Freedom of Species

Fancy living with other like-minded folk in a self-sufficient paradise? Well, now you can! We hear from co-founding members behind Vegoa, a new vegan ecovillage initiative taking shape in Portugal. We also have a presentation from Melbourne's recent Sustainable Living Festival by Sea Shepherd volunteer Claire, about Operation Icefish. www.vegoa.orghttps://www.seashepherd.org.au/news-and-commentary/news/operation-icefish-sea-shepherd-launches-new-southern-ocean-campaign.html

We ask Athans Steffen from People Against Canned Hunting about how the selfie has become a weapon of mass destruction when it comes to wildlife & how we must start sizing up the very idea of big cat sanctuaries.

Kangaroos are in "plague proportions" and everywhere aren't they?Isn't roo meat the green choice?We talk with Elise Burgess from Voiceless about their new campaign for kangaroos, "Their fate is in your hands"

We ask Hannah from Humane Research Australia why the Easter Bunny threatens to boycott Easter. We also discuss the opening of the duck shooting season with duck rescuer & long time Coalition Against Duck Shooting supporter, Kate Gracey.To take action in the cruelty -free campaign: http://www.becrueltyfree.org.au/becrueltyfree/take-action-be-cruelty-fre...- See more at: http://www.freedomofspecies.org/show/should-easter-bunny-boycott-easter-photo-credit-brian-gunn-iaapea#sthash.jCSJxmqL.dpuf

We share the excellent talks given by Paul Mahony (climate change activist/blogger & Melbourne Pig Save co-founder) & Mark Doneddu (President of Vegetarian Victoria) at Melbourne's 2016 Sustainable Living Festival. They speak about the massive toll that animal agriculture has on climate change, human health and poverty.  These talks reference the Australian and international contexts.  Both speakers are a wealth of information.Paul Mahony's blog - www.terrastendo.net

More cruelty footage of pig farming cruelty was exposed recently by Animal Liberation from the Yelmah piggery in SA. Tune in Sunday 1pm 3CR 855AM -We ask why pigs in the food production system literally have no chance in hell in escaping cruelty under present regulatory systems. We speak with Campaign Director for Animal Liberation, Emma Hurst, Chris Delforce from Aussie Farms & Pete Crosbie from Willowite Sanctuary.

On this week's show we meet Vincent Berraud. Vincent has been involved in animal liberation for two and a half decades. He took part in the creation of Paris’s first animal lib group, magazine and radio show in the early 1990’s.Vincent has recently been involved in setting up Friendly and Pragmatic Vegans and Vegetarians, a successful facebook space promoting a rational and non-dogmatic approach to animal friendly ideas and lifestyles. Vincent’s blog, The Animalist, regularly tackles the issues of pragmatism and animal activism, promoting a science based approach close to humanism but inclusive of all sentient animals. Berraud doesn’t care about the vegan label and is regularly reprimanded by vegans. He recently joined the Grassroot Campaign Leadership team of VeganGMO, an organisation whose aim is to promote biotechnology as a tool of formidable benefits for all sentient animals.One of Vincent’s current projects is to look at setting up a branch of One Step for Animals in Melbourne.https://www.facebook.com/groups/fapvv/https://medium.com/@TheAnimalisthttp://www.vegangmo.com/http://onestepforanimals.weebly.com/

2015 ANIMAL ACTIVIST FORUM PRESENTATION - ONE BAD DAY: A LOOK INTO THE TRANSPORTATION & SLAUGHTER OF ANIMALS IN AUSTRALIAANGELA POLLARD & JOSH AGLANDAnimal Lawyer | Ex-Industry InsiderYou often hear the justification “my animals are treated well and they only have one bad day”.This “one bad day” refers to the day the animal is transported and slaughtered at an abattoir.Josh Agland spent three years working at an abattoir and witnessed all stages of the slaughter process. He will speak about the realities of that “one bad day”.Angela Pollard, an animal lawyer, will give an overview of the Model Code of Practice for the Welfare of Animals: Slaughtering Establishments

We revisit World Vegan Day 2015 in Melbourne when we asked festival attendees about veganism. And wow, what a cornucopia of thoughtful insightful responses we received!