Animal Matters

Will Appelbe sits down with Alice Shopland, the founder of Aotearoa plant-based food company Angel Food. Alice launched Angel Food in 2006, and has since built a strong brand and a reputation as one of Aotearoa’s leading vegan cheese manufacturers. In 2014 they launched their dairy-free mozzarella, which was the first commercial vegan cheese to be made in Aoteroa.

A change to Parliament’s standing orders could make it a lot easier for backbench MPs to get their Bills debated in the house. Will Appelbe discusses what this means and how it could benefit animals, specifically Greyhounds. A live export crisis in the Mediterranean reignites some concerns of the trade, and NZ Pork are continuing to fight for farrowing crates, both by lobbying and with their PR machine.

Will Appelbe recaps the latest current affairs. Soaring temperatures in Canterbury puts greyhounds at risk. New technology is being introduced in Germany's egg industry which would avoid the need to kill millions of day old. A rodeo cowboy is sentenced and fined for breaching animal welfare laws, in a ground breaking case, the first of its kind in New Zealand.

Will Appelbe sits down with Aaron Cross from the Greyhound Protection League. Aaron has been a fierce advocate for greyhounds for over a decade, speaking truth to power and holding the racing industry accountable for its appalling treatment of dogs.

For the first episode of 2021, Will Appelbe recaps the most recent current affairs from the last four weeks.

Five dogs in five weeks. That’s how many greyhounds have been killed recently by the Greyhound racing industry. The industry is facing increased scrutiny, and the SPCA have stepped into the ring.

And it’s been twelve months since a catastrophe took place on a Helensville chicken farm, which saw nearly 200,000 chickens suffocate to death. You’d think by now MPI would have completed their investigation. Spoiler, they haven’t.

Last Friday was Judgement day. No, nothing to do with John Connor and artificial intelligence. The Wellington High Court finally released its judgement on farrowing crates. We’ll discuss what the ruling is, and what comes next.

And 4 live export ships have arrived in two weeks. Over 20,000 animals have been shipped, which begs the question, how much longer until the Government releases the live export review?

The Ministry for Primary Industries has released the Michael Heron QC report, which was commissioned as a result of the missing live export ship which capsized and sunk in the East China Sea. The recommendations don’t go far enough, which isn’t really all that surprising. And I'm joined by Lynley Tulloch, an academic and animal rights activist, to talk about the treatment of bobby calves in the dairy industry.

New Zealand’s General Election is fast approaching this weekend on October 17. We do a quick recap of some of the policies, or lack thereof, that political parties have put out in the run up to the election. And freshwater ecologist Dr. Mike Joy sits down to chat about the disastrous effect New Zealand’s dairy industry has had on our environment.

The roll out of cameras on fishing vessels is finally seeing some progress, but a journalism student’s chance encounter with a fisherman in Lyttelton suggests those cameras can’t come soon enough. And the temporary ban on livestock exports is planned to become a conditional ban next month. With farmer sentiment at a low point, will the Government take the easy road out of the live export issue?