UnchainedTV is delighted to announce the launch of the Asian Elephants 101 series, produced by the author of Gods in Shackles, Amazon #1 animal rights book, wildlife filmmaker & broadcast journalist, Nat Geo Explorer, and founder of Elephant Matrix, Sangita Iyer. The films, funded by National Geographic Society, will stream on UnchainedTV, a new, FREE, streaming network you can download via your app store on your iPhone, Android phone, Amazon Fire Stick, Roku device, AppleTV device or via your LG or Samsung SmartTV. The films will have their own UnchainedTV channel: The Elephant Matrix. Asian Elephants 101 is the first science-based robust series produced to highlight the ecological, cultural and spiritual significance of this endangered species. Visit vfaes.org to get involved. Two years in the making, nine of the 26-part Asian Elephants 101 series world premiered on multiple National Geographic Channels, and we are now excited to stream the entire series on UnchainedTV. Lean more at UnchainedTV.com. All species of elephants are ecologically significant. They traverse across vast areas 16 to 18 hours a day, trampling softwood trees, thus allowing rain and sunshine to penetrate the ground, promoting hardwood trees that store more carbon-di-oxide (a potent greenhouse gas that exacerbates climate change). According to the International Monetary Authority, African forest elephants help fight climate change, with each elephant at a carbon value of $1.75 million. Elephants also create pathways to waterholes and fodder for other animals, who would otherwise be unable to access these life-giving sources. Asian elephants also likely play a key role in climate mitigation. According to the IUCN, there are less than 40,000 Asian elephants left on the planet, fully 27,000 in India, their last bastion. Thus, saving Asian elephants of India is critically important to not only saving the species, but also other species in the ecosystem. The issue is, human elephant conflict (HEC) is rampant, due to the unprecedented human population growth in India, driving competition for space. Reckless development and land use have decimated 80% of wildlife habitats. Famished elephants are forced to leave the forests and venture into croplands to quell their hunger, exacerbating HEC, resulting in senseless tragedies – both humans and elephants. This in turn triggers retaliatory killings of elephants, and the vicious cycle continues unabated. Together, we can break that terrible cycle and ensure the survival of these majestic beings.

Dr. Ferdowsian unveils her proposal for a Belmont Report for Animals that she and her colleagues have created, which would take into account animals’ preferences, interests, and vulnerabilities, and would have a significant impact on using animals for research. We humans have an arsenal of human biology-based methods, and non-animal technologies could put an end to enormous suffering for both animals and humans. Animals want and require freedom, and together we can engage in a reassessment of how humans treat other animals, while embracing the medical advancements of the 21st century. In 2019, Drs. Hope Ferdowsian and Nik Kulkarni founded Phoenix Zones Initiative (PZI), a global nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the interconnected rights, health, and wellbeing of people, animals, and the planet through education, research, and advocacy. Led by physicians and a diverse team, PZI focuses on widespread ethical and structural change to uplift the most vulnerable and marginalized, including children and animals, and provides resources to help others do the same. Historically, attempts to advance medical research have depended heavily on violating the rights of vulnerable people and animals. Forty years ago, as a result of public demands following unjust human research practices in the United States, the US Congress released The Belmont Report, which established key ethical principles to which human research should adhere: respect for autonomy; obligations to beneficence (doing good and avoiding harm) and justice; and special protections for vulnerable individuals and populations. Despite organized animal protection movements dating back to at least the 18th century, there are currently no standards for animals that are comparable to those that apply to human subjects under The Belmont Report. Hundreds of millions of animals—including fish, mice, rats, dogs, cats, nonhuman primates, and many other species—are used in research each year. After being forcibly bred and confined, most animals endure a lifetime of suffering which is full of painful protocols and procedures that cause physical and mental distress and illness, and then the majority of those animals are killed. The current treatment of animals within the context of research is based on outdated science and poor ethics. “Decades of public outrage over unethical human research eventually led to the 1979 publication of The Belmont Report,” says CEO Dr. Hope Ferdowsian. “As is now the case with humans, animals should be afforded key protections. Animals are often targeted because of their vulnerabilities. As a result, they overwhelmingly bear the burdens of research despite their inability to provide informed consent or benefit from the research. We need a transformative paradigm shift to bring medical research into the 21st century. We need a Belmont Report for animals.”

White Coat Waste is a taxpayer watchdog group with a shocking new exposé: WCW alleges the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has been shipping tax dollars to a Kremlin-run animal testing lab for cruel and wasteful experiments on cats. WCW charges that, as recently as November 2021, the US NIH shipped $549,331 (via a university) to Russia’s state-run Pavlov Institute of Physiology for experiments in which healthy cats had portions of their brains removed, electrodes implanted in their spines, and were forced to walk on a treadmill in spinal cord experiments. WCW says another $221,135 in NIH funding was sent to the same Russian lab for cat experiments in 2018. We invite the NIH, the Pavlov Institute and any other related entity on to respond. Visit whitecoatwaste.org for more. WCW says the NIH currently authorizes four different Russian state animal testing labs including the Pavlov Institute to receive taxpayer funding. Last year, following WCW’s Worldwide Waste investigation, Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI) introduced the Accountability in Foreign Animal Research (AFAR) Act(HR 5527) to cut funding for animal testing in foreign adversary nations including Russia. WCW says “Taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to pay white coats in the Russian government to torture and kill cats in wasteful treadmill experiments. As White Coat Waste Project exposed, there are four Kremlin-run animal testing labs that NIH has authorized to receive our money and U.S. sanctions against Russia should include defunding them.” Statement from Congresswoman Lisa McClain (R-MI) “Our tax dollars should never be sent to state-run labs in adversary nations like Russia and China that threaten our national security. My AFAR Act would prohibit tax dollars from being shipped to animal testing labs in any countries that are deemed foreign adversaries.”

Inspired by Encompass’ racial equity trainings, we will discuss this book, Antiracism in Animal Advocacy, which is a collection of essays written by farmed animal protection leaders who are committed to exploring and prioritizing racial equity, as we work to create a more effective and just animal protection movement. Stories and experiences are documented in an exploratory space from which to grow, ultimately creating new paths forward. LGBTQ rights and the intersectionality of social justice movements is something we're also discussing with our fascinating panel, led by UnchainedTV.com's Jane Velez-Mitchell. Get the UNCHAINEDTV FREE APP, a streaming network you can download from your APP store on your iPhone and from your Google play store on your Android phone. You can also download it on your TV via your Roku device, Apple TV device or your Amazon Fire Stick. It's also available for download on Samsung and LG SmartTV. UNCHAINEDTV offers hundreds of free movies and films with one click. No subscription required! UnchainedTV.com for more.

PETA says the public needs to be concerned about the growing number of animal to human transplants. The New York Times recently reported that surgeons had ...for the first time successfully transplanted kidneys from a genetically modified pig into the abdomen of a 57-year-old brain-dead man. Kathy Guillermo is senior vice president of PETA’s Laboratory Investigations Department. She says, The risk of transmitting unknown viruses with an animal is real, as the current pandemic has taught us. She adds the university conducting the procedure has also been under USDA investigation for alleged animal welfare violations. PETA says a whistleblower blew the lid on the university's laboratory where the internal organs of genetically modified pigs are transplanted into baboons. PETA's says the whistleblower alleged a litany of violations, including that animals were enduring unimaginable pain and distress. “Sensitive monkeys and pigs are being used in grisly Frankenstein experiments that have never worked,” says PETA. The universities, hospitals, corporations and government agencies involved are invited on any time to respond.

UnchainedTV.com brings you a different kind of war story. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has created a humanitarian crisis and an animal crisis. Many people are fleeing with their companion animals and others have been forced to leave their beloved animals behind to fend for themselves. PETA Germany reports “numerous people crossing the border with severe hypothermia. The situation is intense and confusing. Hundreds of people, with and without animals, are arriving in Poland exhausted and injured. Due to extreme traffic jams, many people are leaving their cars and walking towards the borders with Hungary, Poland, and Romania. PETA Germany is funneling 44,000 pounds of animal food into Ukraine. To help PETA’s lifesaving efforts, donate here: https://bit.ly/3vlzac0 The world’s most powerful animal rights organization adds, “The undertaking is risky, but they are determined to make it. PETA Germany is doing everything in its power to bring other urgently needed goods into the country as relief supplies.” ? PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk reports, “PETA Germany has managed to get over the border from Poland and is there, shepherding animals out, and we have delivered a 7.5 ton lorry’s worth of food to a shelter that is, so far, safe… we are befriending guards who like animals, etc., and all the PETA Europe affiliates, and PETA UK, have petitioned the various governments to waive restrictions on animal entries on a humanitarian emergency basis. So far,  Poland, Hungary and Romania (where we do a ton of animal work), have agreed. We are demo’ing outside 10 Downing Street about this. A PETA rep, UnchainedTV.com's Jane Velez-Mitchell, Simone Reyes, Director of Social Compassion and Donny Moss of TheirTurn.net talk about how war devastates people and animals. But, the plight of the animal victims can get overlooked in the chaos and fog of war. That is a double injustice.

Attorney and animal activist Wayne Hsiung has repeatedly risked serving prison terms to wake the world up to the horrors of modern day animal agriculture! This co-founder of the groundbreaking animal rights organization Direct Action Everywhere is using high-tech Virtual Reality cameras and Livestreams to bring viewers along with him as he, and other activists, engage in what DxE has coined Open Rescue. This is when activists trespass onto modern day Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, farms and slaughterhouses to rescue animals they identify as sick and/or at risk of death. Wayne Hsiung and others have been prosecuted for these actions. He was recently convicted in North Carolina for removing a baby goat from a farm in 2018, an action which he LIVE STREAMED on Facebook. He got a suspended sentence. Wayne Hsiung represented himself in the case and tried to bring issues of animal rights into the trial but was blocked by prosecutors and the judge. What’s next for Wayne Hsiung? Upcoming trials? This brilliant, changemaker discusses this and more with UnchainedTV’s Jane Velez-Mitchell.

APEX Advocacy is a Black-led animal rights organization that creates bold digital content and organizes activism to raise awareness of the impact animal oppression has on marginalized communities. APEX's goal is to increase the number of BIPOC who participate in animal activism by advocating for veganism, animal rights and collective liberation. APEX specifically focuses on drawing attention to the intersection of animal oppression and the oppression of marginalized communities.

Two powerful animal rights organizations, White Coat Waste and Advancing Law for Animals, just filed a new lawsuit against the National Institutes of Health charging that the NIH is illegally exempting taxpayer-funded animal labs in foreign countries from oversight! Federal law states that any lab that conducts experiments on animals using American taxpayer funds via the NIH must have an animal care committee. WCW investigators say they discovered that the NIH illegally exempts foreign white coats from oversight. And, they’re suing. The NIH is notorious for funding absurd and horrifically cruel experiments on innocent animals that achieve nothing to improve human health. Case in point: White Coat Waste Project (WCW) investigators have found a terrible pairing, courtesy of NIDA (the National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of the National Institutes of Health), and paid for with your tax dollars: puppies and cocaine. Says WCW, “Through a drug-injecting jacket, puppies were dosed with cocaine again and again and again for months, along with an ‘experimental compound,’ to see how the two drugs interacted. The experiment, which ran from September 2020 to September 2021 (with a report due May 2022), was filmed, so experimenters could see if the puppies had any “adverse reactions” to the drugs. Prior to being drugged, the dogs were also forced to undergo surgery, where they were implanted with a “telemetry unit” to monitor their vital signs throughout the experiment. This is wasteful and morally repugnant! Cocaine is awful and addictive and we all know that and there are programs and rehabs that can work if the addict is ready to change. Addiction will not be solved by torturing animals. We are not dogs. We do not have tails. If dogs eat chocolate they can die. Not us humans. This is a waste of taxpayer money, YOUR money. If this upsets you, please donate to https://www.whitecoatwaste.org and https://www.advancinglawforanimals.org. The NIH is invited on any time to respond.

VegTech™ Plant-based Innovation & Climate ETF (Ticker: EATV), a global ETF of publicly-traded plant-based innovation companies, has launched on the New York Stock Exchange. The first financial product from the VegTech™ Invest advisory, the VegTech™ ETF (Ticker EATV), includes 37 publicly traded companies actively innovating with plants and plant-derived ingredients and producing primary products that are animal-free. VegTech™ Invest advisors, Elysabeth Alfano and Sasha Goodman, believe these companies positively impact climate change as well as solve some of the world’s most pressing problems such as food security, deforestation, animal cruelty and growing public health concerns.