Latest / UNCHAINEDTV'S Truth Files with Jane Velez-Mitchell / UnchainedTV: Shocking Chicken Abuse Alleged!
Transcript
- 0:00It's a plague our world.
- 0:01If you want to revolutionise your health, get
- 0:04truly joyful and jump to the next phase
- 0:07of human evolution, all it takes is one
- 0:09simple choice.
- 0:11Now, here's your choice.
- 0:12Here you go, guys.
- 0:13Here you go.
- 0:16We have breaking news to bring you.
- 0:19This is a shocker.
- 0:22Breaking news about chicken abuse.
- 0:26Undercover footage just released by Animal Outlook of
- 0:30chickens being abused in a California factory farm,
- 0:34Animal Outlook is calling on the Fresno County
- 0:37District Attorney's Office to file criminal animal cruelty
- 0:43charges against the corporation, Foster Farms, which is
- 0:47the major poultry producer in California, major supplier
- 0:51to the big supermarkets.
- 0:54This video shows multiple instances of forklifts driving
- 0:58over and hitting live chickens, chickens being thrown,
- 1:03chickens being kicked and grabbed by their wings.
- 1:07Foster Farms says all of its chicken farms
- 1:09are American Humane Association certified and that the
- 1:13chickens it raises enjoy the five freedoms, including
- 1:17freedom from discomfort and freedom from injury, pain,
- 1:21or disease.
- 1:22Animal Outlook says its investigation reveals a stark
- 1:25contrast showing anything but humane care and freedom
- 1:28from discomfort, injury, and fear.
- 1:31Now, Foster Farms just moments ago released a
- 1:34statement that we saw.
- 1:37We will read it to you.
- 1:39They are invited on any time to respond
- 1:41to Animal Outlook's allegations.
- 1:43And right now, we are delighted to speak
- 1:45to Animal Outlook's new executive director, Ben Williamson,
- 1:52about this blockbuster breaking news as well as
- 1:56his fascinating history as a leader in the
- 2:00animal rights movement.
- 2:01Again, this footage is from Animal Outlook.
- 2:06Undercover investigative footage just released, a blockbuster breaking
- 2:12news story.
- 2:14And I believe we are the first news
- 2:16organisation to be showing this footage.
- 2:19I wanna go straight out to Ben.
- 2:21Ben, what was your reaction just as a
- 2:26human being when your undercover investigator first showed
- 2:28you this footage?
- 2:30Hi, Jane.
- 2:31Thanks so much for having me on the
- 2:32show.
- 2:33My reaction hopefully is the same as everybody
- 2:35who watches this and to think, I can't
- 2:38believe this goes on.
- 2:39We know from doing countless undercover investigations, we
- 2:43know that every time we do this kind
- 2:45of thing, we see something that we expect
- 2:48to see rough handling, we expect to see
- 2:50abuse, but some of these things like the
- 2:52forklifts driving over the birds, the distances these
- 2:55workers were throwing the animals into the cages
- 2:59at, when they should be, I mean, they
- 3:02shouldn't be there at all, but if you're
- 3:04going to do that, place them delicately inside,
- 3:07but they just showed no, they showed complete
- 3:08disregard for the lives of these animals.
- 3:13And you can't be helped but be gobsmacked
- 3:15by the cruelty that you see in the
- 3:17video.
- 3:18Now, tell us the timeline.
- 3:21We're going to immediately read the statement from
- 3:25Foster Farms, but what was the timeline here?
- 3:29Over what period was this occurring?
- 3:32The investigator went undercover at a catching crew
- 3:36in three counties in Central Valley, California between
- 3:3920 of June of this year and 24th
- 3:43of July.
- 3:43So they were in the field for about
- 3:44a month and they went to three counties,
- 3:48multiple farms as part of this catching crew.
- 3:51They were working sometimes 14, 18 hour shifts
- 3:55in the middle of the night, sometimes in
- 3:56a hundred degree weather.
- 3:58And as you see the footage that they
- 4:01captured whilst in the field really shows that
- 4:04the workers are under enormous stress and unfortunately
- 4:09they're putting the birds through even more agony
- 4:12by just wilful, egregious cruelty that you can
- 4:16see.
- 4:17It's really, really shocking.
- 4:19And you know what?
- 4:20We're going to play this multiple times.
- 4:23Excuse me.
- 4:24We're going to play this multiple times today
- 4:26because essentially, you know, a picture equals a
- 4:34thousand words or a million words.
- 4:36You can describe this.
- 4:38You can go on and on to basically
- 4:43try to paint a picture.
- 4:46But when you actually see it, there is
- 4:48no mistaking what you're seeing.
- 4:51So I just want to say, Ben, that
- 4:54I immediately, as a journalist, when I saw
- 4:57this a couple of days ago, tried to
- 4:59get the other side of the story.
- 5:01As a journalist, I always try to get
- 5:03the other side of the story.
- 5:05I'm calling the operator now at Foster Farms
- 5:07General Enquiries, trying to get a response.
- 5:11I've already written to the company listed as
- 5:14a PR firm, as well as written to
- 5:17General Enquiries, trying to get a response.
- 5:21Hey, yeah, my name is Jane Velez Mitchell.
- 5:24I'm a reporter for Unchained TV and I'm
- 5:26trying to get to the press department to
- 5:29get a response to an undercover investigation released
- 5:32by Animal Outlook, alleging multiple instances of cruelty
- 5:37caught on tape, which they have presented reportedly
- 5:41to the Fresno County District Attorney's Office, requesting
- 5:45animal cruelty charges be filed against the corporation.
- 5:49So I'm trying to get the other side
- 5:50of the story.
- 5:51I'm trying to get a response from Foster
- 5:53Farms.
- 5:53Can you transfer me to your press department
- 5:56so I can talk to somebody?
- 5:58So I did not get a response.
- 6:00In fact, I checked just moments before air,
- 6:03just to make sure.
- 6:05However, also moments before air, Foster Farms did
- 6:10reportedly issue a statement through a poultry publication.
- 6:18And let's read the statement from Foster Farms.
- 6:21It says, the headline is Foster Farms response
- 6:24to animal cruelty situation.
- 6:26On October 8th, this is the publication talking,
- 6:29the company released a statement that said it
- 6:31took immediate action when it learned that broiler
- 6:33chicken catchers were mistreating the birds at a
- 6:36facility in Fresno County, California.
- 6:39So this is from the company.
- 6:41Quote, four weeks ago, Foster Farms uncovered a
- 6:43few employees had intentionally violated our animal welfare
- 6:47and training standards and procedures.
- 6:49Per our zero tolerance policy, we immediately terminated
- 6:53those individuals and referred them to Fresno County
- 6:56Law Enforcement where they will be prosecuted to
- 6:58the fullest extent of the law, said Randy
- 7:00Boyce, General Counsel for Foster Farms.
- 7:03Put simply, the conduct was counter to everything
- 7:06we stand for as a company and our
- 7:08actions ensure those responsible are held accountable.
- 7:11So now I wanna go back to the
- 7:14head of the organisation that published that undercover
- 7:17investigation, Ben Williamson, what is your response to
- 7:21Foster Farms response?
- 7:24Well, when I first read that statement, I
- 7:26thought, okay, they are acknowledging that there is
- 7:30cruelty involved.
- 7:31They're acknowledging that there are individuals responsible who
- 7:35have now been fired and that they themselves
- 7:39are calling for the Fresno District Attorney to
- 7:42file charges against those individuals.
- 7:44What they were obviously doing as well was
- 7:46deflecting any criticism against them as a company,
- 7:49saying that they will instead do some retraining,
- 7:52change some management supervision practises and trying to
- 7:56deflect any attention.
- 7:57But on closer reading of the statement, they're
- 8:01trying to actually distance themselves from the video.
- 8:03This might be a completely separate instance of
- 8:06cruelty that they're actually purporting here.
- 8:09They're not actually linking what they've discovered as
- 8:12intentional violations of their animal welfare and training
- 8:14standards to our video.
- 8:16So it could be a completely different incident.
- 8:18We also have no way of verifying that
- 8:21the individuals who have been fired purportedly are
- 8:24the same individuals featured in our video.
- 8:27So we have a lot of questions about
- 8:28their statement.
- 8:29Again, we're glad that they seem to be
- 8:32acknowledging that animal cruelty has no place in
- 8:35farms.
- 8:36But the truth is, Jane, you and I
- 8:38both know that animal cruelty is a part
- 8:41of animal agriculture.
- 8:43The amount of hours that these people are
- 8:46working, the amount of birds on the farm,
- 8:48there's 15,000 birds here.
- 8:49You can't ensure that any of those birds
- 8:53are living a good life.
- 8:56And it's just running over them with forklifts
- 8:59and backing up over them with forklifts, throwing
- 9:01them into these cages, as we can see
- 9:03on the video.
- 9:04It's horrible, it's egregious, and Foster Farms has
- 9:08to bear culpability on this.
- 9:10Foster Farms is unique amongst many animal agriculture
- 9:14companies.
- 9:15It employs all of these individuals.
- 9:17They're not contracted out.
- 9:18They're not contract growers.
- 9:19They're not contract catching company.
- 9:21These are all Foster Farms employees.
- 9:23They own the farms, they own the birds,
- 9:25and they employ the individuals.
- 9:27So Foster Farms surely has some corporate responsibility
- 9:31here.
- 9:32What's more, California law is fairly unique in
- 9:35that not only does it suggest that corporations
- 9:39should be held accountable for acts of animal
- 9:42cruelty involved on their farms, they also invite
- 9:46it.
- 9:46They say corporations must be held responsible for
- 9:48the actions of their employees.
- 9:50So we think we're in a pretty good
- 9:52place.
- 9:52We think that the Fresno DA will pick
- 9:56this up and will file the cruelty charges.
- 9:59We've alleged 206 total charges against Foster Farms,
- 10:03against the workers, against the supervisors, and we're
- 10:06hopeful that the DA will agree with us
- 10:08and move this forward.
- 10:11So let me ask you the timeline that
- 10:14this occurred, because sometimes companies say, well, this
- 10:17is taken out of context.
- 10:19These are a few bad apples.
- 10:20That's essentially what they're sort of saying.
- 10:23They're saying that the people who are doing
- 10:25this, this specific individuals are going to be
- 10:27prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
- 10:33However, if this is happening over, let's say
- 10:35a month, and that's what I wanna check
- 10:37with you, wouldn't the people who are the
- 10:41supervisors see some of this?
- 10:43I mean, if you're running over chickens with
- 10:46a forklift and there's any supervisor there, I
- 10:51would assume that they would ultimately see that.
- 10:54What is your take on that?
- 10:57Yeah, absolutely.
- 10:58You're right on the timeline.
- 10:59It happened over a month, but it happened
- 11:01over a month between June and July of
- 11:03this year.
- 11:03We could have picked any month of the
- 11:05year.
- 11:06We could have picked any farm.
- 11:07This kind of stuff is endemic to animal
- 11:09agriculture.
- 11:10The number of birds on these farms, the
- 11:12speed at which they work, throwing of these
- 11:17animals, backing up over them with forklifts.
- 11:19It's the kind of thing that is horrible
- 11:21to watch, but unfortunately is endemic and a
- 11:23part of animal agriculture.
- 11:24You simply cannot remove the animal cruelty from
- 11:27animal agriculture.
- 11:30You're right.
- 11:31The companies, we always see this response.
- 11:33We always see companies say, this is a
- 11:35few bad apples.
- 11:36We're retraining.
- 11:38It's rare that they call for the prosecution
- 11:40themselves.
- 11:41That's a step forward, but they also attack
- 11:44the people who put out this video.
- 11:46They want to talk about that we're a
- 11:48vegan organisation and we're just trying to get
- 11:51people to go vegan.
- 11:51I think when you see the footage, it's
- 11:54hard to make any separate inference than the
- 11:57best thing to do is to leave animals
- 11:58off your plate.
- 11:59So we see this response all the time,
- 12:02but when you keep seeing the same cruelty
- 12:05over and over again, then it's not just
- 12:07a few bad apples.
- 12:08It's endemic in the animal agriculture industry.
- 12:12So where do we go from here?
- 12:14And by the way, I want to say,
- 12:16I invite Foster Farms on anytime.
- 12:18Again, we tried to reach them.
- 12:20They didn't respond to me.
- 12:22And I reached out approximately six times, but
- 12:26then we did get that statement that they
- 12:28gave, which I'll put up here to the
- 12:30poultry magazine or the poultry publication.
- 12:32But we do invite Foster Farms on anytime.
- 12:36We would love to dialogue with you.
- 12:38We would love to discuss this with you.
- 12:42You are reportedly the largest poultry producer in
- 12:45California and you supply chickens to the biggest
- 12:52supermarkets.
- 12:53I mean, I saw the list of supermarkets.
- 12:55It's the supermarkets that everybody shops at.
- 12:57And so I have to ask you, Ben,
- 13:01ultimately this is a consumer issue.
- 13:04I mean, if people are watching this and
- 13:06it's upsetting them, and then they go out
- 13:09and they buy the chickens, they're the ones
- 13:12paying for the production of these chickens.
- 13:15Yeah, they might not be the people directly
- 13:18committing the cruelty to animals, but they are
- 13:19paying the people who are committing the cruelty.
- 13:23And so the best thing that any individual,
- 13:25any of your viewers can do, which I'm
- 13:26sure they do, is to stop feeding animals,
- 13:30period.
- 13:31You're right about Foster Farms and their customers.
- 13:34They supply Albertsons and Walmart and Kroger, among
- 13:37others that listed on their website.
- 13:40And I think the store should also be
- 13:42taking some responsibility here.
- 13:44They should be saying to Foster Farms, you
- 13:46know, this is unacceptable.
- 13:47We will not stop your products anymore.
- 13:50But we know it's ultimately a business decision
- 13:53when you are paying very little amount of
- 13:56money per bird and then you're forcing people
- 14:01to put it on their plates.
- 14:03That's unfortunately the reality, is that it's a
- 14:08problem where the costs are externalised to the
- 14:11animals themselves.
- 14:13People paying to eat chicken, it's the animals
- 14:18that eventually pay the ultimate price.
- 14:20And this is the way that animals are
- 14:21farmed in this country.
- 14:23Well, I wanna say that at Unchained TV,
- 14:29you know, and there you are, right there
- 14:31on Unchained TV behind me.
- 14:33If you're watching, we're a streaming network that
- 14:37is available for free download.
- 14:39We're a 501C3 nonprofit available for free download
- 14:45on any cell phone, just put in Unchained
- 14:47TV, on any television with an Apple TV
- 14:51device, a Amazon Fire Stick or a Roku
- 14:54device.
- 14:54We're also available on all Samsung TVs and
- 14:56soon to be all LG TVs.
- 15:00But we just commissioned a documentary done by
- 15:03a woman who runs a chicken sanctuary.
- 15:06And you have to watch, it's called Meet
- 15:08the Chickens.
- 15:10And it's really, really fascinating because it shows
- 15:14that chickens, which a lot of people just
- 15:17think of as sort of like a nugget
- 15:19are individuals and they have very unique personalities
- 15:25each and every one of them.
- 15:26Like everything I thought about them was wrong.
- 15:28And I think that as a society, everything
- 15:34that we think about them, if we think
- 15:37about them at all is wrong.
- 15:40They are all individuals with unique personalities, unique
- 15:47faces and voices and preferences, likes and dislikes,
- 15:54little idiosyncrasies.
- 15:57They're just as individual as our dogs and
- 16:01our cats.
- 16:02And I think if society knew who they
- 16:07really are, we would treat them a lot
- 16:12better than we do.
- 16:14We currently have 25 chickens here, all of
- 16:19them rescues.
- 16:20Most of them are Cornish crosses, these big
- 16:25white birds.
- 16:26They are considered meat birds, broiler chickens.
- 16:33We kill about 9 billion of them a
- 16:35year in this country alone.
- 16:37So it's not really an overstatement to say
- 16:39that it's a miracle that any of them
- 16:41have made it here.
- 16:43Oh man, this documentary and it's not graphic
- 16:46unlike the video we're showing you today, but
- 16:50please check it out.
- 16:51It's on Unchained TV and it was done
- 16:54by a woman who has actually, the woman
- 16:56you're looking at, Tracy Glover.
- 16:58She doesn't have experience as a documentarian, but
- 17:02we just gave her a mic and a
- 17:06stabiliser and she pulled off this really touching
- 17:10half hour documentary about these individual chickens that
- 17:14she has rescued, each with their own story.
- 17:18And as a human being, it's just then
- 17:21when you see what is happening to these
- 17:24chickens in industrialised factory farming, wow, it just
- 17:28makes it even more difficult to really comprehend
- 17:36the magnitude of what we're talking about, Ben.
- 17:41I mean, the magnitude, the number of individuals,
- 17:47it's mind boggling.
- 17:50Yeah, I mean, we're talking about 15,000
- 17:53birds on this one farm.
- 17:54We know that the number of birds in
- 17:56farms can go up to the several hundred
- 17:58thousands.
- 17:59And then ultimately, as you said, 9 billion
- 18:04birds every year in the United States.
- 18:08So it's an unimaginable scale really.
- 18:11And we're very lucky in that we're able
- 18:13to go into these places a few times
- 18:15a year and really document what happens there
- 18:19for people who, quite obviously, they want to
- 18:21hide the truth from the consumers.
- 18:24We're able to go in and take this
- 18:26footage and then hopefully get charges put against
- 18:29the people responsible and the corporations responsible, but
- 18:32it doesn't happen enough because we're still not
- 18:36able to get this message through necessarily to
- 18:39everybody.
- 18:40There's a vast gap between what people think
- 18:43these animals' lives are like and the reality
- 18:45that we show every time we do one
- 18:47of these investigations.
- 18:48And it's through people like you, Jane, and
- 18:50your show, and everyone who's watching, it's really
- 18:54up to all of us to help share
- 18:55these investigations, tell people who don't otherwise know
- 18:59just what goes on here and show them
- 19:01for themselves.
- 19:02Because I think seeing is really believing.
- 19:04And once you see this, it's really hard
- 19:06to imagine that there's anything else other than
- 19:09this kind of stuff going on.
- 19:11So tell us about the person.
- 19:13I know you can't reveal his or her
- 19:15identity, but tell us about the person who
- 19:16recorded all this.
- 19:18They have to go in there day after
- 19:20day and essentially, what?
- 19:24They are working there?
- 19:26What happens?
- 19:28Yeah, they're part of the catching crew.
- 19:31Obviously, I don't want to give up too
- 19:33much about how we conduct these things for
- 19:34their safety and for the integrity of the
- 19:37campaign, of the investigations.
- 19:39But yeah, it's a horrible thing to have
- 19:41to see this and not react as any
- 19:45human being surely would with any sympathy in
- 19:48caring for these birds.
- 19:49The most important thing is that they document
- 19:51the cruelty, that we're able to press charges
- 19:54and hold people and corporations accountable for what
- 19:58they're seeing and what they're being asked to
- 20:00be part of.
- 20:01And ultimately, we'll save more animals that way.
- 20:06But yeah, it's a horrifying thing to have
- 20:08to do this, to keep up a pretence,
- 20:11to be party to it, to stand by
- 20:13and not do anything about it other than
- 20:15film and document and record and take notes.
- 20:18All of these notes, all of the footage
- 20:20helps build the case, not only for people
- 20:24to go vegan, but also for the law
- 20:26enforcement to do their job and hold people
- 20:28accountable.
- 20:30And what's really interesting is, and I want
- 20:33to say, we invite foster farms on any
- 20:35time to respond further.
- 20:37We've read your statement.
- 20:39Now, this is off their website, American Humane
- 20:42Association certified.
- 20:44They say they're certified by the American Humane
- 20:46Association and that the chickens they raise enjoy
- 20:50the five freedoms, freedom from hunger or thirst,
- 20:53freedom from discomfort, freedom from injury, pain or
- 20:56disease, freedom from cages, freedom from fear and
- 21:00distress.
- 21:01What is your response to foster farms' five
- 21:06freedoms?
- 21:08I mean, it's a bit of a joke,
- 21:09isn't it really?
- 21:10There's no way that you can see the
- 21:12footage of the birds being thrown into the
- 21:15cages, being run over by forklift trucks and
- 21:18then think that they're free from discomfort or
- 21:21injury.
- 21:23Also, we know that the investigator recorded that
- 21:26the temperatures exceeded 100 degrees.
- 21:29You know, they're not free from thirst or
- 21:31hunger or discomfort for those reasons as well.
- 21:35So yeah, I mean, it's a bit of
- 21:37a joke.
- 21:38It's a bit of humane washing.
- 21:41And, you know, unfortunately it will probably continue.
- 21:44It will probably, American Humane will, might come
- 21:47out and say something similar, like this is
- 21:48horrible, we don't condone this, but then very
- 21:51little is going to happen as a result.
- 21:53So that's why it's up to all of
- 21:54us to take action ourselves and to be
- 21:58responsible for making sure this cruelty doesn't go
- 22:00on by, you know, forcing these corporations to
- 22:04stop the business of chicken farming.
- 22:06Have you reached out to the American Humane
- 22:09Association and shown them this video and said,
- 22:13hey, you're certifying this company, this, I mean,
- 22:17have you talked to them?
- 22:20I wouldn't know what the investigators did before
- 22:23I got here a week and a half
- 22:25ago, but I can tell you that American
- 22:29Humane will likely respond at least internally to
- 22:34say that this is horrible.
- 22:35It doesn't conform to our standards of the
- 22:37five freedoms.
- 22:38It doesn't conform to the standards of healthy,
- 22:41enriching lives for these birds.
- 22:43But how many times do you have to
- 22:45see such a thing before you say, well,
- 22:48actually this is endemic and the kind of
- 22:51businesses that are taking our label and using
- 22:53our brand as a humane shield before you
- 22:57say enough is enough and we're not going
- 22:59to certify foster farms or, you know, any
- 23:03of these types of businesses again.
- 23:05Yeah, now, Tracy Winter Glover, who is the
- 23:07person who did the documentary, Meet the Chickens,
- 23:09which I really urge you to watch on
- 23:11Unchained TV, she says, people will say this
- 23:14is an anomaly, but the truth is it's
- 23:16the norm, just unbearably heartbreaking.
- 23:19You know, what's your response to that?
- 23:21Because again, if we go back to the
- 23:24statement by the company, they're saying, you know,
- 23:29this is not acceptable.
- 23:31We reported the people doing this to authorities
- 23:34and they're going to be prosecuted.
- 23:37Yeah, I think again, it's a shirking responsibility
- 23:40as a corporation.
- 23:42You know, these individuals were employed by foster
- 23:45farms.
- 23:46The birds were owned, so to speak, by
- 23:49foster farms.
- 23:50The farms were owned by foster farms.
- 23:52To say that this is just a few
- 23:54bad apples, it's your company that is not
- 23:57putting in the supervision necessary to safeguard the
- 24:01health and lives of these animals, to make
- 24:04sure that these things don't happen to them.
- 24:06You can't just say they didn't play by
- 24:09our rules.
- 24:10If you're not enforcing your rules, then you
- 24:12are responsible for what happens underneath them.
- 24:15So you took this video to the Fresno
- 24:18County District Attorney's Office.
- 24:21And, you know, we know historically, and there's
- 24:24cases up and down California and other parts
- 24:26of the nation where the district attorneys refuse
- 24:29to prosecute.
- 24:31They might sometimes prosecute the individuals.
- 24:34It seems like foster farms was saying they
- 24:36will be prosecuted.
- 24:39I would think that would be up to
- 24:41the district attorney to make that announcement, but
- 24:43maybe he or she will.
- 24:45But will they go after the corporation?
- 24:48Did you ask them to go?
- 24:50After the corporation and filed charges against the
- 24:52corporation, and if so, what was their response?
- 24:55We did.
- 24:56Foster Farms, we believe, is culpable for the
- 24:59actions of its employees here.
- 25:01And California, as I said, is pretty unique.
- 25:04It has a good, relatively to some other
- 25:07states, a good penal code, which allows for
- 25:10prosecutions to be brought up against, in fact,
- 25:12invites prosecutions to be brought against companies for
- 25:18the behaviour of its employees.
- 25:21So we think the DA will agree with
- 25:23us and agree that Foster Farms is culpable
- 25:26and not really buy what Foster Farms is
- 25:29selling here, which is trying to say it's
- 25:31the action of a few individuals that this
- 25:33situation has been dealt with, we've fired them,
- 25:35we're retraining.
- 25:37You know, that's not good enough.
- 25:39And just because, well, even if it was
- 25:43no longer going on, even if the retraining
- 25:44does work, it still happened.
- 25:48And Foster Farms and its employees need to
- 25:51be held accountable for the abuses that we've
- 25:52seen.
- 25:54So what did the DA say?
- 25:56Were you able to have a discussion with
- 25:57anybody from that office?
- 25:59The case is ongoing.
- 26:00We're in communication with the DA.
- 26:03So we're just awaiting the next steps on
- 26:05their behalf.
- 26:05And as I say, we're confident that they
- 26:07will agree that there have been egregious violations
- 26:12of California's cruelty to animals statutes here.
- 26:15And that Foster Farms, its employees, its supervisors
- 26:18are all responsible.
- 26:21So do you ever get to dialogue with
- 26:25Foster Farms?
- 26:26I mean, I tried, as you saw, calling,
- 26:30emailing, filling out a form on the website,
- 26:33did not get a response.
- 26:35Now, again, I invite Foster Farms on anytime
- 26:38to respond further.
- 26:40They did issue a statement, we read it.
- 26:42And so do you ever get to dialogue
- 26:46with Foster Farms?
- 26:49So I've held a number of positions and
- 26:52maybe we'll talk a little bit more about
- 26:53my background in the past.
- 26:58So working for other organisations that try to
- 27:03do a bit more corporate engagement, we see
- 27:06these organisations, we see chicken companies put up
- 27:09a wall to anyone in the animal protection
- 27:11movement.
- 27:11They are just not interested in what we
- 27:13have to say.
- 27:14They use their pay to play humane shields
- 27:18and they try to do everything that they
- 27:21can through deceptive marketing practises to convince everyone
- 27:24that everything's rosy.
- 27:27And as far as engaging with the animal
- 27:29protection community, it's just not something that they
- 27:32welcome and that they're receptive to.
- 27:35They will occasionally try to make piecemeal changes
- 27:38and get the support of some people in
- 27:40the animal protection community.
- 27:42But as far as people like myself who
- 27:46are calling for people to stop eating animals,
- 27:48it's not in their business interest to necessarily
- 27:51engage.
- 27:52And so they'd rather just stonewall us, spend
- 27:54a lot more money on marketing than we
- 27:57have in our total operating budgets.
- 27:59This is a $3 billion company, as you
- 28:01said, the largest in California.
- 28:03They can just purport through marketing efforts that
- 28:08they're doing something completely different to what we're
- 28:10able to expose on a month-long investigation.
- 28:13So no, they're not very receptive to engagement
- 28:16at all in my experience.
- 28:18What about fines?
- 28:20Somebody said here, the company needs to be
- 28:22heavily fined.
- 28:23Is this regulated?
- 28:24So is it really just about the DA
- 28:27making an arbitrary decision as to whether or
- 28:31not to file criminal charges?
- 28:34What regulations are being broken?
- 28:36And what about legal action that is not
- 28:39criminal on the civil side?
- 28:42Yeah, it's all a possibility.
- 28:44The first port of call is for the
- 28:46DA to get involved and take it on
- 28:48from a government perspective.
- 28:50There are other legal avenues open if that
- 28:52doesn't happen.
- 28:54Fines are one of the punishments that we
- 28:55see sometimes doled out.
- 28:58Certainly not enough.
- 28:59As you say, often the prosecutors just won't
- 29:02pick up the case and use some really
- 29:05poor reasoning as far as we're concerned to
- 29:07shirk responsibility themselves and not hold these corporations
- 29:12to account.
- 29:13Fines, penalties, sentences, bans from working with animals
- 29:17are other ways that people have been held
- 29:20responsible in the past.
- 29:21But I don't think anyone can kind of
- 29:24see this, the footage that we've documented and
- 29:28say that there's really much punishment that can
- 29:33fit the crime of what they've put these
- 29:34birds through.
- 29:36So one of our commenters who happens to
- 29:39be watching on YouTube, I believe, can I
- 29:42support while still eating meat or will you
- 29:44hate me?
- 29:44What's your response?
- 29:46I don't hate anybody.
- 29:49It's a personal journey going vegan and food
- 29:53is such a personal thing with so many
- 29:56different social societal factors involved in people's decision
- 30:01-making.
- 30:01We think that when people see the kind
- 30:04of footage that our investigators are able to
- 30:07capture, when they learn more about the issues,
- 30:09there's no other conclusion than to go vegan.
- 30:12But we know that food preferences evolve over
- 30:16time and that people's vegan journey can be
- 30:20long and they can come at it from
- 30:22many different ways.
- 30:24But ultimately, you as a consumer, if you
- 30:26don't want this kind of thing to happen,
- 30:29the only real thing you can do is
- 30:30to not participate in animal agriculture by leaving
- 30:33animals off your plate.
- 30:34And if you are just joining us, we've
- 30:37been reporting breaking news.
- 30:39I believe Unchained TV is the first news
- 30:42organisation to put out this video that was
- 30:47obtained by Animal Outlook over this past summer.
- 30:51An undercover investigator was there for about a
- 30:53month at a foster farm's facility and saw
- 30:57some pretty horrifying things.
- 30:59There's a forklift running over live birds and
- 31:04birds were left alive, suffering.
- 31:07You can see what's going on here.
- 31:11In one instance, a driver crashes forklift into
- 31:15a building.
- 31:16I mean, these are drivers who have these
- 31:19chickens.
- 31:21I honestly, I don't really have any words
- 31:25for this video to describe it.
- 31:27Sure, you could sit there and describe it,
- 31:29but it's like, to me personally, my feeling,
- 31:34it's like watching a horror show.
- 31:36And this is California's largest poultry producer.
- 31:40I wanna say that again.
- 31:41This is California's largest poultry producer.
- 31:45When you're going to the supermarkets, the biggest
- 31:48supermarkets in California, there's a very good chance
- 31:51if you're getting chicken that came from this
- 31:54situation.
- 31:55So, you know, here's the thing though.
- 32:00I wanna say this.
- 32:03We, I personally, as a journalist who has
- 32:05been doing this now for several decades, I
- 32:09have covered situations like this over and over
- 32:13and over again, various companies.
- 32:16Indeed, one could argue that it is very
- 32:19rare.
- 32:20Maybe it's never even happened where you go
- 32:22into a factory farm for animals and everything's
- 32:25hunky-dory.
- 32:26It seems to me my personal experience on
- 32:30the industry as a whole is that every
- 32:32time investigators have gone in and they're investigators
- 32:35from Animal Outlook and from Animal Equality and
- 32:38from PETA and from Last Chance, I mean,
- 32:40it goes on and on.
- 32:42Organisations have been doing this for the longest
- 32:43time.
- 32:45They find disturbing situations.
- 32:49They just find things that people go, oh
- 32:52my God, oh my God, this is horrible.
- 32:54And nevertheless, I just wanna show you a
- 32:57graphic and I'm gonna stop this video for
- 33:01a second to show you the graphic.
- 33:04Here's the graphic.
- 33:07Animal consumption continues to skyrocket.
- 33:11This is from like the early 60s to
- 33:132022.
- 33:15You can see that the number of animals
- 33:18is skyrocketing and chickens are the most by
- 33:23far consumed animal.
- 33:26If we stopped eating chickens, the number of
- 33:31animals killed would dramatically drop by something like
- 33:35more than 90%.
- 33:39Correct me if I'm wrong, Ben.
- 33:42No, you're absolutely right.
- 33:43Unfortunately, even though we've exposed numerous chicken farms
- 33:49and other kinds of farms, numerous corporations who
- 33:52are involved in this cruelty, even though it's
- 33:55all available on our website, animaloutlook.org, for
- 33:59anyone to access at any time, sadly, the
- 34:02kind of cognitive dissonance of people just buying
- 34:07what the industry is selling and buying the
- 34:09lies, the myths, the humane washing just makes
- 34:13people feel okay and more comfortable about eating
- 34:16animals when it's just the reality is so
- 34:19different from what the companies are putting out
- 34:23there.
- 34:23So yeah, sadly, the number is increasing.
- 34:26At some stage, we do hope that we
- 34:28reach peak meat, as they call it, and
- 34:30it starts dropping.
- 34:32We'd know that plant-based meat substitutes are
- 34:35getting better and better and more widely available.
- 34:38We do think as information becomes more dispersed
- 34:43and more available to people, and that people
- 34:46will make the right decision and leave animals
- 34:49off their plates and go for some of
- 34:51the more delicious plant-based meat substitutes if
- 34:53that's the way they wanna go.
- 34:56But yeah, it's a sad state of affairs
- 34:58that no matter how many times we do
- 34:59these investigations, we know that the kind of
- 35:05societal pressures, family, community, the type of messaging
- 35:08that works.
- 35:09We've done a lot of work on behavioural
- 35:11sciences in recent years.
- 35:12I think that's one of the best things
- 35:13that the movement has done in recent years
- 35:15is really try to understand what's involved in
- 35:17people's decision-making, from nudge behaviour and behavioural
- 35:20sciences.
- 35:22But we're not there yet.
- 35:24The message isn't getting through in the way
- 35:26that we want it to.
- 35:28Your audience is fantastic, and I'm sure everyone
- 35:30is more enlightened than most who watch your
- 35:32show, but it's up to all of us,
- 35:35I think, to share the responsibility of getting
- 35:37these messages out to make sure that we
- 35:39start to bring that graph down.
- 35:40Yes, and I just wanna read some of
- 35:43the comments.
- 35:43I've been vegan for 20 years and I'll
- 35:44die vegan.
- 35:46FYI, we all start out vegan.
- 35:47Interesting point.
- 35:49Tiffany Brunelli, there is no right way to
- 35:51do the wrong thing.
- 35:53Leave it off your plate.
- 35:55And we also have a statement from Kim
- 36:02Delgado.
- 36:03Oh, geez, the numbers of eating animals should
- 36:05be dropping.
- 36:06All these years, all the information.
- 36:08We must continue to get the truth out
- 36:11there.
- 36:12Tina, the workers don't get paid much.
- 36:17Workers don't get paid much.
- 36:18Don't pay the abuse and murder of these
- 36:20innocent beings.
- 36:21Go vegan.
- 36:22And it was very interesting to get this
- 36:25message from Erin Wing, who I know is
- 36:28a former undercover investigator at Animal Outlook who
- 36:32has been given awards for her courageous and
- 36:35really risky undercover investigations.
- 36:38She says, after conducting and managing investigations into
- 36:41multiple chicken farms and farming facilities over the
- 36:44course of seven years, the treatment is always
- 36:47the same, brutal and heartbreaking.
- 36:50And I think that what we have to
- 36:54consider is when you're talking these kinds of
- 36:58numbers, billions of animals being killed.
- 37:02I mean, millions and millions and millions of
- 37:04chickens have been killed in the amount of
- 37:06time we've been talking today.
- 37:08How can you do that nicely?
- 37:10Is there any possible way to do that
- 37:13nicely?
- 37:14Or does the sheer number result in, well,
- 37:18the footage that you revealed to the public
- 37:21that we are showing you now, Ben?
- 37:24Yeah, there's no such thing as humane meat.
- 37:29There are degrees of barbarity and inhumaneness, but
- 37:33there's no way to take the life of
- 37:35an animal humanely because ultimately they don't want
- 37:39to die.
- 37:40They don't want to be treated in this
- 37:42way and in any way that means that
- 37:45they'll be killed prematurely in a fraction of
- 37:48their natural lifespan.
- 37:50So the only thing to do is to
- 37:52stop eating them altogether.
- 37:55Now, I will say that part of this
- 37:59footage, actually, we weren't able to show as
- 38:02much of the cruelty as we recorded.
- 38:06There were so many incidences of birds being
- 38:10thrown into those cages, so many incidences of
- 38:12the forklifts being driven over the birds who
- 38:16have been grown so large for their breast
- 38:19meat that their bodies can't support, their legs
- 38:22can't support their own weight, that they couldn't
- 38:24get out of the way.
- 38:25And rather than stopping the forklift, moving the
- 38:28animals out of the way, it's just more
- 38:31expedious, it's more profitable to run the animals
- 38:34over and count that as a loss.
- 38:36Well, Tracy Glover is saying exactly, this is
- 38:39the chicken industry.
- 38:40How can we expect the workers to see
- 38:42these babies for the individual sentient beings they
- 38:44are when we say their lives don't matter?
- 38:48They, meaning the workers, become desensitised.
- 38:50They couldn't do their jobs if they didn't
- 38:52become desensitised.
- 38:54It's inevitable there will be this abuse.
- 38:57This is an industry that by definition is
- 38:59based on violence and death.
- 39:00So I have to ask you, Ben, are
- 39:03the workers then sort of scapegoated if you
- 39:09take her point of view?
- 39:10They're gonna be punished possibly.
- 39:12The company says they're gonna be prosecuted.
- 39:16Take it away.
- 39:18Yeah, absolutely.
- 39:19The companies are trying, you can see in
- 39:20their statement that Foster Farm is trying to
- 39:22scapegoat these few bad apples, as they say,
- 39:25that they're blaming the poorest of the whole
- 39:29Foster Farms organisation, which is the lowest paid
- 39:31workers in the system.
- 39:33But Foster Farms knows that this type of
- 39:36abuse takes place in its supply chain.
- 39:39And they're simply just trying to deflect any
- 39:41criticism and shirk corporate responsibility for the abuse
- 39:45that we've uncovered and that is constantly uncovered.
- 39:47We've got investigations going back to 2015 with
- 39:50Foster Farms and other organisations do as well.
- 39:54So yeah, this takes place all over the
- 39:56country, a whole number of all the top
- 39:59chicken producers in the country.
- 40:02You'll find this kind of place completely commonplace.
- 40:06Well, we've got another long comment here.
- 40:08Okay, so I don't like eating meat for
- 40:10the main reason because of all the unnecessary
- 40:11treatment and cruelty toward these sentient beings.
- 40:15And you can get all your necessary nutrients
- 40:17in other ways, but I have dogs that
- 40:19eat raw because it is better for them.
- 40:21It bothers me sometimes when I have to
- 40:23prepare their food.
- 40:24And yes, the entire animal is used, but
- 40:26I don't know what else healthy you could
- 40:28give them to eat.
- 40:29Myself not eating is one thing, but what
- 40:31about our pets?
- 40:32Well, I have two dogs and this one
- 40:36here is one of the two and she's
- 40:38100% vegan.
- 40:40And my gosh, her energy level is off
- 40:43the charts.
- 40:44She's perfectly healthy.
- 40:45So there's plenty of vegan options for your
- 40:49companion animals.
- 40:51Just wanted to answer that question there.
- 40:54Let's talk a little bit about you.
- 40:57You're very modest, but you have an incredible,
- 41:00I was reading it and I could be
- 41:02going on all day, recycled paper by the
- 41:05way, talking about all the different things you've
- 41:08done.
- 41:09You're originally from London, my favourite city.
- 41:12I have to say one of my favourite
- 41:14cities, but really my favourite city.
- 41:17And you worked at PETA, United Kingdom, PETA
- 41:20US.
- 41:21Then you were the director at World Animal
- 41:24Protection and then the executive director at Compassion
- 41:28World Farming.
- 41:29Wow.
- 41:30Tell us about your journey, Ben.
- 41:34Yeah, I'm very happy to.
- 41:35So I'll start you off at the beginning.
- 41:39My vegan origin story was, I came from
- 41:45the kind of Gary Francione school.
- 41:47I really got into the abolitionist approach.
- 41:49That was my entry point into the world
- 41:51of veganism.
- 41:52And just the arguments that they were making
- 41:54completely made sense.
- 41:56That there is no way to do this
- 41:57ethically and really abolitionism is the only way
- 42:03to go.
- 42:04So at the time, my background was actually
- 42:07in economics.
- 42:08I did economics at university and I did
- 42:11my master's in political economy at London School
- 42:13of Economics.
- 42:15And I was working for an economics think
- 42:16tank in the city of London.
- 42:18And it was around the time of the
- 42:21financial crisis in 2008, 2009.
- 42:24And there was a lot of demand from
- 42:26the press to know what would happen with
- 42:29labour market, with interest rates and taxes.
- 42:32And so I was doing a lot of
- 42:34press at the time.
- 42:34And I thought, well, wouldn't it be great
- 42:36to be able to combine my skillset, which
- 42:39increasingly was press with my passion, which was
- 42:45increasingly veganism.
- 42:48And so I joined PETA.
- 42:49They were the largest animal organisation, the first
- 42:53one in my kind of sphere of influence.
- 42:55And I had a very enjoyable career with
- 42:59PETA for seven years, first in the U
- 43:01.S., sorry, first in the UK, in my
- 43:03hometown of London.
- 43:04And then I moved, I was lucky enough
- 43:06to move to Los Angeles with PETA.
- 43:08Up until about 2019.
- 43:11And then, as you say, I moved into
- 43:13campaigns from press and then more organisational responsibility
- 43:16after that.
- 43:18So yeah, I've been around, I've been lucky
- 43:20enough to study under the tutelage of some
- 43:23great leaders in our organisation, Ingrid Newkirk and
- 43:27Steve McIver and Phil.
- 43:33So compassion.
- 43:34And so it's just really, I'm really grateful
- 43:37to have studied under some great inspirational people
- 43:41and to be able now to bring that
- 43:42to Animal Outlook.
- 43:43As I say, I'm two weeks into the
- 43:45job or not even two weeks into the
- 43:46job.
- 43:47But I think Animal Outlook, in terms of
- 43:50what the parts of what I think is
- 43:52going to help move the needle for animals
- 43:54is really on point.
- 43:57People don't know it's a 29-year organisation.
- 43:59We're gonna celebrate our 30th year next year.
- 44:02It started out as a homework, kind of
- 44:05a high school club.
- 44:07And has developed into one of the leading
- 44:09kind of mid-size organisations in the animal
- 44:12protection movement.
- 44:13The focus on investigations and legal work and
- 44:16vegan outreach and now farmer transitions as well
- 44:21is something that I think fits the skill
- 44:24sets that I've learned in communications and campaigns.
- 44:27My job is really, as I see it,
- 44:29to help amplify that work and bring, deliver
- 44:31some of the amazing investigations and legal groundbreaking
- 44:34legal cases that we've done.
- 44:36We can continue to do to more of
- 44:39the mainstream public.
- 44:41So to ask you a provocative question, I
- 44:45see that back, I would say 20 years,
- 44:4915 years ago, 20 years ago, the mainstream
- 44:52media was more likely to cover an undercover
- 44:55investigation.
- 44:57Now I've noticed that they often pretend it
- 45:01didn't happen.
- 45:01And that's one of the reasons we started
- 45:03Unchained TV, the world's only non-profit vegan
- 45:06streaming television network to get these stories out.
- 45:11I even said to you, who else has
- 45:13covered this?
- 45:14Now, now that Foster Farms has issued a
- 45:16statement, maybe I hope there will be more
- 45:18coverage.
- 45:18We never want the exclusive on stories like
- 45:20this, never.
- 45:21But one of the reasons we started it
- 45:23is that it's, to me, it feels more
- 45:26and more, and I was in mainstream media
- 45:28for more than three decades, that the mainstream
- 45:30media has been co-opted by the meat,
- 45:33dairy, and pharmaceutical industries, which are very intertwined.
- 45:37And so you're not seeing the kind of
- 45:40reporting that you even saw back 20 years
- 45:45ago when it comes to these undercover investigations.
- 45:48What are your thoughts on that?
- 45:50I think you're absolutely right.
- 45:52And I think that that has been my
- 45:54experience as well.
- 45:55I think a couple of things are happening.
- 45:58Yes, the mainstream media is kind of getting
- 46:01scared off by the litigiousness of some of
- 46:03these companies.
- 46:04They don't want to put their head above
- 46:05the parapet because they're wondering, well, what if
- 46:08I get sued?
- 46:09As a media organisation, if I'm giving a
- 46:12voice to allegations that end up not having
- 46:16any reality, I think that- Well, let
- 46:17me just say this.
- 46:19I understand what you're saying, and I'm always
- 46:21very cautious as a journalist.
- 46:23You presented videotaped evidence.
- 46:26Now, sometimes in past, the companies go, this
- 46:30was taken out of context.
- 46:32Honestly, they didn't suggest that.
- 46:34They said, Foster Farms, and I'll read the
- 46:37statement again, and we invite Foster Farms on
- 46:41any time.
- 46:42We would love to dialogue with you.
- 46:44It says, as quoted in this poultry publication,
- 46:50four weeks ago, Foster Farms uncovered a few
- 46:52employees had intentionally violated our animal welfare and
- 46:55training standards and procedures.
- 46:56Per our zero tolerance policy, we immediately terminated
- 47:00those involved and referred them to the Fresno
- 47:02County Law Enforcement, where they will be prosecuted
- 47:05to the fullest extent of the law, said
- 47:07Randy Boyce, General Counsel for Foster Farms.
- 47:09Put simply, the conduct was counter to everything
- 47:12we stand for as a company, and our
- 47:14actions ensure those responsible are held accountable.
- 47:18You are saying the company itself is responsible.
- 47:21You're asking the Fresno County District Attorney's Office
- 47:24to prosecute the company, and we invite the
- 47:27Fresno County District Attorney's Office on, so there
- 47:33is the response from the company.
- 47:37They're not saying this didn't happen.
- 47:39They're not saying what companies often say is,
- 47:42this was taken out of context.
- 47:44They're saying, yeah, this is not like some
- 47:47Hollywood production where it was made to look
- 47:54like.
- 47:54They're saying this happened.
- 47:56They're acknowledging it.
- 47:57Yeah, I mean, there might be a slight,
- 47:59slight of hand in their statements.
- 48:01They might, they haven't exactly linked it to
- 48:03the video that we filmed, but ultimately they're
- 48:07accepting that there has been some degree of
- 48:09cruelty to animal violations that have taken place
- 48:11at their farms, and they are saying that
- 48:13they've taken responsibility for it, which, you know,
- 48:16we would argue that they haven't until they
- 48:19face themselves the- What would you like
- 48:23to see the company do?
- 48:26Well, ultimately, I think the company needs to
- 48:29get out of the business of chicken farming.
- 48:31As we know, chicken farming is, you can't
- 48:35detach cruelty to animals from chicken farming.
- 48:37We see it every time, but yeah, these
- 48:41workers should never be allowed to work with
- 48:43chickens.
- 48:43Again, the supervisors should be held responsible, the
- 48:45board of Foster Farm should be held responsible,
- 48:48and it's ultimately up to law enforcement to
- 48:51decide in this particular case which charges move
- 48:54forward and how responsible Foster Farms is held.
- 48:59But I would say as well, to go
- 49:00back to our point about media, you know,
- 49:02I could talk about media's willingness to embrace
- 49:04these things all the time.
- 49:06It's kind of a, it's a bit of
- 49:07a paradox because we see so much of
- 49:10this cruelty in investigations.
- 49:12We do three or four of these kinds
- 49:13of investigations a year.
- 49:15The media's just a little, let's say, almost
- 49:18tired of it.
- 49:19It's more of a, it's like a man
- 49:20bites dog.
- 49:21What else is new?
- 49:22We know that cruelty to animals exists in
- 49:24factory farms.
- 49:25We know it happens.
- 49:26So they kind of think nothing's new, but
- 49:28at the same time, we know that their
- 49:30audience doesn't know this stuff.
- 49:32We know that we ourselves as animal protection
- 49:34advocates, we're constantly surprised by the degree of
- 49:37cruelty that we see on these farms.
- 49:40So, you know, it's a very strange state
- 49:43of affairs where the media organisations say, oh,
- 49:46this is just what happens.
- 49:48But for some reason that is not getting
- 49:50out to the public.
- 49:52And please share this out.
- 49:53We are streaming this on our streaming network
- 49:56where you can comment as well as Facebook,
- 49:59YouTube, X, LinkedIn, share it out.
- 50:06You know, if indeed you're not gonna get
- 50:11mainstream media coverage on this, then the only
- 50:15way that we can do it is through
- 50:17independent media, which is what we are, and
- 50:20through people sharing it out.
- 50:25And there it is when somebody says, I'm
- 50:26sharing this out on every platform, it's a
- 50:28click.
- 50:29And that's, you never know the impact.
- 50:32I actually sent this to somebody who, I
- 50:36think we all have a situation where there's
- 50:39somebody that we like very much, but they
- 50:41completely disregard our position when it comes to
- 50:45animal activism and veganism.
- 50:48And I have a friend like that.
- 50:50And, you know, I was looking at this
- 50:52and I just texted her the link.
- 50:54And I said, three minutes, watch it.
- 50:56I didn't say anything else.
- 50:57And she responded, this is sad.
- 51:01That was it.
- 51:02But I said, I appreciate you taking the
- 51:04time to watch.
- 51:04Thank you.
- 51:05I didn't really wanna say anything more.
- 51:09I don't wanna fight with people.
- 51:10I just wanted her to see it.
- 51:12Because one of the hard things is to
- 51:14get people to watch these videos.
- 51:17You know, that's why we have Unchained TV.
- 51:20We have a lot of fun, upbeat videos,
- 51:22cooking shows and reality TV shows and fun,
- 51:26upbeat coverage.
- 51:27But then mixed in with that is some
- 51:29of these more serious, disturbing videos.
- 51:36So, exactly.
- 51:37Well, we only have a couple minutes.
- 51:40I wanted to get your thoughts for where
- 51:42Animal Outlook is going to go.
- 51:44And, you know, having worked with many, many
- 51:47different animal rights organisations over decades now, I
- 51:50would say that, you know, what stands out
- 51:52to me about Animal Outlook, and I've interviewed
- 51:55some of the undercover investigators who, to me,
- 51:57are the bravest people in the entire movement,
- 52:00is your undercover investigations.
- 52:02You're known for that.
- 52:03Is there anything else you're gonna be focused
- 52:05on?
- 52:06Well, I really like the strategy that Cheryl
- 52:09and my predecessor and Erica before have laid
- 52:13out for Animal Outlook.
- 52:14You know, it all starts with investigations.
- 52:16That's how we get the truth.
- 52:17That's how we know what's going on.
- 52:19From there, we have a legal strategy.
- 52:21We want impact legal advocacy, something that's not
- 52:23only going to prosecute a few people at
- 52:25a time, but actually something that's replicable that
- 52:29other organisations, other firms can then use to
- 52:32litigate properly in their jurisdictions.
- 52:35That can be scalable and hold the whole
- 52:37industry and the whole animal protection, the whole
- 52:41animal farming system to account.
- 52:44From there, obviously we use the investigations, the
- 52:47legal work to create a vegan movement, to
- 52:50say that there is no alternative to animal
- 52:53cruelty within the animal farming industry.
- 52:56Going vegan is the only way to actually,
- 52:59to end the cruelty.
- 53:01So vegan outreach has to be like the
- 53:03tip of the spear really, because that's what
- 53:06any single, that's the most, the best thing
- 53:08that any single individual can do.
- 53:10And from there, it's about just transition.
- 53:12So helping farmers escape, because farmers are trapped
- 53:15in this system too.
- 53:16Farmers are under enormous amounts of debt when
- 53:19they go into chicken farming, building the barns
- 53:21and being responsible to the integrators usually, and
- 53:25helping them transition out of animal farming so
- 53:26that we can close that loop, having them
- 53:29grow lettuce, having them grow mushrooms, having them
- 53:31grow other things that do not harm, create
- 53:33inequality to animals.
- 53:35So really closing that loop and making sure
- 53:36those things never happen again.
- 53:38So I really like Animal Outlook's strategy of
- 53:40how we go from the investigations all through
- 53:42to the end, which is a more vegan
- 53:44world.
- 53:46Wow.
- 53:46And do you think we're getting closer to
- 53:48a more vegan world?
- 53:49Because nothing goes straight up.
- 53:51I mean, when Beyond Meat, for example, went
- 53:53public, it was like a frenzy.
- 53:56And then there was just an explosion of
- 54:00plant-based restaurants, products, and now there's a
- 54:03bit of a retrenchment because nothing ever goes
- 54:06straight up, even the most successful stocks are
- 54:09a bit of a craggy line.
- 54:11Where do you think we are?
- 54:14Unfortunately, I think it's something we're gonna be
- 54:16forced into.
- 54:17As humans, we don't kind of do much
- 54:20until we're forced into it.
- 54:21And we see what's going on with these
- 54:22dreadful hurricanes in Florida now.
- 54:24We know that animal agriculture is one of
- 54:26the leading causes of climate change.
- 54:28It's probably not going to be something that
- 54:32we change until it's too late.
- 54:34But if there are enough people calling for
- 54:35it, we'll get there just in time and
- 54:37we'll end animal agriculture while we still have
- 54:39a planet to live on.
- 54:41I just wanna say, Ben, it's been such
- 54:43a delight speaking with you.
- 54:46I find your backstory fascinating.
- 54:50I know you're a very busy person, so
- 54:52I wanna thank you for taking the time
- 54:54to join us here on Unchained TV.
- 54:56And I hope, if you haven't, that you
- 54:58download our streaming network.
- 55:02So it's a vegan Netflix.
- 55:05Okay, that's the craziest thing I've ever heard.
- 55:07I love Unchained TV.
- 55:08Unchained, Unchained TV.
- 55:10Your life will change.
- 55:11It's just that easy.
- 55:12Unchained TV has all sorts of content for
- 55:15everybody.
- 55:16Unchained TV changed my life.
- 55:18Unchained TV is crushing it.
- 55:21I love Unchained TV.
- 55:23Unchained TV is my go-to.
- 55:25Unchained TV, who knew?
- 55:27Unchained, baby, yeah.
- 55:34So download it.
- 55:35The world's only vegan streaming network.
- 55:37It's free.
- 55:38You can download it on your phone, on
- 55:40your TV, and you can also watch online
- 55:42at unchainedtv.com.
- 55:44See you next time.
- 55:46Bye.
- 55:47Thanks, Jen.