#14 – Sharon Nuñez & Jose Valle on going undercover to expose animal cruelty, get rabbit cages banned, and reduce meat consumption

What if you knew that ducks were being killed with pitchforks? Rabbits dumped alive into containers? Or pigs being strangled with forklifts? Would you be willing to go undercover to expose the crime?

That’s a real question that confronts volunteers at Animal Equality (AE). In this episode we speak to Sharon Nunez and Jose Valle, who founded AE in 2006 and then grew it into a multi-million dollar international animal rights organisation. They’ve been chosen as one of the most effective animal protection orgs in the world by Animal Charity Evaluators for the last 3 consecutive years.

In addition to undercover investigations AE has also designed a 3D virtual-reality farm experience called iAnimal360. People get to experience being trapped in a cage – in a room designed to kill then – and can’t just look away. How big an impact is this having on users?

In this interview I’m joined by my colleague Natalie Cargill – Sharon Nuñez and Jose Valle also tackle:

  • How do they track their goals and metrics week to week?
  • How much does an undercover investigation cost?
  • Why don’t people donate more to factory farmed animals, given that they’re the vast majority of animals harmed directly by humans?
  • How risky is it to attempt to build a career in animal advocacy?
  • What led to a change in their focus from bullfighting in Spain to animal farming?
  • How does working with governments or corporate campaigns compare with early strategies like creating new vegans/vegetarians?
  • Has their very rapid growth been difficult to handle?
  • What should our listeners study or do if they want to work in this area?
  • How can we get across the message that horrific cases are a feature – not a bug – of factory farming?
  • Do the owners or workers of factory farms ever express shame at what they do?

If you’re interested in this episode you’ll also want to hear our comprehensive review of ways to help animals with Lewis Bollard.

Highlights

Sharon and Jose believe undercover investigations into factory farms are very valuable. They win hearts and minds by making people aware of the true conditions animals face, and in particular have a track record of bringing politicians on board. They also put companies in a very tough position. There are a wide range of investigations; some only require getting a single camera inside the farm, while others involve a staff member working full time for months with a hidden camera. The industry often responds by claiming cases of abuse are rare, but with every subsequent investigation that argument loses credibility. Animal Equality has now filmed in over 100 pig farms in Spain making it hard for the industry to use the ‘one bad apple’ defence.

After trying iAnimal – Animal Equality’s VR experience – over 80% of regular people signed a pledge to reduce their meat consumption. Jose always wanted to bring people to the farms, and 360 degree cameras now allow for this close approximation. Watching normal footage allows a certain emotional distance, and you can always look away; not so with iAnimal, making it significantly more powerful.

AE is working with the European Parliament to get rabbit cages banned. 340 million rabbits are raised in battery cages each year., They have the highest mortality rate of any farm animal (1 in 5 rabbits born on a farm die in the first weeks). Sharon and Jose think it’d be very difficult to have such a large impact with education campaigns alone.

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The 80,000 Hours Podcast features unusually in-depth conversations about the world's most pressing problems and how you can use your career to solve them. We invite guests pursuing a wide range of career paths — from academics and activists to entrepreneurs and policymakers — to analyse the case for and against working on different issues and which approaches are best for solving them.

Get in touch with feedback or guest suggestions by emailing [email protected].

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