Our Hen House: Vegan & Animal Rights Movement | Stories from the Frontlines of Animal Liberation

In this episode of the Our Hen House Interview, Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan sit down with performance researcher and theater maker Dr. Ben Hunt, founder of the Performing Animal Rights podcast and newsletter, to explore how theater, puppetry, drag, and creative practice can break through the psychological resistance that keeps people from engaging with animal rights. From vigils as unintentional…

On this episode of The Hen Report, Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan dig into a mix of movement news and reflection. They share encouraging data on the growth of plant-based product labeling and break down key legal wins in animal rights cases — including the Wayne Hsiung prosecution and the Meyenberg goat rescue case. The conversation turns to the environmental toll…

Turns out when food prices spike, the animal ag industry’s solution is just cheaper spin. This episode digs into the meat lobby’s sudden “affordability” crusade against animal welfare reforms, the bizarre pro-grazing propaganda tour, Trump’s confusing detour into meat processing policy, the BLM’s wild horse slaughter pipeline finally getting some overdue press, and the sneaky psychological reason your uncle still won’t…

This month’s Animal Law Podcast features attorney Taj Uppal, who was arrested and charged with felony grand theft after rescuing two sick baby goats from Vera Goat Dairy, a California factory farm supplying Meyenberg Goat Milk to retailers like Whole Foods and Walmart. Uppal walks through the investigation that preceded the rescue, his arrest by Kings County Sheriff’s deputies, and the…

In this episode of The Hen Report, Jasmin Singer is joined by Marielle Vigneau-Britt of Totally Forkable to unpack a viral video from The Financial Diet’s Chelsea Fagan, who took aim at vegans while discussing consumerism in France versus the US. Together they dig into why comment sections don’t represent an entire community, how veganism keeps getting conflated with extreme “purity…

The pork lobby thinks conferences make activists scary, the dairy industry wants everyone drinking more milk they didn’t ask for, and chicken gets a chlorine bath nobody has to disclose — welcome to another week of animal agriculture explaining itself to itself. Industry playbook, exposed by industry: A pork trade publication frets that animal rights groups are getting “sophisticated” at litigation…

This week on Our Hen House, Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan sit down with longtime animal activist Jennifer Raymond — founder of Humboldt Critters Without Litters and author of The Peaceful Palette — to hear the harrowing, firsthand account of how she helped expose Miranda’s Rescue, a Humboldt County, California “rescue” that took in hundreds of shelter dogs each year while…

This episode covers the Save Our Bacon Act getting shut down (again) in the Farm Bill, the delightfully weird strange-bedfellows saga around the Ridglan Farms beagle rescue, and the growing bipartisan side-eye toward animal testing — plus a Nonhuman Rights Project update and a preview of the next Animal Law Podcast episode. The pork industry tried (again) to torch state animal…

Animal abuse industry PR groups are suddenly very worried about undercover investigations targeting retailers instead of farms, a Brazilian trade show imagined a vegan supermarket with no bread (checks notes: vegan bread abounds), and a Wisconsin dairy program is teaching kids about cows via “virtual escape rooms.” Also: Congress “fixed” school milk access, USDA quietly un-fixed it, and somehow bird flu…

Animal advocacy researcher Björn Ólafsson (More Than Meats The Eye, Better Food Foundation, Spain’s Animal Welfare Observatory) joins Jasmin and Mariann to unpack new UK survey data on public attitudes toward factory farming, why cognitive dissonance keeps animal lovers eating meat, and the behavioral science tactics — from “tasty titles” to plant-based defaults — that are quietly reshaping what people order.…

This week’s Hen Report dives into what makes an ally “natural” for animal advocacy, questioning whether meat reducers, cruelty-free (but non-vegan) consumers, or regenerative farmers truly share the movement’s goals. Jasmin and Mariann also break down troubling news about organic chicken production, the slow progress of cultivated meat, and the power of language in shifting public perception of animal agriculture. Are…

This week’s Rising Anxieties discusses ASPCA’s “humane” shopping guide which has the industry in quite a tizzy, dismantles Temple Grandin’s feel-good slaughterhouse “culture” story, exposes the industry squeezing yet another product out of exploited cows, shreds the myth that farmers are the real victims of subsidy policy, and tracks the fights against factory farming still being waged in the Senate and…

This week, Mariann Sullivan sits down with Cheryl Leahy, director of the newly launched Animal Law Practice Association (ALPA) at the Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law and Policy, to unpack how the free program is training and connecting lawyers who want to build careers protecting animals. Cheryl explains ALPA’s two core pillars — a growing library of practical, topic-specific legal…

This week, Jasmin and Mariann dig into a wave of encouraging news for the plant-based movement alongside a sobering look at threats to wildlife protections. They cover new data showing plant-based sales climbing across Europe as prices and taste improve, the FDA’s struggle to define “ultra-processed foods” (and its decision not to ban them), a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s rollback…

The industry’s talking points are getting more absurd by the week: a farm blames “vegan extremists” for ending baby goat cuddling sessions, a horse-carriage op-ed acts like $65K/year is a job worth preserving at all costs, and the EU touts a “protein plan” that funnels plant protein straight back into animal feed. On this episode of Rising Anxieties, we call out…

Bestselling author and James Beard Award winner Joanne Molinaro, AKA The Korean Vegan, joins Our Hen House to discuss her new book, Korean Vegan: Homemade. She traces her journey from a health-driven plant-based diet to animal-centered veganism, and unpacks how she navigates preserving Korean culinary tradition while reshaping it around compassion. The conversation ranges from confronting cultural assumptions about meat to…

This week, Jasmin and Mariann dig into a wave of encouraging news for the plant-based movement alongside a sobering look at threats to wildlife protections. They cover new data showing plant-based sales climbing across Europe as prices and taste improve, the FDA’s struggle to define “ultra-processed foods” (and its decision not to ban them), a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s rollback…

This week Mariann tears through the industry press so you don’t have to: an Animal Ag Alliance exec frets about “brand-busting” without ever explaining what it means, Oregon’s IP 28 gets branded an extremist plot for daring to remove cruelty-law loopholes, a horse vet insists carriage horses basically drive themselves, and ranchers wax poetic about breeding cattle too docile to complain.…

Renee King-Sonnen, founder of Rowdy Girl Sanctuary and author of the new memoir Rowdy Girl: Confessions of a Vegan Cattle Rancher, returns to Our Hen House to share the unlikely journey behind her long-awaited book. From battling addiction to falling in love with a rescued calf named Rowdy Girl, Renee opens up about the spiritual awakening that transformed her from a…

In this episode of Our Hen House, filmmaker Joanna Zelman and her father, retired emergency medicine physician Dr. Jared Zelman, join hosts Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan to discuss their viral short documentary Cow Trip, which follows a chaotic road trip rescuing two dairy calves from Vermont to a Maryland farm sanctuary. The conversation dives into life inside the dairy industry,…

Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan catch up on New York City happenings and dig into major animal advocacy news, from a vegan appointee shaping the city’s food policy to the fight to finally end horse-drawn carriages after a tragic event. They also cover a legal win for student activists, RFK Jr.’s surprisingly bipartisan push to reduce animal testing, and a call…

This episode dives into the Ridglan Farms activist prosecutions, USDA’s new “lawfare portal” (yes, the federal government apparently needs help fighting itself), CAFO propaganda dressed up as science, and fresh data showing just how misled the public really is about caged hens and industry-funded meat studies. Wisconsin prosecutors pile more charges on Ridglan Farms activists, while the actual documented animal cruelty…

Artists, authors, and activists Sol Anzorena and Tom Grotewohl join Our Hen House to discuss their grassroots campaign, Protect the Porkies, fighting a proposed copper mine that threatens Michigan’s Porcupine Mountains, Lake Superior, and the North Country Trail. They break down the ecological risks of toxic mine waste, light and noise pollution on wildlife, and how their small local movement grew…

This episode of The Hen Report features Mariann Sullivan and constitutional law professor Michael Dorf, filling in for Jasmin, for a wide-ranging conversation connecting Supreme Court doctrine to the fight for animal rights. Dorf draws sharp parallels between the catch-22 legal standards trapping activists like Wayne Hsiung and the contradictory hoops required for habeas corpus relief, arguing both function as reassuring…

This week on Rising Anxieties, Mariann Sullivan digs into a genuinely encouraging legal development (yes, really), some deeply depressing policy news from our neighbors to the north, a dairy industry propaganda machine that apparently involves a live cow, and a livestock industry reminder that “precious cargo” has nothing to do with feelings. The usual cocktail of outrage, dark humor, and the…

In this episode of The Hen Report, Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan welcome flock member and postdoctoral researcher Neha Nataraj from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Neha attended the Johns Hopkins/PCRM Summer Immersion on Innovative Approaches in Science — a free, four-day conference focused on reducing and replacing animal use in biomedical research and toxicology —…

In this episode of Rising Anxieties, Mariann Sullivan tears through the week’s most revealing industry news — from egg producers finally grasping that animal advocates want them gone, to Oregon’s audacious PEACE Act inching toward the ballot, to the toxic gas hazards quietly killing dairy workers. She also covers the Cargill lockout rocking Colorado’s beef industry, the federal government’s creative reinterpretation…

This episode of the Our Hen House interview features Thomas “Richie” Manandhar Richardson — AI Impact Director at Vegan Hacktivists and former Director of Research at Bryant Research — in a wide-ranging conversation about two urgent frontiers for the animal movement: financial activism targeting factory farming and the growing role of artificial intelligence in animal advocacy. Richie breaks down why divestment…

This episode of The Hen Report celebrates two major animal rights victories — the closure of the notorious Ridglan dog testing facility and Philadelphia’s ban on horse-drawn carriages — then pivots to the next big fight. Hosts Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan are joined by animal advocate and poet Gretchen Primack and Sexy Fit Vegan founder Ella Magers to announce an…

The meat industry is having a week — and not the good kind. Screwworm has officially crossed the U.S. border into Texas, turning what was once a theoretical threat into a two-case-and-counting reality, while your tax dollars are already being mobilized to save an industry that created the conditions for this mess. Meanwhile, Oregon is inching toward a ballot initiative that…

This week, Jasmin and Mariann welcome back Dr. Liz Tyson, Director of Animal Welfare and Advocacy at Born Free USA, for a wide-ranging and eye-opening conversation about the reality of animal captivity in zoos — including the “best” ones. Using the recent death of Happy the Elephant at the Bronx Zoo as a launching point, they dig into Born Free’s ongoing…

In this week’s Hen Report, Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan cover a lively mix of animal advocacy news, pop culture, and vegan messaging. They discuss Sangamithra Iyer’s new memoir Governing Bodies and its LA Times review, celebrate vegan powerlifter Katya Gorbacheva’s post-partum championship win, and unpack Angela Davis’s shout-out to animal rights at a college commencement. The episode also digs into…

This week on Rising Anxieties, we’re covering the full spectrum of animal agriculture chaos — from the political circus surrounding James Talarico’s (alleged) veganism to the unsurprising news that living next to a factory farm might be slowly killing you. Plus, a meat industry columnist accidentally makes the case for abolishing animal agriculture, and the screw worm is getting uncomfortably close…

In this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, host Mariann Sullivan speaks with Amal Bouhabib, senior staff attorney at FarmSTAND, about a landmark federal lawsuit involving three young men from Guatemala who were recruited to the U.S. on J-1 cultural exchange visas and subjected to dangerous working conditions, fraudulent promises, substandard housing, and coercive threats at an industrial swine operation in…

On this week’s Hen Report, Jasmin and Mariann cover a packed week of animal rights news, kicking off with a cringe-worthy DM urging a vegan to accept “happy” backyard eggs — and why you don’t owe anyone a debate. They explore the theory that the meat industry, like Big Oil, is seeing the writing on the wall and quietly trying to…

In this powerful episode, Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan sit down with Tim Woodward, Executive Director of Animal Rescue Corps (ARC), an organization founded the same year as Our Hen House — 2010 — that has since conducted over 200 large-scale rescue operations saving thousands of animals from neglect, abuse, and crisis situations across the country. Large-scale animal rescue operations: ARC…

In this episode of The Hen Report, Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan are joined by poet, activist, and friend Gretchen Primack for a raw and deeply personal conversation about how animal advocates sustain themselves emotionally in a world that can feel overwhelmingly bleak. From the ground-level account of the Ridglan Farms beagle rescue to the growing momentum around Marshall BioResources in…

The animal agriculture industry had a busy week proving it can always find new depths to plumb. From North Carolina State University researchers congratulating themselves on shaving four minutes off the time it takes to suffocate chickens, to the beef-on-dairy pipeline quietly turning male calves into a supply chain “opportunity,” to a USDA food safety apparatus held together with 9% fewer…

In this episode of The Our Hen House Interview, Mariann Sullivan speaks with Andrea Diaz, Executive Director of Dharma Voices for Animals (DVA), the only international Buddhist animal advocacy organization. Andrea shares how DVA is working across Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Thailand, and the United States to align Buddhist teachings of compassion and non-harming with the dietary choices of the world’s nearly…

In this episode of The Hen Report, Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan are joined by Amber Canavan of PETA — and her rescued hen, Rosemary — to discuss PETA’s newly released white paper on the failures of cage-free egg labeling. Amber breaks down the gap between consumer perception and the grim reality of cage-free facilities and offers her conclusion that humane-washing…

The latest episode of Rising Anxieties covers a week of predictable chaos in the animal agriculture world. Billie Eilish said what many of us were thinking — eating meat is inherently wrong — and the left proceeded to embarrass itself with a barrage of bad-faith counterarguments. Meanwhile, the federal government is finally going after Big Beef and Big Egg for antitrust…

In this powerful episode, Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan sit down with Lindsey Soffes, Head of Programs at Rise for Animals, to explore the growing movement to end animal experimentation. From the explosive Ridglan Farms story to landmark federal legislation, Lindsey breaks down why this moment may be a turning point for animals in laboratories — and what advocates can do…

In this episode of The Hen Report, Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan are joined by Matthew Dominguez, U.S. Director for Compassion in World Farming, for an urgent deep-dive into the Save Our Bacon (SOB) Act — dangerous preemption language hidden inside the Farm Bill that could strip states of their right to pass and enforce farm animal protection laws, wiping out…

In this week’s interview, Jasmin and Mariann sit down with filmmaker Ray Cruzzola, founder of World Change Media, to discuss his moving documentary I’m Trying — a tribute to Canadian animal rights activist Regan Russell, who was killed in 2020 while protesting outside a pig slaughterhouse. Ray shares how he uses cinematic storytelling as a tool for social change, why he…

The animal rights movement has found its big tent: everyone hates factory farming, right? In this solo rant, Mariann Sullivan ponders “anti-factory farming” as a unifying movement strategy — specifically, the inconvenient fact that being against something isn’t the same as having a plan to replace it. She also takes on a growing narrative that out-and-proud veganism is somehow the movement’s…

In this episode of The Hen Report, hosts Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan speak with Julia Reinelt, Executive Director of AVA International, about the upcoming Animal and Vegan Advocacy (AVA) Summit in Toronto (May 21–24). Julia walks listeners through what first-timers can expect, highlights the conference’s Whova app for networking and scheduling, and previews standout speakers — including documentary photographer Zed…

This week on Rising Anxieties, Mariann doesn’t let you look away — from the chaotic and heartbreaking Ridglan “rescue” that wasn’t, to a Yale study proving that just showing people a picture of a pig reduces meat orders by 22% (yes, really). Along the way, she covers a vegan vendor pushed out of Time Out Market for refusing to serve dairy,…

In this interview episode of Our Hen House, Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan sit down with vegan zoologist, author, and activist Jordi Casamitjana for a wide-ranging conversation about the philosophy, legal landscape, and long-term vision of the vegan movement. Ethical veganism as a protected belief: Jordi shares the full story behind the landmark 2020 UK legal case that held that ethical…

In this episode of The Hen Report, Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan cover a range of stories at the intersection of animal rights, activism, and culture. They dive deep into the ongoing Ridglan Farms beagle rescue situation — with a planned April 19th action drawing thousands — and the support from Congressman Mark Pocan, who pushed back on Ridglan’s request for…

This week on Rising Anxieties, Mariann runs through a lineup of stories that have the animal agriculture industry sweating — from a ballot initiative that could make killing animals for food illegal in Oregon, to the egg board spending a cool million to get scrambled eggs into school cafeterias, to bird flu quietly turning dairy cows into a mammalian petri dish.…