Steve Hindi–founder of SHowing Animals Respect and Kindness (SHARK), a national animal welfare organization concerned with halting and/or educating the public about pigeon shoots, rodeos, bullfighting, and canned hunts, among other issues—recounts the extended process by which he transformed from avid fisherman and hunter to passionate animal advocate.
In his telling, this metamorphosis was lengthy, involving arduous self-examination—grappling
with a deep family-culture tendency toward fishing and hunting, and decades he’d devoted to those activities—while seriously unnerved by witnessing a pigeon shoot. Indeed, Hindi explains, trauma generated by observing the pigeon shoot inspired this self-examination and, ultimately—by the time he saw another pigeon shoot a year later–profound change. He goes on to elaborate on this path toward transformation, noting the trickiness within his family—for example, Hindi’s brother remained a devoted hunter, while he recalls his wife would sometimes accompany him on fishing outings, asking him if he felt bad about his angling. Doing a lot of shark fishing, he remembers starting to feel haunted by sharks’ eyes. Having mentioned in another part of this conversation that SHARK is seen as early innovators among animal welfare entities in employing technology—including drones and extensive use of video–to carry out investigations and document various forms of cruelty and abuse, a caller acknowledged she was previously unfamiliar with SHARK, but implored Hindi to stop putting graphic footage online. The caller explained that she felt once these 
types of visuals were posted online, untold numbers of people—including unintended viewers–could be deeply disturbed by them, couldn’t unsee them, essentially, and in that way, functioned in a counter-productive way. Hindi countered that upsetting footage
is precisely the point, saying if the graphic clips helped SHARK affect change—and save animals—he could live with some folks experiencing nightmares. The caller’s counter response included suggesting that, in this increasingly Artificial Intelligence-oriented era, people may doubt that the footage they’re presented is real to begin with, minimizing its impact. A subsequent caller criticized the first caller’s position, arguing that she may be a “troll,” and underscoring Hindi’s reasoning that war correspondents’ ongoing coverage of a given conflict—often including graphic detail—has often been the primary factor in ultimately ending many wars. This discussion became an extended segment—as did the previous conversation about his transformation—but we certainly explored other topics, ranging from how the SHARK operation is funded, to its current campaign ending steer tailing in Illinois; steer tailing is the practice in which a person on horseback pursues a running steer, grabs its tail, and attempts to bring the animal to the ground. (https://sharkonline.org/)
ALSO: l spoke with John Thomas, also known as “The Vegan Bodybuilder”—he’s an enormously popular influencer in the vegan and bodybuilding spaces—who was then slated to emcee the Food Demos presented at the Tampa Bay Veg Fest, happening Nov. 8 at Perry Harvey Sr. Park. Thomas recounts his 20 years as a vegan, and the consulting services he offers under his Vegan Squad Coaching umbrella. He touches on the role he’ll be playing at Veg Fest, introducing the chefs offering Food Demos throughout the day, and delivering other aspects of serving as the event’s host. (https://www.tampabayvegfest.com/food-demos/), https://thebodybuildingvegan.com/)
COMEDY CORNER: Nick Di Paolo’s “Animal Activists” (DS edit) (https://www.nickdip.com/)
MUSIC: Rebekah Pulley’s “Talking Animals Theme”
NAME THAT ANIMAL TUNE: The Tokens’ “The Lion Sleeps Tonight (Wimoweh)”
AUDIO ARCHIVE:
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