Vegan Accusations, Cancer-Causing CAFOs, and the Screw Worm Cometh | Rising Anxieties

Vegan Accusations, Cancer-Causing CAFOs, and the Screw Worm Cometh | Rising Anxieties

[https://www.ourhenhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/944-RA-QUOTE-TEMPLATE-360x360.png]https://www.ourhenhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/944-RA-QUOTE-TEMPLATE-360x360.pngThis 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 to Texas. Business as usual, folks. * Trump vs. Veganism: The President and Texas AG Ken Paxton are using “vegan” as a slur against Senate candidate James Talarico — who, in turn, distances himself from salad with uncomfortable enthusiasm. * Better Chicken = Worse Planet: A meat industry writer lays out exactly why the Better Chicken Commitment is environmentally unsustainable — and somehow doesn’t connect those dots to the obvious conclusion that factory farming itself has to go. * Factory Farming Causes Cancer: A Yale study confirms that living near a CAFO significantly raises cancer risk, which is bad news for literally everyone, including vegans. * “Factory Farm” Is Just a Word: The Farm Babe does not like the term “factory farm” and would prefer you say CAFO, a phrase no one understands and that is presumably the point. * Screw Worm Watch: The New World screw worm is now 52 miles from the US border, active cases in Mexico are surging, and the USDA is releasing sterile insects into the void and hoping for the best. We are thrilled to expand the accessibility of our podcast by offering written transcripts of the interviews! Click here [https://www.ourhenhouse.org/ep944/#pod-transcript] to read this episode's interview. _____________________________________________ Donate Now! [https://www.ourhenhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/donate-button2-2-300x111.png]https://www.ourhenhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/donate-button2-2-300x111.png [http://ourhenhouse.org/support] Thank you for listening to the Our Hen House podcast! If you enjoy our podcasts, believe in our mission to effectively mainstream the movement to end the exploitation of animals, find community and solace in our shows and resources, and would like to show your support for vegan indie media, please make a donation today [https://www.ourhenhouse.org/support].  Contributions of any amount will go towards our fundraising goal and are hugely appreciated. Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, so it’s tax-deductible. Thank you for helping us create quality content! Subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts, [https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/our-hen-house/id350069146] YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@ourhenhouse], or your favorite podcatcher, and don’t forget to leave a 5-star review! Check out Our Hen House’s other podcasts: The Animal Law Podcast [https://www.ourhenhouse.org/animallaw/], The Teaching Jasmin How to Cook Vegan Podcast [https://www.ourhenhouse.org/cooking/], and the Antiracism in Animal Advocacy Audio Series [https://www.ourhenhouse.org/audio-series/]. Follow us on social media! You can find Our Hen House on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/ourhenhouse/], Facebook, [https://www.facebook.com/OurHenHouse/]Instagram, [https://www.instagram.com/ourhenhouse/?hl=en]TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@ourhenhouse], Threads [https://www.threads.net/@ourhenhouse], or Bluesky. [https://bsky.app/profile/ourhenhouse.bsky.social] The Our Hen House theme song is written and performed by Michael Harren. [http://michaelharren.com/]

When the Law Fails Farmworkers: J-1 Visa Exploitation, Labor Trafficking, and the Hidden Cost of Cheap Meat

[https://www.ourhenhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/132-ALP-quote-template-360x360.png]https://www.ourhenhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/132-ALP-quote-template-360x360.png In this episode of the Animal Law Podcast, host Mariann Sullivan speaks with Amal Bouhabib, senior staff attorney at FarmSTAND [http://farmstand.org/], 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 Nebraska. The conversation reveals how the very legal structure meant to facilitate international exchange is being weaponized to exploit vulnerable workers — and why this should matter deeply to the animal law community. * J-1 visa fraud and labor trafficking in animal agriculture: Three Guatemalan agronomists were recruited under false pretenses to work at a Nebraska hog farm, facing a classic bait-and-switch scheme involving unpaid training, unsafe conditions, and threats of deportation — conduct that FarmSTAND argues meets the legal standard for forced labor under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA). * The intersection of worker exploitation and animal suffering: Without proper training, workers were forced to perform procedures on pigs — including tail docking, oxytocin administration, and farrowing assistance — resulting in animal deaths and injuries, illustrating how the mistreatment of workers and animals in industrial agriculture are deeply intertwined. * RICO claims and systemic fraud: The lawsuit names the recruiting agency (Worldwide Farmers Exchange), the farm (LEI/Livingston Enterprises), and individual defendants under the RICO Act, arguing they conspired to commit visa fraud and underpay workers for mutual financial gain — with the U.S. State Department identified as an “unwitting” participant. * The broader crisis of temporary agricultural visas: The episode examines how industrial animal agriculture deliberately targets TPS holders, refugees, and J-1 participants as a legally compliant but deeply exploitative labor pipeline, and what the potential expansion of H-2A visas to dairy and hog operations could mean for workers, animals, and food system accountability. * Why animal lawyers should engage with farmworker justice: Improving conditions and wages for farmworkers directly pressures industrial animal agriculture to slow down, reform and absorb the costs of appropriate working conditions — making labor rights litigation a powerful, complementary tool for the animal law movement. ABOUT OUR GUEST Amal Bouhabib is a Senior Staff Attorney at FarmSTAND, where she engages in strategic litigation to combat and expose forced labor, discrimination, and other workplace abuses impacting workers in the industrial animal agricultural system. Amal’s practice centers on holding powerful industry actors accountable while elevating the experiences of frontline food workers. Prior to joining FarmSTAND, Amal was the Managing Director of Southern Migrant Legal Services in Nashville, where she fought for the rights of migrant farmworkers. We are thrilled to expand the accessibility of our podcast by offering written transcripts of the interviews! Click here [https://www.ourhenhouse.org/alp132/#pod-transcript] to read this episode's interview. ********** [https://www.ourhenhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Animal-Law-Podcast_logoV2-150x150.png]https://www.ourhenhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Animal-Law-Podcast_logoV2-150x150.pngYou can listen to the Animal Law Podcast directly on our website (at the top of this page) or you can listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts [http://bit.ly/AnimalLawPodcast], YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@ourhenhouse], or your favorite podcatcher. Also, if you like what you hear, please rate it on Apple Podcasts, and don’t forget to leave us a friendly comment! Of course, we would be thrilled if you would consider making a donation [https://www.ourhenhouse.org/support] or becoming a member of our flock [https://www.ourhenhouse.org/support] (especially if you’re a regular listener). Contributions of any amount will go towards our fundraising goal and are hugely appreciated. Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, so it’s tax-deductible. Thank you for helping us create quality content! Don’t forget to also listen to the award-winning,  weekly signature OHH podcast [https://www.ourhenhouse.org/podcast] — now in its fifteenth glorious year!

The Hen Report: “It’s Over” | Declining Industry, Oregon IP28 & Animal Rights News

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 squeeze out its final profits before a plant-based future arrives. The conversation ranges from joyful to hopeful to legally fraught. They also unpack mixed news on fur at Milan Fashion Week, the eternal frustration of the foie gras ban battles, and a genuinely exciting development: Oregon’s IP28, a sweeping ballot initiative that could eliminate all exemptions to the state’s animal cruelty laws and effectively make Oregon a sanctuary state for animals. * Animal activism strategy: Why vegans don’t owe anyone a debate — and how to decide when engaging is worth your energy * Meat industry decline: The case that beef and other animal ag are following Big Oil’s playbook, fighting a rearguard action against an inevitable plant-based shift * Ridglan & open rescue: Wayne Hsiung, Aditya Aswani, Michelle Lunsky, & Dean Wyrzykowski face up to 31 years in prison after new charges in the landmark Ridglan Farms case * Fur & foie gras policy: Milan Fashion Week issues voluntary (not mandatory) anti-fur guidelines; New York’s foie gras ban faces a governor-led appeal, while Colorado activists push a new ballot initiative * Oregon IP28: The most ambitious animal rights ballot initiative in U.S. history nears the signature threshold — and could ban hunting, fishing, and slaughter statewide [https://www.ourhenhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/943-OHH-2photos-2quotes-template-360x360.png]https://www.ourhenhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/943-OHH-2photos-2quotes-template-360x360.png RESOURCES * * * * * NoPalm Ingredients Shortlisted for World’s Largest Environmental Food Prize [https://vegconomist.com/company-news/nopalm-ingredients-shortlisted-worlds-largest-environmental-food-prize/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=rasa_io&utm_campaign=newsletter] * Attorney Faces Felony Burglary Charges After an ‘Open Rescue’ Action to Save Beagles At Ridglan Farms [https://www.findlaw.com/legalblogs/courtside/attorney-faces-felony-burglary-charges-after-an-open-rescue-action-to-save-beagles-at-ridglan-farms/] * Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade [http://abolishfur.org/] * Voters for Animal Rights on Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/theanimalvoters.bsky.social/post/3mjkb2hw25k2e] * BREAKING: New Footage Captured At Hudson Valley Reveals Ducks Force-Fed With Metal Tubes, Living In Filth [https://proanimal.org/2026-hudson-valley-investigation-reveals-ducks-force-fed-with-metal-tubes-living-in-filth/?fbclid=IwdGRleARIdlRleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEe0nxZG_RMx4tvUCl2qgaDdrT40kDIX8N2hQvBlhICdycy2HcZ2sqS-o_7fGc_aem_plMcNLV96n-WwHy0gMnpGg] * Yes on IP28 [https://www.yesonip28.org/] * 3 Day Vigil Event. [https://www.beagleloversandrescuers.org/protest/] *  We are thrilled to expand the accessibility of our podcast by offering written transcripts of the interviews! Click here [https://www.ourhenhouse.org/ep943/#pod-transcript] to read this episode's interview. _____________________________________________ Donate Now! [https://www.ourhenhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/donate-button2-2-300x111.png]https://www.ourhenhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/donate-button2-2-300x111.png [http://ourhenhouse.org/support] Thank you for listening to the Our Hen House podcast! If you enjoy our podcasts, believe in our mission to effectively mainstream the movement to end the exploitation of animals, find community and solace in our shows and resources, and would like to show your support for vegan indie media, please make a donation today [https://www.ourhenhouse.org/support]. Contributions of any amount will go towards our fundraising goal and are hugely appreciated. Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, so it’s tax-deductible. Thank you for helping us create quality content! Subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts, [https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/our-hen-house/id350069146] YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@ourhenhouse], or your favorite podcatcher, and don’t forget to leave a 5-star review! Check out Our Hen House’s other podcasts: The Animal Law Podcast [https://www.ourhenhouse.org/animallaw/], The Teaching Jasmin How to Cook Vegan Podcast [https://www.ourhenhouse.org/cooking/], and the Antiracism in Animal Advocacy Audio Series [https://www.ourhenhouse.org/audio-series/]. Follow us on social media! You can find Our Hen House on Facebook, [https://www.facebook.com/OurHenHouse/]Instagram, [https://www.instagram.com/ourhenhouse/?hl=en]TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@ourhenhouse], or Bluesky. [https://bsky.app/profile/ourhenhouse.org] The Our Hen House theme song is written and performed by Michael Harren. [http://michaelharren.com/]

Tim Woodward of Animal Rescue Corps — Large-Scale Animal Rescue, Cruelty Response & the Fight for Animals

In this powerful episode, Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan sit down with Tim Woodward, Executive Director of Animal Rescue Corps [https://animalrescuecorps.org/] (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 has rescued approximately 10,000 dogs, 1,200 cats, 461 farmed animals, 461 farmed fowl, and hundreds of other species — all with a euthanasia rate of less than 1% * How ARC works with law enforcement: From undercover evidence gathering to on-site triage and expert court testimony, ARC serves as a critical resource that empowers law enforcement to act on cruelty cases they’d otherwise lack the capacity to address * The shelter crisis, transport debate & spay/neuter culture: Tim discusses the ongoing challenges of overcrowded Southern shelters, the north-south animal transport controversy, and why inter-organizational collaboration is essential to making progress * Puppy mills, backyard breeders & industrial animal farming: Tim draws parallels between the industrialization of dog breeding and factory farming, explaining why large-scale commercial operations remain nearly impossible to penetrate — and why ARC fights to rescue every animal on a property, including farmed and exotic animals * A vegan organization with a rescue mission: Tim shares that Animal Rescue Corps operates with an explicitly vegan philosophy — serving plant-based meals to volunteers, hosting vegan events, and advocating that animals should not be harmed or used for any purpose — with Tim himself eating a plant-based diet ABOUT OUR GUEST [https://www.ourhenhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/942-OHH-quote-template-360x360.png]https://www.ourhenhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/942-OHH-quote-template-360x360.pngTim Woodward is the Executive Director and a founding member of Animal Rescue Corps, which he helped launch in 2010 after recognizing the critical lack of resources for large-scale animal suffering situations. Before dedicating himself full-time to animal protection in 2009, Tim spent over 30 years in operations and administration, building financial service startups in the San Francisco Bay Area. Now leading ARC’s staff, programs, and mission impact, he is equally at home conducting fieldwork alongside law enforcement as he is behind a desk — a versatility recognized in 2020 when the Animal Legal Defense Fund named him one of America’s Top Ten Animal Defenders. Tim lives in Virginia with his husband and their rescued animals, and is a passionate advocate for plant-based living. We are thrilled to expand the accessibility of our podcast by offering written transcripts of the interviews! Click here [https://www.ourhenhouse.org/ep942/#pod-transcript] to read this episode's interview. _____________________________________________ Donate Now! [https://www.ourhenhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/donate-button2-2-300x111.png]https://www.ourhenhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/donate-button2-2-300x111.png [http://ourhenhouse.org/support] Thank you for listening to the Our Hen House podcast! If you enjoy our podcasts, believe in our mission to effectively mainstream the movement to end the exploitation of animals, find community and solace in our shows and resources, and would like to show your support for vegan indie media, please make a donation today [https://www.ourhenhouse.org/support]. Contributions of any amount are hugely appreciated. Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, so it’s tax-deductible. Thank you for helping us create quality content! Subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts, [https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/our-hen-house/id350069146] YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@ourhenhouse/videos], or your favorite podcatcher, and don’t forget to leave a 5-star review! Check out Our Hen House’s other podcasts: The Animal Law Podcast [https://www.ourhenhouse.org/animallaw/], The Teaching Jasmin How to Cook Vegan Podcast [https://www.ourhenhouse.org/cooking/], and the Antiracism in Animal Advocacy Audio Series [https://www.ourhenhouse.org/audio-series/]. Follow us on social media! You can find Our Hen House on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/ourhenhouse/], Facebook, [https://www.facebook.com/OurHenHouse/]Instagram, [https://www.instagram.com/ourhenhouse/?hl=en]TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@ourhenhouse], Threads [https://www.threads.net/@ourhenhouse], or Bluesky. [https://bsky.app/profile/ourhenhouse.bsky.social] The Our Hen House theme song is written and performed by Michael Harren. [http://michaelharren.com/]

The Hen Report: “Moments of Respair” | Beagle Rescue, Animal Activism & Do We Need Hope?

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 upstate New York, the episode weaves together urgent activism news with a candid discussion of despair, “respair,” and what it actually takes to keep going. * Ridglan Farms & Marshall BioResources – Gretchen shares a firsthand account of the Ridglan beagle rescue that freed 1,500 dogs, and the hosts discuss why Marshall BioResources—home to an estimated 20,000–23,000 animals near Rochester, NY—is a next major target, with a public vigil planned for May 28–30. * Hope vs. “Respair” – The conversation challenges the idea that activists need hope to keep going, introducing the 16th-century term “respair”—the joy that can emerge from despair—as a more honest and sustainable framework for long-term advocacy. * Three pillars for surviving – Gretchen outlines the personal strategies that keep her going: prioritizing deep relationships (with humans and animals), staying immersed in activism, and actively seizing joy—without requiring happiness. * Culture, not ethics, is the real battleground – Drawing on a Washington Post piece, the trio argues that plant-based food and animal advocacy won’t go mainstream until they feel culturally cool and cross-political, pointing to the bipartisan appeal of the Ridglan rescue as a model. * Poetry as activism – Gretchen highlights her book Kind and the new anthology The New Sentience: Reimagining Animal Poetry, making the case that art and literature are powerful, underutilized tools for shifting how people relate to animals. [https://www.ourhenhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/941-OHH-quote-template-360x360.png]https://www.ourhenhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/941-OHH-quote-template-360x360.png RESOURCES * * * * * The missing ingredient in plant-based food isn’t taste or nutrition [https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2026/05/19/plant-based-foods-are-now-matching-meat-dairy-taste-tests/] * Gretchen Primack’s website [https://www.gretchenprimack.com/index.phphttps://archive.ph/OXy8S] * 3 day vigil at Marshall Bioresources [https://www.beagleloversandrescuers.org/protest/] * The New Sentience [https://tupress.org/9781595343031/the-new-sentience/] *  We are thrilled to expand the accessibility of our podcast by offering written transcripts of the interviews! Click here [https://www.ourhenhouse.org/ep941/#pod-transcript] to read this episode's interview. _____________________________________________ Donate Now! [https://www.ourhenhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/donate-button2-2-300x111.png]https://www.ourhenhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/donate-button2-2-300x111.png [http://ourhenhouse.org/support] Thank you for listening to the Our Hen House podcast! If you enjoy our podcasts, believe in our mission to effectively mainstream the movement to end the exploitation of animals, find community and solace in our shows and resources, and would like to show your support for vegan indie media, please make a donation today [https://www.ourhenhouse.org/support]. Contributions of any amount will go towards our fundraising goal and are hugely appreciated. Our Hen House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, so it’s tax-deductible. Thank you for helping us create quality content! Subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts, [https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/our-hen-house/id350069146] YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@ourhenhouse], or your favorite podcatcher, and don’t forget to leave a 5-star review! Check out Our Hen House’s other podcasts: The Animal Law Podcast [https://www.ourhenhouse.org/animallaw/], The Teaching Jasmin How to Cook Vegan Podcast [https://www.ourhenhouse.org/cooking/], and the Antiracism in Animal Advocacy Audio Series [https://www.ourhenhouse.org/audio-series/]. Follow us on social media! You can find Our Hen House on Facebook, [https://www.facebook.com/OurHenHouse/]Instagram, [https://www.instagram.com/ourhenhouse/?hl=en]TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@ourhenhouse], or Bluesky. [https://bsky.app/profile/ourhenhouse.org] The Our Hen House theme song is written and performed by Michael Harren. [http://michaelharren.com/]