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We are excited to co-present the Vancouver première screening of the new feature length documentary film “The Animal People” on Thursday, January 16th! To start the show, we chat about our impressions of the film, and why it’s a “must-see” movie for not just animal advocates, nor social justice advocates, but for everyone on the planet who is affected by our governments in society.
Vancouver Première of “The Animal People”
New film The Animal People documents the first-ever indictment of six animal rights American activists for terrorism. The reason for their indictment was their leadership of a controversial open-protest campaign aiming to close down the largest animal testing lab in the world, then called Huntington Life Sciences. We have had the privilege of interviewing previous SHAC 7 member Josh Harper in a previous show here.
Animal Voices Vancouver will be co-presenting the Vancouver premire of The Animal People at UBC Robson Square, room C300 on January 16th from 6:30-9:30 PM. The building is fully wheelchair accessible. There are accessible, gender-neutral washrooms located on the same level as the theatre. These are the two options on how to get to C300 (classroom level):
- Elevator from the street level on Hornby Street
- Ramps blended into stairs on the South side of Robson Square (Provincial court side, not Art Gallery side)
This film will have subtitles, and there will be an ASL interpreter with us for the evening.
The Facebook page for the event is here and admission is by donation. All proceeds from this screening will be directed to the legal team representing Amy Soranno, and every activist who had participated in the movement Meat The Victims.
Amy Soranno organized the first Canadian edition of Meat the Victims, a mass action which exposed the horrors of farming labelled as “humane” at Excelsior Hog Farm in Abbotsford, British Columbia in April 2019. As the organizer, Amy was singled out and is the only participant to be facing charges at this time. This court case will be an opportunity to expose the reality of how animals are treated on Excelsior Hog Farm and the animal agriculture industry as a whole. Animal Voices has previously reported on Meat the Victims here and here.
Peter Fricker, Vancouver Humane Society, on the poor standards of the Greater Vancouver Zoo
Siberian tiger at the Greater Vancouver Zoo.
For our first interview, we have local animal advocate Peter Fricker on the show. He is the Projects and Communications Director of the Vancouver Humane Society, which is a registered charity dedicated to the humane treatment of animals and encourages individuals, organizations, and governments to take responsibility for the welfare and rights of domestic animals and wildlife influenced by human activities.
Recently, VHS had researchers at another organization, Zoocheck, do an
audit of the conditions for the 600 animals who habituate at our Greater
Vancouver Zoo. The report of that audit has recently come out, and Peter joins us to speak about the results of this report, which include inadequately enriched and sized enclosures for exotic animals such as tigers, giraffes and lions.
You can join VHS’ e-petition campaign here to tell the Zoo to help the animals under their care, and to stop keeping animals who are not accustomed to the BC climate.
Jake Conroy, former SHAC7 member, convicted “terrorist” and protagonist in “The Animal People” film
Jake Conroy, The Cranky Vegan, and American animal activist who was convicted to serve 4 years in a federal prison for campaigning to save animals from cruel pharmaceutical tests.
For our feature interview, we welcome Jake Conroy on the show. Jake is a long-time activist, designer, and writer based in Seattle, Washington. He has been involved in a wide range of activism since 1995, including various acts of civil disobedience, hundreds of protests, and countless educational outreach events.
Jake helped build the foundation of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty USA in 2001, considered one of the most successful grassroots animal rights campaigns in history. He and his co-organizers were subsequently arrested by the US government for their roles and dubbed the SHAC7. Jake and his co-defendants were found guilty after a lengthy trial and he was sentenced to 4 years in federal prison.
Currently, Jake can be found pontificating on Youtube as The Cranky Vegan, where he irritates everyone with his thoughts on the tactics, strategies and optics of the grassroots animal rights movement.
He can also be seen in the recently released documentary film “The Animal People”, executive produced by recently Golden Globe winner Joaquin Phoenix. It tells the story of SHAC USA and the SHAC7. In this interview, he speaks about the content of the film and his experiences during the 15 year process of campaigning and then being charged and convicted under the federal law for his part in the SHAC campaign (which was mostly doing graphic design work).
We, Animal Voices, are co-presenting the Vancouver début screening of on January 16th, along with Vancouver Chicken Save, and the Vancouver Vegan Resource Centre.