Shows
Off the LeashShortcast #87 Charlie Moores | Choosing sides on August 12thI tweeted recently - I'm @charliemoores if you'd like to check this out or follow me - that I'd been a little bit quiet on Substack, the blogging platform I use.I explained why in a post I wrote called 'Choosing sides on August 12th'...and it occurred to me that actually I'd been a bit quiet on Buzzsprout too - so here's that blog in audio form, slightly changed to fit the rhythms of my speech but well, the sentiments and intentions are exactly the same...So, About five years ago a senior charity figure ‘advised’ me...
2022-08-1413 minOff the LeashShortcast #86 Off the Leash | Pro-hunt supporters and intimidationCharlie Moores and Dominic Dyer discuss attempts by fox-hunting supporters. to intimidate activists. It's nothing new of course, but it should always be called out. In this particular instance, fox hunting supporters are making threats towards a hotel in Peterborough where the League Against Cruel Sports is hosting their next Enough is Enough event on June 17th and at which Dominic will be speaking...Register for free for ‘Enough is Enough’ at The Bull Hotel and Conference Centre, Peterborough, June 17th starting at 19:00.League Against Cruel Sports Website and Twitter feed
2022-06-1411 min
Sounds AtlanticEpisode 192: The Music of Roots, Blues and Soul singer-songwriter Charlie A’Court.Send us a textSelections from Charlie A’Courts repertoire of blues, R & B, soul and country (“Witchitaw” – “When Country Gets the Blues”) recordings. https://www.facebook.com/ron.moores.18 September 22, 2025: "Sounds Atlantic" is a highly regarded podcast specializing in roots and acoustic music from Atlantic Canada, receiving high rankings on platforms like Feedspot as a top Canadian music podcast and a top maritime podcast. It boasts an average rating of 4.7 stars on Apple Podcasts, with positive listener and artist feedback, including a description from Newfound...
2022-06-101h 04
Off the LeashThe Off the Leash Podcast 3.7In the latest episode of The Off the leash Podcast Charlie Moores and Dominic Dyer look at the latest on the badger cull - in other words, a climbdown by Defra; the findings of the Foreign Affairs Committee on Afghanistan & Nowzad - basically the most senior civil servants were found to be uncooperative and evasive; Dominic’s upcoming documentary which starts filming very soon; but we start with the submission Dominic and Born Free made to the EFRA Committee (the committee which examines the expenditure, administration and policy of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and it...
2022-05-3148 minOff the LeashInterview #27 Keep the Ban | Skydiving to Expose CubbingA conversation with pro-wildlife campaigner Rob Pownall, founder of Keep the Ban. We’re talking shortly before Rob jumps out of an aeroplane 10000’ above the Kent countryside to raise funds for a very special project to raise public awareness about one of fox hunting’s dirtiest secrets – cubbing. Cubbing, as you’ll hear us discuss, is a disgusting form of animal abuse, a wildlife crime where – to put it simply - fox hunters train their hounds by setting them on fox cubs. Rob is absolutely determined – and I’m absolutely determined with him – to talk about this issue so much and i...
2022-05-2725 min
Off the LeashShortcast #85 Off the Leash | Queen's Speech 2022 and Animal WelfareA short conversation between Charlie Moores and Dominic Dyer about the Queen's Speech and animal welfare legislation. Yesterday, May 10th, the Queen’s Speech, which sets out the government’s legislative agenda for the next parliamentary year, was given in the House of Lords. It was - according to most commentators - a drab affair, a mix of new plans, long-made pledges and a handful of held-over bills. On animal welfare legislation, though, it was universally slammed with promises broken and pledges abandoned.The Government did say that it is still committed to legislation to ban th...
2022-05-1118 minOff the LeashInterview #25 Saffron Gloyne | Animal Welfare Party Candidate"Talk to your candidates...find out if they really care."A conversation with powerhouse campaigner Saffron Gloyne, who has been selected to represent the Animal Welfare Party in the May local elections. Saffron is one of thirteen candidates in Croydon’s Addiscombe West ward where three seats are available. According to the Animal Welfare Party's website, Saffron will focus her campaign on standing up against wildlife crime in Croydon, championing the borough’s ability to become a nationwide leader in the battle against single-use plastic, and opposing cruel duckling & chick hatching projects in the borough’s schools.
2022-05-0342 minOff the LeashShortcast #84 Charlie Moores | Spring Dawn Chorus, Wiltshire I woke up this morning to a thrush’s liquid song cascading from the top of an oak tree about 100m away. Phrase after phrase, loud and clear. Not the repetitive song of a Song Thrush, nor the more mellow conversation of a Blackbird, but the melodious outpouring of a Mistle Thrush. Perched, typically, in the open, bold as brass, daring the local Sparrowhawk to interrupt, swept up in the power of his own remarkable voice as it bounced around off the stone walls of our home.During lockdown I bought a parabolic reflector for moments just lik...
2022-04-3005 min
Off the LeashThe Off the Leash Podcast 3.6A slightly truncated Off the Leash Podcast this time around, as Charlie Moores and Dominic Dyer focus on why they’ve been saying ‘Off the leash Podcasts is dead, long live Off the Leash’ this week (Charlie posted a shortcast explaining about the upcoming changes earlier this week, but we wanted to discuss it at more length),' we outline upcoming events this week, including a Parliamentary reception organised by PETA UK as part of the ongoing campaign against the fur caps worn by the Queen's Guards; and we name our Heroes and Villains of the week (this time lauding...
2022-04-2440 minOff the LeashShortcast #82 Charlie Moores | Off the Leash Podcasts is dead, long live Off the Leash“Off the Leash Podcasts is dead, long live Off the Leash”. Okay, that’s a little over-dramatic, but I was looking for a way to get people’s attention and referencing regnal succession and using a phrasal template seemed like a good idea…Anyway, back to the matter in hand. We are coming up to the first anniversary of Off the Leash Podcasts (or OTL) – we launched our podcast trailer on April 30th 2021 - and while things have been going really well (we’ve had almost 40k downloads now), we’ve decided things need changing a little. A bit of ‘refram...
2022-04-1907 minOff the LeashInterview #24 Duncan McNair | Save the Asian Elephants A conversation between Charlie Moores and Duncan McNair, founder of Save the Asian Elephants or STAE.Duncan is a prominent corporate litigation lawyer and was Chair of the highly-influential 2013 McNair Inquiry and Report which was commissioned by the RSPCA and called for greater commitment to higher welfare standards for farmed animals. Its recommendations were unanimously approved by the Council of Trustees of the RSPCA the month after the Report’s publication and resulted in the RSPCA Assured Scheme. More recently Duncan has been regularly invited to address All-Party Parliamentary Groups on Animal Welfare and on End...
2022-04-0748 min
Off the LeashThe Off the Leash Podcast 3.5In this episode of The Off the Leash Podcast, Charlie Moores and Dominic Dyer look at Dorset Police’s baffling and frankly bizarre decision to halt an investigation into the poisoning of a White-tailed Eagle found dead on a Dorset shooting estate; at an FOI request from Wiltshire Hunt Sabs that found that an astonishing 53 police officers chaperoned the notorious Avon Vale Hunt at one meet in Wiltshire in early March but still couldn’t see assaults on sabs taking place in front of them; and we will look briefly at a rather clever suggestion put forward by Wild Just...
2022-04-0353 minOff the LeashInterview #23 Tom Langton and Dr Mark Jones | Badger Culling Research“Badger culling is not going to work as a method of controlling disease in cattle and should be abandoned immediately and permanently.” Dr Mark Jones., Born Free FoundationCharlie Moores in conversation with Tom Langton, a conservation ecologist with involvement in High Court judicial review of decisions surrounding badger culling policy in England, and veterinarian Dr Mark Jones, Head of Policy at Born Free.In mid-March, open-access research by Tom, Mark, and Dr Iain McGill - a veterinarian and Director of the Prion Group – was published in Vet Record, a peer-reviewed medical journal in the fi...
2022-03-2639 minOff the LeashInterview# 22 Wiltshire Hunt Sabs March 2022A conversation between Charlie Moores and Anne, a spokesperson for the Wiltshire Hunt Saboteurs.Anne and Charlie have spoken before, in late December, shortly after a well-publicised attack on hunt protestors by followers of the notorious Avon Vale Hunt at their Boxing Day meet in the Wiltshire village of Lacock (link below). This time they’re talking in late March, so towards the end of the so-called fox hunting season. It’s been a tumultuous period for the various Wiltshire hunt packs and for the sabs and monitors who track their movements and are working to st...
2022-03-2147 minOff the LeashShortcast #79 OTL | Faroes Petition UpdateA short conversation between Off the Leash's Charlie Moores and Dominic Dyer on Dominic's government petition calling on the UK to "Suspend trade agreement with Faroe Islands until all whale & dolphin hunts end" which of course was launched after the Faroese slaughtered an almost unbelievable 1428 Atlantic White-sided Dolphins on the 12th of September last year.After a huge push in the last week or so the petition has now reached 100,000 signatures, which given the understandable focus on Ukraine was a massive achievement ...Dominic Dyer Petition Suspend trade agreement with Faroe Islands until all whale & d...
2022-03-1614 minOff the LeashInterview #21 Rob Pownall | Keep the BanCharlie Moores talks with the founder of Keep the Ban, Rob Pownall. Launched in 2015 but ticking over until some eighteen months ago, a change in strategy, a new website, and a massively ramped up social media presence saw Keep the Ban launch numerous anti-hunt campaigns and develop investigative work alongside the renowned Hunt Investigation Team (or HIT). As Rob explains he has some extremely interesting ideas on where he thinks Keep the Ban should go next, plans for expanding on the work he is doing already, and developing partnerships (including perhaps with Off the Leash)....
2022-03-141h 07Off the LeashShortcast #78 OTL | Ukranian Companion Animals Govt U-turnFour days ago Off the Leash posted a short conversation between Charlie Moores and campaigner and Off the Leash colleague Dominic Dyer on what he'd been doing to make it easier for refugees fleeing Putin's war on Ukraine to come into the UK with their companion animals. We were very critical of the UK government on that occasion, but Dominic is back with - thankfully - better news... Shortcast #77 Dominic Dyer | Ukranian Refugees and Companion AnimalsThe Off the Leash Podcast 3.3 Ukraine
2022-03-1311 minOff the LeashInterview #20 Linda Newbery | This Book is Cruelty-free (Part One)" Why would you choose cruelty when you don’t have to...I don’t care what society says, I’m not participating in that."The first part of a short series of podcasts with award-winning author and animal rights campaigner Linda Newbery talking about her recently published guide to compassionate living, ‘This Book is Cruelty-free – Animals and Us’. Written for everyone who cares ‘about our planet, our animals, and about living a better life’, This Book is Cruelty-free says in its introduction, “the decisions we make every day of our lives – what we buy, eat, use and discard – have an im...
2022-03-1024 minOff the LeashShortcast #77 OTL | Ukranian Refugees and Companion AnimalsA short conversation between Charlie Moores and campaigner Dominic Dyer on what he's been doing to make it easier for refugees fleeing Putin's war on Ukraine to come into the UK with their companion animals. As we discuss, Ukraine is not rabies-free, but over a week ago the Vet Times wrote that "Officials in Romania, Poland and Hungary have made exceptions to peacetime restrictions on pets crossing borders as thousands, including many with animals, flee war-torn Ukraine". In Hungary, in order to ensure a smooth entry, the national chief veterinarian has ordered the completion of a simplified registration form.
2022-03-0913 min
Off the LeashThe Off the Leash Podcast 3.4 In this episode of The Off the Leash Podcast, Charlie Moores and Dominic Dyer discuss burnout and campaigning in a world that is both full of relentless need and is falling apart in front of us. As we say, "we’re not mental health professionals, we can’t solve anyone’s problems, but we thought that perhaps outlining our own experiences, looking at what encourages and keeps us going, might just help someone who is struggling too...". We also look at the newly introduced Hunting with Dogs (Scotland) Bill, which aims to tighten up loopholes left over from th...
2022-03-0650 min
Off the LeashThe Off the Leash Podcast 3.3 | UkraineA conversation between Charlie Moores and Dominic Dyer about Ukraine and Russia's war. How did we get to this disaster and what might we have learned about our humanity and our compassion for each other?We discussed at length whether we should record this - is the world waiting for an Off the Leash statement on Ukraine? Of course not. Will a podcast make any difference? Of course not - but we wanted to show our support for the people of Ukraine anyway, so here we are...#WeStandWithUkraineDisasters Emergency Committee Ukraine Hu...
2022-03-0329 minOff the LeashShortcast #76 Charlie Moores | The Avon Vale Hunt and a response to Wiltshire's PCCA podcast by Charlie Moores looking in detail at a response he received to an email sent to Wiltshire Police and Crime Commissioner (or PCC ) Philip Wilkinson OBE questioning the use of police resources to chaperone the Avon Vale Hunt at their meet in north Wiltshire on the 19th of February, the day after Storm Eunice caused extensive damage to parts of the county.Information on how many police were present is taken from multiple social media accounts belonging to hunt sabs and monitor groups (especially Wiltshire Hunt Sabs), a local village Facebook group, some personal communications h...
2022-02-2443 min
Off the LeashHeroes and Villains 18.02.22Heroes and Villains, a new series of podcasts from Off the Leash with Charlie Moores and Dominic Dyer. Each week we will discuss a Hero and a Villain each.In this episode (recorded 18 Feb 2022) we boo Emma Hopkins, UK Ambassador to Denmark, and gun dog trainer Ian Openshaw. And we cheer conservationist Roy Dennis, and both the editor of the Jerusalem Post and its journalist Barry Davies.What do you think of our choices? Would you have chosen differently? Let us know...
2022-02-1922 minOff the LeashInterview #19 Linda Newbery | Feed our Future OxfordshireA short interview with Charlie Moores talking with campaigner and award-winning author Linda Newbery, whose book “This Book is Cruelty-Free – Animals and Us” which looks at the way our daily choices affect the lives of animals was published in July last year (and Off the Leash has an exciting announcement around that later in this interview). First though, at the end of January this year we posted a shortcast by Summer, from the campaign group Feed our Future, which aims to address climate emergency and animal exploitation issues starting with the food on our school plates. Feed our Future is wor...
2022-02-1720 min
Off the LeashThe Off The Leash Podcast 3.2In this episode of The Off the Leash Podcast, Charlie Moores and Dominic Dyer discuss the previously fairly unknown Conservative MP Chris Loder after the idiotic tweet he posted after learning that two White-tailed Eagles from the Isle of Wight reintroduction project had been found dead in 'suspicious circumstances' by investigatorswhich said that he didn't want Eagles in Dorset and that he didn't want the police investigating what happened to them; the idiotic footballer Kurt Zouma and his idiotic brother for posting a video of him abusing his cat on social media; the repulsive vivisection industry and the Animal W...
2022-02-1353 minOff the LeashLive #08 Voices against Vivisection outside ParliamentLive recordings made at a protest outside the Houses of Parliament on the 7th of February 2022. The protest took place (to a background of thunderous and emotionally-charged chants from the tireless Sol and Helen of Camp Beagle) before a debate in the Commons, triggered by a petition asking for laboratory animals to be included in the Animal Welfare Act which gathered over 100k signatures before it closed in January. Vivisection, animal testing, confining animals to laboratories and experimenting on them is nothing new of course. Protests have been going on for decades. Perhaps the most vi...
2022-02-0923 min
Off the LeashInterview #18 Gina Bates | Vegan Land MovementCharlie Moores in conversation with vegan activist and lifelong biophiliac Gina Bates of the Vegan Land Movement. Charlie met up with Gina, whose Twitter handle @hilltopgina reflects the last 17 years spent in a remote area of Sutherland, living very simply without running water and miles from all other amenities and people, at a rather breezy location in the Somerset Levels where the Vegan Land Movement recently bought almost seven acres of former dairy grazing land which they intend - to quote from their website - to "give back to the earth and endangered species in perpetuity". Set u...
2022-02-0528 min
Off the LeashInterview #17 Jill Robinson | Animals AsiaA conversation with the founder and CEO of Animals Asia, the world’s leading expert on the bear bile industry, a pioneer of animal welfare in Asia, and a big picture thinker admired around the world for her approach and leadership - no, not a conversation with a group of renowned conservationists and activists, a conversation with just one remarkable woman: Jill Robinson MBE, a globally renowned advocate for animals, whose work is guided by the mantra 'Kindness in Action'.Charlie Moores talks with Jill about 2021 - 'an incredible year' for Animals Asia according to Jill, teamwork an...
2022-01-2846 min
Off the LeashThe Off the Leash Podcast 3.1In this episode of The Off the Leash Podcast, Charlie Moores and Dominic Dyer discuss a mix of politics, animal rights, and institutional bias. What might happen to the government's legislative animal welfare agenda if Boris Johnson is replaced as Prime Minister, for example, and are government petitions worth signing (the answer is 'Yes'). We look at why hare coursing is discussed in Parliament but not hare hunting (both are illegal after all(, and read out a very accurate statement by the campaign group Action Against Hare Hunting which nails the reason brilliantly. We discuss a decision by C...
2022-01-2452 min
Off the LeashShortcast #65 OTL | Standing up for Turkey's Street DogsOff the Leash's Charlie Moores and Dominic Dyer discuss the brutal crackdown on street dogs in Turkey - and just to be clear at NO stage do we go into graphic or upsetting detail.Street dogs and cats have always been a part of life in Turkey's cities. Mark Twain wrote in 1867 that “The dogs sleep in the streets, all over the city. …They would not move, though the Sultan himself passed by,” and filmmaker Elizabeth Lo, whose documentary “Stray” had its streaming release in early 2021, said she was struck by “seeing dogs roaming around freely, livi...
2022-01-1518 min
Off the LeashShortcast #62 Charlie Moores | Ban SnaresA shortcast by Charlie Moores about snares - part of Off the Leash's series of shortcasts supporting Animal Aid’s petition to make the use of free-running snares illegal."If you’re a certain age (and I am) you may remember how snares were often depicted as homemade devices, something a poacher in a TV programme might make from a bit of string to catch a rabbit for his dinner perhaps We never saw how the animal was killed once it had been snared of course – that might have upset us as we sat down t...
2022-01-1011 min
Off the LeashInterview #15 South London Hunt Sabs | Sabbing 2.0TW: NO graphic details but very occasional use of strong language.Charlie Moores talks with two exceptionally inspirational animal rights activists, Jake and Saffron from South London Hunt Sabs - a group that just a year after it was launched seems to be all over social media and, in the well-worn cliche, punching far above its weight.The discussion took place just off the M25 in the car park of a well-known coffee company, and it quickly became obvious that these two individuals are not only eloquent and highly committed but balance and bounce off...
2022-01-0941 min
Off the LeashShortcast #61 General Licences and the Shooting IndustryA shortcast by Off the Leash's Charlie Moores about General Licences and the shooting industry. The recent furore on social media about Defra's revisions of the General Licence system to give shooting yet more provisions to make it easy to make profits from killing birds for fun seems to have caught a number of people by surprise. But of course, General licences have been around for decades. The General Licence system is complex, but it's essentially a way for individuals from certain industries (almost entirely agriculture and shooting) to get ‘permission’ from the government to step ar...
2022-01-0410 min
Off the LeashInterview #14 Wiltshire Hunt SabsCharlie Moores talks with Anne, a spokesperson for the Wiltshire Hunt Saboteurs. We're discussing fox hunting in Wiltshire and in particular the events that took place at a Boxing Day 'meet' of the notorious Avon Vale Hunt at Lacock, a village in north Wiltshire almost entirely owned by the National Trust. As recorded on numerous body cams and uploaded to social media. the meet erupted into violence when hunt followers attacked protestors. In the aftermath of this violence, important questions are now being asked. Why, for instance, does the National Trust - one of the cou...
2021-12-3129 min
Off the LeashThe Off the Leash Podcast 2021 Year End SpecialIn this Off the Leash Podcast 2021 Year End Special, Dominic Dyer and Charlie Moores focus on the madness of foxhunting's Boxing Day 'meets' with reference to the disgraceful attacks by hunt followers on protestors in Lacock, a National Trust owned village in Wiltshire; the Faroes and the Grind; the use of Black Bear fur in military hats; and announce plans for an Operation Ark and Operation Magic Carpet New Year Special podcast. Sandwiched inside all of that is animal sentience, moorlands, and much more. We also discuss a planned series of shortcasts on snares and snaring to su...
2021-12-301h 04
Off the LeashInterview #13 Tarras Valley Part Three"it's not a case of what would you like or what's possible - it's what's needed."Part Three of a podcast by Off the Leash's Charlie Moores made to support the Langholm Initiative, the award-winning community development trust for Eskdale, and a community buy out that is aiming to repurpose a former grouse moor owned by Buccleuch Estates into the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve. Charlie explained more about the background to the buyout in the introduction to Part One and discussed the incredibly strong community in Langholm in Part Two: it is an absolutely fascinating a...
2021-12-2036 min
Off the LeashInterview #12 Crustacean Compassion | Decapod SentienceCharlie Moores in conversation with Claire Howard, Executive Director of Crustacean Compassion, an organisation that works to raise public awareness of the sentience of decapod crustaceans; works with food businesses to implement changes to their practices; and puts pressure on the Government to make the necessary changes to the law. In November the UK government released a report titled ‘Review of the Evidence of Sentience in Cephalopod Molluscs and Decapod Crustaceans’, which concluded that these animals are sentient, can feel pain and should be protected in law.” On the back of that the government have proposed an amendm...
2021-12-1732 min
Off the LeashInterview #11 Tarras Valley Part TwoPart Two of a podcast we've made to support the Langholm Initiative, the award-winning community development trust for Eskdale, and a community buy out that is planning to turn a 'knackered old grouse moor' into the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve. Off the Leash's Charlie Moores explained more about the background to the buyout in the introduction to Part One, but it is an absolutely fascinating and inspiring story that is centred around Eskdale and the tightly-knit community of Langholm, a burgh in Dumfries and Galloway just 20 miles north of Carlisle, and the Duke of Buccleuch, one of t...
2021-12-1647 min
Off the LeashShortcast #60 OTL | Geronimo UpdateOff the Leash's Charlie Moores and Dominic Dyer discuss the not unexpected news from Defra that testing has shown that Geronimo the Alpaca did not have Bovine TB - as a raft of people including Helen Macdonald (Geronimo's owner), vet Iain McGill, and of course Dominic said would be the case.The Independent Post mortem tests on Geronimo the alpaca fail to find source of TB (11 Dec 21) Off the Leash Podcasts Live #02 Various | Geronimo Defra Protest
2021-12-1413 min
Off the LeashInterview #10 Tarras Valley Part OnePart One of a podcast Off the Leash's Charlie Moores has made to support the Langholm Initiative and a community buy out that is turning - to quote Raptor Persecution UK - a 'knackered old grouse moor' into the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve. The buy out is a fascinating and inspiring story that is centred around Eskdale and Langholm (a burgh in Dumfries and Galloway just 20 miles north of Carlisle) and the Duke of Buccleuch, one of the richest men in the UK who owns a staggering 217,000 acres of moorland, farms and forestry - including Langholm Moor a...
2021-12-1343 min
Off the LeashShortcast #59 Charlie Moores | Ban the Shooting of WoodcocksShortcasts are short standalone audio comments and statements from conservationists, campaigners, charities, authors and members of our audience. If it needs to be said – say it here!A shortcast by Off the Leash's Charlie Moores about a government petition making its way around social media at the moment that aims to 'Ban the Shooting of Critically Endangered Woodcocks'. Its first paragraph says, to quote. “Numbers of this iconic bird have declined dramatically over the past 20 years, placing them on the RED (critically endangered) wildlife conservation status list.” There is a trend showing long-term decline of the British breedi...
2021-12-0911 min
Off the LeashShortcast #54 OTL | National Trust bans trail huntingShortcasts are short standalone audio comments and statements from conservationists, campaigners, charities, authors and members of our audience. If it needs to be said – say it here!A shortcast with Off the Leash's Dominic Dyer and Charlie Moores about the announcement today from the National Trust that they will no longer issue licences for so-called trail hunting on their land.To quote from the NT's statement, Harry Bowell, Director of Land and Nature said: “The board of trustees has carefully considered this issue. Its decision to issue no further licences for trail hunting is based on a...
2021-11-2514 min
Off the LeashLive #06 The Emily Williamson Festival Part TwoWelcome to the first half of a two-part recording made on November the 12th at the Manchester Art Gallery - and the inaugural Emily Williamson Festival. The Festival was created by author and campaigner Tessa Boase and activist and event organiser Tina Lindsay to honour the memory of Emily Williamson, who in 1889, determined to stop the ‘murderous millinery’ of the plumage trade, founded an all-female group that just fifteen years later had become the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the RSPB.In the first part of this recording we heard from Professor Melissa Bates...
2021-11-1752 min
Off the LeashThe Off the Leash Podcast 2.10In the twentieth episode of The Off the Leash Podcast, Dominic Dyer and Charlie Moores focus on COP 26, the 'Conference of the Parties' climate summit being held in Glasgow this year. Dominic chaired a ‘State of the Earth’ Question Time debate at COP which was organised by Born Free and the UK Cabinet Office, and we discuss whether the summit appears to be achieving lasting change and the feelings 'on the ground'. We also talk about some of the ideas discussed during the debate by a panel that included Will Travers OBE, Deborah Meaden, and Bella Lack: the role of st...
2021-11-1253 min
Off the LeashLive #04 National Trust AGM | Banning Trail Hunting A series of live recordings from outside the National Trust AGM in Harrogate on the 30th October 2021, at which a historic vote was taken to end so-called trail hunting on National Trust land.Charlie Moores joined a group of staff and supporters from the League Against Cruel Sports - who have been working incredibly hard to spread the message that trail hunting is a smokescreen for illegal fox hunting - his Off the Leash colleague, campaigner and author Dominic Dyer (who you will hear give a barnstorming speech prior to the vote), and Luke Steele from Wild M...
2021-10-3127 min
Off the LeashShortcast #48 OTL | Faroes Update OctoberA shortcast (or perhaps more accurately in this case a short interview) between Off the Leash Podcasts colleagues Charlie Moores and Dominic Dyer, discussing the UK government's first response to the petition Dominic launched a few weeks ago following the mass slaughter of a superpod of Atlantic White-sided Dolphins on the Faroe Islands. The petition asks for a suspension of the UK's trade agreement with the Islands until all whale & dolphin hunts end.What did Dominic make of the government's response and what is planned next.Petition Suspend trade agreement with Faroe Islands until all whale...
2021-10-2810 min
Off the LeashInterview #10 Wild Moors | Burning Grouse Moors"The only thing they care about is burning the heather to drive the numbers of grouse up - they don't care about wildfires at all, let's be realistic."In the following interview you'll hear Charlie Moores talking with Luke Steele, executive director of Wild Moors. We're discussing grouse moors and grouse moor fires, rewetting our peatlands, support from the government and MPs for moving from a partial ban on burning to a full ban, COP 26, NGOs working together, and a new reporting scheme whereby we can all contribute data that will prove just how many fires the...
2021-10-2426 min
Off the LeashShortcast #40 Charlie Moores | Emily Williamson FestivalOff the Leash Podcasts is proud to publish a series of shortcasts supporting the Emily Williamson Festival. Emily was a co-founder of the RSPB and an eco-activist before the term was even invented. Taking inspiration from her legacy, modern day change-makers will be exploring the links between Conservation, Campaigning, Science and Art in a weekend of events at Manchester Art Gallery between the 12th and 13th of November (NB the event was 12 - 14 Nov, but has now been shortened).In this shortcast, Off the Leash Podcasts' Charlie Moores talks about his own experience as a birder and h...
2021-10-1313 min
Off the LeashInterview #08 Pesticide Action Network | The Dirty DozenAn interview with Nick Mole, Policy Officer with the Pesticide Action Network (PAN), the only UK charity focused solely on tackling the problems caused by pesticides and promoting safe and sustainable alternatives in agriculture, urban areas, homes and gardens. PAN works tirelessly to apply pressure on governments, regulators, policymakers, industry and retailers to reduce the impacts of harmful pesticides to both human health and the environment. Their work includes campaigning for change in policy and practices at home and overseas, coordinating projects which help smallholder farming communities escape ill-health and poverty caused by pesticides, and contributing our wealth of s...
2021-10-0831 min
Off the LeashThe Off the Leash Podcast 2.8In a feisty episode (feistier than usual, which is saying something!) we (Dominic especially) turn our ire on the Faroe Islands and the UK's Free Trade Agreement with one of the wealthiest island nations in the world; Defra and its appalling handling of Bovine Tb and Geronimo in particular; the Charity Commission for leaking a non-event complaint about Operation Ark and Pen Farthing; and the Labour Party for seemingly ignoring animals and wildlife at its Party Conference. In his weekly analysis, Charlie slates the disgusting pheasant-killing season and the appalling shooting industry. In Heroes and Villains, we praise Derbyshire A...
2021-10-0453 min
Off the LeashInterview #06 Dr Alex Lees | Provisioning: killing with kindness?Charlie Moores in conversation with Dr Alex Lees, Senior Lecturer in Conservation Biology at Manchester Metropolitan University. Recently Alex and Dr Jack Shutt published a paper that was widely reported in the mainstream media titled “Killing with kindness: Does widespread generalised provisioning of wildlife help or hinder biodiversity conservation efforts?” That’s quite a striking headline, isn’t it? Providing for wildlife may be harming species of conservation concern.The abstract of this paper is even more thought-provoking, “Generalised provisioning is enthusiastically promoted by many conservation organisations as a means to foster connection with nature...
2021-09-2250 min
Off the LeashThe Off the Leash Podcast 2.7When we started these podcasts we both had a slight concern that there might not be enough going on to do an episode every week. We should have known better – actually we really should have known better because we’ve been working on this stuff for years. There are apparently no limits to humanity’s war with wildlife and the environment, and a case in point this week is the Grind, the disgusting slaughter of cetaceans in the Faeroe Islands, which Dominic discusses in-depth, suggesting that suspending the UK's free trade agreement with the Islands is key. Dominic also gives a...
2021-09-1956 min
Off the LeashShortcast #34 Charlie Moores | Cubbing‘Shortcasts’ are short standalone audio comments and statements from conservationists, campaigners, charities, authors and members of our audience. If it needs to be said – say it here!A shortcast about fox cub hunting or cubbing from Charlie Moores. A version of this audio first appeared in Our Off The leash podcast in August (link below) but with so many reports of cubbing on social media at the moment, we felt that it would be helpful to state again what cubbing is and how to recognise the revolting individuals who do it.Off the Leash...
2021-09-0505 min
Off the LeashShortcast #33 Charlie Moores | Making the 'perfect' shortcast?Perfect shortcast? Spoiler alert - there is no such thing as the perfect shortcast. Or the typical shortcast. Or the right length shortcast, or even the right sounding shortcast. Shortcasts come in all shapes and sizes and we wouldn’t have it any other way.However, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t a few techniques to make a better shortcast, so we’ve offered a few suggestions here. Some might seem obvious if you’re an old hand but hopefully they’ll be useful if you’re not. We cover content, recording, and e...
2021-09-0305 min
Off the LeashInterview #05 Kim Cooling | Animal SOS Sri LankaCharlie Moores talks with the remarkable Kim Cooling, inspirational founder of animal rescue charity Animal SOS Sri Lanka. which works to alleviate the widespread suffering of street animals across the island. The charity provides quality veterinary care, refuge, rehabilitation, adoption schemes, as well as conducting sterilisation, education and rabies control outreach programs. Set up a decade ago Animal SOS Sri Lanka is now looking after an astonishing 2000 animals, and prides itself on giving animals a second chance of a healthy and fulfilling life. Charlie spoke with Kim shortly before the opening of an event at Art gallery N...
2021-08-2521 min
Off the LeashShortcast #29 Charlie Moores | So what are shortcasts? We're building a free audio platform for campaigners and activists like us called Off the Leash Podcasts. And we thought that a short series to explain just what Off the Leash Podcasts is all about might be helpful.At Off the Leash we have a regular weekly podcast, we record interviews, and we host shortcasts. Shortcasts? Let’s start with a shortcast about shortcasts...You might also like Making the 'perfect' shortcast?Follow us on Twitter @OtlPodcasts and Instagram @otlpods
2021-08-2004 min
Off the LeashInterview #04 Dr Alex Lees | Conservation vs Animal Rights Activism?Charlie Moores talks with Dr Alex Lees, Senior Lecturer in Conservation Biology at Manchester Metropolitan University about perceived clashes or differences in opinion between conservationists and animal rights activists. The conversation was triggered by a thoughtful and well-expressed Twitter thread in which Alex wrote that “there are several tropes of animal rights activism which clash with conservation goals", going on to list, for example, trophy hunting, invasive species, and zoos. Charlie's response to that thread was that you could equally say that there were conservation tropes that clashed with animal rights goals...There is of course more overl...
2021-08-191h 03
Off the LeashThe Off The Leash Podcast 2.4Last week was notable for three things: an alpaca named Geronimo, a report that led the UN secretary-general António Guterres, to call it a “code red for humanity”, and the unfolding tragedy in Afghanistan. We discuss all three. We also have a shortcast from veterinary scientist Iain McGill (who has done so much work exposing the government's failed 'test and slaughter' BovineTB policy), and raw audio from Dominic on the 'Rescue the Animal Rescuers' campaign. Charlie has a close look at a petition which it turns out wants 'animal rights protestors' kept off farms. In Heroes and Villains we pra...
2021-08-1651 min
Off the LeashShortcast #28 Dominic Dyer | Rescue the Animal Rescuers‘Shortcasts’ are short standalone audio comments and statements from conservationists, campaigners, charities, authors and members of our audience. If it needs to be said – say it here!Rescue the Animal Rescuers: Ricky Gervais, Dame Judi Dench and Peter Egan join calls for Boris Johnson and the Government to rescue animal rescuers from the Taliban As the Taliban closes in on Kabul and an emergency evacuation begins before the city falls, an urgent campaign "Rescue the Animal Rescuers" has been established to call on the Prime Minister and British Government to include on the British...
2021-08-1508 min
Off the LeashShortcast #27 Iain McGill | Geronimo and Defra's TB Test‘Shortcasts’ are short standalone audio comments and statements from conservationists, campaigners, charities, authors and members of our audience. If it needs to be said – say it here!"Geronimo has shone a light into the deep, dark and murky mire of bovine TB policy...trying to kill one's way out of trouble was never going to work"Highly-respected veterinary scientist Dr Iain McGill, Director of the Prion Group, has been working with Helen McDonald to assist in her battle with Defra over the proposed slaughter of Geronimo the Alpaca, condemned to death because of an inaccurate bovine TB test...
2021-08-1512 min
Off the LeashShortcast #26 Julia Hammett | Oxfordshire Badger Group‘Shortcasts’ are short standalone audio comments and statements from conservationists, campaigners, charities, authors and members of our audience. If it needs to be said – say it here!Julia Hammett is Chair of Oxfordshire Badger Group, a charity celebrating and protecting the badgers of Oxfordshire. Recorded live at Wytham Woods at the Group's first meeting after lockdown, Julia discusses the threats facing local badgers and the group's vaccination programme against bovine TB.Wytham Woods is an ancient semi-natural woodland, which has been owned and maintained by the University of Oxford since 1942. Its 1000 acres are a designated Site of...
2021-08-1103 min
Off the LeashShortcast #25 Jack Wootton | Forgotten Fish Project‘Shortcasts’ are short standalone audio comments and statements from conservationists, campaigners, charities, authors and members of our audience. If it needs to be said – say it here!A shortcast with Jack Wootton, the founder of the Forgotten Fish Project, which to quote from their website “focuses on a forgotten species that once played an amazingly integral role in our freshwater ecosystems". That forgotten species - the European Eel - was once abundant but is now - amazingly - Critically Endangered, one step away from extinction...The Forgotten Fish Project websiteThe War on Wildlife Project European...
2021-08-1105 min
Off the LeashInterview #03 Henry Mance | How to Love Animals in a Human-shaped WorldCharlie Moores talks with Henry Mance, acclaimed chief features writer at the Financial Times, about his thoughtful and beautifully-written first book, 'How To Love Animals in a Human-shaped World', which was published by Jonathan Cape at the end of April this year. The book touches on some hugely important themes – not just our often contradictory relationships with animals but the consequences of not even considering them in the way we have shaped and continue to shape the world. It has been deservedly receiving positive reviews across the board – The Guardian saying for example that the book is “Written with humour...
2021-08-0954 min
Off the LeashThe Off The Leash Podcast 2.3In this episode we focus on the government's mess of a BovineTb 'strategy' that has seen so many negative headlines this week as Defra Minister George Eustice threatens to have Geronimo the alpaca killed (Dominic explains the situation from a behind the scenes perspective) and a coalition of animal welfare organisations submit more information on the badger cull to the Bern Convention. We made it out of our lockdown shelters to join Oxfordshire Badger Group at Wytham Woods (and our first shortcast comes from that visit courtesy of Oxon Badgers chair Juila Hammett). Away from badgers, Charlie highlights a r...
2021-08-0850 min
Off the LeashShortcast #24 Bob Berzins | A Network of Crime ‘Shortcasts’ are short standalone audio comments and statements from conservationists, campaigners, charities, authors and members of our audience. If it needs to be said – say it here!As moorland campaigner Bob Berzins says in this shortcast, "The shooting industry is not built on Pennine granite, it's a castle made of sand, and the tide is coming in." And living in the Peak District and seeing the failing and crime-ridden grouse moors up close Bob should know. Bob wrote a blog recently for the Raptor Persecution UK (RPUK) website which was titled “Organised crime, harassment & intimidation – another day...
2021-08-0510 min
Off the LeashInterview #02 Luke Steele | Wild Moors"...not only does [the way the land is managed] not deliver for wildlife, or the environment, or local communities, but it also doesn't even deliver for the grouse shoots themselves." Luke Steele, August 2021Charlie Moores talks with Luke Steele about grouse moors, upland rewilding, and the role peatlands can play in carbon storage. Luke is Executive Director of Wild Moors, the recently renamed organisation that has sprung up from Ban Bloodsports on Yorkshire’s Moors, a group founded in 2014 with the stated aim of ending grouse shooting on Yorkshire’s moors “to free the way for these spaces...
2021-08-0423 min
Off the LeashLive #01 Dominic Dyer | Oxfordshire Badger Group"We need a Defra that is not controlled by industry groups to protect their interests, we need a Defra that is there to protect the interests of the environment."A live recording of a talk given by author, campaIgner and Off the Leash Podcasts co-founder Dominic Dyer to the Oxfordshire Badger Group at the world-renowned Wytham Woods on August 1st. In just seventeen minutes Dominic manages to pull together threads on food strategy, farming, the global pandemic, and of course the badger cull (without notes and almost without pausing for breath). Oxfordshire Badger G...
2021-08-0217 min
Off the LeashThe Off The Leash Podcast 2.2Our second episode of season two starts with a discussion of Henry Dimbleby's National Food Strategy and a look at Earth Overshoot Day (which this year fell in July). We have a new team member - Lisa Marley introduces herself in a shortcast. Charlie talks about August 7th's upcoming Hen Harrier Day, and Bob Berzins follows up with a shortcast about the harassment and intimidation he faces for speaking out about wildlife crime on grouse moors. In Heroes and Villains we praise Luke Steele and Wild Moors for their work with Yorkshire Water, student and artist Giuditta Migiani for her...
2021-08-0252 min
Off the LeashShortcast #23 Mary Colwell | A Personal Approach to Conservation‘Shortcasts’ are short standalone audio comments and statements from conservationists, campaigners, charities, authors and members of our audience. If it needs to be said – say it here!"...there is rarely one way to change things...listening to different voices is in my DNA". In this personal and nuanced shortcast award-winning author and campaigner Mary Colwell reflects on her collaborative approach to conservation, a non-confrontational process of dialogue rooted in years of documentary-making for the BBC.Mary Colwell website Curlew Media and Twitter feedMary Colwell Beak, Tooth, and Claw (published April 2021) and Curlew Moon (publishe...
2021-07-3004 min
Off the LeashShortcast #22 Maggie Wilcox | Free Roaming Cats Petition‘Shortcasts’ are short standalone audio comments and statements from conservationists, campaigners, charities, authors and members of our audience. If it needs to be said – say it here!As wildlife campaigner (and cat lover) Maggie Wilcox says in this shortcast, "In my mind every life is precious - but every time a cat wanders outside his or her home there is a potential for a threat to life". Maggie (who many of us perhaps know better from Twitter as NorfolkBea and the #NestsNotNets campaign) has set up a petition on Change.org 'Keep cats safe a...
2021-07-2905 min
Off the LeashShortcast #21 Keep The Ban | Trail hunting and the National Trust‘Shortcasts’ are short standalone audio comments and statements from conservationists, campaigners, charities, authors and members of our audience. If it needs to be said – say it here!'Trail hunting is nothing but a smokescreen for the illegal hunting of wildlife". In this shortcast Robert Pownall, founder of Keep The Ban, a non-profit organisation campaigning to end the hunting of wildlife in the name of entertainment, discusses the lie that is so-called 'trail hunting' and asks listeners to petition the National Trust to permanently end the issuing of 'trail hunting' licences which have facilitated the illegal hunting of foxes o...
2021-07-2803 min
Off the LeashShortcast #20 Lisa Marley | Derek Gow Podcast‘Shortcasts’ are short standalone audio comments and statements from conservationists, campaigners, charities, authors and members of our audience. If it needs to be said – say it here! In this shortcast podcaster and campaigner Lisa Marley talks about the latest episode of her wonderful podcast series 'Crimes Against Nature', which features an interview with inspirational farmer, conservationist and reintroduction specialist Derek Gow. It includes a segment from Lisa's interview in which Derek compares doing nothing to tackle the biodiversity crisis with being on a runaway train speeding towards a 'ruinous end'.Crimes Against Nature The Beaver...
2021-07-2704 min
Off the LeashThe Off the Leash Podcast 2.1Back after our summer break, season two kicks off with a withering look at the lack of animal welfare in the horse- and greyhound-racing industries. We then turn our focus on the National Trust and its support for so-called 'trail hunting' - a cover for illegal foxhunting (which includes a shortcast from Rob Pownall of Keep the Ban). Charlie tells the dog whistlers yelling 'woke' to wake the heck up. In 'Hero and Villain' we thank campaigners at Camp Beagle and swift nestbox manufacturer John Stimpson, and pour scorn on Ian Botham's declaration of war on the RSPB and t...
2021-07-2657 min
Off the LeashShortcast #19 Tom Langton | Next Steps Policy‘Shortcasts’ are short standalone audio comments and statements from conservationists, campaigners, charities, authors and members of our audience. If it needs to be said – say it here!"It's such a sad indictment of the current way in which science is conducted and vested interests have infected our society." Ecologist Tom Langton has been looking at the scientific and legal aspects of the dreaded badger culls since 2016, and this summer represents his fifth year working on what is being described as the worst miscarriage of UK biological science for fifty years.Tomorrow (the 22nd of July) Tom is...
2021-07-2107 min
Off the LeashInterview #01 Nick Weston | League Against Cruel Sports"...to do anything other than get rid of the licences would be bad for animals...which is ultimately why we're doing this, it's for the animals..." Charlie Moores talks with Nick Weston, Head of Campaigns at the League Against Cruel Sports, about why the National Trust licencing so-called 'trail hunting' is such an important issue for anyone who cares about wildlife, and what both members and non-members can do to ensure that 'trail hunting' licences that were suspended in November 2020 are banned permanently at the Trust's next AGM in October. League Against Cruel Sports Hu...
2021-07-1920 min
Off the LeashShortcast #18 Tessa Boase | The Story of the RSPB's Women Founders‘Shortcasts’ are short standalone audio comments and statements from conservationists, campaigners, charities, authors and members of our audience. If it needs to be said – say it here!The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a conservation powerhouse. As the RSPB's homepage proudly states - at the time of publishing this anyway - they are 'Celebrating 100 Years of Saving Birds". So, those grim-faced men holding indistinct placards in the black and white header photograph on the RSPB's website, they would be the charity's founders, would they?Not even close. As author, journalist, and ca...
2021-07-1813 min
Off the LeashShortcast #17 Bob Elliot (OneKind) | Snares‘Shortcasts’ are short standalone audio comments and statements from conservationists, campaigners, charities, authors and members of our audience. If it needs to be said – say it here!Snares. Metal nooses, indiscriminate and cruel. Hundreds of thousands of these primitive devices litter the countryside. Two things about snares: a) most people think they're already banned; b) the only people who support their use are gamekeepers and a few farmers (and lobbyists for the shooting industry of course).Director of the Scottish charity OneKind (and formerly Head of Investigations at the RSPB) Bob Elliot has had more than h...
2021-07-1505 min
Off the LeashShortcast #16 Alex Lockwood | 'Planting Value' Report‘Shortcasts’ are short standalone audio comments and statements from conservationists, campaigners, charities, authors and members of our audience. If it needs to be said – say it here!As the Vegan Society says, "our food system is broken". Food producers are not rewarded for their work, livestock production is cruel to farmed animals, intensive agriculture is causing biodiversity loss, and what we eat is fuelling an obesity crisis. Is there an alternative? Published on the 12th July by The Vegan Society, Planting Value in the Food System presents an ambitious but practical vision for a fully plant-based food system wi...
2021-07-1507 min
Off the LeashShortcast #15 Tom Langton | JNCC and QR7‘Shortcasts’ are short standalone audio comments and statements from conservationists, campaigners, charities, authors and members of our audience. If it needs to be said – say it here!Last month we posted a shortcast by ecologist Tom Langton which discussed a call for evidence made by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (the JNCC) which could lead to the removal of legislative protection for many of the UK's amphibians and reptiles, and which – in Tom’s words - could "allow snake-bashing to become lawful again". The following week a short, precise message was sent to the JNCC by a coalit...
2021-07-1308 min
Off the LeashShortcast #14 Nick Weston (LACS) | National Trust campaign‘Shortcasts’ are short standalone audio comments and statements from conservationists, campaigners, charities, authors and members of our audience. If it needs to be said – say it here!For years the National Trust (NT), a charity and one of the country's largest landowners, has allowed so-called 'trail hunting' to take place on its properties. In the lead up to the NT's next AGM in October this year, the League Against Cruel Sports (LACS) is urging the Trust's members to vote against licencing 'trail hunting' on National Trust land. In this shortcast Nick Weston, Head of Campaigns at LAC...
2021-07-0904 min
Off the LeashShortcast #13 Robyn Murphy | JNCC epetition‘Shortcasts’ are short standalone audio comments and statements from conservationists, campaigners, charities, authors and members of our audience. If it needs to be said – say it here!Ecologist Robyn Murphy has set up an epetition to help stop the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) downgrading protection for widespread species of amphibian and reptile by removing them from Schedules 5 and 8 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.Changing criteria to protect endangered species only is a move in the wrong direction. All reptile and amphibian species need more protection from human activity as populations are struggl...
2021-07-0803 min
Off the LeashThe Off the Leash Podcast 1.10Our tenth episode opens with a rolling discussion and personal anecdotes that take in unprecedented heat in North America, visiting Exxon-Mobil's HQ in Houston, peak air travel, commuting, the Eye of Fire, and the climate emergency. Charlie takes a chunk out of BBC Bitesize for writing that there were 'benefits' to climate chaos. In Hero and Villian we applaud Emily Williamson (and the Plumage Act) and Greenpeace UK for uncovering Exxon-Mobil's lobbying of the US government, and we take aim at Exxon-Mobil, Phil 'the Gurning Deer Killer' Spencer, and the Common Agricultural Policy for helping destroy Europe's biodiversity. In 60 S...
2021-07-0448 min
Off the LeashShortcast #12 Glen Black | The Citro ‘Shortcasts’ are short standalone audio comments and statements from conservationists, campaigners, charities, authors and members of our audience. If it needs to be said – say it here!Journalist Glen Black is a freelance writer interested in bloodsports, wildlife defence and land justice. He set up The Citro towards the end of last year. To quote from The Citro's website, "We cover news and issues from those on the frontline of the fights against wildlife persecution. The Citro’s aim is to communicate an authentic and comprehensive voice from hunt saboteurs, anti-bloodsport campaigners and other wildlife advocates...
2021-07-0204 min
Off the LeashShortcast #11 Humane Society International | Yulin‘Shortcasts’ are short standalone audio comments and statements from conservationists, campaigners, charities, authors and members of our audience. If it needs to be said – say it here!Dr Peter Li is China Policy Specialist at Humane Society International, associate professor at the University of Houston-Downtown, and an expert on both the Yulin 'Festival' and the dog and cat meat trade. His research focuses on China's animal welfare policies and the country's animal protection movement at a time of rapid social transformation. Dr Li has published articles on China's wildlife law enforcement, culture and human-animal relations, factory f...
2021-07-0110 min
Off the LeashThe Off the Leash Podcast 1.9In our ninth episode, we talk about the decision by clothing manufacturer Canada Goose to stop using (Coyote) fur in its products. We discuss (in deliberately non-graphic terms) the dog meat trade and the Yulin 'festival' and focus on the role of activists in Asia: our first guest audio comes from Dr Peter Li, China Policy Specialist at Humane Society International, who has visited Yulin many times and offers an optimistic perspective. Charlie discusses grouse moor licencing - declaring it as 'licencing slaughter'. In Hero and Villian, Dominic nominates campaigner Emily Lawrence and the campaigners who pressured Canada Goose, Cha...
2021-06-2753 min
Off the LeashShortcast #10 Philip Lymbery CEO CiWF | Cultured Meat‘Shortcasts’ are short standalone audio comments and statements from conservationists, campaigners, charities, authors and members of our audience. If it needs to be said – say it here! Philip Lymbery, Global CEO of Compassion in World Farming, (CiWF), is an award-winning author, an ornithologist, a photographer, and a self-confessed animal advocate. For 25 years he has worked extensively on animal welfare issues, wildlife and the environment. He is a recognised thought leader, his lectures taking him across the globe to meet and exchange ideas with like-minded specialists, experts and individuals.In May 2021 CiWF produced a position statement on Meat...
2021-06-2506 min
Off the LeashShortcast #09 Vanessa Williams-Grey | Norway and Minke Whales‘Shortcasts’ are short standalone audio comments and statements from conservationists, campaigners, charities, authors and members of our audience. If it needs to be said – say it here!The Norwegian Government are planning to do 'sound experiments' on young Minke Whales captured as they move north to summer feeding grounds. This torture of whales is being done solely for the military and the oil and gas industries. Vanessa Williams-Grey, Policy manager at Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC) - wrote a blog on the issue and has also given us a powerful shortcast to post here. As...
2021-06-2206 min
Off the LeashShortcast #08 Tom Langton | JNCC proposal‘Shortcasts’ are short standalone audio comments and statements from conservationists, campaigners, charities, authors and members of our audience. If it needs to be said – say it here! In this shortcast Tom Langton discusses the call for evidence made by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) which could lead to the removal of legislative protection for many of the UK's amphibians and reptiles, and could "allow snake-bashing to become lawful again". Tom Langton started out in conservation in the mid-1970s, joining BTCV mid week and weekend tasks removing pine trees from heathland areas in Dorset Hampshir...
2021-06-2107 min
Off the LeashThe Off the Leash Podcast 1.8After the surprise by-election result at Chesham and Amersham, in our eighth episode Dominic discusses whether there is still a need for HS2 and the impact of loosening housing development controls. We highlight the new Australian trade deal and the animals at the heart of it. Our first guest audio comes from Philip Lymbery, CEO of Compassion in World Farming, who puts the case for 'cultured meat'. Charlie talks about intensive agriculture and biodiversity loss, and whether people are ready for lab meat. In Hero and Villain, we first hear from Vanessa Williams-Grey, Policy Manager at Whale and Dolphin...
2021-06-2050 min
Off the LeashShortcast #06 Stuart Spray | G7 Summit‘Shortcasts’ are short standalone audio comments and statements from conservationists, campaigners, charities, authors and members of our audience. If it needs to be said – say it here!Stuart Spray is an environmental journalist who has worked as an ecologist for Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS), Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), Solway Heritage, The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) and The Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT) – and he is – well, distinctly irritated by the goings-on down in Carbis Bay last week…
2021-06-1705 min
Off the LeashShortcast #07 Tom Langton | Badger Crowd Crowdfunder‘Shortcasts’ are short standalone audio comments and statements from conservationists, campaigners, charities, authors and members of our audience. If it needs to be said – say it here! Ecologist Tom Langton has been fighting the badger cull for years. He runs the Badger Crowd website and is crowdfunding after being given permission to take a challenge against the cull to the High Court - please support him at Help stop badger culling adding to England's Biodiversity catastrophe
2021-06-1703 min
Off the LeashShortcast #05 Hugh Warwick | Hedgehog-friendly new builds‘Shortcasts’ are short standalone audio comments and statements from conservationists, campaigners, charities, authors and members of our audience. If it needs to be said – say it here!Hugh Warwick (aka Hedgehog Hugh) has been doing fantastic work to restore hedgehog populations here in the UK – and has shown heroic levels of persistence in keeping alive a Change.org petition to make hedgehog highways compulsory in new builds….Over 980,000 people have signed Hugh’s petition which is a staggering figure and it will be even more staggering when one million have signed it.
2021-06-1705 min
Off the LeashShortcast #03 Lisa Marley | Crimes Against Nature‘Shortcasts’ are short standalone audio comments and statements from conservationists, campaigners, charities, authors and members of our audience. If it needs to be said – say it here!In this shortcast podcaster and campaigner Lisa Marley (who joined the team here at 'Off the Leash' shortly after making this shortcast) talks about her passion for the environment and her wonderful new podcast series 'Crimes Against Nature'.
2021-06-1704 min
Off the LeashShortcast #04 Tim Birch | Derbyshire Badger Cull‘Shortcasts’ are short standalone audio comments and statements from conservationists, campaigners, charities, authors and members of our audience. If it needs to be said – say it here!Tim Birch, Director of Nature's Recovery at Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, is passionate about defending wildlife & restoring the natural world. He is a noted proponent of a vaccination programme to protect badgers from Bovine TB – in early 2018 he tweeted this about badgers and Michael Gove, who was Environment Secretary at the time: “It is incomprehensible Gove considering slaughtering badgers in low risk bovine TB areas in England. Why not support vaccination there? Mr...
2021-06-1704 min
Off the LeashThe Off the Leash Podcast 1.7In our seventh episode we focus on the missed opportunities and mixed signals of the G7 meeting in Cornwall, and Dominic discusses Boris Johnson's 'green' credentials. We look at who might take over at Defra (the government department with a huge influence over what happens to our wildlife and the environment) and what signals that would send. In our third discussion point Charlie explains the thinking behind the off the leash 'Community Bulletin Board' (and even sings a few lines of 'Imagine' to make a point), and our pre-record comes from environmental consultant and journalist Stuart Spray who gives...
2021-06-1549 min
Off the LeashThe Off the Leash Podcast 1.6 In our sixth episode we begin by discussing fur farming, Canada Goose, and the disgusting rabbit farms that T&S Nurseries are trying to set up. Dominic discusses an article he wrote for Byline Times looking at the poor performances of opposition parties on animal welfare. In a section on the so-called 'badger cull', Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's Tim Birch talks in a pre-record about his shock and anger that the cull will carry on for another four years and Charlie discusses the co-opting of the word 'cull' by government, industry, and lobbyists. In 'Hero and Villian' Dominic praises Animals Asia...
2021-06-0653 min
Off the LeashThe Off the Leash Podcast 1.5 In our fifth episode we begin by discussing the two Brown Bears shot at Whipsnade Zoo after escaping from their enclosure and a new Born Free report looking at which species are kept by zoos. Dominic talks about the latest on the so-called badger cull. Charlie looks at the UK's biodiversity crisis in the light of a new report from the RSPB using data from the Natural History Museum. In 'Hero and Villian' we both praise Lisa Marley (who also provides this week's pre-record) and her excellent new podcast series 'Crimes Against Nature'. Dominic's villain this week is Norway's g...
2021-05-3149 min