Off the Leash

A short interview with Charlie Moores talking with campaigner and award-winning author Linda Newbery, whose book “This Book is Cruelty-Free – Animals and Us” which looks at the way our daily choices affect the lives of animals was published in July last year (and Off the Leash has an exciting announcement around that later in this interview). First though, at the end of January this year we posted a shortcast by Summer, from the campaign group Feed our Future, which aims to address climate emergency and animal exploitation issues starting with the food on our school plates. Feed our Future is working with councils to encourage the switch from emission heavy foods to plant-based ones. 

Linda heard that shortcast and mentioned to Charlie that she had been involved in a Feed our Future campaign in Oxfordshire, where she lives, and that Oxfordshire  County Council had passed a motion in December that would see vegan-only food being served at council events, and school's being encouraged to serve a vegan menu 'at least twice a week'.  The motion had been tabled by Green Party Councillor, Ian Middleton, in the hope that the council would 'recognise that meat and dairy' is a 'significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and global deforestation'. 

That motion had – somewhat depressingly but predictably – caused quite a ruckus, yet, as Charlie said to Linda when they began chatting earlier today, it all sounded fair and sensible to him...

• Linda Newbery  “This Book is Cruelty-Free – Animals and Us” (Pavilion, July 2021)
• Off the Leash Podcasts  Shortcast #64 Linda Newbery | Ban Snares
• Off the Leash Podcasts  Shortcast #72  Summer | Feed our Future
• Feed our Future Website feedourfuture.co.uk/
• Feed our Future Facebook page and Twitter feed 

In this episode of The Off the Leash Podcast, Charlie Moores and Dominic Dyer discuss the previously fairly unknown  Conservative MP Chris Loder after the idiotic tweet he posted after learning that two White-tailed Eagles from the Isle of Wight reintroduction project had been found dead in 'suspicious circumstances' by investigatorswhich said that he didn't want Eagles in Dorset and that he didn't want the police investigating what happened to them; the idiotic footballer Kurt Zouma and his idiotic brother for posting a video of him abusing his cat on social media; the repulsive vivisection industry and the Animal Welfare Act; what links fox hunting and organised crime gangs; a couple of ongoing petitions; and we name our Heroes and Villians - but we begin with something that has again been keeping Dominic very busy...the political fallout from Operation Ark.

• Off the Leash Podcasts Shortcast #28 Dominic Dyer | Rescue the Animal Rescuers
• The Off the Leash Podcast 2.5 (OperationArk)
• Chris Loder MP Tweet "Dorset is not the place for eagles to be reintroduced" 
• Off the Leash Podcasts Live #08 | Voices against Vivisection outside ParliamentOff the Leash Podcasts  Live #03 | #FreetheMBRBeagles Protest Home Office
• Off the Leash Podcasts Live #07 | Voices from Camp Beagle
• Camp Beagle Website
• Camp Beagle Facebook page and Twitter Feed 
• Animal Aid petition  Make the use of free-running snares illegal for trapping wildlife (Deadline 09 May 22)  
• Government Petition Suspend trade agreement with Faroe Islands until all whale & dolphin hunts end (Deadline 21 March 22)
• Peta Petition Replace the real bearskins used for the Queen’s Guard’s caps with faux fur (Deadline 06 July 22)

Live recordings made at a protest outside the Houses of Parliament on the 7th of February 2022. 

The protest took place (to a background of thunderous and emotionally-charged chants from the tireless Sol and Helen of Camp Beagle) before a debate in the Commons, triggered by a petition asking for laboratory animals to be included in the Animal Welfare Act which gathered over 100k signatures before it closed in January. 

Vivisection, animal testing, confining animals to laboratories and experimenting on them is nothing new of course. Protests have been going on for decades. Perhaps the most visible protest at the moment though is the campaign targeting Marshall Bio Resources which supply beagle puppies for experimentation from the awful MBR Acres puppy mill near Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire. The #FreetheMBR Beagles campaign and Camp Beagle which is set up outside the gates of MBR Acres have put the spotlight on breeding a sweet-natured, curious, and trusting breed of dog for use in a laboratory.

Charlie visited the Camp and recorded activists there in November last year, and that explains why for this recording he gravitated towards - in particular - Polly, one of the founders of Camp Beagle and Sammi, one of the Camp Beagle stalwarts he spoke with on that previous visit.  Our apologies if we've inadvertently put the focus on just one element of the protests against vivisection - Off the Leash would be very happy to make up shortfalls with more shortcasts or interviews if anyone involved would like to get in touch.

• Camp Beagle Website
•  Camp Beagle Facebook page and Twitter Feed   
•  Free the MBR Beagles Facebook page and Twitter feed 
• FLOE (For Life On Earth) Website and Twitter feed
• Scarlett, Beagle Ambassador for FLOE Twitter feed
• Stay Close Clothing Website
• Government website Animal Welfare Act
• PETA "Experiments on Animals Fail 90% of the Time. Why Are They Still Done?"
• Off the Leash Podcasts |  Live #07 Voices from Camp Beagle 
•  Off the Leash Podcasts |  Live #03 #FreetheMBRBeagles Protest Home Office

Shortcasts are short standalone audio comments and statements from conservationists, campaigners, charities, authors and members of our audience. If it needs to be said – say it here!

A shortcast written and recorded by Luke, a member of the Northants Hunt Sabs. Luke discusses the work the group does sabbing the notorious Cottesmore Hunt, which hunts mainly in Rutland, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire, the aggression of so-called hunt stewards hired by the Cottesmore, and pro-hunt bias by Leicestershire Police. 

• Northants Hunt Sabs Facebook page, Instagram feed, and Twitter feed 
•  Donate to the Northants Hunt Sabs at ko-fi.com

Charlie Moores in conversation with vegan activist and lifelong biophiliac Gina Bates of the Vegan Land Movement. Charlie met up with Gina, whose Twitter handle @hilltopgina reflects the last 17 years spent in a remote area of Sutherland, living very simply without running water and miles from all other amenities and people, at a rather breezy location in the Somerset Levels where the Vegan Land Movement recently bought almost seven acres of former dairy grazing land which they intend - to quote from their website - to "give back to the earth and endangered species in perpetuity". 

Set up as a Community Interest Company or CIC, the Vegan Land Movement intends to repeat the purchase across the UK - which is both inspiring and (given how hard it is to raise funds at the moment) bold. So what motivates Gina, how does she think the organisation can grow and be effective, and why did she not want me to say exactly where in Somerset we were talking...

• Vegan Land Movement Website and Twitter Feed
• Gina Bates Twitter feed
• Sara Elgonquin (VLM Director) Twitter feed

A shortcast by Wild Moors' Luke Steele about snares - part of Off the Leash's series of shortcasts supporting Animal Aid’s petition to make the use of free-running snares illegal. 

Luke is the Executive Director of Wild Moors, which works with communities, governments and companies to unlock moorland from grouse shooting for the restoration of wildlife and habitats - and of course to unlock moorlands from snares...

• Animal Aid petition  Make the use of free-running snares illegal for trapping wildlife (Deadline 9th May 2022)    
• Wild Moors Website and Twitter feed

A shortcast by Iain Green about snares - part of Off the Leash's series of shortcasts supporting Animal Aid’s petition to make the use of free-running snares illegal.

Iain Green is a nature photographer, author & founder of award-winning Wildlife Wonder and Director of Animal Aid

•  Animal Aid petition  Make the use of free-running snares illegal for trapping wildlife (Deadline 9th May 2022)   
• Animal Aid Website and Twitter feed
• Wildlife Wonder website

A shortcast from the campaign group Feed our Future which aims to address climate emergency and animal exploitation issues starting with the food on our school plates. Feed our Future is working with councils to encourage the switch from emission heavy foods to plant-based ones. They are, they say helping the next generation of young people learn to eat sustainably.

• Feed our Future Website feedourfuture.co.uk/
• Feed our Future Facebook page and Twitter feed 

A conversation with the founder and CEO of Animals Asia, the world’s leading expert on the bear bile industry, a pioneer of animal welfare in Asia, and a big picture thinker admired around the world for her approach and leadership - no, not a conversation with a group of renowned conservationists and activists, a conversation with just one remarkable woman: Jill Robinson MBE, a globally renowned advocate for animals, whose work is guided by the mantra 'Kindness in Action'.

Charlie Moores talks with Jill about 2021 - 'an incredible year' for Animals Asia according to Jill, teamwork and moving 101 rescued bears across China, nearing the end of bear farming in Vietnam, and the  Animals Asia campaign 'The Only Cure is Kindness' which underpins so much of the organisations thinking and work.

• Animals Asia Website 
• Animals Asia Twitter and Facebook feeds
• The Only Cure is Kindness Donation page (Animals Asia)
• Jill Robinson article on Dare to be Fabulous (undated)

 A shortcast by Jane Smith AWP  about snares - part of Off the Leash's series of shortcasts supporting Animal Aid’s petition to make the use of free-running snares illegal.

Writer and campaigner Jane Smith, Deputy Leader of the Animal Welfare Party (which believes in a better future for people, animals and the environment), and the UK's first-ever elected animal rights representative.

•  Animal Aid petition  Make the use of free-running snares illegal for trapping wildlife (Deadline 9th May 2022)   
• Animal Welfare Party Website
• Jane Smith AWP Twitter feed