349: What if you risked your freedom to liberate the animals?
This Is Actually Happening
Wondery
4.6 • 9.9K Ratings
🗓️ 21 January 2025
⏱️ 70 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A bullied boy finds companionship in his animal friends, but as he grows up and finds himself trapped in a soulless career, he discovers a new purpose: freeing animals from captivity and facing the dire consequences.
Today’s episode featured Wayne Hsiung. You can reach out to Wayne at [email protected] or on Instagram, YouTube and Substack @waynehhsiung.
Wayne Hsiung is an animal cruelty investigator, former faculty member at Northwestern School of Law, and co-founder and Executive Director of The Simple Heart Initiative. He has led teams that have investigated and rescued animals from factory farms and slaughterhouses across the nation – challenging unconstitutional “ag-gag” laws in the process – and has organized successful campaigns to ban fur in San Francisco and California. He served as lead counsel (and, sometimes, defendant) in four “right to rescue” trials in which activists were prosecuted after being charged for giving aid to sick and dying animals in factory farms, garnering media attention from The New York Times. He is also a co-founder and former lead organizer of the grassroots animal rights network Direct Action Everywhere.
Wayne’s work has been covered by WIRED, ABC’s Nightline, and on The Ezra Klein Show.
He has published on the right to rescue in Harvard Law Review and climate change’s impact on animals in the University of Pennsylvania Law Review. Prior to his work as an animal advocate, Wayne practiced law at two national firms and studied law and economics at the University of Chicago, where he was an Olin Law and Economics Fellow, and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship. He is the proud parent of Oliver, who was rescued from the dog meat trade.
LINK TO OUR LISTENER SURVEY!
We’ve come up with a short audience survey, which you can find linked in our show notes and in the bio of our Instagram page @actuallyhappening. We’d love to hear your opinions and feedback, and we’d really appreciate your point of view. Link below:
Producers: Whit Missildine, Andrew Waits, Jason Blalock
Content/Trigger Warnings: bullying, animal cruelty/abuse/torture/killing, domestic animals as food, breaking and entering, arrest/jail/interrogation, explicit language
Social Media:
Instagram: @actuallyhappening
Twitter: @TIAHPodcast
Website: thisisactuallyhappening.com
Website for Andrew Waits: andrdewwaits.com
Website for Jason Blalock: jasonblalock.com
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Intro Music: "Illabye" – Tipper
Music Bed: Cylinder Four
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Wondry Plus subscribers can listen to exclusive episodes of This Is Actually Happening |
| 0:05.0 | by joining Wondry Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts. |
| 0:09.6 | This Is Actually Happening features real experiences that often include traumatic events. |
| 0:13.9 | Please consult the show notes for specific content warnings on each episode |
| 0:17.0 | and for more information about support services. |
| 0:26.6 | Hi listeners. |
| 0:29.5 | Just a reminder to complete our listener survey. |
| 0:33.4 | We've come up with a short survey which you can find linked on our show notes and in the bio of our Instagram page, at Actually Happening. |
| 0:36.6 | We'd love to hear your opinions and feedback. |
| 0:39.0 | And for those who have already filled it out, thank you so much. |
| 0:41.9 | We really value your perspectives. |
| 0:44.2 | And now we bring you today's episode. |
| 0:46.7 | What if you risked your freedom to liberate the animals? |
| 0:51.9 | All of us know what it's like to suffer. All of us, even in small ways, know what it's like to suffer. |
| 0:55.0 | All of us, even in small ways, know what it's like to be trapped. |
| 0:58.2 | Our ability to see in others that same feeling of fear of desperation is such a powerful ability. |
| 1:07.0 | And if we just hone that muscle and strengthen it and exercise it to the point that we can |
| 1:12.6 | collectively bring down these systems that are bullying, vulnerable creatures all over the world, |
| 1:18.2 | then everything will change. |
| 1:30.5 | From Wondery, I'm Witt Misseldine. |
| 1:34.0 | You're listening to This Is Actually Happening. |
| 1:43.0 | Episode 3.46. |
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