s most iconic animal to the interests of cattle ranchers and sheep farmers.
Scott Beckstead, our director of campaigns, and Vickery Eckhoff, an investigative journalist who writes on western public land issues and politics and government disinformation, are the guests. They address our western native equine populations and how they are suffering so that Big Ag can have cheap access to public grazing lands. It's an issue that should incense anyone who cares about horses and who resents the triumph of corporate greed over the interests of the innocent and helpless.
Marty Irby, executive director of Animal Wellness Action, kicks the show off with an update on our work to modernize the FDA, ban the private ownership of big cats from private ownership and eliminate the incredible COVID risk to humans that is mink farming.
Joseph Grove is the host.

The sad fate of Thoroughbred horses, with Hall of Fame jockey Chris McCarron | Episode 38

After the thrill and spectacle of Thoroughbred races, the athletes themselves too often face a cruel, horrific fate. One Kentucky Derby winner, Ferdinand, was actually sold for human slaughter. Before the races, they are likely to experience doping to mask their pain, resulting in on-track breakdowns that are lethal for them and dangerous for jockeys.
 
Hall of Fame jockey Chris McCarron has become a vocal opponent of these practices, evidenced by his recent strong op-ed in the Louisville, Ky., daily newspaper. His willingness to confront the industry is one more example of a "sport" that has reached a tipping point. Will it survive?
 
In addition, Marty Irby, executive director of Animal Wellness Action, provides an update on all the organization's work for animals. Joseph Grove, director of public relations for the Center for a Humane Economy, is host.
 
Music from https://filmmusic.io: "Fearless First" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com); License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

MISSION POSSIBLE: The struggle to rescue dogs from Afghanistan...and the CDC | Episode 37

Jennifer Skiff and Zach Skow, representing Animal Wellness Action and other groups, have worked in the face of daunting bureaucratic and logistical challenges to reunite dogs of U.S. military and diplomatic personnel with their humans. Enemy No. 1? The U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Skiff and Skow share their stories.
In addition, Marty Irby, executive director of Animal Wellness Action, provides an update on all the organization's work for animals. Joseph Grove, director of public relations for the Center for a Humane Economy, is host.
 
Music from https://filmmusic.io: "Fearless First" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com); License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)