Why on Earth — Environmental Documentary

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: I'm an animal person. I appreciate the beauty of them. I don't know, I was just an animal lover when I was a kid. Dogs and cats and snakes and lizards and whatever I could find. It started when my dad went deer hunting, and shot this deer. And he said, "You know, when I shot the deer," he says, "the deer wasn't quite dead." He looked up at his head and looked at me. And he said, "It was almost like saying, 'Why didn't you shoot me?'" He was intelligent in a very natural way. And he said, "I just never could do it after that." And then you realize we were put on here for something, and the best thing we could do is manage what we have. And the beautiful things we have. And animals fit right into that category. And the same horses are going to become extinct if we don't save them. And so I just sort of house them. And they can have a place to live out their existence. I just like to see everything, everything live. I like living things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. [00:01:58] Speaker ?: I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things like this. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. [00:02:55] Speaker 2: I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. [00:02:58] Speaker 3: I'm not going to make things. [00:02:59] Speaker 2: I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. [00:03:09] Speaker ?: I'm not going to make things. [00:03:10] Speaker 2: I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. [00:03:30] Speaker ?: I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. [00:03:37] Speaker 2: I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. [00:03:42] Speaker ?: I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. [00:03:54] Speaker 2: I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. [00:03:57] Speaker ?: I'm not going to make things. [00:03:58] Speaker 2: I'm not going to make things. [00:03:59] Speaker 4: I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. [00:04:01] Speaker ?: I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. [00:04:03] Speaker 4: I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. [00:04:11] Speaker 5: I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. I'm not going to make things. [00:04:24] Speaker 2: I'm not going to use palm oil because it's cheap. [00:04:25] Speaker 6: And it's anywhere, you know, from shampoos to lotions to cookies. [00:04:31] Speaker 2: But it's not cheap. In order to produce palm oil, you actually sacrifice a lot of wildlife, including orangutans. [00:04:39] Speaker 6: Do you think that that female orangutan that approached you, do you think that she knew that you were going to be the one? [00:04:46] Speaker 2: I'm chosen by orangutans to help them. I'm founder and director of Orangutan Inclusion Centre, a local NGO based in Sumatra to save orangutans and deer rainforest homes. Palm oil plantation workers call us for help when they see orangutans. So it is very important to respond to the report very quickly. Saving orangutan actually is saving the forest. And saving the forest means actually saving the people and our future. [00:05:27] Speaker 6: All right, so we just arrived at the Orangutan Information Centre. And thanks for having us. And Paul, of course, in organizing this whole adventure. And so tell me, what are you guys, you're about to go out on an orangutan rescue. [00:05:40] Speaker 7: It used to be an orangutan habitat, but then converted it to become palm oil plantations. And that's why some of the orangutans still live there and being isolated from their own habitat. And that's why we need to rescue them. [00:05:53] Speaker 4: So it was just here in 2012, I was invited to come and document the palm oil expansion and the forest destruction. And also the wildlife trade and what was going on. Yeah, I remember just photographing the orangutan rescue. And he just made eye contact with me and that was it. I just, you know, the world needed to know about this issue. And that was it. I've been coming back ever since. [00:06:26] Speaker 6: So you're rescuing the orangutan and then now where are you going to translocate them? [00:06:30] Speaker 7: If they're in a good condition, we're going to release them at the same day. But if they're in the, you know, like, in the condition that need medical services. So we work together with SOSAFE quarantine centre and we're going to send them to be rehabilitated before they're going to be released one day when they're ready. [00:06:48] Speaker 6: Wow, all right. Well, I know you guys have to get going. Thank you for your amazing work. Thank you so much. You're welcome. Thank you. [00:06:54] Speaker 4: We'll hopefully see you in the next day or so. Yeah. [00:06:57] Speaker 6: We'll be catching up with you soon. Okay. [00:06:59] Speaker 4: Thank you. Community and plantation workers shoot the orangutans initially. And if that doesn't work, then, sadly, then they're calling OIC or SOCP to extract these orangutans. So you can imagine there's a lot of wild orangutans out there with bullet wounds. [00:07:23] Speaker 8: It's incredibly sad that this even has to take place. Rescuing an orangutan from where it, you know, should be its home to translocate it to a place like the lesser ecosystem where it's going to be protected. [00:07:37] Speaker 2: They're trapped here and they use this, you know, plantation trees as the fallback food, rubber. Sometimes when they have to, or don't they just try to adapt to survive. [00:07:56] Speaker 9: How long does it usually take for the dart to take it back? [00:07:59] Speaker 10: Depends, because sometimes the adrenaline can make it really fast. Or usually less than 15 minutes. Or usually less than 15 minutes. [00:08:19] Speaker 7: You can see that the dart is starting to dereacted. Because the movement right now, it's going more. She's pregnant. She's pregnant? [00:08:28] Speaker ?: Yeah. Is this going to affect the baby? No. And we found an arrow for bullet on the body. That means she's actually shot by people. She was shot by people? Yeah. Oh no. Can you take the bullet out? Are you removing it? [00:08:39] Speaker 2: It's already planted inside. [00:08:40] Speaker 8: That happened. A lot. When, when orangutan in the plantation landscape. [00:08:43] Speaker ?: Yeah. [00:08:44] Speaker 2: Yeah. People sometimes just try to scare away. [00:08:46] Speaker ?: Yeah. [00:08:46] Speaker 2: No. But also sometimes people, you know, become opportunistic. Yeah. They see orangutan. [00:08:50] Speaker 6: Probably she was with the baby. Yeah. Previously, maybe she wants to be the baby. [00:08:53] Speaker 2: Yeah. Maybe she wants to be the baby. Maybe she wants to be the baby. Maybe she wants to be the baby. Yeah. Maybe she wants to be the baby. Maybe she wants to be the baby. Yeah. Maybe she wants to be the baby. Yeah. Maybe she wants to be the baby. Maybe she wants to be the baby. [00:09:05] Speaker 5: Yeah. [00:09:06] Speaker 2: Maybe she wants to be the baby. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe she wants to be the baby. Yeah. Maybe she wants to be the baby. Yeah. Maybe she wants to be the baby that has been taken by culture. Who knows? I hope not. [00:09:21] Speaker 4: For me, it's another image. A tool to influence consumers. Influence people. And how, you know, how we interact with the planet in times like this. That strong imagery can really influence people's choices. And I think that's what's important here right now. To show them what's going on. The reason and talk about why it's going on. [00:09:43] Speaker 11: And hopefully things can change in the future. [00:09:49] Speaker 12: They will go extinct. It's not enough. So we really need to build these corridors. Secure land and build corridors between them so the orangutans can move. When they first arrive, every orangutan is given a full medical checkup. So they get the chest x-rays to check for TBC. They get blood samples taken and tested for things like hepatitis, herpes virus and that kind of stuff. So they get a full check over. When an orangutan has been through its quarantine and done all its medical checks and pronounced fit and healthy. Then it will be brought here. So usually we don't just open the door and throw them in. We put them in a shut off cage so they can see each other for a couple of days. And then gradually introduced to a group. On the left here is Chris Mon. He was in a cage that was barely bigger than his shoulder width. I think I have a picture somewhere. He came out of it a couple of years ago. He could barely stand. He barely had the use of his legs. We actually trained him so that we could move him around to get his food. So we got him climbing. [00:11:12] Speaker 6: Can these people be prosecuted for keeping a wild orangutan? [00:11:14] Speaker 12: In that particular case, in theory yes, but there's never been a case. By a long way you find a lot more illegal pet orangutans being kept in areas where the palm oil concessions are actively clearing forest. So there is a strong connection there. [00:11:30] Speaker ?: In front of you now. [00:11:31] Speaker 12: Hello sir. He was shot 62 times with an air rifle. He's totally blind. We've got two pellets in one eye, one in the other. We took the pellets out that we could palpate through the skin. But he's still got 48 pellets inside him. But he's doing very well. He's fit and strong but totally blind. There'll never be a wild orangutan again. At a place called Orangutan Haven we're building these nice islands surrounded by water. where there'll be trees and ropes and long grass and bamboo. And he's one of the candidates to go over there. After many, many years I still get a massive thrill. Just seeing some of the orangutans we've released in the forest behaving like wild orangutans are looking down at me and they couldn't care less if I'm there or not. Yeah. [00:12:23] Speaker ?: That's the goal. [00:12:23] Speaker 12: When did the tourism really start happening here? [00:12:25] Speaker ?: Well, it started happening after the turn of the century. I always say, if you want to help the great apes, the first thing that you can do is go to the habitat countries. Vote with your dollars, vote with your feet. Vote with your dollars, vote with your feet. Mm-hm. And because if you go there, you tell the people, the local people who need to go to the habitat countries. Vote with your dollars, vote with your feet. Mm-hm. [00:12:39] Speaker 6: And because if you go there, you tell the people, the local people who need to go to the habitat countries. That you consider the great apes. That you consider the great apes. [00:12:42] Speaker 13: That you consider the great apes. That you consider the great apes. That you consider the great apes. That you consider the great apes. That you consider the great apes. That you consider the great apes. That you consider the great apes. That you consider the great apes. That you consider the great apes. That you consider the great apes. That you consider the great apes. That you consider the great apes. That you consider the great apes. That you consider the great apes. That you consider the great apes. That you consider the great apes. That you consider the great apes. That you consider the great apes. That you consider the great apes. That you consider the great apes. That you consider the great apes. That you consider the great apes. That you consider the great apes. That you consider the great apes. That you consider the great apes. That you consider the great apes. That you consider the great apes. That you consider the great apes. That you consider the great apes. [00:13:12] Speaker ?: That you consider the great apes. [00:13:13] Speaker 13: That you consider the great apes. That you consider the great apes. That you consider the great apes. That you consider the great apes. That you consider the great apes. That you consider the apes. That you consider the apes. You know. 100 miles into the mountains. Into the foothills. And then. You know. 10 years later. Come back. As the males do roam. Now. He can't get back. He can't. And the reason he can't get back. Because he has to go through. 100 miles of palm oil. [00:13:41] Speaker 6: Can you explain to me. The OFI nursery. And what you guys do here. [00:13:44] Speaker 14: So pretty much. The OFI nursery. Is where. We received. Orangutan orphans. We usually get them. From the forestry. Police. Or locals as well. And. Most of these. Orangutans. Are orphans. Because. They have killed. Their mothers. And they've left. The babies. Either. Be kept as pets. Or to be sold. As pets. Yeah. We care for them. And then. Hopefully one day. They'll be back in the wild. [00:14:17] Speaker 4: I think it's really important. For these NGOs. To really work. With the community. And the plantation. Owners. To really. Bring them up to speed. On the conservation. And the value of these. These species. It's a huge asset. For Indonesia. And the planet. Let's hope they realize that. Before it's all gone. [00:14:46] Speaker ?: The sad truth is. [00:14:47] Speaker 15: Much of the world. Does not share my belief. That all sentient beings. Have just as much a right. To be a part of this planet. And when you look. At those animals. And you interact with them. You see how magnificent. And special they are. As a child. I grew up on the wild coast. Of South Africa. Where some of the most. Abundant sea life. You could imagine. Came by my shores. [00:15:05] Speaker ?: Every year. [00:15:05] Speaker 15: My connection with sharks. Started when I was six. [00:15:07] Speaker ?: I went to the sharks board. Where they collect. [00:15:09] Speaker 15: All the dead sharks. Out of the nets. I remember walking. Through this freezer room. Piled with these. Magnificent blue sharks. [00:15:15] Speaker ?: And mako sharks. Something inside my heart. Said this is very wrong. [00:15:18] Speaker 15: I don't believe. There's any animal. On the planet. That has ever been. Wiped out. In such significant. Numbers. As sharks have. Less than 10% of sharks. [00:15:27] Speaker 16: Are left. If we don't save them. While we have big numbers. I don't believe. That they'll be on this planet. Much longer. Smell of those dead animals. [00:15:34] Speaker ?: And the loss of that life. Set me on a path. That I would return to. Later in life. [00:15:38] Speaker 16: And that became. A primary mission for me. If we don't save them while we have big numbers, I don't believe that they'll be on this planet much longer. [00:15:47] Speaker 15: The smell of those dead animals and the loss of that life set me on a path that I would return to later in life, and that became a primary mission for me. I am a cinematographer, photographer, but more than anything, I'm a conservationist. If we don't take a stand and draw the line on these animals, nothing in the ocean is sacred. [00:16:13] Speaker 16: The shark's this beautiful creature responsible for maintaining the balance and health of our oceans. Although sharks are probably safer than every other animal on the planet, that doesn't get into the news at all. [00:16:26] Speaker 15: We need to swim in that ocean and feel that water and see these animals grace our presence and realize that these are beautiful, magnificent and sentient beings that were put on this earth long before us. And that they play just as important role in the system, but they have a right to be here just like us. [00:16:50] Speaker 16: I believe the best thing that I can do for conservation is to connect people in a very profound way with sharks so that they can see their true nature as a majestic, sentient creature that you can easily fall in love with. And therefore, be compelled to spend the rest of your life fighting for the conservation of the species. [00:17:17] Speaker 15: Ecotourism is the fastest growing segment of the travel industry. And what once was a world where you went out and hunted animals for sport. We're now seeing a transition away for people to go out and they hunt with cameras and their eyes and they leave the animals to grow and thrive. [00:17:32] Speaker 17: In South Africa, unfortunately, there's a big lack of regulations on illegal fisheries here and quantification of just how many prey species of white sharks are being removed. And we do believe that's happening in an army race. You know, you've got a resource swimming along the coastline that a very poor family can feed, you know, themselves for over a month, let's say, off. And so, for example, in a restaurant in Cape Town, it would be very likely to see shark fin soup on a menu. Ethically, it's just disgusting. [00:18:11] Speaker 8: Alison, take us through what we're about to experience here. [00:18:15] Speaker 17: Well, you're probably in one of the most remarkable locations in the world for marine life, as you're aware. And what's really special about this part that we're walking down to now in terms of a harbor, is it's one of the most accessible locations on the planet for seeing great white sharks. The ecotourism is, you know, it's keeping this animal alive and that's why we, yeah, we feel so strongly about it. [00:18:35] Speaker 18: What we do on every single trip is have a qualified balladjust on board to identify every single shark that comes around. [00:18:51] Speaker 17: Which is you. Which today is me. And what a, yeah, what an amazing opportunity. So, yeah, each great white we see, we lock down characteristics on it. We take photographs of the dorsal fin, in order to be able to see if we can identify the animal. We have an extensive catalog back on land, with thousands and thousands of fin photos, so we can actually get a good gauge of who's visiting at what time of the year. And I think a lot of people don't realize how highly transient and migratory great whites are. [00:19:22] Speaker 3: There's a very high concentration of great whites here, because there's a lot of food source for them here in this area. And they're losing their food source anywhere else, so they think, researchers think that that's why they're coming to these areas. And I think it's important for us to, to be their ambassadors. Spread the word of what's happening to them, because not everybody has the opportunity to come learn first hand. [00:19:47] Speaker 17: The white sharks having the protective legislation around them, you know, there are CITES appendix, two species, they're listed on CMS. So throughout their distribution, they are, you know, they're pretty much protected, but the problem is we get a lot of lack of enforcement. The cage diving, ecotourism was initiated in order to, you know, non-consumptively utilize the animal. And it obviously provided its cause, it showed that it's a very viable outlet for tourism, for education and for monitoring. [00:20:35] Speaker 19: Ecotourism is critically important because that is where people see, wow, this animal is actually a beautiful animal, see how it moves. It's not trying to jump on the boat, it's not trying to do this, it's never going to try and eat me. An alive animal is worth a lot more than a dead animal. [00:21:00] Speaker 1: Why not just enjoy looking at it and enjoy future generations to look at it? And we can all enjoy what's on the planet and leave something for somebody else coming along the way. [00:21:15] Speaker 20: When you're taking the life of an animal, you are directly affecting the world around you in a negative way. And the perpetuation of that negative effect is a ripple effect that you might not know how large and vast that ripple effect really is. [00:21:34] Speaker 15: So we need to understand that our future and the future of the natural world are inextricably tied. And that everything we are doing to hurt the oceans, hurting the nature, hurting the forest is going to hurt us. So that fundamentally comes from a connection, that all species play a critical role in the thriving marine and terrestrial ecosystem. [00:21:53] Speaker ?: And that's what we are doing, that's what we are doing. And that's what we are doing. And that's what we are doing. And that's what we are doing. So that's what we are doing. And that's what we are doing. And that's what we are doing. And that's what we are doing. And that's what we are doing. And that's what we are doing. And that's what we are doing. And that's what we are doing. And that's what we are doing. And that's what we are doing. And that's what we are doing. And that's what we are doing. And that's what we are doing. And that's what we are doing. And that's what we are doing. And that's what we are doing. And that's what we are doing. And that's what we are doing. [00:22:17] Speaker 6: And that's what we are doing. And that's what we are doing. And that's what we are doing. And that's what we are doing. And that's what we are doing. And that's what we are doing. And that's what we are doing. [00:22:24] Speaker ?: And that's what we are doing. And that's what we are doing. And that's what we are doing. And that's what we are doing. And that's what we are doing. And that's what we are doing. [00:22:30] Speaker 21: And that's what we are doing. And that's what we are doing. And that's what we are doing. And that's what we are doing. And that's what we are doing. [00:22:35] Speaker ?: And that's what we are doing. And that's what we are doing. And that's what we are doing. [00:22:46] Speaker 22: Is here as a result of either human wildlife conflicts. Or poaching. [00:22:50] Speaker 5: Greed. [00:22:51] Speaker 22: Money. Or trophy hunting. Whatever it may be that has left these poor orphans on their own. And it's wonderful. And it's essential that this is happening. But what's just as important. Is that we prevent it from happening in the first place. I'm Dan Richardson. I'm an actor. And I'm an animal conservationist. And for as long as I can remember. Throughout my entire life. Love for animals. Compassion towards animals. Has been an inherent part of who I am. And what matters to me. [00:23:19] Speaker 2: Hi. [00:23:20] Speaker 23: Good to meet you. [00:23:21] Speaker 6: What drives you? What is your... Why this? [00:23:24] Speaker 23: Our aim is to take them where they belong. After giving them the second chance to survive. Wonderful. If I was not there. All this could not have been here. You're right. Because no one to support them. But we're also happy that you guys are also helping them. Part of me to support them. Like me I do on the ground. [00:23:52] Speaker 22: People right here in Kenya who dedicate their lives to this. Very little reward. They're there to protect an animal that will never know they're there being protected. They will never know that that person was fighting the fight for them. If it was a war veteran coming home they'd be awarded a medal for their bravery. These are front line heroes doing this. [00:24:09] Speaker 23: To start with, in number I've got 11 baby elephants. I will start with Moreira in front of us here. The poaching victim. The injury was caused by human error. They dug a hole and put some spike inside the hole. Moreira stepped on this. That's why you see Moreira is struggling to walk. [00:24:29] Speaker 22: If that happened with an elephant. Would the poachers then also sell the ivory or just use the meat? [00:24:36] Speaker 23: No. Those poachers who are just aiming for the bushmeat tree. They'll just look for the bushmeat. Go for the market. But if they were aiming the elephant for the ivory. They'll just take off the ivory and leave the carcass around them. This is called Kwanza. Kwanza is a poaching victim for Mambuseli. She saw the mother being killed plus one of the sisters. All this still with Kwanza's memory. And she's not very friendly even to human up to now. They can sense. [00:25:03] Speaker 24: It's energy. So they can sense bad intention and good intention. [00:25:07] Speaker 23: If there's something bad around them, they'll be sensing and keeping away from that bad sense. And also they use smell to smell whatever is going around. For you to walk with the elephant, mostly elephants. You have to show them love. You don't force yourself. You know with love, it's something not forceful. So you have to give them peace. So it's just peace and love. You'll be understanding each other. I want to shake your hand. [00:25:38] Speaker 24: God bless you for all of your work. It's so important. We're with you and we want to save these animals as much as you. Thank you. [00:25:45] Speaker 25: I think, you know, elephants are an iconic species. They represent Africa in so many ways. The orphans especially are such great ambassadors for the cause. I'm a pilot with the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. Even though we're raising money to protect elephants particularly, that money goes towards protecting their habitat and then all the animals that live in that habitat. so it's not just elephants that we're protecting ultimately. [00:26:20] Speaker 26: The final of the poaching could be shooting platforms. The poaching would build a platform at the top of the tree and then wait for animals to walk past the elephant and shoot them from above with poison arrows. Instead of killing the elephant immediately, it could take several hours or even days to kill the elephant. So that poaching now has to track that elephant through the bush until they find it. there's a chance of getting lucky and finding poaches we can catch them before they've killed elephants which were able to deploy canine units and rangers rapidly. [00:26:49] Speaker 25: A sort of anew was identified to create a safe habitat for those elephants to be re-released into the wild. We started setting up de-snaring teams which were protecting the area so that there was a safe habitat for the elephants to go back to. [00:27:07] Speaker 27: Here is the main park. This is the best place to reintegrate them because we don't have tour roads here. Yeah. So they will not be corrupted. So here is where they will be completely wild. They have their nice time to roam where they want to browse. And eventually here, especially here in the waterhole is where they have a lot of interaction with the wild ones. This is Nelion coming in. Yeah. He's been a victim of poaching. We have Aruba, who's also a victim of poaching. They came in here when they've completely given up. They had seen no life in front of them. But now they are settled. The keepers have given them that love. They feel that they are at home. Giving that trust is the biggest thing for us. Of course. Because otherwise big and heavy animals like this could smash you down in a minute. Because they play around, you see them happy again. The life that they had lost has been given back. And they're happy to be with us. We raised them for 10 years until when they are really ready and confident to go out in the wild. You see an animal that has gone wild, an ex-o-fan that has gone wild. And he gets a problem or he gets happiness in giving birth. He remembers you. He remembers you. That's the greatest thing. Yeah, yeah. [00:28:53] Speaker 25: Anything that's found by a tourist or scout or KWS ranger is reported to KWS. And we work very closely with KWS, our veterinary team that we support. [00:29:16] Speaker 28: I've been able to save many animals which are at the brink of death. A lot of animals shot using guns, arrows and so forth. The biggest challenge in terms of conservation is poaching menace. The information should go to the buyers and the consumers of these products. They are doing more harm to the animals than they think. If you protect the ecosystem, you are also protecting your own health. If you destroy the ecosystem, you are also destroying your own health. [00:30:00] Speaker 25: There's a real importance to protect what we do have left. And I think raising awareness of that is paramount. [00:30:09] Speaker 6: We are heading to the care for wild rhino orphanage, the largest rhino orphanage in the world. And Petronel is the founder, the owner. She's got an incredible team that helps her rescue, rehab and take in these baby rhinos that we're about to see. These baby rhinos are sadly very valuable. Somebody cut the fence and they got in to the Solia Reserve. They were going to kill some of the rhinos for their horns. And the anti-poaching units found the guy. And thank God they shot the poacher before he can shoot one of these rhinos. Which, as we know, there's not many left. [00:30:59] Speaker 22: Poaching rhino horn is the third biggest revenue generator of any criminal enterprise in the world. Goes all the way to the demand. This ridiculous myth in the Far East. That a material the same as hair and fingernails can have magical healing properties. So wildlife crime isn't a group of specialists. It's the same people who are trafficking narcotics. They're using the same roots. They're using the same middlemen. The same corrupt customs officials. It's now moved recently, in the case of rhino horn, from health to wealth. So where the medicinal properties of rhino horn were shown to be nonsense, it's moved from that to a status symbol. And that's a really, really difficult idea to eradicate. [00:31:46] Speaker 6: Rhinos, they're going to be on the brig of extinction. If we don't have more facilities like this. More petronals to literally dedicate their lives to saving these animals. [00:31:58] Speaker 29: There's petronal, I think. [00:32:00] Speaker 27: I think so. [00:32:01] Speaker 29: I think that's her. Oh my God. [00:32:05] Speaker 30: Hi. Hi. How are you? I thought you guys got completely lost. Hi. It's just in life. That's a good, a good principle. Yes, yes, yes. [00:32:13] Speaker 6: You are, obviously, their voice. But you are reversing all of the damage that has been done to these animals as a result of greed and money and evil. [00:32:23] Speaker 30: Black rhino plus/minus 4,000 in the world. That's it. That's it. That's it. There's only 4,000 black rhino. That's it. They phone and say, we're going to intervene and we need to make sure that we save rhinos. And I say, God, please help me to serve where this animal is coming from with everything I've got. [00:32:46] Speaker 21: So this is Baby Summer. I've heard a lot about her. I've seen a lot of videos. And so tell me, how did you find her? [00:32:53] Speaker 30: Baby Summer came to us from an area in Kruger National Park. They were out patrolling and then they found her next to her mom. And her mom was already dead. And Hans hacked off her face. And she was lying next to her mom. And then they call in the rest of the rangers and the helicopter and the pilots and the veterinarian. And then they darted her, put her in the helicopter and bring her to us. Every time a baby comes, there's anxiety. They will put that baby in the helicopter. Patrice is shooting at the pilot. I truly believe and I trust that at that stage, if I'm the one that needs to protect this animal, the rest must fall in place. In the beginning, they don't realize mom is gone. They cry and they call. So you have to understand the language and the comfort that you need to do. So at first it's a trust. Look at that. Look at that. Look at the babies. Hello. Look at the mouse. Look at the mouse. So these are the... [00:34:10] Speaker 21: Oh, I'm holding this one. Okay. Oh my gosh. These are the black rhinos. [00:34:16] Speaker 30: I love to create the emotional bond between an animal and a person that looks after the animal. Because you cannot look after something if you don't love it. I live very near this animal. We love them. Yeah. And the healing power is in the animal. [00:34:42] Speaker 6: These are the ones that are going to be released. Okay. How many? [00:34:47] Speaker 30: The next group that needs to be released. [00:34:50] Speaker 6: These are white rhinos. [00:34:51] Speaker 30: Also white rhinos. They just came in from the felt. We call it BOMA, but it's actually a holding facility. I see. It's a temporary or permanent holding facility. So if you look at your poles, you can clearly see there's some areas where you can go see through and so on. And it's planted and it makes your animal safe, but it's also an area for you to be safe as a person that's working with them. [00:35:17] Speaker 29: This is very serious. This isn't just, like you said, you know, running a farm with some rhinos. This is saving the last of a species that the rest of the world may not see. [00:35:30] Speaker 31: The purpose of this exercise is to help the dog for anti-poaching. I'm a retired police officer, especially the canine unit. My passion now at this stage is definitely the rhinos, because you hear them at night, especially these youngsters. They miss the family. Because they're orphans now. And there's a female that adopted them, take care of them. And the one was very weak. And all of a sudden, take him under her wing, start eating and start to function normal. You see this every day for seven months. Then you start realizing you can make a difference. And protect our rhinos. If you leave this rhinos, just an example, in two days there's no rhinos here. Because the word is going to spread. That's why we do the inside and the outside perimeter. To see if there's any movement or there's people that can, sitting and watching us. They cut the horn. They cut the horn. The next morning it's gone. The rhino horn is for the east. Eastern blocks. All of them go there. When you first see a rhino that has been poached, then you decide. That guy don't need to walk free. [00:37:14] Speaker 32: He's going to hunt you down. The jungle lane teaches observation and awareness. Is this target worthy of killing or not? Is it friendly or whatever? So the whole thing is designed to build that process. To ingrain it in a ranger or anti-poaching operator. [00:37:42] Speaker 31: My own satisfaction is just to look after them and protect them. And help the owner sleep safe and feel that they're safe. That we can make a difference. [00:37:54] Speaker 22: Policing is as much a fundamental part of the holistic conservation approach as education in an African school. And as long as we all fight together and we are shining a light on these issues and changing them, we can win. And that's absolutely crucial that we do so. [00:38:28] Speaker 6: It's incredibly tragic. I can't explain the feeling. [00:38:32] Speaker 22: How meaningful is this place to you and your colleagues, the team that work here? [00:38:40] Speaker 33: On the one hand, it's a testament to all the work we do. Sure, these are animals that have been poached. You know, our populations are growing. And it's a great place for us to come and just remember. You know, that this is what it's taken. Because sometimes you forget. And it's particularly sad now because of Sudan. You know, he's the last male northern rhino on the planet. And there he is. [00:39:02] Speaker 22: What he did more powerfully than anything else I've ever seen was underline the damage we've done. He emphasized the damage we've done as a species to his species and others. [00:39:13] Speaker 6: It's the sixth extinction. The Holstein extinction means extinction based on human impact. And it's happening now. Some people don't believe it's happening, but we can clearly see it happening with Sudan and all the negative human impact based on greed, money, the legal black market trade of this species for something that has no real medicinal purpose. [00:39:34] Speaker 22: Animal conservation is my purpose in life and without it, animals like these, and incredibly we're talking about the last two of a species in this case, that I want to stand up and fight for. It's almost impossible to comprehend, isn't it? We're literally looking at the two last existing individuals of an entire species. It's shocking. [00:39:54] Speaker 34: Because of human destruction, look at the results now. Only the two remaining on the planet. [00:39:58] Speaker 6: Do you think that in vitro fertilization will work with possibly the southern female white rhino right here, the surrogate? [00:40:04] Speaker 34: Yeah, we still have help because in vitro fertilization has never been done before. So we are waiting to see how it's going to be done and we hope that it might help. If it really helps, we can still have a chance to have as many rhinos as we can. [00:40:20] Speaker 33: Getting the eggs out, fertilizing the eggs, creating embryos is one part of the problem that has to be solved. The next part is going to be re-implanting those northern white rhino embryos back into surrogate. Southern white rhino females because the two living northern whites can't carry a calf, can't get pregnant. [00:40:39] Speaker 25: I think for the most part, people need to fight battles close to home. So whether it's legislation or pressuring politicians in their local area to protect, you know, maintain the integrity of protected areas. [00:41:03] Speaker ?: So, you know, we've got a lot of people who can't carry a calf, but we can't carry a calf. [00:41:06] Speaker 35: I actually consider this capital, this state capital of California, the epicenter of progress in this country. And frankly, I think it's a fulcrum where we can put a lever and actually start to change global economics around this brutal trade that is on the verge of extincting some of our most iconic species on the planet. Trophy hunting for these iconic endangered African species is not only brutal, but it is anachronistic, some false show of masculinity that people want to go out there and act tough by slaughtering lions, rhinos, giraffes. This has to end. This bill, SB 1487, could actually preserve the last remaining iconic endangered species on this planet. A fight for our own humanity is wrapped up in the future of these species. Even though you say, well, what does this have to do with people? You're not helping people here. I say that this is the most powerful thing we can do to restore the dignity and humanity of the human race and not just make ourselves exploiters and consumers, but stewards. We're putting our flag down here in California today saying we know where we stand. We stand with the species of this planet and that the ultimate test of a civilization's morality is how they treat those who can't protect themselves. Do you like to fight? And do you like to fight with ethics and the law on your side? And that's why I'm here. I'm a nice guy, but I don't like to be pushed around. I don't like bullies. [00:42:48] Speaker 6: We have first-hand experience witnessing the two last female northern white rhinos left on the planet. Lions, cheetahs, elephants, all of these species are facing extinction and we support this bill 100% and we ask for your support to save these animals before they go extinct in our lifetime. Thank you so much. [00:43:07] Speaker 36: They've been on this planet for millions of years and in the last 120 years, we've been wiping them out. A dead elephant is one hunting fee, two usually a dictator. It never gets to the people. [00:43:26] Speaker 1: Trophy hunting is the worst. It's strictly to see who's got the biggest elephant head or whatever they're looking for. I feel humans should know better. [00:43:40] Speaker 33: If you ever get down to a point where you've lost all of your wild populations, you only have animals left which have been kept in zoo conditions for long periods, then your chances of recovering that species are going to be extremely small. We have the power to reverse it and it needs to be led by governments and I think we're beginning to see that happen. [00:44:00] Speaker 19: If we can change rules, regulations, government, laws, the way that the fishing quote us to this to that, then we should do it. [00:44:15] Speaker 35: SB 1487 could actually be what turns the tide in the fight to preserve the last remaining iconic endangered African species. SB 1487 does that by prohibiting the possession of body parts of 11 iconic African endangered species. Conservation strategy need not adopt a policy of poaching and of killing to actually achieve its ends. How do we want to be remembered on this planet as people? Those who left nothing else behind and just were extracting this planet and vanquishing species and torturing animals. [00:44:53] Speaker 37: The motion is to pass to the Committee on Judiciary. Eduardo Garcia. Aye. Garcia, aye. Gallagher. No. [00:45:01] Speaker ?: Carrillo. [00:45:01] Speaker 37: Aye. Carrillo, aye. [00:45:03] Speaker 35: Or that actually healed this planet and I think right now is that moment. [00:45:08] Speaker 38: The bill is out eight to four. The bill is out eight to four. [00:45:11] Speaker ?: The bill is out eight to five. The bill is out eight to five. The bill is out eight to five. The bill is out eight to five. The bill is out eight to five. The bill is out eight to five. The bill is out eight to five. The bill is out eight to five. The bill is out eight to five. The bill is out eight to five. The bill is out eight to five. The bill is out eight to five. The bill is out eight to five. The bill is out eight to five. The bill is out eight to five. The bill is out eight to five. The bill is out eight to five. The bill is out eight to five. The bill is out eight to five. The bill is out eight to five. The bill is out eight to five. [00:45:40] Speaker 36: The bill is out eight to five. The bill is out eight to five. The bill is out eight to five. The bill is out eight to five. The bill is out eight to five. The bill is out eight to five. The bill is out eight to five. The bill is out eight to five. The bill is out eight to five. The bill is out eight to five. The bill is out eight to five. The bill is out eight to five. The bill is out eight to five. The bill is out eight to five. The bill is out eight to five. The bill is out eight to five. The bill is out eight to five. The bill is out eight to five. The bill is out eight to five. The bill is out eight to five. The bill is out eight to five. [00:46:01] Speaker 39: The bill is out eight to five. We know that for more than 50 years, unfortunately, animals have been used in painful tests to assess the safety of chemicals used in cosmetic products. Not only is this practice inhumane, but unnecessary where lab alternatives exist. Please join me in supporting SB 1249. Such an important legislation for those that do not have a voice to speak up for themselves. [00:46:35] Speaker 6: Thank you so much for being here. Today is critically important to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of animals every year that get tortured for vanity and fashion. And I always strive to ask everybody to go cruelty free and always look for the leaping bunny. And if it does not say cruelty free, they usually test on animals. [00:46:53] Speaker 36: As an actress, every makeup chair that I sit in, I try to make sure that the cosmetics being used on me were not tested on animals. But the burden is on us. It is on the consumer. And it shouldn't be that way. And it isn't that way in the EU and many other countries. [00:47:10] Speaker 40: After getting resounding bipartisan support in the Senate with Democrats and Republicans coming together to vote in favor of it, SB 1249 now faces an important vote on the assembly floor. You know, what are we doing? [00:47:26] Speaker 41: It's completely archaic. It's fiscally irresponsible. We have the numbers on that as well. So it would be great if California, as progressive as it is, would be the first to do this. In very privileged countries like the United States, we tend to be very centered on self. All of the things that involve cruelty and chemicals and everything else they're putting in your cosmetics is bad for you. So if you're centered on self, you want to make better decisions for your body, your health, the environment, the planet that you're leaving for your children, these are the decisions. [00:48:02] Speaker 42: They still allow testing to occur in China. So SB 1249 would get rid of that exemption. So even if you were to test it in China, you wouldn't be able to sell it in California, which is a huge step forward. Once they introduce the bill, then I have to and my team, we have to knock on every office, every legislator's office, talk to them about the bill, tell them why it's important and get them to vote for it. [00:48:27] Speaker 43: One of the reasons why we asked John to come today is because he is an entrepreneur. And since his stardom as a basketball player, he's embraced a vegan lifestyle, compassion, entrepreneur. So he's really a star to us in this realm. And we're so honored to have him with us today. So let me ask you, have you heard anything about SB 1249 yet, the California Cruelty-Free Cosmetics Act? Because the existing testing is still killing and torturing over 400,000 animals a year. [00:49:09] Speaker 44: We've done a lot of things in the past because we didn't know better. But now we do. [00:49:14] Speaker 45: When they ask, don't you want to go up on a hill, man, and shake some fences and get some people to pay attention? I just think it's a cool thing. And if I could go and see things in sports, it's not going to change anybody's life, right? And guys will sit around and they argue on ESPN all day about it. This changes not just our lives. It means we save like 54 million land animals a year, everybody. And another thing, you make sure to get that vote. Oh, you hear him? [00:49:48] Speaker 46: We're rolling on that, right? With advocates like this, I'm very pleased to sign on as a co-sponsor of this legislation and looking forward to working with the group. [00:49:56] Speaker 35: Thank you. [00:49:58] Speaker 47: I understand you're a vegan, right? Yes. My brother does, for a while, he was doing MMA fighting. He was big and all that. And he's a vegan, too. He was the one who told me that. [00:50:09] Speaker 45: When I first came in the league, my first year, I was eating a cheeseburger and fries and a shake before playing against Milwaukee Bucks. And I'm still knocked out. And I was the slowest I ever was. And he said, "How's that cheeseburger treating you?" And then from that point on, from 1986, I started paying attention to what food does. Oprah put out a thing with Dupac Chopra in 1993. You should not eat with people you don't like, because your body, your psyche, does certain things to the food. So if you eat something that's dead, something that has been murdered, something that has been afraid to be murdered, and you get that in your spirit, you now have that. You ever see the biggest guys always jumpy? That's that cow. [00:50:49] Speaker 43: Are you an I vote? [00:50:51] Speaker 47: I'm totally against animal testing, too. So, and I have been throughout my crew. Here we go. [00:50:56] Speaker 45: My friend started a thing called Mix Chicks for hair. She's half white, half black, and her hair was mixed, so she had it for hair. And she literally made it cruelty-free before she put it out. And if she can do that in the thought process, and they asked me to come be involved, I said, "Yeah, no problem." [00:51:14] Speaker 48: I'm an animal lover. Yay! And so I am an, I can commit to that, and I'm an animal lover. So, so I am, I'm all about being humane, and humanity, and making sure that we do things right. And so I find that interesting, and it would be a great way to be able to go back and find some data and some pathway so that we can help guide the committee in making the right decision. [00:51:40] Speaker 45: I have a picture, so just in case you do it wrong, I can say this. I have a picture. I have a picture. [00:52:05] Speaker 43: I have a picture by telling you what your yes vote means today. Over a half a million animals will no longer be tortured for tests that have been scientifically proven to be unnecessary to show safety. You will save these animals from being tortured while they are alive and then thrown into the trash left to suffocate while writhing in pain because corporations decided that the cost and time to euthanize them would negatively affect their bottom line. [00:52:34] Speaker 47: It's clear to me that this will not only save the lives of tens of thousands of animals, but it will also save torture of so many more. [00:52:45] Speaker 38: I think it's time that we added ourselves to the list of nations that have gone cruelty free. So, I'm pleased to be supporting this legislation today and would just respectfully ask to be added as a co-author. [00:52:55] Speaker 40: Thank you very much. Stone? [00:52:57] Speaker ?: Aye. [00:52:58] Speaker 49: Stone, aye. Cunningham? Aye. Cunningham, aye. Chou? Holden? Kalra? Aye. Kalra, aye. Reyes? [00:53:08] Speaker ?: Aye. [00:53:08] Speaker 49: Reyes, aye. [00:53:09] Speaker 50: Gabriel? [00:53:10] Speaker 44: Thank you. That bill is out. [00:53:12] Speaker ?: Thank you. [00:53:13] Speaker 44: The good thing about doing good things is that it becomes infectious. And I think our future as a civilisation and as a species is directly intertwined with our willingness to preserve biodiversity. I started the International Anti-Potion Foundation in 2009 after travelling around Southern Africa, seeing what was happening with indicator species like elephant and rhino and what we're doing to them. And the thing that makes me feel the best is being able to help rangers to protect animals, being able to speak out on behalf of animals, being able to be a voice for the voiceless. One of the programs that we run in Zimbabwe is called Akashinga, which translates into the Brave Ones, and it's an all-female anti-poaching or conservation model. It's the only nature reserve in the world to be completely managed and protected by women. We saw other industries progressing and thought, well, if conservation can't have that opportunity, maybe we can't progress either. Clear? [00:54:25] Speaker 51: No matter who you are and what you do, you are my relative or I don't care. When you tamper with my animals, I do my job. My message goes straight to women. Let's not sit and look down upon ourselves. Let's stand on our heels and raise the flag and let our voices be heard that we, as women, we can do it. [00:54:56] Speaker 44: We're involved with protecting the environment, protecting animals. That's what we do. Okay, the meat industry is the greatest negative impact against both of those things. [00:55:06] Speaker 51: Being a vegan, it really helps a lot because I know the importance of the things which I'm protecting. [00:55:15] Speaker 44: One less step to being able to fight. There's two types of conservationists. There's vegans and there's those that don't like to take their work home. And I'm happy to say that. That's cost of a lot of funding. The truth isn't for sale and it never will be. [00:55:30] Speaker 52: Living that plant-based lifestyle, the first thing that I cut out was dairy. The leading cause of environmental pollution. And I also knew that these cows were enslaved. Listen, a cow has to give birth to give milk. So there are some dairies that are pumping out hundreds of calves per day. A lot of those calves are male. And where do those calves go now? Because there isn't a monster veal industry anymore. Those calves are going for dog food. My name is Kudo. I'm the founder and lead investigator of Arm Animal Recovery Mission. We're based in Miami Beach, Florida. What we're doing in the field, rescuing animals, delivering undercover footage, exposing really the truth of the worst cases of animal cruelty. It is a extremely sad, heartbreaking job to look at animals while you're in the field undercover and see them boiled alive, butchered alive, disassembled alive, beaten to death. And remember, as an undercover investigator, you're the bad guy. So you have to laugh and be one of the crowd as this is taking place. This is a small percentage of our gear. You know, the drone. Extremely important to the investigator. Undercover camera. Without the undercover camera, we would get absolutely nothing done and absolutely no footage whatsoever. People that are working in slaughterhouses and factory farm have violent, violent pasts. They have been convicted of serious crimes in the past. But also, we're undercover right now in farms that hard narcotics are being used and dealt. [00:57:50] Speaker 53: You know, it's important for people to understand the true reality of what takes place in factory farms. Where you think you're getting your meat from a good, wholesome place, and it's actually coming from a place that's dirty, inhumane, and just uncared for. [00:58:09] Speaker 6: We just arrived at this hunting preserve in Florida, and so tell me about this place. [00:58:25] Speaker 53: There's several locations here in central Florida that provide people the opportunity to come out here and pay to hunt several different types of species of animals. And endangered species that are raised here on these properties, and then people pay large amounts of money, up to $20,000, $30,000 to come out here and hunt. People don't really even know that this is even available, and to be honest, I didn't even know that this was available until recently. [00:58:55] Speaker 6: You can feel there's like some kind of, there's a fear. [00:59:10] Speaker 53: Anybody who says that they care for their animals and that their animals are happy, they're not happy. Animals that are free are happy. The animals that are contained and enslaved are not happy. [00:59:21] Speaker 6: These people, I think that they feel like they're not doing anything wrong, and they feel like, you know, this is a way for them to profit and make money off of killing animals. There's something wrong with people that can feel okay with killing an animal and then putting a trophy on their wall or a rug on the floor. Yeah, pretty much. [00:59:38] Speaker 53: I mean, it just doesn't really make sense. So the only saving of the animal that takes place is by us. The outside world is the one that needs to come in and save those animals. And, you know, you say, oh, I can't go in there and do those investigations, which I've met plenty of people who have said that. That they can't go in there, I can't believe you do that, or I can't, you know, I could never do what you do. But the reality is, is that those individuals, they can help, and they can help in a drastic way just by not consuming that product. [01:00:10] Speaker 54: Who's this? This is the one. [01:00:14] Speaker 6: This is the one. [01:00:15] Speaker 54: The one and only. So this is Secretariat's great-great-grandson, basically. Oh, my gosh. Wow. So here's a really interesting story, though. Here's the whole reason why I'm started. Basically, as a three-year-old, he was in one of his few races. He hadn't started much. And as you can see on his leg, he's got fire pin marks. So he got clipped by another horse, which pretty much shattered. His leg almost broke it all. And then they decided he had no use, so they took him to a slaughter farm. And that's where he was going to become a part of the black market horse meat trade. Unbelievable. And that's when Kudo first found out about the black market horse meat trade. And as a redemption to freedoms, was like, I'm going to expose it and bust it and then get back to my life. Well, he soon found out that illegal animal slaughter farms is like the, you know, the underground belly where everything, all of the illegal and horrible animal cruelty operations just, you know, network out of. So everything from animal fighting and, yeah. [01:01:14] Speaker 52: Started with rescuing a horse from an illegal slaughterhouse in Miami, Florida. But that is really what made me break out of my bubble. It's what made me give up my profitable life monetarily to switch and make the leap. And I can tell you from a person who was so profit driven that I'm much more happy and accomplished in my life now than I was then. [01:01:43] Speaker 54: And that's little Kudo. That's one of the first pigs at the back. He, Kudo actually rescued him off in the middle of the night off a slaughter farm in Miami. And he actually had an axe hole in his top of his head. He still has it. He has a scar. So Kudo took him in. He's very cool. [01:01:59] Speaker 55: Very quiet and calm. When you meet farm animals in the sanctuary setting, you start to see how they are all very different. You know, like each pig is so different in their likes and dislikes and the way they behave and interact with people. And so I think, you know, it's just a misconception that is put out there for a reason because we couldn't possibly eat them if we knew them. Woo! Come on, cows! Calvin! Come on! Come here! And Calvin with the white stripe, his mother died giving birth to him. So he's been here with us. Brownie, the big one with the horns, he's one of the few owner relinquishments that we took. And then we'll see who else comes over. [01:02:38] Speaker 56: Here in the States, we don't eat dogs. We don't eat cats. You know, and we've put up this wall in between them and all of the other animals. If you come out to a sanctuary and you meet these guys and you look them in the eyes, you'll see that they're not different than your dog. They're not different than your cat. Just like you would eat a dog, you're not going to eat a pig once you make that connection. [01:03:11] Speaker 20: A lot of different farm animals have the awareness, the intelligence, the emotional intelligence of a three-year-old child. It's a critical thing to understand this dichotomy of ingesting the very thing that we would care for in any other situation. [01:03:28] Speaker 57: My name is David Verberg. I'm a 2016 Olympic gold medalist, plant-based athlete and animal advocate. Basically, the whole reason why I became vegan was because I grew up on a farm with probably 25 different types of animals from chickens to goats, sheep, peacocks. Somebody came up to me and we were talking and I had a bottle fed the calf and they're like, "Well, so you must be vegan." And I was like, "No, in the world, why not?" And I didn't have a good answer at the time. I really couldn't tell them why I wasn't vegan. And that's when I slowly started my transition to a full plant-based lifestyle. It went with steak first and chicken and then fish and then kind of just slowly, slowly started cutting out dairy from my diet. And people look at me like, "He's running a little bit better. He's smiling. He's happy. He has energy. Like, what is he doing?" And then that's when I'm like, "Oh, well, you know, I switched to a plant-based diet." And that's when the questions start like, "Okay, well, how? What did you do?" And that's when it's like, "Oh, well, let me show you." And that's when you kind of like take them by the hand and you kind of help in that direction. [01:04:38] Speaker 56: When you want people to make changes, significant changes in their diet, that's a huge thing for them. You know what I mean? And it's terrifying. We do monthly vegan potlucks. Yeah. [01:04:47] Speaker 55: You know. Got all kinds of things going on, so. [01:04:53] Speaker 56: When you have great alternatives like the yellow burger, I think it helps, like, lessen that fear. [01:05:00] Speaker 11: I am a junk food vegan. I eat vegan macaroni and cheese and vegan cheeseburgers and vegan burritos and vegan pizza and all of those things that other people eat. I'm just eating vegan versions of it. And so I don't care if you're doing it for your health or the environment or the animals. At the end of the day, the animals benefit from us making that decision. I've got a 200-mile-an-hour billboard promoting the vegan diet. When you've got 7.6 billion people on the planet making day-to-day decisions, you know, we need to be making conscious ones. Or we're going to not only destroy the planet and our environment, we're going to take out humanity, but we're going to take out so many amazing species with us. And three times a day, we all sit down for a meal. And it doesn't cost extra money to leave meat and dairy products off of your plate. In fact, it will save you money in health care because you're going to be healthier. I can go to the store right now and pick up, you know, a variety of different kinds of vegan ice creams and vegan macaroni and cheeses and vegan pizzas. So this excuse that it's a hard thing to do, I just -- I don't buy it. My motto is never underestimate a vegan hippie chick with a race car. There's not a lot of -- there's not a lot of hippies in racing. There's not a lot of vegans in racing. There's not a lot of girls in racing. So that kind of summarized all of the things that made me the oddball out in the garage in one sentence. Every time the track announcer talks about the vegan food on TV during the NASCAR broadcast, to me is a win. Because I know that's echoing onto, you know, millions of years. And that is what my primary goal was. [01:07:22] Speaker 58: Thank you very much for joining us. Again, I'm Nancy Skinner, Senator from the East Bay. And I am carrying the bill SB 1138. It requires hospitals, prisons to provide a plant-based meal option. [01:07:37] Speaker 6: I think that we should expand this to every other state, not just California. And I think this is just the beginning of much to come with leading in this plant-based movement. So thank you so much for being here. [01:07:52] Speaker ?: Thank you. [01:07:54] Speaker 59: This bill would empower individuals to make healthier choices both in and out of the hospital setting. It would have a far-reaching effect in terms of healthcare costs. It would also pave the way for other states to adopt similar measures and to potentially change the face of healthcare in the United States. Thank you. [01:08:10] Speaker 41: Going plant-based is our passion, our love for the people or the animals, the beings, the lives we're fighting for. [01:08:18] Speaker 15: When you consider the impact of a plant-based diet in the oceans, it's almost unimaginable. You would eliminate all of the destructive fisheries, the gill nets, the longlines, the pursanes, the bomb fishing. All of those industries right now that are literally wholesale destroying an entire ecosystem for our pallets. It would be probably the single most important thing we could do today to save the oceans. [01:08:40] Speaker 56: We're wasting so much land and water just in livestock production that could be going to crops that people could actually eat themselves. Just from a practical standpoint, eating meat on a grand scale like this does not make sense. [01:08:58] Speaker 4: Consume less and be conscious of how that food ended up on your plate and think about that and really try to work with the planet. [01:09:10] Speaker 1: When I was very young, a physician friend of my dad's came over and we were eating a big pot roast, you know, with all kinds of carrots and things around it. And this physician just said, you know, we shouldn't be eating all this. [01:09:25] Speaker 50: My name is Janelle Palacio Butler and these are my two children, Zion and Genesis. In July 2016, I was admitted to Long Beach Memorial Hospital to give birth to my fourth child. Before labor, I informed the hospital that I was vegan for ethical reasons. My first meal after giving birth is a white bread with iceberg lettuce, a slice of tomato with cheese on it. Not only did the sandwich have cheese, but I can tell it had meat and they had just taken the meat off. I told them I'm sorry and I was very polite. Give it back to them. They sent me chicken broth next. Told them chicken broth is not vegan. They said, well, there's no chicken in the soup. And at the end of this ordeal, I was told by the hospital administrator and I quote, "We don't give vegan meals. People who want vegan just cave in and they eat what we give them." [01:10:14] Speaker 56: We're not a fringe thing. We're not crazy. This is just a compassionate lifestyle is all it is. And I think when you put it towards people that way, I can't really argue with doing less harm. [01:10:28] Speaker 9: Item number nine, SB 1138, due pass as amended to appropriations. Call the members, please. Hernandez? [01:10:34] Speaker 20: Aye. Hernandez, aye. Leyva? Mitchell? Monning? Aye. [01:10:40] Speaker 9: Nielsen? Aye. Pan? Nielsen. Nielsen. [01:10:45] Speaker ?: Nielsen. Nielsen. [01:10:47] Speaker 44: You know, I suppose the most enlightening thing or empowering thing for me is the realisation the important things in life are not things, they're actions. And deciding that my life is not going to be about me anymore and what I can make and take, but what about or what I can do. Being able to speak out on behalf of animals, being able to be a voice for the voiceless. Uh, and knowing that you, we maybe can't change the entire world as an individual, but we can change the world for many individuals. [01:11:15] Speaker 15: Mother Nature, that feminine energy needs to rise again, because it is only that energy, I believe, that will give us space to let other beings share this world with us. And that's where we need to turn the tide and support an ecosystem that not only thrives for nature, but it helps protect our livelihoods and our future. [01:11:39] Speaker 4: The more people that just spend time in nature, I think it's, it's a win for themselves, spiritually, personally, and on a global level. It's, people really need to slow down and, and think about what we're doing and how we're coexisting with this amazing planet. [01:11:56] Speaker 6: We have to place more value on life. And I think that goes with all animals. [01:12:00] Speaker 1: I think there's more people that are, uh, getting interested in, uh, the wellbeing of animals. And I think it's just general intelligence. Mankind is tough on the planet. Changing the way of looking at animals, and saving the planet. And I think it's just general intelligence. [01:12:20] Speaker ?: And I think it's just general intelligence. And I think it's just general intelligence. And I think it's just general intelligence. And I think it's just general intelligence. And I think it's just general intelligence. And I think it's just general intelligence. 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