Freedom of Species

Lawrence Pope is back in the studio talking about flying foxes.  As the president of the Friends of Bats & Bushcare group, Lawrence is one of Australia's foremost advocates of this magnificent creature.  At the time of this interview, he's also caring for two orphaned flying fox pups.  Across the eastern seaboard, flying foxes are either being deliberately driven from their roost sites, separated from their pups, shot in orchards, trapped in fruit tree nets, starved to death, electrocuted on power lines, snagged on barbed wire, or perishing in heatwaves & bushfires.  And if that's not enough, they're also losing their habitat to land clearing. Friends of Bats & Bushcare  https://www.parkconnect.vic.gov.au/Volunteer/group-details-public/?id=d7d85384-dc4b-e711-813b-e0071b676d01Flying Fox Supporters  https://www.flyingfoxsupporters.com.au/

We're joined by animal advocates Meghan and Harley who discuss changes in the movement over the decades, the importance of centering animals in the animal liberation movement and the place of animals in the environmental movement. Read Harley’s article ‘Whose Environment are We Fighting For? — Why the Environmental Movement Frightens Me as an Animal Ally’: https://medium.com/@harleymcdonaldeckersall/whose-environment-are-we-fighting-for-7f8b9f31fc9f Listen to Meghan on Green Left Radio: https://www.3cr.org.au/greenleftweeklyradio Register for the Liberated Futures conference:  https://www.trybooking.com/book/event?eid=575099&fbclid=IwAR2XqW95mXPTRergdp7LvCx2eSSNJu6rM8713cyuPdwXn3jrc3OLwM1lti0 The photo used for this show was taken by Lissy from Bear Witness Australia: https://www.facebook.com/bearwitnessaustralia/

We speak with Melbourne-based animal rights activist Kelly Gamble about the rise of direct action in 2019, the emotional toll of standing up against large-scale institutions, and the future of activism.

On this show, we introduce our newest team member, Madison Griffiths, who discusses growing opposition to the Melbourne Cup horse race, the common association between eating meat and masculinity, and the new Netflix documentary The Game Changers that challenges this connection by looking into athletes eating a plant-based diet. You can hear Madison as a guest on our show discussing animal rights as a social justice issue here: http://www.freedomofspecies.org/show/madison-griffiths-%E2%80%93-animal-rights-social-justice-issue

We speak with Elio Celotto, Campaign Director with the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses (CPR), about the dark secret of the Australian horse racing industry, as recently revealed by the ABC's 7.30 Report. Elio talks about the thousands of prize-winning racehorses that meet cruel brutal deaths in abattoirs each year, to be sold as pet meat or to be exported for human consumption.We also debut the new music track "You Bet, They Die", written specifically for the CPR campaign.  The episode screened on the ABC's 7.30 Report:  https://iview.abc.net.au/show/7-30/series/0/video/NC1901H164S00?fbclid=IwAR0KP_l13R_zHgadrGEBeXg79FgblaJDnMumpW6x8SIvEev4-KzCtHRKfBg

On this show, we discuss some of the talks and key themes from the recent Animal Activists Forum, which took place in Melbourne. You can find out more about this Forum and listen to talks from previous events here: http://www.activistsforum.com/resources/ You can watch a video of Harley McDonald-Eckersall’s talk from this year’s conference, ‘Animal Rights Under Occupation — Lessons from the Palestinian Animal League’: https://medium.com/@harleymcdonaldeckersall/animal-rights-under-occupation-lessons-from-the-palestinian-animal-league-339bae8f87a6 Another talk from this year that there is a video online for is 'Forming Alliances With Other Movements' by Betty Melon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItkAhRrj10g&fbclid=IwAR0G0dv2g0wqnNryiMsDBSEkmAnp4yveJFy0-QqFK3pnSFoThfPpGf2B5i8 There will be more talks available online soon, keep your eye on the Collectively Free - Kulin Nations Facebook page for links to these talks: https://www.facebook.com/cfkulinnations

We discuss recent news in the world of animal activism and veganism, including a chat about the documentary 'The Game Changers', footage showing the horrors of the horse racing industry and animal testing.

Katja & Nick of local volunteer organisation Mange Management talk about the devastating impacts of the mange mite parasite on wombats.  They explain how mange can be identified, how it can be successfully treated by members of the public and landholders with Mange Management's support, and how the government could better respond to this issue that's causing immense suffering to our native wildlife.  Mange Management  https://mangemanagement.org.au/and on Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/mangemanagement/

This show features representatives from the new activist group Collectively Free – melbourne who discuss their Animals Against Animal Experiments campaign, Liberated Futures conference and the importance of standing up against all forms of oppression. Collectively Free – melbourne Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/cfmelb/ Animals Against Animal Experiments campaign: https://www.facebook.com/animalagainstx/ Liberated Futures conference: https://www.facebook.com/events/479005459344363/ Check out Approaching Critical to be kept up to date with a wide range of activist actions happening around Melbourne: https://www.facebook.com/approachingcritical/

On this show we’re joined by activist Meghan Street, host of Green Left Radio on 3CR, who discusses the recent Global Strike For Climate marches and how vegan activists can better connect with environmental and Left movements. Meghan also covers how the desire for constant growth harms the environment and the other animals we share it with. You can listen to Green Left Radio on 3CR every Friday from 7 to 8:30am plus catch up on shows here: https://www.3cr.org.au/greenleftweeklyradio On this show we play a little bit of journalist Naomi Klein speaking on Democracy Now. You can listen to this episode of Democracy Now here: https://www.democracynow.org/shows/2019/9/17 Photo from: https://www.veganaustralia.org.au/clear_vegan_message_at_climate_marches