The Animal Wellness Podcast

Kentucky: Why Is Such a Beautiful State So Horrible to Its Animals and Children?--Episode 18

Until recent laws at last banned human-on-animal sex and gave veterinarians protection to report suspected abuse, Kentucky was 11 years running at the bottom of all states concerning animal welfare. It’s still dead-last when it comes to child welfare. In this episode, host Joseph Grove talks to Kathryn Callahan, the former director for Kentucky for the Humane Society of the United States. She is joined by Marty Irby, executive director of Animal Wellness Action and a nationally renowned advocate for horses.
Music from https://filmmusic.io: "Fearless First" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com); License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
 

What Humans Can Learn from Animals with Carl Safina--Episode 17

Carl Safina is a pioneer when it comes to understanding the hidden—and instructive—lives of animals. In this interview about his latest book, “Becoming Wild: How Animal Cultures Raise Families, Create Beauty, and Achieve Peace,” he talks about what we can learn about being human from chimpanzees, parrots, pigeons and whales, much of it relevant to today’s headlines.
 
Safina’s other works include "Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel,” "Song for the Blue Ocean,” "Eye of the Albatross,” "The View From Lazy Point: A Natural Year in an Unnatural World" and others. He is the founding president of the Safina Center and is the inaugural holder of the Carl Safina Endowed Chair for Nature and Humanity at Stony Brook University. Safina hosted the PBS series "Saving the Ocean with Carl Safina.”
 
Joining host Joseph Grove are Wayne Pacelle, the founder of Animal Wellness Action, and Marty Irby, its executive director and chief lobbyist in D.C.
 
Music from https://filmmusic.io: "Fearless First" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com); License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

The Bloodbath of Killing Contests--Episode 16

Wildlife killing contests are orgies of wanton killing and waste, sponsored by gun-manufacturers and even mom-and-pop businesses, that result in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of animals a year. Prizes awarded to participants as young as 10 years old go to the killers who bring the most of certain animals, including the heaviest of them and even the youngest or smallest.
Growing attention to this barbarism has resulted in six states implementing bans against a bloodbath legitimate hunters, environmentalists and animal-activists alike find appalling. Guests Camilla Fox, from Project Coyote and producer/director of the documentary “Killing Games: Wildlife in the Crosshairs,” and Lain Kahlstrom, state affairs director for Animal Wellness Action, join hosts Joseph Grove and Marty Irby to talk about the contests and what is being done to outlaw them in the remaining 44 states.
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/)

COVID-19, the Shortage of Meat and Animal Husbandry--Episode 15

While Americans are struggling to keep beef, poultry and pork in their refrigerators, exports of those products to China have quadrupled, and hundreds of thousands of animals are being killed and wasted on factory farms. In this episode, we talk to cattleman Will Harris of White Oak Pastures and Wayne Pacelle and Marty Irby from Animal Wellness Action to learn how severely our current system is broken and why it's so bad for people and the animals we take to eat.
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/)

Priscilla Presley on Horses, Elvis and Animal Advocacy--Episode 14

In this special Derby Day edition, we update and share our 2018 interview with Priscilla Presley. She and the King shared a love of horses, and it was through their beloved Tennessee Walker they were first exposed to the world of soaring. She was horrified by the cruel training tactics and has spent much of her life fighting for the well-being of animals of all kinds.
Plus: Marty Irby, the executive director of Animal Wellness Action, gives us the latest on what Congress is doing to help our equine friends.
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/)

How One Small Team Took Down Greyhound Racing--Episode 13

GREY2K USA is a husband-and-wife advocacy team that grew through time, smarts and a lot of help to reduce the number of dog-racing tracks in the U.S. from 50 or more to now just four. This is the story of how they did it and what other animal-welfare groups can learn from their incredible success.
Also: Wayne Pacelle and Marty Irby from Animal Wellness Action update us on how the Netflix sensation "Tiger King" is helping the Big Cat Public Safety Act on Capitol Hill, and now that two housecats have tested positive for COVID-19 in New York, we review the risks as well as CDC guidelines for pets.
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/)

Saving Lives--Human and Animal--with better FDA testing--Episode 12

COVID-19 has exposed again that our government's testing requirements for new drugs and vaccines are inefficient, slow, cruel to animals and deadly to humans. Guest Tami Drake (Center for Responsible Science) says that the 90-year-old requirement for in vivo trials is one reason we may be several years from developing a vaccine against this virus, if we are able to develop one at all. 
The solution? Pivot now to using recent, groundbreaking science that enables better prediction of results by using organs on computer chips.
Hosted by Joseph Grove with co-hosts Wayne Pacelle and Marty Irby from Animal Wellness Action.
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/)

Caged Hunts and the Spread of Chronic Wasting Disease--Episode 11

Acclaimed wildlife writer and outdoorsman Ted Williams joins us to talk about caged hunts, where people pay up to five-figure sums to shoot grotesquely overbred animals in confined areas, all for an interesting story and a display on a wall. Not only do these operations—banned now in 20 states—represent the antithesis of hunting as a "sport," they are contributing to the spread of CWD, a brain-eating disease that has shown itself capable of infecting humans.
Also with host Joseph Grove are Wayne Pacelle, founder of Animal Wellness Action, and Marty Irby, the executive director of the Washington D.C.-based nonprofit.
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/)