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Jan. 5, 2016 - The Joe Rogan Experience
02:16:46
Joe Rogan Experience #743 - Phil Demers
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joe rogan
01:13:58
p
phil demers
01:00:26
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jamie vernon
00:02
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Speaker Time Text
joe rogan
Was the correct pronunciation of your last name?
Demers?
phil demers
Demers.
joe rogan
Demers.
Demers works.
Yes!
And we're live.
Second podcast of 2016, Phil.
How do you feel about that?
phil demers
I'm ecstatic, Joe.
I can't even begin to thank you for this.
Honestly, if it wasn't for my having been on this podcast two years ago and returning now in a very timely manner, I think I'd be a fish dead out of water.
joe rogan
What do you mean?
phil demers
Well, in terms of the cause that I sort of represent and all the multiple lawsuits that are levied against all the animal activists that I'm amongst.
joe rogan
Well, let's explain to everybody who is unfamiliar.
You had a lawsuit with Marine World.
You used to work for Marine World.
phil demers
Marine Land.
joe rogan
Marine Land, excuse me, which is like SeaWorld for Canada.
Something like that.
A type of thing.
A type of SeaWorld, right?
phil demers
SeaWorld's a day at the spa for animals compared to Marine Land.
joe rogan
Really?
Oh, yeah.
It's that much worse?
phil demers
Significantly worse.
joe rogan
So you worked for them.
You were released from your job, fired as it were.
phil demers
I quit voluntarily.
I quit amidst a...
joe rogan
Did they say you were fired?
phil demers
No, no.
joe rogan
No, everybody admits you were quit.
phil demers
I never gave them the opportunity to fire me.
I made the first move.
joe rogan
They were going to fire you?
phil demers
I think that's the inclination I had at the time.
joe rogan
But you were a trainer, and I think you opened up a lot of people's eyes to it.
This was actually pre-Blackfish, right?
phil demers
This was pre-Blackfish.
joe rogan
Yeah.
I ate pot candy and was in Hawaii once, like many years ago.
And I had an experience with dolphins where these dolphins were...
We were fishing and these dolphins were coming by the boat and they were jumping and playing with us.
And I remember thinking, they might as well be people.
They might as well be water people or something.
There's something weird about this.
They're enjoying playing with us.
As we yell to them, they do more stuff.
They came by and they were jumping and they were clearly looking at us when they jumped through the water.
I'd never been to SeaWorld before because I had seen some documentaries on dolphins and I knew they were really smart.
I'd seen some documentaries on orcas as well.
It just always seemed really fucked up to me that they make them stay in these swimming pools.
But when you came on the podcast Two years ago and illuminated what it's like behind the scenes, at least at Marine Land.
It was horrific, man.
And I got a lot of tweets from people and Facebook messages that said they would never go to SeaWorld or Marine Land again.
And then they realized really what it was.
Then the documentary Blackfish came out and the whole world...
I was sort of forced to take a look at this and understand that these animals are super intelligent.
Just because they can't manipulate things, just because they can't pick things up and they can't write their name, they can't send you an email.
In their environment, that's unnecessary.
In their environment, in the natural world, they're moving through 3D space in the water, they have free food and fish, they have a huge community of Fellow orcas and fellow dolphins, and they communicate with each other through a very complex language that we barely understand.
They have a fucking language.
Not like monkeys go, ooh, ooh, and the other monkey goes, ah, ah, like kind of a language.
No, they have a complex language with dialects.
They might as well be water people.
phil demers
They've already evolved to be the top predator of the sea, so there's no need for them to learn to email.
They have no use for it.
So they're already the absolute top predators of the sea.
joe rogan
Yeah, that's a way to look at it, right?
Like, we have this kind of view of our position being the top, I mean, we're kind of the top predator, but we're only the top predator because of our minds, because we figured out how to manipulate things.
They have huge minds, they have incredible brains, and then they're also, they eat everything they want.
They don't need to evolve any further.
They've sort of mastered their domain.
phil demers
And they're amazingly adaptable.
They evolve in every which capacity to be able to adjust to the ever-changing world.
Killer Whales Now, I recently watched a documentary, and on account of the melting ice in the Arctic in the summer, the ice flows are receding.
They're becoming smaller and smaller every year.
So now orcas are now going into territories that they'd never had before.
And the Inuit have documented that they've seen orcas actually hunt bow whales, which are 50 ton larger than an orca itself.
And what they do is they...
They isolate the animal, they bite their fins, they hold them underwater while another orca goes on top of their blowhole to try to drown it.
I mean, this is amazing adapting.
joe rogan
Wow.
phil demers
Yeah.
joe rogan
Jesus Christ.
Well, that's where they got their name, killer whales, from killing whales.
phil demers
Exactly.
joe rogan
A lot of people think they're a type of whale.
They're actually a cousin to a dolphin.
phil demers
That's right.
They're dolphins.
They're just the largest dolphin in the dolphin family.
joe rogan
They eat dolphins too, which is kind of fucked up.
unidentified
Killer whales...
joe rogan
Humans eat monkeys.
phil demers
Unbeknownst to most, killer whales are...
And you have to sort of disassociate things.
You have to sort of draw a line between killer whales being cute and loving and just how, if you want to use the word sadistic, they are.
They are evil, evil, evil in the way that they hunt and kill.
They are merciless, you know?
joe rogan
earth you know being like the smart things are supposed to be compassionate and we're supposed to like be the stewards of the land and take care of the little chipmunks and all the other animals but it's because we're so far ahead of all the other animals that we kind of that's how that's you know we kind of feel bad The way we treat each other, we want to kind of treat other animals that way.
Which is why, you know, animal rights organizations and all these people that really, really love and care about animals, that's where they sort of come under fire.
Because they want people to treat animals different than animals treat animals.
So animals are fucking mean as shit to each other.
And that's just the way of the world.
phil demers
One of the videos that stood out for me, and actually was sort of a wake-up call for me, was just how nasty nature is.
And it was a video that you actually shared, and it was of a bear taking down a deer.
That dude's yard?
Yeah, and that guy's backyard.
I mean, that's tough to watch, right?
joe rogan
It is.
It was screaming.
The deer was screaming.
The bear was just eating it, like, ferociously.
Well, that's the thing about bears as opposed to cats.
When a cat gets a deer, they go right for the neck and they kill it pretty quick.
Because that's all they do.
But bears do a lot of things.
They eat berries and roots and plants.
So they don't always kill things.
Matter of fact, they probably eat more plant matter than they do animal matter.
So when they kill things, they basically just hold these things down and start eating.
phil demers
It's a question of opportunity, I guess, if it arises.
They're hungry.
joe rogan
Well, they eat a lot of fawns.
That's a big issue in Canada, where you're from, sir.
phil demers
That's right.
joe rogan
They eat a lot of moose, like moose calves and deer fawns.
They eat them as they're coming out.
They actually smell the placenta and all the stuff that surrounds the baby.
And they'll find these moose as they're giving birth and just literally pull them right out of their body.
Fucked up.
phil demers
You know, I'm an animal rights activist by, I suppose that's the label that I've been given, but I should mention that there are a lot of animal rights activists that owe you a great deal of credit for your sort of, I want to use your sort of advocacy,
despite the fact that there are There's a stark line between those who believe in not killing animals and everything else, but then there are also other people that can appreciate how nature operates, predator-prey relationship, and can also appreciate that, at least in what you've said before.
You yourself are opposed to the captivity of animals.
I mean, the last time we were on, you mentioned of going to a zoo and maybe eating a pot cookie and having a look at the monkeys and being like, you know, you're throwing bows through animals.
And I very much respect the fact that the way that you hunt and the way that you eat is the kill what you eat movement or whatever you want to call it.
And as an animal rights activist, I can say that that is a far more responsible way than, you know, I want to take a look at the factory farming things and whatnot.
But I forget shit, I forget the point I was making.
joe rogan
Well, I know what you're saying, that it sort of almost would seem like I'd be against them in some sort of a way because I eat meat.
But the reality is a lot of animal rights activists have fucking cats, man.
And they feed their cats cat food.
And guess what?
That shit ain't growing on a cat food tree.
You know, there's a reality to the world, and cats are brutal.
Cats are vicious little fuckers, and they need protein.
And if you have a cat, and I have two of them, I love them.
They're awesome.
phil demers
They come cuddle with me while I'm watching TV. On any given day, I've got five cats, three that I claim as my own, two that just sort of come and go at will.
joe rogan
Wildcats?
phil demers
Well, one is, one neighbor sort of, I would say that he sort of neglected it in terms of how you care for a domestic cat.
And when he moved away, he said, look, you know, you take care of this cat, which I did.
On my second level balcony, I built this thing I called the Taj Mahkitty.
It was this place where the cat could come live in the winter, right?
And it's real cold.
And so he said, you know, do you want to keep this cat?
unidentified
Sure.
phil demers
So I got it fixed and whatnot.
And he likes to show his gratitude by bringing us...
Baby rabbits.
If you've ever seen a baby rabbit, the cutest thing in the world.
And he maliciously licks them down to the point of just chewing them until the sound stops and leaving them as gifts.
And you can't help but love Eugene.
I mean, Eugene is an amazing and loving cat.
unidentified
He's also just a cold-blooded killer.
joe rogan
That's why they're alive.
We don't want to think about it that way, but animals today that are alive today in 2016 are alive because their ancestors, especially predators like cats, were fucking vicious.
They were vicious and ruthless and they made sure they killed everything they could because if you don't kill that little baby rabbit, there might not be anything left for you to eat that day and you might starve or you might be too weak to get away from something that wants to kill you.
phil demers
Exactly.
joe rogan
You might be too weak to get away from a wolf or you might be, you know...
We have a beautiful situation.
We go to the store, we buy food that someone else killed for us, and we can get it every time.
It's not like a rare thing, like you have to wait for it, or you have to put in a lot of effort to get it.
Throughout human history, it's always been difficult to acquire food, until recently.
Recently, it's become so ridiculous, you don't even have to get out of your fucking car to eat.
You literally pull into a fucking drive-thru.
You hand these people paper.
Within seconds, they hand you already cooked meat in a sandwich.
A ground beef sandwich.
You put it on your seat.
They give you a glass of liquid sweet shit.
You stick that in your little cup holder and you're eating.
That's insane!
Never before in human history has that happened.
And that lack of effort and lack of connection has bred a lot of people that have a really distorted understanding of life itself.
A really distorted understanding of what it takes to make a ground beef sandwich.
You know, if you want to raise a cow yourself and go through that whole thing, I have a few friends that do it.
I have my good friend Doug in Wisconsin.
He grows his own cows.
They're all grass-fed, and he gave me some meat from it last time I was there.
And he does it all himself.
He shoots them himself.
I mean, he does the whole deed.
He butchers them, he hangs them, the whole deed.
And that guy understands what it takes to make a ground beef sandwich.
But most of us is pulling to that drive-thru.
phil demers
I think it's a privileged perspective.
It's people that have never had to do anything like that.
unidentified
Yeah.
phil demers
Put any effort in raising their food.
I have friends that are farmers and it's the same story.
And they love and respect their animals through and through.
But at the end of the day, it becomes a stake.
joe rogan
It sounds like a contradiction, right?
You know, loving your animal but killing it.
phil demers
I think in defense of anyone that likes to call out hypocrisy is that you have to take a look at the fact that there's hypocrisy in absolutely everything you do.
I mean, the fact alone that...
And I'm going to use vegans as an example.
If you're going to look at what...
What an abomination of nature is really the functions of society as a whole.
A city, a physical city is an abomination of nature.
joe rogan
Yeah.
phil demers
So if you're a vegan and you're, for instance, renting an apartment and driving a car, immediately there's hypocrisy in that.
And this is not me calling out the idea of living a compassionate life or propagating that.
I think that's fine.
I think it's great.
I'd encourage that.
I think the world needs more compassion.
But it's the judgment, right?
It's the judgment.
I think when you start looking from the perspective of someone who's privileged, then...
joe rogan
Yeah.
The judgment.
But, I mean, the judgment comes, I think, a lot of it comes from a real place.
People are like, fuck this factory farming shit.
Fuck people who eat meat.
You know, they get angry.
You know, they love animals.
But it's just so hilarious when you have a cat...
phil demers
That's feasting on a multitude of animals that have been...
joe rogan
Yeah, raised in captivity.
All of them.
I mean, the way they raise animals, when you're buying cat food...
Man, you're buying the worst treated animals ever.
I've never even heard of ethically sourced cat food.
I'm sure it exists.
I'm sure I haven't heard about it.
But even ethically sourced cat food, whatever, man.
It's murder.
If you feed your cats plants, and there are people who do that, they have organ failure.
They fucking get heart attacks.
They die.
They can't live.
But there's a lot of people.
I found these people because...
I found these people because they're hating on me after my last Comedy Central special where I did this bit about vegans.
So whenever people get really mad at me, I like to go to their Twitter page and read what they're into.
So I go to these fucking people's Twitter page and I found out that there's a whole vegan cat forum.
Vegan cat owners and, you know, hashtag cruelty free and these fuckers, they feed their cats plants and they don't live long.
They die.
phil demers
I'd like to have a conversation with those cats.
I mean, it would be nice if we could bridge that language barrier.
joe rogan
Oh yeah, if you rolled a mouse by one of those cats, they would dive on it like a man in the ocean that just finally got to land.
Yeah, it's a feast.
Yeah, like if you just...
You barely made it to shore.
unidentified
That feeling that you get when you get to land.
phil demers
I think there's a line.
There's a line in all advocacy where how far are you willing to go?
Really, it's a question of how willing are you to sacrifice?
I lived in South Korea for a while, and this is a country that was leveled back in the mid-50s.
They had to rebuild from essentially nothing.
I saw pig heads being served up on the side of roads, but I can appreciate that these people had suffered so much so that they had to eat everything that was available to them.
I don't want to sit here and defend that South Koreans are eating dogs and whatnot.
It's symbolic of their history and whatnot, but if you've got nothing left to eat, I'd like to see how quickly your ethics change, right?
If you are truly suffering.
joe rogan
And a dog...
I love dogs.
I have two dogs.
But let's be honest about what a dog is.
A dog is a little captive pet.
They're your buddies because you feed them and you take care of them and you have this relationship with them and you have this agreement with them.
But if you ran into a wild dog...
There was a couple...
An elderly couple, I want to say like maybe seven or eight years ago, that was killed by a pack of wild dogs in Georgia.
Georgia, United States, Atlanta.
You know, that area.
phil demers
Of course.
joe rogan
Like, what the fuck, man?
Like, dogs will fucking kill you if they don't have any food.
If you think that they're like Old Yeller or Lassie or some...
No.
What they are is exactly how you treat them from birth.
If you get a puppy, like my dog Johnny.
I have a dog named Johnny Cash.
He's the sweetest dog of all time.
He is so nice.
He's just so gentle.
He's a Mastiff.
And he's just so friendly.
Anybody that comes over, I never worry about him barking at them.
If he barks, it's like, hey man, come play with me.
And when you go up to him, you're like, what's up, dude?
And he's always super happy and super sweet.
But it's because I've had him from the time he was a baby.
And the guy who bred him, he's always been really ethical about how he breeds these dogs.
And they're very smart and kind.
But it's because of the relationship that I had with him.
He knows I'm the daddy.
I give him the food.
I give him the love.
You know, it's all this agreement.
phil demers
It's part of their evolution.
I mean, they're physically cute on account of the fact that we selectively bred them through and through.
And they themselves learned that, hey, if I'm like really docile and cute and look with these big puppy dog's eyes, I get more food and I get a better place to live and get a warmer shelter.
And I'm not likely to wind up in the backyard in winter, you know?
joe rogan
Well, there was actually a Radiolab podcast that was absolutely fascinating on raising foxes, and they raised foxes.
Yeah, you say foxes, right?
It's not like deer.
I think so, right?
phil demers
I'm not going to correct you.
Seems goofy.
joe rogan
Seems like fishes.
phil demers
Foxes.
joe rogan
That's a word.
phil demers
Fishes is an acceptable word, if I'm not mistaken.
Yeah, but you can use the word fishes.
joe rogan
Really?
phil demers
I thought there was a large debate about this, and this was figured out back in the mid-90s.
I swear this is part of my...
My recollection.
joe rogan
You might be right.
I don't know.
But anyway, the radio lab about foxes, they selectively bred foxes based on their behavior, based on whether or not they were aggressive, and the ones that were aggressive they killed, and the ones that reacted a certain way.
I don't remember the actual parameters that they set, but...
Ultimately, what it was, and if you're into this, Google it, because I don't remember the name of the episode, but it was amazing.
Within a few generations, like within less than 10 years, they had completely changed what these foxes looked like.
Their ears had become droopy.
Their jaws had become less pronounced and smaller.
Their behavior was markedly different.
They literally were almost a different species, and it was within 10 years.
Things adapt and change.
phil demers
The reverse to that is, and I think I heard it on your podcast, is that if you were to release a pig, and then it eventually starts growing hair again and maybe protruding some tusks.
joe rogan
Within six weeks.
Within six weeks.
A fucking month of a pig living in the wild, and all of a sudden their hair starts growing thicker and longer, their nose extends, their tusks grow larger, they become a different thing.
They literally start to adapt to the physical shape of a wild pig.
Have you ever been around wild pigs?
phil demers
No, I've not.
joe rogan
They're really interesting.
First of all, a lot of them are black.
They're like a dark, dark color.
I'm not even talking about boars.
When we think of boar, a boar is actually the term for a male pig.
So when people go to a menu and it says wild boar sausage, is it really?
How do you know it's not a wild girl?
It might be a sow.
It's an ignorant terminology.
But then there's these Russian boars.
There's a different type of boar that lives in other countries.
I don't know exactly what the genus is, what the name is.
But the crazy thing is they're all interchangeable.
They can all breed with each other.
They're all the same thing, ultimately.
Sort of the idea of dogs as well.
phil demers
Dogs are crossbred all the time to sort of pull out the...
The advantages that we're looking for when we're breeding them.
Yes.
I know they were breeding, and I don't know, I can't remember where now, but they were selectively breeding this hunter of a dog, and they just made this mammoth machine, but also a docile, docile and trusted creature.
I wish I remembered where I read that.
joe rogan
Yeah, they're, I mean, it's amazing that dogs are a lot like people in that way.
There's a lot of different variations of people, you know?
I mean, you've got Shaquille O'Neal, and then you've got, you know, Natasha Leggero, right?
Little tiny Natasha, she's a comedian.
She's like 100 pounds.
You know, people vary almost as much as dogs do in that sense.
You know, we're all sorts of different shapes and looks and But my point being, wild animals, like a feral cat.
I've had feral cats before.
I had a feral cat.
And he was fucking nuts.
phil demers
Could you actually get near him?
joe rogan
I could.
Only me.
Like literally only me.
No one else could get near him.
He would hiss and fucking run away.
He would hiss at me half the time.
But if I approached him real slow.
But once I picked him up, oh my god, he would start purring like crazy.
phil demers
The fact alone that you got close enough to be able to pick him up is pretty rare.
joe rogan
Well, what I did was I tamed him in a weird way.
My friend Laney, her boyfriend and her lived in this apartment, and they had down below, I went to high school with her, and down below their apartment, they found a cat that had given birth to a litter, a wild, and this is like Santa Monica.
So they're like, oh my God, what are we going to do?
So they decided to capture these cats and try to get them home.
So me, like the asshole that I am, I said, all right, I'll take it.
So I took one of them.
I brought him home and he was so...
I thought, ah, he's a kitten.
I'll bring him home and hang out with my cat.
Everything will be cool.
I had two cats at the time.
And he was so fucking different than them.
He was like, he'd look at you like...
Just hiss and fucking jump up five, six feet in the air.
phil demers
Just fundamentally different, right?
joe rogan
Oh my god, he was so scared of everything.
He was terrified.
Everything was a legitimate life-or-death struggle.
So, the internet wasn't around back then, so I was trying to figure out, like, okay, how the fuck do I do this?
I gotta get to know this little dude.
Food.
Yeah, food, and what I did was I... I took this room in my house.
I put a bed in there.
It was like a guest room.
Sorry, I already had a bed in there.
But I decided this was going to be my room now.
So I closed myself in there, put a litter box in there, brought some books in, and I hung out with this fucking cat for two days.
phil demers
You're a brave dude, man.
joe rogan
Just me and this cat.
phil demers
I've seen cats attack humans, and it's violent, man.
joe rogan
Yeah, but he was a kitten.
It was a baby.
unidentified
Okay.
joe rogan
It was a baby.
I would've never done this to a full-blown cat.
phil demers
You can't.
joe rogan
You can't.
A full-blown cat, you can't train him.
phil demers
No, it's over.
joe rogan
He was only- he was a little tiny thing.
So what I did was, uh, I would- I would pet him, and he'd purr like crazy, and then when I put him down, he would hiss at me and run away.
Like, he was so fucked up.
And I mean, he would jump- he would- he fucked up my curtains, jumped through the air and grabbed the curtains and like- I was like trying to climb them and shit.
It was like- out of control.
I was like, dude, I was just petting you a few seconds ago.
But the life or death struggle that these things were involved in, even whatever he got from his mom and his dad, like the genes that were passed down, those are genes of wild animals that were really scared of everything and trying to survive.
So he thought he was about to get eaten.
phil demers
Yeah.
joe rogan
But he became my little buddy.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Took a while.
phil demers
Was there an element of you that sort of loved the fact that he was badass and scratching your curtains and shit, or were you like, no, I hate it?
joe rogan
It was fascinating.
It was like, I'm a big fan of just the idea of wildlife.
You know, I think we live in cities, and living in cities and...
Driving cars and sleeping in nice houses and, you know, having a yard.
It's probably as close to a lot of people get to nature on a daily basis as they got a tree and some fucking grass in their yard.
When you're out in wild and you see wild nature...
One of the most fascinating things about hunting is not just the pursuit of an animal that you're going to eat, but it's also spending a lot of time out there in the real wild.
Like the real wild where a fucking elk lives, you know, where a thousand pound animal lives its life with fucking trees growing out of its head and wanders through the forest.
Couple weeks a month out of the year gets to fuck and the rest of the time is just running from danger and eating.
phil demers
Fighting.
joe rogan
It's massively interesting.
phil demers
Doesn't have the slightest clue of the modern world, you know?
joe rogan
Couldn't care less.
All it cares about is doing what it naturally does to stay alive.
phil demers
And that's really where animals should be.
joe rogan
Yeah.
phil demers
I mean that's the premise of what we're sort of dealing with.
joe rogan
But it's just so fascinating when they're there.
I encourage everybody.
I mean, zoos are bullshit, man.
They're bullshit.
They give you a stupid idea of what an animal is.
phil demers
It's just a business.
They're there to make your money.
They're not reintroducing animals into the wild.
There's no program.
I mean, I don't want to say there's none on there.
I'd like to hope that there are some.
joe rogan
There are programs where they help animals.
You know what it is?
It's like there's some animals that are so far gone and need so much help that it actually benefits them to have some of them in captivity just so they can keep a breeding population alive.
phil demers
But ultimately, does that breeding population get reintroduced in the wild in any capacity?
joe rogan
Some of them in some cases.
They've done it with tigers, I know.
They've done it with some animals.
It's hard.
You know, it's fucking hard.
I mean, I'm not slighting in any way people who care about wild animals.
I absolutely care about wild animals.
I think it's amazing.
I mean, people think you don't if you hunt or you eat.
And I get it.
I understand.
I understand where they're coming from.
But...
This is how I try to look at it.
Those animals are going to die no matter what.
They're all going to die.
They're not going to live forever.
I'm not talking about wiping out populations with hunting.
I'm not doing that, and I don't think any hunters are trying to do that.
What hunters are trying to do, and what they have done, there's more deer in North America today than there were when Columbus landed.
And the reason is a bunch of things.
But a big part of it is wildlife management.
The wildlife agencies, like the Department of Fish and Wildlife in America, Department of Fish and Game, they're very careful about how many deer they allow people to take.
And there's consequences for poaching, like stiff consequences.
They put you in jail.
And because of these rules and enforcing these ethics, they've allowed these animals to grow in massive numbers.
And then, of course, there's also agriculture.
Agriculture contributes to them a lot.
Like the most deer population or the biggest deer population in America is usually around people.
It's usually on people and farms.
Some of the biggest deer in the world, like Iowa and Kansas, they're known for the biggest deer in at least North America.
Canada is actually known for the biggest ones.
But that has to do with cold temperatures creating larger-bodied animals because they have to generate more heat to stay alive.
But my point is, I'm not a hater of animals just because I kill them and eat them.
In fact, I love them.
I really do.
It sounds...
I get it.
I know it sounds contradictory.
But what you're doing when you're eating an animal is almost like a sacred thing.
When you hunt an animal and you kill and you eat it, it sounds like such hippie horseshit or some pseudo-spiritual horseshit.
But it is kind of sacred.
There's something that happens.
When I cook a steak of an elk...
That I ate, and I grill that thing, and I eat it.
There's a connection that I have to that meat that's crazy.
unidentified
It's incredible.
phil demers
You've earned it on different levels.
joe rogan
You've earned it.
I don't know if the word earned it is the correct word, but I'm connected to it.
phil demers
Sure.
joe rogan
You know, I'm connected to that animal.
I'm connected to where this meat comes from.
I know that that animal ate from the grass, you know, in the forest, and then I killed it, and now I'm eating it, and this is like this weird, crazy cycle.
phil demers
I grew up on moose meat.
My dad was a hunter, avid hunter.
He went out there.
I mean, I saw a photo recently of a...
joe rogan
Get up on that microphone, my friend.
I'll pull it towards you.
You can pull it towards you.
unidentified
My bad.
phil demers
I saw a photo recently of my dad back.
It has to be in the 80s.
And he took down a bull moose.
I mean, this was a massive animal.
The best of my recollection was just eating that animal.
So, I mean, even the fact alone that I'm a meat eater...
You know, people...
Rarely now.
Back in 2012, this is a different story, but there's been largely a paradigm shift in how we view animals, especially captive animals.
I was called out quite a bit for being a hypocrite.
unidentified
Oh, you eat meat?
phil demers
Oh, you got leather shoes?
It's as if my message is worth nothing.
It's like, well, you're not paying attention to the core of my message.
Stop attacking the messenger.
That's the sort of defense I have against people who like to call hypocrisy in everything.
joe rogan
Do you eat fast food?
Do you eat, like, store-bought food?
phil demers
Yeah, at my weakest moments, and I'm admittedly a weak man.
I tried not to, and last time I was on the show, I'd stress that, you know, I tried to get away from pork, and still I tried to make as ethical a decision as possible, but not at three in the morning, you know?
It just happens.
It was just like last night, we were driving around, we were cruising around, we needed to eat, and we found our food, and we gave them that paper money, and I slept better.
joe rogan
Yeah.
It's tricky, right?
Tricky trying to stay alive.
unidentified
Yeah.
phil demers
And the last time I was on the show, I'd actually mentioned that I had a hard time getting off cheese.
And it's interesting because recently I read a study that cheese may very well react to, or your mind may actually react to cheese similarly to crack.
joe rogan
Really?
phil demers
Yeah.
I wish I could quote it better.
Again, I'm not a scientist, but I did read this article and it said that the more processed that a food is, it creates some type of fat that your brain itself becomes addicted to.
And they actually referenced an addiction to crack and that it was similar.
joe rogan
Look at this.
Cheese really is crack.
Jamie, you're on the ball.
You need a raise.
Cheese really is crack.
Study reveals cheese is as addictive as drugs.
That is fucking insane.
Well, you know what?
That makes sense.
Because I'll tell you what.
Anthony Bourdain, that motherfucker loves cheese.
And he's had notorious substance abuse problems in the past.
But I fucking hung out with him, man.
The way he talks about cheese is the way young 22-year-old guys talk about pussy.
phil demers
Okay, now you know.
joe rogan
It's like...
It's like, oh my god, stinky cheese, the stinkiest of better.
Pull that up so I can understand that, Jamie.
Let me pull it up so the text could read.
This is fucking nuts.
For years you've been telling your friends, family, co-workers, what is the title of this?
It's from the LA Times Food Daily Dish by Jen Harris.
And it says, for years you've been telling your friends, family, co-workers, and anyone who will listen that you're addicted to cheese.
It's part of every meal or snack, and you think about it constantly.
A few studies suggest that food addiction is a real thing.
The study published by the U.S. National Library of Medicine examines why certain foods are more addictive than others.
Researchers identified addictive foods from about 500 people who completed in the Yale Food Addiction Scale.
Huh.
Okay.
Cheese happens to be especially addictive because of an ingredient called casein.
Okay, it's a protein found in all milk products during digestion.
Am I saying that right?
C-A-S-E-I-N releases opiates.
unidentified
Whoa!
joe rogan
Called casomorphins.
Holy shit.
Opiates get released when you eat cheese.
Really play with the dopamine receptors and trigger that addictive element.
Wow.
That's amazing.
phil demers
People are going to start putting some Kraft synthetic cheese in syringes.
unidentified
I don't know.
joe rogan
You know what I've been eating lately?
I've been eating raw cheese.
I've been getting raw cheese from the Whole Foods.
Whole Foods has the raw cheese.
It's made with raw milk.
It's fucking great, man.
It's really good.
Raw milk is great, too.
phil demers
That's the thing I've gotten away from the most.
Growing up, I drank a lot of milk.
A lot of milk.
I would say more than the average person.
Now, I can't stomach a glass of milk.
Yeah, I just can't.
I have no urge for it whatsoever.
joe rogan
So, how do you eat cookies?
phil demers
Okay, there's when the hypocrisy comes in, right?
I'm the largest hypocrite, I admit it.
Yeah, so you're right.
So I guess I do have a dip, of course.
And I've heard on the podcast before, and I'm going to accept some of the judgment that's going to come from it.
But I've made the switch to almond milk.
And feel free to rant about how bad almond milk is for...
A, the environment, A, for all the almonds that are being wasted and the water use and everything else.
I mean, there is a perspective that people like to say, oh, almond milk, that's a healthy alternative.
But if you look at it from the other side, the environmental impact and everything else, almond milk's shit.
joe rogan
Well, it's not bad.
It's just what almond milk...
Here's one thing that everybody needs to consider.
When you buy almond milk and it tastes good, it's like, oh, this is so sweet.
Look at the fucking label, bitches, all right?
Because I guarantee you that shit is filled with sugar.
Duncan called me up.
Dude, I've been drinking almond milk.
It's amazing!
It's so delicious!
I go, okay.
What kind are you drinking?
He tells me the kind.
I go, look at the label and look how much sugar is in it.
He goes, holy shit!
He's like, 18 grams?
I'm like, yeah, every glass is 18 fucking grams of sugar.
That's a lot of sugar.
I think you're not supposed to have, like, if you're trying to be healthy...
I don't believe you're supposed to have more than 25 grams of sugar a day.
I think there's like a limit.
Well, you hit a limit, and if you go over that, you're like, whoa, you're fucking with your body there.
And this dude's getting most of that from a glass of supposedly healthy almond milk.
phil demers
Well, I don't drink a lot of it, admittedly, but it's the alternative.
Yeah, I think it does taste good.
It's got a nutty flavor.
It's got a nice texture.
What can I say?
joe rogan
It's really bad when you're in a place like California, which is normally experiencing a drought today.
It's pouring like fucking crazy.
We're in the middle of El Nino.
I do not know if you know.
This is El Nino and its effects.
You want to warm the water?
unidentified
You think that there's no consequences to your actions?
joe rogan
Wrong!
El Nino is here.
phil demers
It couldn't wait three days for me to...
No.
joe rogan
No, it's good.
It's good.
I like it.
I like watching all these fucking dummies who have no idea how to drive when it rains out.
That's one of the things I loved about when I lived in Colorado for the brief time when it would snow.
It's like, ah, yes.
I love a little consequences for living on Earth.
Nature is a thing that we avoid in California.
We've avoided it.
It barely exists.
We go to the ocean and we're like, whoa, cool, nature.
That's the only time.
You can go visit it.
You can go to the park and visit it.
But it doesn't rain.
There's no weather.
There's no consequences.
phil demers
I feel like water probably in California is, in a way, the glue that's going to keep the ground together because you guys are in a badass drought.
I've seen these before and after pictures and I'm like, wow.
I remember when I was repeatedly asking you to come back in the show, I'd be like, I've got to get in there before California runs out of water.
joe rogan
We're not out of water.
We're right next to the fucking ocean.
They just need to figure out how to suck that water out of the ocean and get the salt out of it.
If we could put people on the moon, how the hell can we not get salt out of the fucking water?
Just stop making smaller phones.
Stop adding new TV channels to DirecTV.
Figure it out, you fucks.
Just get in there and suck that water out and let's turn this bitch into a rainforest.
Start spraying that shit from the sky.
All those chemtrail planes that all those wackos are worried about.
Let's have those fuckers for real.
Just fill them up with water and just dump it on us.
Just get those giant planes filled with water and just dump water on everybody.
phil demers
Surely a million dollar idea.
joe rogan
I think it probably costs a little more than that.
phil demers
I was thinking of the earnings, if you can manage to figure out how to extract that.
joe rogan
Well, they actually have a desalination plant that they are going online with this year, I believe, in San Diego.
Is that this year?
Do you know that story, Jamie?
Apparently, they do have emerging technologies to extract salt from water.
And they've used them in the Middle East where they just have ungodly amounts of money.
They just have so much money over there because of the oil.
Some of these dudes have tried to use that money to create machines that can suck the salt out of the water and figure out some way to filter it.
phil demers
If Bill Gates can drink water from his own shit, you'd like to think that someone could...
joe rogan
Is that what he's doing?
phil demers
He did.
joe rogan
Good for him.
phil demers
He invented a machine that extracted water from human shit, and there he was.
joe rogan
From actual shit or from sewage?
phil demers
I think it was shit.
I think it was shit.
We'll use the word sewage just for the sake of making a little more broader spectrum of...
unidentified
Jesus Christ.
Yeah.
joe rogan
Well, that's what you do when you have $90 billion.
It's bold.
Everybody's getting Fiji and Evian.
I heard Fiji's not even really from Fiji, those fucks.
I heard that's bullshit.
Yeah, I heard Fiji is just some fucking, just some spring water from the middle of nowhere.
That plan opened up December 14th.
Oh, it did open up.
Okay.
So it went online at the end of 2015. That's interesting.
unidentified
That's good.
phil demers
Huge developments.
joe rogan
Yeah.
That's gonna happen.
That's gonna fix the whole fucking problem.
We're gonna go, Jesus Christ.
We were right next to so much water, you have to fly over it in a fucking plane, and it takes 16 hours to get to the other side.
phil demers
And I'm going to plead ignorant here, but why are we not just showering with saltwater or maybe extinguishing fires with saltwater?
Why are we not using the saltwater in different capacities that we're not imposing so much...
joe rogan
That's a good question.
To process it, the thing about saltwater is it does corrode things really badly.
If you're near the ocean...
I have a friend who has a beach house.
Every time we go to hang out with him at his beach house, everything's all fucked up and corroded.
They're constantly dealing with corrosion because of the salt in the air.
It's just a constant moisture and salt together.
They just corrode the shit out of things.
That's why where I used to live in Boston, the cars are always fucked up.
Old cars, it's hard to find.
If you want to find a 1970 Plymouth or something like that, it's hard to find one that's in good shape because they're all rusted out from the salt that they throw on the ground when it snows out to melt the snow.
phil demers
That's why my cars are all fucked up.
joe rogan
So the point being, the problem with almond milk is it uses a lot of water.
They use a shitload of water.
phil demers
And a lot of almonds.
I guess you're extracting very little of the nutritional value from the almonds per capita, if you will, versus this mass amount.
joe rogan
Right, but...
phil demers
Grinding it down or whatever.
joe rogan
Fuck almonds.
That's what I have to say, dude.
Fuck them.
Who cares?
I'll eat almonds all day and not care about their life.
That's the thing about life.
We don't really care much about plant life.
We want it to be there, but we don't think about it the way we think about animal life.
Like, we want animal life to be there, but we don't want anybody to kill it.
Like, plant life, the only time people get bummed out about plants is when...
Someone chops down an ancient redwood or something like that.
Like, oh God, how could you?
phil demers
And again, I've read somewhere where plants can actually hear when they're being eaten.
And I've seen some studies, or rather, I read something somewhere, again, where a plant has a similar hunting behavior as animals.
Where they're actually, the roots will physically chase or find their nutrients.
So, you know, some would argue that plants are just as conscious or conceivably conscious as animals as well.
joe rogan
Well, they're different in the same way that humans are different than dolphins.
We were talking about the intelligence level of an orca versus the intelligence level of a person.
Like, we would like to think that we're smarter than them, but there's no evidence of that.
If we lived in the ocean, we would look like fucking idiots.
If we were swimming around with them trying to stay alive, they'd be like, look at these dummies with their fingers and their exposed dicks.
Their dicks getting eaten by crabs, these fucks.
They can't even sleep in the water.
They're just going to die.
They would think we were retarded, right?
So that's sort of how...
When we look at their life and what they're doing, they're perfectly adapted to their environment.
Well, a tree is perfectly adapted to its environment.
And there's been a lot of research done on plant intelligence.
And there is a lot of evidence to suggest that these aren't...
Inanimate objects like a rock that just happens to get larger every year.
No, these are living things.
They're living things that do calculations, that somehow or another communicate with each other.
They let other plants know when they're being preyed upon.
They develop methods in order to discourage predation, and that's where poisonous plants come from.
All poisonous plants come from discouraging predation.
That's what it's all about.
phil demers
It's funny because one of the cruelest things I'd ever watched, and maybe it's because I have a vivid imagination, is if you've ever seen a Venus flytrap slowly dissolve its prey.
joe rogan
Wild shit.
phil demers
Pretty evil, yeah.
joe rogan
Well, there's one that eats rats.
There's a fucking plant in the Amazon that looks like a giant tulip that eats rats.
Pull that up, Jamie.
This rat-eating plant.
And it's a plant.
It has a sickly, sweet smell to it, apparently.
And these animals go in it looking for food, and they go...
They just close in on them.
phil demers
They don't bite and kill them.
They slowly envelop and dissolve them.
joe rogan
Just smush them.
Just trap them, smush them, and then absorb their nutrients.
Break them down to the very molecules and protein and liquids.
phil demers
I'm going to get 250 people with signs on a plant's doorstep, protest them.
joe rogan
Well, plants are alive, man.
We need to eat living things.
Life eats life.
phil demers
Life feeds on life.
joe rogan
It just does.
And what's going on now with animal rights activism and PETA and the Animal Liberation Organization is people who care.
That's what it really is.
Whether they're misguided, whether I agree with them.
They're people who care, and they're people who feel deeply about these animals.
Check this motherfucker out.
Watch this shit.
phil demers
That's hunting behavior, for sure.
joe rogan
Look at this.
phil demers
That thing may as well be fishing.
joe rogan
What happened?
unidentified
We went...
There we go.
joe rogan
Here we go.
So this thing, it has like this open leaf, and these plants...
What are we watching here?
This is like a fast, speeded-up version of it.
So what happens is...
Is it growing here?
Is that what we're watching?
phil demers
I thought Final Countdown was about to play.
unidentified
I found another video, and it was way too quick.
jamie vernon
It was just a mouse falling into a plant, so I didn't want to go with that.
unidentified
And this one was a guy in front of one.
joe rogan
Okay, but this is, um...
We're watching the whole fucker grow.
This isn't...
So this is what happens.
This is where it is.
It opens up, and it looks like...
Almost like a hamper, where you throw your clothes in or something, or a strange green vagina.
phil demers
That looks like a snake.
Like, that's crazy.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Well, there's a lot of that in the animal world.
This is all just growth though.
We're watching like high-speed growth.
We're not gonna watch it eat anything, Jamie.
We're gonna have to find another video.
When these things open up, they open up and the rats are attracted to the smell and they climb in that tube and when they climb in that tube, they wind up dying.
Show the one that has a...
Here it goes.
Eats a frog.
Here it go.
This is perfect.
This is the one.
phil demers
This is gonna close right up on it.
joe rogan
It already did, Jamie.
Just watch this.
Just do it from the beginning.
Here it goes.
Watch this.
He's just hanging out like, what's that smell?
Let me just chew up.
She's just...
And then it eats him.
phil demers
It's over.
joe rogan
Yeah, it eats...
And this is a new plant.
They've only discovered this fucker, I think, like five or six years ago.
And eats frogs, all sorts of things.
unidentified
Look at this.
joe rogan
Watch this.
Look at this Venus flytrap.
That's a wrap, bitch!
phil demers
That's cold-blooded, man.
joe rogan
That is so fucked up.
Play that again.
Good God.
That fucking frog.
unidentified
Look at it.
joe rogan
He's like, what's the smell?
That is so crazy!
phil demers
So it's one of the, for me anyways, that's one of the toughest things to watch.
unidentified
Look at that!
phil demers
Look at that!
I think it's the hours that poor animal's going to be just laying there incapacitated until ultimately, well, if it's suffocated, then it is what it is.
joe rogan
I didn't know a Venus flytrap could do that.
I didn't know they ate a frog.
Is that a different plant or is that a Venus flytrap?
It looks like it.
It has the fingers.
It's just...
That's what those plants have figured out is their method to get ahead.
That's their hustle.
Their hustle is they trap things and they suck them into their body and they eat them.
phil demers
They survive, they evolve, get bigger, get stronger.
joe rogan
Yeah, those are predators, man.
These are carnivores.
Look at these fucking ants getting killed by this plant.
Oh my god.
There's so many of them, man.
There's so many different weird ones.
Look at this!
They roll up these ants.
Oh, this is so creepy!
It looks like a giant green tongue with, like, weird sort of spikes that grow on it.
And the spikes lift up and wrap around the ant, or the fly here in this case, and just trap them.
And once they have them trapped in there, he's stuck in the stickiness of the...
Look at this, with these ants.
And then it wraps up and...
Rolls them up like a burrito.
It's fucked up, man.
phil demers
Yeah, nature's a tough place.
joe rogan
Nature doesn't give a fuck.
But I think nature is beautiful.
I think it's amazing.
I think if you really want to see nature, the way to see it is obviously documentaries and DVDs if you want to stay in your home.
But to actually see the physical animal, go somewhere.
Go somewhere and see them.
phil demers
Go see them in their natural environment.
That's where you're going to get real respect for them.
Absolutely.
joe rogan
I'm taking one of my elk hunting trips this year.
I want to take my kids with me.
Not when I kill an animal because I don't want to make any noise.
I don't want to have to quiet them down because it's a very patient thing and it's something that would be very hard for a five-year-old to do.
phil demers
Would you take issue with them seeing the kill itself?
joe rogan
No.
phil demers
No.
joe rogan
They've watched it on TV. Yeah, sure.
They've seen the meat.
They've seen me butcher meat.
They haven't seen me kill the whole animal, but they've seen me chop up a giant elk backstrap and turn it into steaks in the middle of the kitchen, just sitting there with a cutting board, slicing it up, and they ask questions.
phil demers
And there isn't a disconnect between that meat having been a live animal?
No, they know.
joe rogan
Well, they've seen me on television kill animals on a TV show, so they know that I do it.
They know that...
I have targets in the yard.
I'm always practicing arrows and archery.
But what I want to do is not even the hunting aspect of it.
I want to take them so they can see the elk.
When elk are rutting and they're screaming, it is amazing.
It's like you're in Jurassic Park.
It's like you're in some Hobbit movie or something.
When you're in the hills, what I want to do is I want to plan a week of hunting, and then I want to pay a guide just to call in the elk so we can just watch them.
I just want the kids to see what it's like when you make this noise.
And then you see this fucking thing.
Looks like a giant forest horse that comes up and wants to fuck.
And they're screaming.
They have this crazy wail.
It's amazing to watch.
Outside of hunting.
Separate that.
That's all great and everything.
But just being a part of...
The environment, like stepping on the ground where these things live wild.
And all they're worried about is like mountain lions and bears.
And that's what they're doing.
They're trying to stay alive.
They're trying to get laid.
And they're existing in this very bizarre world that we rarely get to see.
phil demers
Yeah, we can't really truly appreciate it because we don't have to worry about it.
We don't have to worry about what their concerns are anymore.
joe rogan
Well, even, like, look at Africa, man.
They have these tourism things they do in Africa, but a good percentage of them are in these high-fence operations where they've sort of fenced in these animals in these giant contained wildlife sanctuaries.
And the animals thrive in there, but how do you see...
I mean, the way you see them is you get in a jeep and you drive around, and even if the...
There's something fucked up about knowing that they can't leave.
Even if it's like 10 miles in every direction and there's a fence, and they would never roam 10 miles in the wild.
The fact that there's a fence at all, the fact that we've gotten our greasy little hands in their world, it kind of changes it in a way.
phil demers
Well, it's funny because I actually witnessed a rutting deer, a male, of course, Trying to enter the premises of Marineland, and there's a large fence around it.
And this thing was so...
I mean, a rutting deer is actually a pretty dangerous animal.
I mean, their sexual urges are far beyond any type of, like, it just trumps any behavior that they would have.
So this thing was smashing.
It must have been smelling the females inside the park, but it was repeatedly smashing itself against the fence, trying to get in to the point where it ripped half its face off.
Its antlers were getting fucked up.
So we actually called a hunter who had been in the back.
Who had had the permission by the owner of Marineland to hunt inside some wild deer.
And we went and got him.
And he came, put the first bow, went directly through the animal, didn't kill it, got a second bow, and then put the animal down and killed it.
And then we ate the sausage sometime later, of course.
joe rogan
Yeah, they get crazy.
Moose are super aggressive when they get horny.
They're dangerous.
phil demers
I've been in Algonquin Park at times when the moose are rutting and that is by far the most dangerous animal out there for you.
You don't want to get anywhere near a rutting moose.
joe rogan
They're so big.
Have you ever seen one in the wild?
phil demers
I have, yeah, of course.
joe rogan
God!
The first time I saw one in the wild was in the middle of British Columbia in the forest.
And it was like, the first one I saw was a female.
And we saw him in the distance.
And I was like, oh my.
It was like that scene in Jurassic Park where Jeff Goldblum lifts his head up out of the Jeep.
And he's like, what?
Like, you can't believe how big they are.
They're like, the males get to 1,800 pounds.
1,800 pounds.
The biggest elk that I killed was around 1,000 pounds.
So imagine something fucking twice the size of that.
phil demers
You can drive your car under a moose.
unidentified
Yeah.
phil demers
It's crazy.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Well, my friend, my friend Mike Hawkridge, who runs Big Country Outfitters up there, he got chased by a female moose.
On a horse.
He was on his horse.
unidentified
Wow.
joe rogan
And the female had the calves with him, which is when they get really fucking dangerous.
And they get aggressive.
And the horse was running and the fucking moose was gaining on them.
And he was like, holy shit.
And he realized, like, oh my god, like, this is fucking, this could be it.
phil demers
It's good that the horse kept its cool or kept its footing, at least.
That'd be a fucked up scene.
unidentified
Oh, yeah.
joe rogan
Well, if the horse slipped and fell.
phil demers
Or if the horse said, fuck this guy on my back.
Like, I'm out.
joe rogan
I don't think he could.
I mean, he had a saddle and everything like that.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
I don't know if the horse is that smart.
Point being, I mean, what we're saying is almond milk is bullshit.
That's what we're saying.
phil demers
That's the bottom line.
joe rogan
Almond milk sucks.
It's alright.
So what has changed since the two years that you've been here other than there's a lot of public acknowledgement and understanding now that it wasn't available or wasn't it sort of wasn't at the level that it is now.
I think people are much more outraged now about SeaWorld and about marine land and just the idea of captive orcas and dolphins and in your case walruses.
phil demers
Well, so the first thing we did was we managed to ban orca captivity in Ontario.
That's done now.
So Marineland will never, and mark my word, they will never acquire another killer whale, whether it be wild caught or not.
So that was a big win for animal activists, if you will, or anyone for that matter who has any invested interest in the well-being of animals.
Just as of January 1st, we're 2016 now, there are standards of care, which is what I actually petitioned the government for back in 2012, because when I came out and sort of revealed Marineland for what it actually is behind the scenes, during that time, there were no standards of care.
You could literally have dug a hole in your backyard, filled it with whatever you want, and then, you know, plunked yourself some dolphins in there, and that was fine.
There were no standards of care.
There was no oversight in any capacity.
That's changed, albeit the letter of the regulations that we have now, I would say that few people are really satisfied.
There's still lots of work to do with them, but the fact alone that they are now legislated, we'll be able to change some of the parameters.
One of the biggest things is that there's in fact water quality parameters.
In the last eight months of my tenure at Marine Land, I was witness to...
Some of the more horrific things that caustic water can do to animals.
I witnessed dolphins lose their skin.
I mean, the skin was flaking off.
Literally flaking off their skin.
And we're not talking about just a regular slough.
There was some permanent eye damage that was done.
What happened was there was a breakdown in a disinfection unit.
A water disinfection unit.
We used to use ozone in conjunction with chlorine.
Ozone mitigated the use of chlorine, so you didn't have to use so much of it.
And when that machine broke down, the resolve was just keep pumping more chlorine, keep pumping more chlorine.
And because we were in the off-season, the public wasn't seeing this.
And this is 2012. I had an old shitty Blackberry, but I was conscious enough of how bad things were that I started snapping photos.
Taking videos.
And, you know, there was a major complacency for management because, hey, shit, we're not opening again for another eight months or six months, whatever it be.
I think the issue started in October and they opened in November.
And so there were no parameters.
There was no oversight.
There was nowhere for me to run to find help.
Now there is that.
So now Marineland has to adhere to new legislation that will require some capital investment from them, which, of course, is something that we like to hear.
But there's at least some stuff in place.
And most importantly is most recently, there's a senator, federal Canadian senator, liberal senator by the name of Willie Moore is what we're actually the hashtag.
We're saying free Willie Moore.
It's sort of in the hopes of sort of getting Justin Trudeau's attention.
And he's introduced a bill.
It's called the Ending of Captivity of Whales and Dolphins Act.
It's Bill 203, I believe.
And this bill, once it passes the Senate and ultimately passes into law, is going to ban both the import, the breeding of all whales, porpoises, captivity, or rather, and whales in captivity in Canada.
Basically putting a shelf life on marine land in the capacity that they do business now.
This is a bill that I'm urging people, look, if you give a shit about animals in captivity, you know, tweet Justin Trudeau, our recently elected Prime Minister, and yeah, we're really trying to, we're looking forward to moving this thing forward.
Beyond that, it's always a thing about what I call the paradigm shift.
People don't want to visit zoos no more.
Attendance at Marine Land is annihilated.
Now, this doesn't stop him from exacting a gross revenge on me, but nonetheless, we're still afloat.
We're still here three years later amidst all these bullshit lawsuits, as I stressed before, these slap lawsuits, strategic lawsuits against public participation.
When I got sued, Well, I had hoped one day we'd be in court.
Here we are, well over a thousand days later, and I've spent, well, I say I've spent, but we've publicly raised a lot of money.
We've spent collectively, over the three former animal trainers that are turned whistleblowers, we've collectively spent over $100,000 and not had a single day in court.
joe rogan
So it's all just trying to drain you legally.
phil demers
Look, Joe, the fact alone that I'm speaking into this microphone is exactly what Marineland doesn't want.
I'm dangerous to the anti-captivity, or rather the captivity industry, because I know a lot of things.
Of course, SeaWorld was, if you want to use the term, in bed with Marineland.
SeaWorld likes to acquire, because in the States you can't acquire wild-caught animals, what SeaWorld would do is they would get the animals that Marineland would import, so Marineland would import wild-caught belugas from Russia, Breed them.
And because the calves were bred in captivity, they could now be moved to the States.
So this is how SeaWorld in the States was trying to continue to acquire these animals.
And this is exactly what this bill is sort of trying to stop.
joe rogan
So that's one of the things that SeaWorld was full of shit about.
Because SeaWorld was trying to say, we haven't done...
One of their commercials was saying that they haven't...
phil demers
They haven't brought in a whale in 35 years.
joe rogan
Yeah, they haven't captured a whale from the wild in 35 years.
phil demers
There's a number of examples of that being bullshit.
One being a wild-caught orca, or what they deemed rescued orca named Morgan, that was captured off the coast of the Netherlands.
It was by itself.
It had left its pod or it had lost contact with its pod.
And so it's a dolphinarium called Dolphinarium hardevike.
They acquired this animal.
And then what they did, or they took it and they called it rehabbing.
And then they, of course, deem it non-releasable.
They sent it to a place, and it's outlined in Blackfish, in fact, because there's a large documentary Blackfish.
There's a relationship between SeaWorld and a facility called in Tenerife.
It's called Laurel Parque.
So what SeaWorld did was they had that animal, Morgan the wild orca, transferred to Laurel Park.
And now it's actually part and listed as part of its collection.
That's a wild-caught animal.
So SeaWorld will sit there and tout this idea, we haven't done this in years, and yet they're...
They're importing wild-caught animals that have just recently bred one, the babies from Canada, and then they're basically adding to their stock of animals this other wild-caught animal.
But we could talk about the bullshit that SeaWorld spews all day, but the nice thing is most people are now conscious of it.
Most people look at it and say, I mean, every time SeaWorld tweets anything, they get a lot of fucking hate because people know now, right?
They know.
joe rogan
They're essentially a slavery organization.
phil demers
Yeah, I can't disagree.
joe rogan
And saying that we haven't captured a slave in 35 years is still disgusting.
The idea that that's okay, that they can just say, we haven't participated in slavery.
Catching slaves in 35 years.
We just keep them here.
Locked in a tiny little...
Have you ever seen the map?
I'm sure you have.
phil demers
Of course.
joe rogan
Of the parking lot in juxtaposition to the actual area where the dolphins get to swim?
phil demers
The most heartbreaking one is when that pool is right next to the ocean when you can see it physically right there.
There's a lot of facilities where the dolphins are spy hopping and they can see the sea.
It's right there.
The ocean is right there.
It's a question of picking them up and throwing them back in there, right?
joe rogan
Fuck.
Why can't they make it so that they can go back and forth?
Why can't they make it so that they can have, like, set up a facility?
This is the way you can make it so these animals can transition back to the wild, and that if they do decide to come and participate in shows, they could do it on their own free will.
Have like an open area where it's connected to like a dock, where the pools and the areas where the animals swim, they should be examined by some marine biologists that deem it ethical.
This is an enormous place.
As long as you don't keep them in here, but they can do their stuff in here and everything will be fine.
And have it be actual ocean water.
And then have An open portal, so you don't have to worry about them starving to death in the wild.
They can always come in and get food anytime they want, and that way you can kind of keep both things happening.
Like, they develop a relationship with these animals where it's an actual, real relationship.
It's not captivity.
They come because they want to get food, sort of like squirrels at the park or something.
phil demers
This is exactly what animal rights people, if you will, and scientists these days are advocating for.
They want seaside sanctuaries where which these animals remain in human care and are available for people to watch.
Of course, you're going to have to stop the breeding.
The breeding's got to stop.
Ultimately, you want to phase this out completely.
joe rogan
Unless they want to fuck on their own in front of everybody.
phil demers
Well, I'm going to guess that scientists are going to want to try to stop that.
That's what people are advocating for, really, is these seaside sanctuaries.
But SeaWorld keeps saying that, oh, there's so many pathogens in the water, and it's going to make these animals susceptible.
Again, it's all bullshit.
joe rogan
What does that mean?
phil demers
Well, it means they think that they're going to become susceptible and be sick, or that the transition itself from captivity into this new environment is going to be too much to stomach.
Well, where was that logic when they were plucking them out of the ocean and putting them in these concrete tanks, right?
joe rogan
Well, they're going to have to adapt.
If they change the laws, And they make it so that that's just the only acceptable solution.
Then they'll adapt.
It's the only way.
phil demers
There was a law introduced a couple of years ago.
His name was Assemblyman Richard Bloom.
And it was a bill that ultimately was going to retire all the orcas in San Diego to seaside sanctuaries.
The issue that was raised is that there are no seaside sanctuaries yet.
And so the bill ultimately died.
joe rogan
Well, fucking SeaWorld, use your money, bitch.
You have a giant facility.
You obviously made money off of those things.
How down are they right now?
phil demers
SeaWorld?
joe rogan
Yeah.
phil demers
Well, their net worth, or rather their company valuation when they did their initial public offering, was in and around $2 billion.
And basically that's down to, at one point it was down to $1.5, so now $1.7.
Animal activism, if you will, has really caused them a lot of harm financially.
That's pretty small, though.
They're still worth a lot of money.
Well, of course, they're still worth a lot of money.
joe rogan
But for a slave organization to be worth over a billion dollars, that's kind of fucked.
And then you could buy stock in the slave organization?
phil demers
Yeah.
joe rogan
What the fuck, man?
phil demers
I watch that stock price daily.
joe rogan
They're fucking slaves, man.
Have they rebounded?
Is that what it's showing?
unidentified
It's up today.
phil demers
Depending on where your time is.
They're up today.
joe rogan
That's because of us.
phil demers
Yeah.
Well, look at yesterday.
Look at yesterday.
joe rogan
These people don't like me.
Fuck Joe Rogan.
phil demers
Yeah, I'm going to get a lot of that, too.
Pump your money in the sea world.
Yeah, there's an investment.
joe rogan
Yeah, well, it's not going to be around in 20 or 30 years.
phil demers
No, you're right.
It's not.
You're right.
joe rogan
The more we do research into the language of these things, too, the more scientists...
I mean, they've been trying to...
You know, John Lilly was trying to get them to speak...
Human.
He was trying to get them to speak human languages, like way back in, I guess it was like the 60s.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
And he even set up an experiment where a woman lived in sort of this bizarre home where there was water.
She spent most of her time like waist deep in water.
phil demers
Yeah, when she wasn't jagging off the dolphin.
joe rogan
Yeah, that was the problem.
She jacked off the dolphin.
Because dolphins get horny.
And she was like, well, this is a distraction.
Let me just jerk them off real quick.
And everybody's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
What the fuck did you just say?
phil demers
Thankfully, we've come a long way since then.
Because clearly, that was just a question of the animal mimicking.
I mean, the idea that this animal is going to adopt the English language over and above.
joe rogan
Yeah.
phil demers
But to be fair, the mimicry itself was pretty impressive.
And I've worked with dolphins, and I never actually tried to have the dolphin mimic my own sound, but with what I was watching, I watched the documentary recently as well, it was pretty impressive.
But the idea that that was teaching or trying to bridge the communication was pretty...
I mean, that's out there.
joe rogan
Well, it's all Lilly could come up with back then, at the time.
First of all, he was on acid almost every day.
I mean, Lilly was a fucking maniac.
He'd take ketamine, and he was the guy that invented the isolation tank.
I mean, which is one of my favorite things in the world.
phil demers
Yeah, I've yet to do it.
I can't wait to, though.
How long are you here for?
I'm here till I leave Friday morning.
joe rogan
I can set it up.
phil demers
Hell yeah, I would love that.
joe rogan
We'll set you up with the float lab.
There's a new place in Pasadena that just opened up that's the largest place in the world.
phil demers
Yeah, very interested.
joe rogan
Yeah, we'll hook it up.
phil demers
Fantastic, appreciate that.
joe rogan
What part of town are you staying in while you're here?
phil demers
We're gonna be in Venice Beach.
joe rogan
Jesus Christ, that's where the float lab is.
phil demers
Oh, how about that?
joe rogan
Dude, that's perfect.
We're gonna call them right after this and we're gonna set it up.
phil demers
Oh, I'm ecstatic.
joe rogan
Because Crash is the best.
phil demers
I've heard that.
joe rogan
He's been on the podcast before.
He's a fucking maniac.
I love him.
And he kept the float business alive with innovation back when no one did.
I had a guy who was fixing my tank.
And, you know, I had an old Samadhi tank, which was one of the original tanks.
And it was starting to deteriorate a little bit, because I'd had it for a while.
And this guy told me, like, there's this crazy guy in Venice that's making these tanks.
It's just, they're just so much better than anybody else's.
phil demers
Little pods, is it?
Or, like, full square rooms?
I mean...
joe rogan
No, you get into, like, it looks like a small meat locker.
That's what it looks like.
You open a door and you climb in.
He has a bunch of different models.
You have some that you've got to kind of bend over when you get in, but mine is, like, seven feet tall and, like, nine feet long.
It's huge.
phil demers
I've heard you say that you find it, like, incredibly therapeutic and just clear your mind, take you to places where you can think clearly.
I could definitely benefit from some of that.
joe rogan
It's great for that.
It's great physically for your body, too.
My back opens up and relaxes.
I feel like I can pop it just by stretching my shoulders up.
It just goes pop, pop, pop, because everything's just relaxing.
It's a great source of magnesium because there's a thousand pounds of Epsom salts in the water.
My older one was like 800 pounds, but the bigger one requires more.
So it's a thousand pounds of salt.
And that Epsom salt, when your body's floating in that, your skin is absorbing the magnesium.
Super healthy for you.
You just feel great.
You get out of there, you feel great.
unidentified
And if you go in there like I do, you trip your balls off in there.
joe rogan
I went on mushrooms on New Year's Eve.
Took mushrooms.
I was cleaning my office.
And I'm like, look what I got here.
Do I do this?
So I ate the mushrooms.
And then I didn't take a big dose, but I took enough where I started to get fucking really weird.
I waited about an hour until I couldn't take it anymore.
I was like, I can't be around people anymore.
I gotta get in the tank.
And then I got in the tank.
phil demers
And the tank was good to you?
joe rogan
It was wonderful.
It was embracing.
It just sent me on a voyage.
It just sent me on a voyage through my mind and got me in this very positive groove.
It was a good trip because it was a New Year's Eve trip.
It was like New Year's Eve's bullshit, really, at the end of the day.
Who cares?
You know, it's just another day, man.
But rituals, as I'm getting older and more experienced, I used to reject anything that was established, because my life wasn't so good when I was growing up, and I thought that everything that everybody wanted and everything that everybody's working for was all bullshit.
Degrees are bullshit, and rituals are bullshit, and fuck you, I'm a rebel.
phil demers
I can appreciate that perspective.
joe rogan
I'm sure you can.
But as I get older I recognize the benefit in like a new beginning in your mind like this year I am going to do this this year I'm going to like how many people It's hard for people to I actually retweeted something today from Neil Strauss who's a really brilliant guy and It's an article that he wrote about strategies and systems that you can set up and To make sure you don't fall into the same traps and sabotage yourself.
phil demers
Same cycles.
joe rogan
Yeah, which a lot of people do.
But you don't have to.
The idea...
Here it is right there.
Why you need a Ulysses strategy for 2016. People have this thing in their mind that this new day and this new time is going to be the start of their new diet.
They're going to quit smoking.
They're going to start exercising.
They're going to get their life in order.
And they go at it with these earnest intentions, but very few continue that process.
And the problem being We're creatures of habit and we have these comfort zones that we've sort of set up.
And when you set up those comfort zones, you set up these established patterns, it's very easy to fall right back into them.
It's very easy to be a lazy bitch.
phil demers
Wasn't it John Lilly that was studying the different levels of consciousness?
He himself said that there are these cycles that you have to try to make yourself conscious of and try to break these cycles.
I know I myself find myself too often sitting in a bathtub feeling...
Pretty down on things.
I'm like, you know, maybe if I get out of the fucking bathtub, go for a jog or something, I wouldn't feel like this, right?
joe rogan
It definitely would help.
Going for a jog is one of the best pieces of advice anybody could ever give you.
If you ever have something that's fucking with you, just go for a run.
Get those endorphins flowing, get that blood pumping, and put things into perspective.
phil demers
Your mind starts to change immediately.
The language that your mind beats the shit out of you with changes, and suddenly you start getting resolves and answers to your problems versus dwelling on them.
Myself, personally, I have gone for runs, and I don't run that much, and I ride my bike amidst the darker depths of hell, and every time I come back saying, thank God you went and did something, right?
joe rogan
Well, I think we associate, as a human being, we associate dilemmas and physical problems, like issues, like bills or...
Lawsuits in your case.
We associate those things with a physical thing because our bodies are used to any fear or danger from the time we were monkeys.
It's always been a physical danger.
There's never been like a social issue until recently.
I mean, until the last few thousand years when human beings started talking to each other.
The real problems that we had, they weren't fucking bills.
phil demers
It's more instinctual.
joe rogan
Yeah, it's like there's a physical problem.
So when you develop stress and anxiety, you have this physical response to that, like, holy shit, what's going on?
And then you don't do anything with that physical response.
That physical response never gets fed.
You never run, you never exercise, you never exert.
And so your body just gets into a deeper and deeper level of funk and stress.
And the physical exertion, although that seems like a meathead thing to say, like, yeah, just gotta go to the fucking gym, pussy!
Fucking walk it off!
But you really do.
You really do.
And if you do do that, you will feel better.
Like some of my favorite people are people that do jujitsu.
Because jujitsu is such a life and death struggle on a regular basis with people you love and care about.
It's a bizarre thing.
Like, you know, when you roll with people that you love, like you're friends with, you slap hands, and they try to fucking kill each other.
And you're going to war.
I mean, it's exhausting.
So when it's over, you're drained.
So otherwise, Bullshit of regular bullshit just seems way less significant.
You still have to deal with it.
You're still a person.
You still live in the real world.
Still have taxes.
Still have problems.
phil demers
Still have lawsuits.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Your situation is very, very extreme.
phil demers
My situation is extreme.
In fact, if you don't mind, I wouldn't mind sort of offering a perspective of just how fucked things are.
joe rogan
Yeah, please do.
phil demers
So shortly after I was on the podcast, and I don't know if you recall, you probably don't, you see a lot of tweets, but I tweeted you a video of the owner of Marineland, who's the man that's suing myself and a number of other people to try to stifle our advocacy and essentially punish us.
And the video was of him driving past our home.
And...
You know, I uploaded it to YouTube and whatnot.
And then shortly thereafter, there were more videos.
And then neighbors started taking photos when I wasn't home.
joe rogan
So he drives by and just threatens you?
Slows down.
phil demers
Well, I assume it's to intimidate my girlfriend and I. He has a history of doing this.
And I want to touch a little bit on that in a moment.
But I just want to give my example to begin with.
joe rogan
Do you have those videos on YouTube right now?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Do we see it?
phil demers
Sure.
joe rogan
What's your channel?
phil demers
I wouldn't mind showing you a couple of them.
Just Google John Holder, J-O-H-N-H-O-L-E-R, and you'll get videos, footage.
I mean, there's a pretty elaborate history.
We've unearthed a lot about sort of how he operates.
I'm getting a little nervous talking about this, Joe, right now, because I know the consequences of which are going to cost.
A, a lot of money and cause a lot of anxiety, where I'm going with this story.
joe rogan
Well, when does this fucking lawsuit get resolved?
Here's the video.
We're going to watch the video real quick.
So this is you looking out the curtains.
phil demers
So I live at the end of a dead-end street, and across from me is the water.
It's a beautiful place.
I love it.
He's trying to take from me my home, essentially.
But I saw him come by, and he stopped in front of my house.
I armed myself with my old Blackberry camera.
He went down the end of the road, and you see him now coming back.
So he speeds up, and right here you'll see it slows right down.
And he just wants to intimidate.
Of course, he has no idea that I'm there.
Of course, I present myself and I'm just like, what you want, bruh?
And then, there he goes.
joe rogan
So he drives off when you come near?
phil demers
He drives off when we...
joe rogan
Oh, what a pussy.
phil demers
Yeah, well, that's the same pussy you like to put a lot of bullets in.
Well, he shot those dogs, if you don't recall my telling you.
A couple of dogs wandered off to his property.
Boom, he filled them with shotgun pellets.
joe rogan
Anyways...
Do you know for sure that that's his truck?
phil demers
Absolutely.
In fact, we got him in his new vehicle as well, license plate, the whole works.
The police, in fact, set up a surveillance camera, two of them.
They caught him independently, and don't quote me, but I'm going to call it 12 times.
The police refused to lay any charges because they said, A, driving past someone's home isn't technically a criminal harassment, despite the fact that we were like, look, the man's suing us.
He's dangerous.
I mean, I knew the man, at least historically, to have had a shotgun in his vehicle.
He's got a lot of reason to not like myself and my girlfriend, who's on any given time alone in my home.
So nonetheless, the police wouldn't do anything.
We took that information and went to a Justice of the Peace to try to lay what's called a private charge.
Not a charge, but we just want him, a summons, to come into the court and explain this behavior.
This is normally a 30-day process.
Marineland's lawyers managed to get in an appeal to the summons, which is largely unprecedented.
I mean, I guess people with money can skirt the law, but nonetheless, it took a year and a half The judge ultimately decided that this issue shouldn't be decided in the criminal court.
In fact, it should be dealt with in the civil matters.
So he quashed the summons.
So the owner didn't have to come and explain himself.
And now, I'm waiting any given day now, because the lawyers already informed my other lawyers, they're seeking a cost motion where I'm to pay the legal fees, which they're claiming upwards of $100,000, To try to get this summons against him.
His stalking leads to my trying to lay a private charge, if you will, or whatever.
Private summons.
He gets it quashed, and now he wants to put me on the hook for his legal fees.
joe rogan
So he's just trying to drain you financially.
phil demers
It's a war of attrition, and it's like he's just trying to crush anyone that's showing any type of opposition.
joe rogan
Now, I know the last time you were on, you had like a GoFundMe or something like that, and people contributed.
How do we help you?
What does that address?
phil demers
So recently I had to retain a new lawyer.
Two of my lawyers have left, and these were ultimately the ones that were working really cost-effectively.
They're gone.
So I had to retain a new lawyer.
I don't ask for a lot of money from people, but I do ask for a lot of people.
As long as we've got money and our lawyers can work, this lawsuit has to run its course, and at some point, and the judge has already said, has already criticized Mariland for taking as long as they have.
Now, Mariland wants to say, well, this is the behavior of the people, of the defendants.
The behavior being that we tried to seek some protection from this man that took a year and a half.
The lawyers are trying to allege that it's our behavior that's delaying this process.
And yet, here we are, two years after I was here, and not a single day later, of course, significant legal fees, but we recently...
We got a very generous contribution from some animal rights organizations that are running little fundraisers for us.
We used to have what you would call a benefactor, which was Sam Simon.
He's co-creator for The Simpsons.
He was giving us a lot of money.
Unfortunately, recently he passed away.
So that sort of ended.
But yeah, largely it's the public support.
This is really quite unprecedented to have a litigation funded by crowdfunding.
joe rogan
Yeah.
phil demers
It's really unheard of.
joe rogan
Well, it's an important one.
So what is the address and how do people get...
We're going to put the address on YouTube.
So if you're listening to this on YouTube, it will be in the description of the podcast.
And I'm also going to put it on Twitter.
And so we'll have it as available as possible.
If we can put it in the iTunes description of the podcast, we'll put it in that too.
What is the address and how do people get to it?
phil demers
SaveSmooshy.com.
Smooshy being the walrus that I had the anomalous relationship with.
So it's S-A-V-E-S-M-O-O-S-H-I.com.
So again, I'm not funding just my own lawsuit.
I stuck my neck out and said, I'm going to pay for all these lawsuits.
Some years ago, and I'd mentioned before, that I won Wipeout Canada.
So there was a period where I actually had a good chunk of change in the bank.
So when these lawsuits started to fly, I just started cutting checks.
Just start cutting checks.
Well, that didn't last very long, right?
joe rogan
Right.
phil demers
So really, it is the support of the people.
But if you don't mind my touching a little more...
joe rogan
So here's the page.
phil demers
Oh, cool.
joe rogan
So SaveSmooshy...
phil demers
No, that's SaveSmooshy.org.
Go to the.com one.
Yeah.
joe rogan
What's the difference?
phil demers
The difference is that was just a website that I had created for sort of like ongoing fundraising.
joe rogan
Why doesn't it not exist?
phil demers
SaveSmooshy...
No, put it all together in one word there.
SaveSmooshy.com.
joe rogan
It did.
It didn't work.
phil demers
No, it should.
joe rogan
That motherfucker closed down your website.
phil demers
Oh, he's trying to shut down my Twitter.
Never mind.
joe rogan
Is he?
Okay, here we go.
SaveSmooshy.com.
What is it?
It needed a www?
Well, it forwards to a GoFundMe.
That's probably why it needed a www.
Defend Animal Abuse Whistleblowers.
So right now, you've got some donations, and there's a donate button.
You can share it on Facebook, and...
And let's fucking pump this up, folks.
phil demers
Just to stress, that's in Canadian currency, not to scare anyone, because a lot of people go over and are just like, well, what's this C next to the donation button?
joe rogan
Why don't you guys just stop using your bullshit money and use ours?
Cut it out.
phil demers
It'd be nice.
Yeah, that's for damn sure.
joe rogan
You're connected to us.
Let's cut the shit.
God damn it.
Mexico, too.
Cut the shit with your pesos.
phil demers
If I can just touch on a story that I think it's important in the realm of public opinion or rather consciousness to know of, but this isn't the first time that the owner of Marineland has stalked and intimidated people.
In fact, some years ago, a woman named Paula Millard was living in a trailer park that the owner of Marineland actually owned.
That was across the street from the park, and he had promised them all that he was not going to move them or displace them, and this was going to be their home for a long time.
A lot of retirees there, people put some permanent investment in their properties.
Well, ultimately he did elect to kick everyone out.
He had the city's support, which is not, again, we're up against a lot of forces, if you will.
Well, one woman was having none of that.
She was refusing to move, and the owner would repeatedly drive by and intimidate her.
And ultimately what she did was she had written on the wall, she had written, John Holer, may you get exactly what you deserve tenfold.
And then she thereafter committed suicide.
Yeah.
I think it's important to tell that story.
It's because...
It illuminates sort of...
joe rogan
Who he is.
phil demers
Who he is.
joe rogan
Allegedly.
phil demers
Allegedly, of course.
joe rogan
I have to say that.
phil demers
Yeah, me too.
joe rogan
Well, we're going to help you, man.
We're going to pump this fucker up.
phil demers
Joe, I've said it before and I'll say it again.
We're really still in this game because of you.
And heartfelt appreciation for having me back on.
I can't tell you.
And the timing is right because we have a bunch of different motion dates coming up.
joe rogan
I appreciate that, but I also appreciate what you're doing.
I think that guys like you are super important for this.
You, in particular, you're probably one of the most important because this whole thing that we're experiencing right now is essentially our civilization is awakening to the horrors of the past.
And we're doing something that's really fucked up and not right.
And we've been doing it for a long time, so we think it's okay because we've been doing it for a long time.
And this is sort of the same thing that they experienced with slavery.
I mean, slavery had existed for a long fucking time, and it took a bunch...
I mean, people think, like, you're exaggerating.
This is not slavery.
These are animals.
No, they're insanely intelligent animals.
They're so much different than a fucking puppy.
They're so much different than a squirrel.
They have a cerebral cortex that's 40% larger than human beings.
We don't know why.
We don't know what they're saying.
We know they have an insanely complex language, but we don't know what the meaning behind the sounds are.
We don't know.
We've recognized dialects.
They have different dialects in different areas.
We know that they speak differently in different parts of the world.
phil demers
I can personally offer perspective of having had a really strong relationship with an animal.
Like my anomalous relationship with Smooshy the walrus, and I'll just do a quick summary of it, is that she at one point believed that I was her mother.
I mean, she still does.
It's innate now.
She thinks that I'm her mother.
I'm tattooed on her brain, right?
I've imprinted on her.
So I got to appreciate what it was like to raise this animal in that unique opportunity.
And in that, the language, and I wish John C. Lilly would still be around because I think that he himself would be calling a lot of bullshit on what's going on.
He'd say, this is a fucking catastrophe that you're, you know, what's being imposed on us, the separation, everything else.
But I got to learn what it was like to teach an animal to have a sense of humor, for instance.
I mean, this walrus has a sense of humor.
This walrus knows me intimately, whether I raise my voice or I lower it.
She knows me in a sense that...
joe rogan
Like a dog.
phil demers
No, I'm going to say far beyond a dog.
I'm going to say far beyond a dog.
This is an animal that...
Could appreciate when there was real threat against me.
We used to joke around, and the way that we discovered that she was so protective of me that people would come really close to me.
She would beat the snot out of these people.
I mean, she'd come in like a fucking 200-pound bowling ball and displace you.
But she knew when I was messing with someone or when someone had grabbed me and it appeared to be a little more violent.
I mean, her reaction- Did someone grab you in a violent way?
The owner's son, in fact, and, uh, yeah.
The owner's son came over one time.
He just didn't believe what was going on.
And he grabbed me.
And he didn't grab me in a smooth and fun way.
He grabbed me and shook me.
Smushy never forgot his face.
There was a gate between us.
So she smashed up against those bars really aggressively, harping on them, yelling and everything else.
And even in the weeks and months to come...
Every time he'd come even remotely close to me or in the room, she was ready to pounce.
It was amazing.
joe rogan
How fast does a walrus pounce?
Can you call it pouncing?
phil demers
I wouldn't call it pouncing.
joe rogan
They kind of waddle, right?
phil demers
They're pretty fast.
They're a heavy animal.
Actually, I can say that I've, and not just myself, and other former trainers, have actually rescued the owner of Marineland from walruses that were about to attack him.
There's a video on YouTube, which is actually hilarious, where he's out on stage, obviously...
Yelling at a trainer to bring out more animals, everything.
And the walrus breaks from him and starts going towards the owner.
And he turns around and starts booking.
And the walrus stops.
And he turns around and he grabs his water and he throws the water.
And then the walrus goes and he sort of tucks away behind this sort of safety door.
And I'm just like...
joe rogan
What a cunt.
phil demers
I couldn't wait for him to get knocked down, man.
Oh, it didn't happen.
Whatever.
But there's a number of examples of that.
Actually, there's another video, if you don't mind.
Look up, if you Google John Holler again, you can get to a place where he's actually confronting an activist who's just there offering on public property, which has now since been leased to Marineland by the city.
He's handing leaflets with information.
Well, they have a conflict.
They have sort of a coming together.
And John Holder, in plain English, threatens to stab him and bury him.
And of course, the activist, Mike Garrett, he's a fantastic guy, was...
I'm assuming he tried to keep some sense and keep things as light as possible, but John just has a conniption.
He's yelling his arms and up.
I mean, John's a little guy, right?
He's got what I call the little big man where he's just...
But anyways, he goes off...
joe rogan
And this is all because the guy is protesting against Marine Land?
phil demers
Well, we use the word protesting, but more than anything, he's handing information.
He's handing a history of Marine Land, but it happens to be at the end of the park on public property, but nonetheless, you know, the city obliged and...
Lease the land to them.
I mean, it is what it is.
Marineland's operated for 53 years above the law.
There was no laws.
There was nothing.
Now there are some, thankfully.
Things are turning slowly, but...
If you can find that video, if not, that's alright.
Joe, while I've got...
While we're just here, I'd like to show you this.
Oh yeah, let's take a look.
So here he's like, oh look, we're hugging, and then here...
joe rogan
That little guy's the owner?
phil demers
That little guy's the owner, and that's his hired goon right there.
unidentified
Hold up.
joe rogan
All it is is information, that's all.
All it is is information, sir.
phil demers
You want to be quick?
unidentified
All right, have a nice day.
joe rogan
See, John, all we're doing is asking.
People don't have to take it.
unidentified
We're going to take it.
You know nothing but an idiot.
A whale.
An idiot.
If you called me a whale earlier, let's stick with the program.
Yeah, idiot.
I can see John getting a little furious here.
Thank God John doesn't have a knife or else he'd bury me right here, as he said.
joe rogan
When did he say that, though?
phil demers
Oh, he said it earlier in the video.
joe rogan
Oh, let me hear the beginning where you said he'd bury him.
unidentified
This is the closest I've ever been to evil in my life.
Like, literally.
joe rogan
Come on, he's just doing his job.
unidentified
You're lucky you don't have a knife.
I'm lucky you don't have a knife.
So you would stab me if you had a knife.
Wow.
joe rogan
Oh, you'd kill me right here.
You would bury me right here.
unidentified
You wouldn't even bother to put me in the mass graves.
Come on up, folks.
joe rogan
It's just information.
That's all it is.
unidentified
Just information.
joe rogan
John doesn't want to stab me and bury me here.
unidentified
Just take the leaflets.
phil demers
He's a great guy.
Mike's a great guy.
I try to support him as well.
He's being sued, of course.
He's actually having his wages garnished because Marineland, what they do is they use these lawsuits and then they propose all these different motions.
So it's like sort of a function inside the lawsuit.
Well, what happens during these motions is it can go either way, right?
A lawyer can win a motion against another lawyer, whether it be a bullshit lawsuit or not.
But what happens is in that process, there becomes a cost award.
So unfortunately for Mike, he got a cost award against him and he couldn't afford whatever the price was.
Of course, Marineland will say an inflated price to say, well, this cost us $25,000 to have to bring him in here.
And so the judge awarded $10,000 or so.
Mike's having his wages garnished now.
This is not a man who broke the law.
This is a man who opposed the policies and the practices of Marineland.
joe rogan
And this is because of this right here?
phil demers
Because of that right there.
joe rogan
So he's having his wages garnished to the tune of how much?
phil demers
I think he said 30% a month.
For how long?
How much does he owe?
He still owes quite a bit of money.
joe rogan
How much does he owe?
phil demers
I think he owes in the range of $6,000 or $7,000 at this point.
And he just lost his lawyer.
We actually had similar lawyers.
He's looking for a lawyer.
So this is a public plea.
If there are any lawyers in Canada that are looking to make a name for themselves and help ourselves or Mike Garrett, like, yes, please get involved.
joe rogan
And if you do help, I'll tweet it out.
If you do help, I'll put it up online and I'll let people know that you're doing a good thing.
unidentified
Joe, while you're here, I just want you to take a look at this print we've had made.
phil demers
This is from just an absolute sick graffiti artist named Ewok out of Brooklyn.
joe rogan
It says, Save Smooshy Fuck Marineland.
Is that that t-shirt here?
phil demers
This is this t-shirt that I'm giving to you, so I'll hold it up.
Yeah, this is courtesy of Lofty Towers.
This is a place in Niagara Falls that generously printed it for us.
And then, of course, Ewok won.
You've got to see this guy's work.
It's fantastic.
And it's basically, if you look at it, You've got the walrus smooshy who's basically giving the finger to what appears to be an old man with a shirt that says, bury me with my money, who's got some shackles around it.
It sort of looks like it says, fuck Marieland on the bottom.
I don't know if it actually does.
joe rogan
So that's the old dude, supposedly?
phil demers
I don't think.
I don't know.
I have no idea.
joe rogan
Doesn't look like him, right?
phil demers
Good.
joe rogan
Totally not him.
phil demers
No, can't possibly be him.
joe rogan
Definitely not slave.
phil demers
But there's a nice shirt for you to wear when you're doing some gardening or raising your chickens in the back.
joe rogan
I'll use that for sure.
phil demers
It's much appreciated.
joe rogan
Fuck, man.
I hate hearing stories like that.
I hate hearing what's ultimately human failure.
That's like a civilization failure.
A societal, cultural failure.
This old, creepy fuck that's getting away with...
I mean, you could just tell in that video he's disgusting.
This whole thing is disgusting.
This guy wants to continue his slave business.
He's out there himself getting his own fucking hands dirty.
phil demers
He's worth more money than I can even conceive, and yet all he wants is the power.
joe rogan
Well, he's so old, too.
Like, if I was worth that much money, does he have a wife?
phil demers
He has a wonderful wife, in fact, yes.
joe rogan
Wonderful.
phil demers
Yeah, she's a very nice kind of person.
joe rogan
I was gonna say, if I didn't...
Costa Rica.
phil demers
Yeah, exactly, right?
joe rogan
It would just be all about hookers and coke until the heart stops.
phil demers
If he likes to hunt, you'd think he'd just be out hunting steady.
Like, just go do the thing that you like the most.
But what he likes the most, what appears to be, is to be a tyrant.
You know, I watched that episode of you and Lance Armstrong, and I thought it was really great.
It really humanized the situation he was in.
But the thing that he expressed the most, the regret, was when he ultimately was...
I forget the word he used, but like...
Throwing all these lawsuits against people.
joe rogan
Yeah, he fucked up.
He fucked up.
That was a fuck up.
phil demers
But that was some great regret that he expressed.
joe rogan
If he hadn't done that, I would be 100% in support of him.
That's the, I mean, because, you know, it's like, have you ever seen the Bill Burr bit where he's on Conan where he talked about it?
unidentified
It's hilarious.
phil demers
I haven't, but I'm learning about Bill Burr now, actually, and I find his comedy amazing.
joe rogan
It's one of the best ever.
phil demers
That new show that he's got.
F is for Family.
joe rogan
It's so great.
phil demers
I watched an episode the other night.
joe rogan
It's really good.
It's on Netflix, folks, if you want to watch it.
It's an animated series called F is for Family.
And he's just a great guy.
He's the real deal.
Bill Burr is the real deal.
He's just one of the best guys ever.
And he had this amazing bit about Lance Armstrong being that, like, you know, basically, his words were, our psychopath beat your psychopath.
Like, the whole fucking sports on steroids.
They're all on drugs.
And it's true.
phil demers
He became the face, unfortunately.
He was pegged for being the guy.
And I mean, he had all the accolades.
He had the image, which also means he had the most to lose.
But the thing that he expressed most was he regretted ruining people's lives.
joe rogan
I mean, he was trying to keep this whole thing going.
This guy, what he's doing is just normal.
It's what people do.
When people have established power, they try to protect it.
He recognizes all the benefits that he's had for that power, and he doesn't want to step down and relinquish it.
And also, if he did, he would have to somehow or another admit that what he was doing is wrong.
And I assume that Marineland is still making money.
phil demers
It still makes some money, a little bit.
Is it down?
Attendance is down significantly.
And funny because tourism is up in Niagara Falls.
But I think if you guys really want to get a good perspective, there was a podcast that I was recently on called Canada Land.
And it's a big podcast.
It's hosted by an investigative journalist, Jesse Brown.
And he's very meticulous and very thorough in his work.
And he's detailed this exchange between he and Marineland's marketing.
No one put a name on it.
It's got to be Marineland's lawyers.
I don't know.
But nonetheless, if you want to see how they operate and how far they're willing to go to suppress what I say and the information that we provide, do go to the Candleland podcast and check it out.
They've threatened to sue him.
They've vowed to sue to what they call judgment, and that's a quote.
But that's just the way they operate.
If you, I mean, you yourself, Joe, and I hate to say it, but it would be a dream if they threatened to sue you.
It's not gonna happen, but...
joe rogan
Why would they sue me?
First of all, I'm a fucking American.
You can't sue me with your goofy kangaroo court.
phil demers
He's suing Americans.
joe rogan
Because I'll tell you to suck my dick.
phil demers
He's suing Americans right now.
joe rogan
I'm trying to threaten him.
unidentified
Look at that.
joe rogan
And I'll drive by his house.
I'd fuck.
How about that?
I'll just say nice things to him.
I won't even threaten him.
phil demers
Yeah, that Canada Latin podcast really details it all.
It was really well done.
joe rogan
I just think the whole thing, it's eventually, when you look at it historically, I think my friend Amber Lyon had a great quote when she was talking about when she used to work for CNN. I love this quote.
It's being on the wrong side of history.
phil demers
Yeah, exactly.
joe rogan
And that's what this guy is.
He's on the wrong side of history.
When it all boils down, you're going to look like an ugly monster.
phil demers
Yeah, I don't know what type of legacy he's trying to protect at this point.
And the funny thing is, all he's doing is making lawyers rich.
He's not making me broke.
It's not working.
I mean, to a certain extent it is.
joe rogan
He's doing what old rich fucks do.
They sue you, you know?
I mean, that's common practice.
That's their avenue of getting back at you for talking.
He exists in a different world.
He is an old man, and he's born in a world where there was no internet, and he's experiencing the ramifications of this time that we're in, and also the new information that exists now, where we understand that these practices that they've been engaging in for decades are cruel and inhumane and disgusting.
They're disgusting.
There's no other way to say it.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Marine captivity of mammals like that is fucking disgusting.
phil demers
Yeah, indeed.
joe rogan
Where is it gonna go, man?
Like, how long can this guy keep dragging you around the courts?
phil demers
Well, unfortunately, there was some changes to the Law Society's laws.
And where it used to be, I believe, three years of inactivity in a lawsuit, you can file a motion to have it thrown out.
It had been extended as of, I think it was March of last year, to five years.
So we got a lot of things going against us.
joe rogan
So you have two more years of inactivity before they could sue you.
phil demers
I mean, I don't know.
I'm not a lawyer, but this is my understanding of what was an opportunity before that is no longer there.
But the idea is...
At some point, he himself has to play by the rules of the courts.
He's going to have to be examined.
He's the one that's got the information that we want.
We want to go get that information.
This is information that Marineland is steadfast right now in isolating, or rather insulating, any type of witnesses.
I mean, he himself is a witness to all the things that he's alleging against us.
He should be the one that is responding to the lawsuit.
Instead, they give us this glorified janitor.
What the fuck?
What does this janitor have to do with our lawsuit?
We want to look at your financial files.
You're claiming financial losses in the region of- What's the janitor?
joe rogan
What are you talking about?
phil demers
So what Marineland does, and this shouldn't surprise anyone, is rather than be like, okay, look, I'm suing you, so you can take a look at my files.
I'm going to present to you the net losses, financial losses that I'm claiming, and then you're going to have to defend against this information.
Well, instead, they gave me this janitor.
Well, what the hell has that got to do with anything?
We don't want it.
joe rogan
They gave you a janitor for what?
phil demers
He's going to give us the files, apparently, that is going to give context to the lawsuit.
It's nonsense, Joe.
It's just another means that I have to fight and spend a lot of money to try to get to the root of it all, which is the legitimacy of the lawsuit, which there is none.
I'm being sued for plotting to steal a walrus.
joe rogan
That's what it's all about?
Plotting to steal Smooshy?
phil demers
My lawsuit is plotting to steal Smooshy.
My girlfriend's lawsuit is defamation in the sense that she expressed concern for the lone remaining killer whale Kiska, which was bleeding profusely from her tail and her talk with the Toronto Star, which is the newspaper that did the investigation of Marineland.
So she's being sued and they had a video and in the video you see the killer whale bleeding like crazy.
I don't know how you can call that defamation.
And then there's another lawsuit that's going against Jim Hammond.
He's a former land animal care supervisor, and he's the one that witnessed John Holder shoot the dogs on his property for no reason.
I mean, that can't be defended.
It's indefensible.
These were golden labs.
These are puppy dogs.
They're not coyotes.
And these were his neighbors.
And the neighbors were afraid to press charges because they...
Thought that John would sue them.
They probably thought, right?
I mean, the police themselves said to me, we can't lay this charge on him because he's going to lawyer us.
He's going to lawyer up.
unidentified
Oh, God.
phil demers
Yeah, it's really a stonewall they're putting up.
joe rogan
So he just, that's just strategy.
He just sues.
phil demers
It's a war of attrition.
joe rogan
He's going to sue everybody.
But I don't understand what he's, I don't understand how the courts are allowing him to sue for this.
This doesn't make any sense.
phil demers
Because we've gotten nowhere in terms of trying to prove the legitimacy of it.
It's just the process itself, in and of itself, is punishing to people like me.
So his idea is not, let's go to court.
It's, let's put him through the wringer so that he goes broke.
And ultimately, the only way I can get out of this lawsuit is if I sign something and say, I'm not going to talk anymore.
Well, fuck that.
I'm not going to not talk.
I'm going to continue to talk.
I'm going to continue to get my ass on these podcasts and spread my word and get a louder and louder voice.
I mean, that's my resolve.
joe rogan
So you think ultimately this has to somehow or another come to a trial?
phil demers
It absolutely has to.
joe rogan
Or he has to drop the charges.
And then you get to sue him.
phil demers
I am suing him.
He's yet to respond to it.
This is something, again, that normally lawsuits have 30 days.
This has been three years and they've not responded.
joe rogan
Well, how does that work?
How come you have to respond, but he doesn't have to respond?
phil demers
What they've done is essentially, or what I believe they've done, Allegedly.
They've hijacked the process, is what it's called.
Where you just inundate the courts with a bunch of different things.
And every time a court date seems to come up...
It gets adjourned.
Or we do, in fact, I mean, recently I'd lost my lawyer.
He's moved away, so I was having to find another one.
Marieland pounced.
Immediately called for a motion.
All of a sudden, okay, so now I'm defending, or rather it happened to my girlfriend that she had to go in, but my court date ultimately did get adjourned because my girlfriend was successful in actually having the motion adjourned, despite the fact that they're continuing with these motions.
It's hard to explain.
I'm not a lawyer.
I can't really get down to the nitty gritty of it all.
I can only just offer you the perspective of someone who's being punished unjustly with a process that is inherently abusive.
It's an abusive process.
joe rogan
It's really discouraging.
phil demers
Welcome to my world, man.
And I'm still trying to put food on the table.
I mean, I've still got a life to try to live.
I mean, here I was 30, 35 when this thing happened.
I'm 38 years old.
So I get to look forward to resetting my life and try to pursue some personal endeavors at, what, 45?
Is that when?
Is that when I finally get to be freed of this thing?
I mean, I'm an activist.
Yes, okay, call me an activist.
But, you know, when this is all said and done, I'm also a human being that wants to do stuff in life.
joe rogan
What are you doing for work these days?
phil demers
I do some...
Actually, recently I was a pallbearer for hire.
That was interesting.
A lot of people don't have families, so I'd get a call and they'd say, you want to come help carry this casket?
joe rogan
Okay, absolutely.
Jesus Christ.
Carrying dead bodies.
phil demers
That would be great for the book.
That's another thing that's the problem.
joe rogan
Writing a book?
phil demers
Well, absolutely.
joe rogan
That's a problem?
phil demers
Well, it's a problem because getting a publisher is tough right now.
I mean, if you're going to publish my words, you're going to be sued.
You know, I assume there was a documentary that was in its initial stages.
It is gone.
There was a big story in Outside Magazine that was coming out.
This was the feature piece.
It got quashed.
A lot of people show fear when it comes to lawsuits.
Thankfully, Ontario passed what's called anti-slap legislation.
We got the thing.
And I mentioned this in the earlier podcast.
We were getting anti-slap legislation.
The problem is, and there's a major conflict of interest, is that Ontario's premier, she herself, had a slap suit against one of the MPPs during the elections.
She launched a lawsuit so that they couldn't talk about this controversial issue, which was this gas plant scandal.
And so what she did when she reintroduced the bill Is that she took out the retro clause.
This was our home run, dude.
We were out.
Not only that, Marineland was going to be up against some major punitive damages, as per the letter of the law.
They took out it being retro.
It's no longer retroactive.
It doesn't apply to us.
It's insanity, man.
joe rogan
Just because of this one woman?
phil demers
Well, she's the Premier of Ontario, of course.
joe rogan
Fuck her!
phil demers
I can't say that.
That's not gonna help me.
joe rogan
What's her name?
phil demers
I appreciate it.
Kathleen Wynne.
joe rogan
Fuck you, Kathleen.
How dare you.
phil demers
Hell yeah, man.
joe rogan
How dare you.
phil demers
Remember, I didn't say that.
joe rogan
How dare you.
phil demers
Felt it, but I didn't say it.
unidentified
God damn it.
phil demers
Oh, it's cruel, man.
What I've come to learn involving yourself in any type of government process and everything else is that it's, A, it's thankless work.
I mean, it's fucking brutal.
And it rarely to ever actually goes your way.
I swear to you, I've had an arrow striking the bullseye and every time it just glances.
Every fucking time.
But I'm not discouraged.
Look, I'm on this fucking show, man.
There's a dream come true.
It happened again.
I cannot fucking believe it.
So good things to come.
I just got to keep focus.
Good things to come.
joe rogan
It's just so bizarre that no one from the government recognizes what a horrible thing this is, not just in terms of the injustice that's being done, but also in terms of the PR for their legal system.
phil demers
It is recognized.
It's been expressed at Queen's Park in provincial legislature that these are abusive lawsuits.
And we had an MPP stand up, Sherry DeNovo, and she's just like, when is this gonna stop?
I mean, she's pounding her fist and everything else.
joe rogan
And what happens?
phil demers
Well, unfortunately, it was a political issue, and she's not a member of the Liberal Party.
She's part of the New Democratic Party, and that's...
joe rogan
You guys have a Liberal Party?
That's hilarious.
phil demers
We have a Liberal Party that's in power on both the federal and provincial legislature.
joe rogan
Your king is a liberal, right?
phil demers
King?
joe rogan
The king?
You guys have a king, right?
phil demers
Justin Trudeau?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
I like that guy.
phil demers
Hey, he's the one that's gonna legalize marijuana in Canada.
joe rogan
He seems like a cool guy.
I've seen him talk.
I'm like, I wish we had a candidate for the United States president like that.
phil demers
He's the one who we're trying to get attention to see if we can't get support for this bill we're getting to ban the whales and dolphin captivity.
joe rogan
Well, he definitely should be a part of that and he definitely should step in and do something about what's happening with you.
Have you guys tried to contact him about that?
phil demers
I've not, but this is something that's governed by...
joe rogan
Ontario?
phil demers
Provincial.
joe rogan
Yeah.
phil demers
So there's nothing he can do about that.
joe rogan
But he's the king.
phil demers
He's the king.
Yeah, that's right.
Heavy is the crown.
joe rogan
Yeah, what the fuck?
You can't just step in?
phil demers
You'd think you'd tap on the shoulder.
Now, granted, I remember touring a lot of public figures during my time at Marine Land, including Jean Chrétien, who was a former prime minister's son, who still goes there.
So there's still some government ties to Marine Land.
joe rogan
He still goes there like he visits?
phil demers
He brings some people to scuba dive with the beluga whales.
People with disadvantages physically and stuff.
It's a great program.
But that I know of.
He was continuing going up until 2012 at least.
I don't know that he still goes.
I haven't been in the park in that long.
joe rogan
It just seems like Canada has so many great things going for it.
When I hear lawsuits like this that are so insane, that last for so long, and then that your counter lawsuit doesn't get any traction at all, and that no one's paying attention to it, I just don't understand how they can allow that to happen.
phil demers
It's a good thing there's a lot of people helping us.
Right?
I mean, because it appears that it's going to be the will of the people versus the will of the government.
joe rogan
Fuck, man.
phil demers
Don't discourage me, man.
I know how...
I'm eye-hole deep in shit, man.
I know.
joe rogan
Well, it's just...
It's so frustrating.
It's so frustrating as an observer, as an outsider, looking at this and saying, man, this is just so strange.
It's so strange that in this day and age, this can happen.
Someone can get away with this.
phil demers
He hasn't gotten away with it yet.
I ain't done.
joe rogan
But he's getting away with what he's doing so far.
unidentified
So far.
joe rogan
Where, I mean, literally, the government should shut him the fuck down.
They should have stopped this lawsuit.
They should have enforced your lawsuit against him.
They should arrest him for stalking.
The whole deal.
The whole deal.
It's all disgusting.
phil demers
I've become quite jaded.
And admittedly, I believed, even when we came out, that there would be some type of justice.
I mean, that's what we were seeking, of course.
joe rogan
Right.
phil demers
Wasn't doing this for shits and giggles.
joe rogan
Money is draining that justice.
phil demers
When you speak to power, you can expect some serious consequences.
It's as simple as that.
joe rogan
But it's so insane that the charge is attempting to kidnap a walrus.
phil demers
Correct.
And trespassing.
And oh, here's the challenge, and I offer this to all your millions of viewers and listeners.
You find a single video of the last day, I can't remember shit, I think it was April, I think, I believe it was, uh...
Oh shit, why do I not know the date of this?
Let's call it October 17th, I believe, 2012. Marineland alleges that I broke into the park with these legions of animal rights activists, which actually did happen.
I wasn't there.
I was on public property.
I did not go into the park.
But, you know, hundreds did actually storm the gates.
And what Marineland alleges is that I trespassed in there.
And there's tons of videos.
I mean, you can get 15 different vantage points.
Any single person finds me in that video...
I will personally cut you a check for $1.5 million.
If that doesn't get you going.
joe rogan
You don't have $1.5 million.
How about you offer a blow?
phil demers
Well, I don't have $1.5 million.
joe rogan
Offer a blow.
phil demers
Okay, I'll blow you.
joe rogan
I'll blow you.
Well, it's not going to happen, right?
unidentified
It's not going to happen.
joe rogan
So don't worry about it.
There's no video of it.
They're going to Photoshop you in there just for a blowjob.
unidentified
Fuck.
joe rogan
Someone's going to use that CGI shit they did with Avatar.
phil demers
I think I can negotiate my way out of it.
I'll give them $1.5.
joe rogan
Just give them a handjob.
phil demers
I mean, look, Marieland thinks they're getting $1.5 out of me.
joe rogan
That's what they want?
$1.5 million?
phil demers
Yeah.
Out of the guy who essentially is, put it this way.
joe rogan
That's what they're trying to sue you for?
$1.5 million?
phil demers
Yeah, that's the damages they're claiming.
joe rogan
What's that in real money?
phil demers
In terms of?
joe rogan
Like outside of Canada.
Like America.
Where it counts.
phil demers
Oh, let's call it a million bones.
It's a million bones.
joe rogan
Your money's worth more, isn't it, right now?
phil demers
It's worth significantly less.
That's why I'm drinking all the free beers I can while I'm here.
joe rogan
Well, we'll send you some.
unidentified
Thanks, man.
joe rogan
I don't think it's legal.
Can you send beer across the border?
Probably not.
It's probably a drug.
It is a drug, right?
phil demers
Well, we'll see what Justin Trudeau can do about that.
unidentified
Man.
joe rogan
So, have you gotten any traction on any other shows?
Like, anybody else reached out to you?
phil demers
Well, that Canada Land podcast was timely and big, and it was great.
joe rogan
Did they get a lot of downloads?
phil demers
Yeah, and it's still going.
It only was published two weeks ago.
joe rogan
Okay, and is Canada Land is what it's called?
Yeah.
And do you know what episode it is?
phil demers
It's called Everyone Loves Marine Land.
joe rogan
Okay, Everyone Loves Marine Land.
phil demers
It's their second most recent...
joe rogan
Send people to that.
What about American podcasts?
phil demers
Abby Martin, thankfully, has had me on a number of times.
And through the show, I've received quite a bit of support from what I would call some real badass, awesome people.
So I'm most appreciative.
But beyond that, no, there's really quite a bit of fear of my speaking.
joe rogan
Mostly in Canada, right?
phil demers
Mostly in Canada.
Outside Magazine, they quashed that story.
I mean, this was going to be a big feature.
joe rogan
How did that happen?
Do you know?
Do you know what the mechanism is?
phil demers
Yeah.
So the writer was staying at our place, and at the time, I believe, we had...
there were um uh there were people watching us and i had specifically said because his his rental vehicle was parked across and here he was sitting on the couch and you know we're talking talking and i looked and it was a truck that repeatedly drove by and stopped and went to the other end of the street turned around i said fuck you're being you're being watched like and he's just like you know i think at this point he didn't truly appreciate the depths that we were in and at this point i don't we weren't even sued yet and uh sure shit
marine land named him by name the author, and that was it.
So he tried to get the article to run, but outside ultimately said, like, we're not interested in being sued.
Now it's a different time.
There's anti-slut legislation now, so outside if you're listening.
joe rogan
Well, why didn't they just shut their fucking mouth until they published it?
How did they find out about it?
phil demers
He was asking current and former employees to see if anyone would speak, and then obviously there was someone I went to.
When you worked in an oppressive sort of regime, if you will, you're quick to try to score bonus points.
I assume a former trainer or someone probably said, hey, this guy's calling around looking for something.
joe rogan
What other businesses does that guy have?
phil demers
They're all in-house businesses, but yeah, he owns a lot of property.
He owes no one any money.
There's no outside financial interest whatsoever.
He has the sole controlling mind.
joe rogan
It seems like a guy like that needs to come to Jesus moment where he just realizes, like, what am I doing?
My life is...
I mean, he's at the later stages of his life and he's living like this, suing people.
It's all anger and evil.
phil demers
I hate to mention it, but a couple years ago, a few years ago, and this was my greatest ally.
His son actually passed away.
And this was the guy who actually allowed me into the park when, unbeknownst to me, I was no longer allowed there.
He let me in.
And that's when I saw, you know, Smushy and the condition that she was in that ultimately inspired me to sort of speak out.
And not be anonymous.
And he shortly thereafter actually passed away, and he was my age.
joe rogan
How did he die?
phil demers
I'm afraid to say, but I'll say that it was...
unidentified
I believe it was avoidable.
phil demers
I think that when you live under an oppressive and difficult situation, especially with regards to your relationship with your father, that maybe you resort to methods to ease that pain, maybe.
To sort of...
I don't know.
Maybe forget your woes?
joe rogan
So something drug-related?
phil demers
I don't know.
joe rogan
You don't know.
Okay.
I understand what you're doing.
unidentified
Yeah, cheers.
It's cool.
phil demers
Thanks.
joe rogan
So what's the next step?
What happens now other than tell everybody to go to SaveSmooshy.com, throw some money around?
phil demers
The next step would be nice if maybe PETA would step up.
I mean, you know, in terms of hypocrisy, PETA likes to use our headlines.
And to raise money for themselves on their websites and they'll donate here.
Look, how do you save marine lands animals?
Donate here.
We've not received an iota of help.
In fact, I asked them, look, can I just get a tweet out of you guys?
And they said, oh, it's a non-profit.
We've learned that that doesn't help.
joe rogan
Wait a minute.
Hold on.
So they say donate here to them to help you and the money goes to them?
unidentified
No, no, no.
phil demers
To help them.
joe rogan
They don't ever say to help you.
phil demers
To help you.
It's just that they use the stories.
They'll be like, oh, mass graves found at Marineland.
And then, you know, there's the article.
And it's, oh, it's horrifying.
Fildemers says...
Donate here and then donate to PETA. And at the bottom, here's the donate to PETA. Ooh.
Yeah, it's tough, man.
joe rogan
Well, they're too busy killing cats and dogs.
phil demers
And tweeting you on Orca Day.
joe rogan
Yeah.
phil demers
I mean, tweeting Joe Rogan, the guy who's throwing arrows into every animal that, you know.
And they're asking you for retweets.
I actually thought that was brilliant.
I'm like, wow.
PETA's, like, really...
They're sort of showing their true colors, but...
joe rogan
Well, they know that I do love orcas.
phil demers
Yeah, fair enough.
joe rogan
I also just love to eat deer.
phil demers
Fair enough.
joe rogan
I don't throw ours into everything, man.
phil demers
No, that's fair.
joe rogan
Only edible stuff.
But, I mean, they've retweeted things that I've posted up about orcas, and particularly about my loathing of orca captivity.
And I think there's new laws that have been passed in California, right?
phil demers
So recently, SeaWorld, so what happened with SeaWorld, they had to ask permission from the California Coastal Commission for a $100 million expansion.
Of their pools, of the existing pools.
What they've said is, we're going to eliminate the show.
Which is not true.
It's not true in any capacity.
What they're going to do is create a new environment, a larger one, which is good.
But they're still going to have a presentation of sorts that's going to rely on animals performing more natural behaviors.
But still, there's going to be food deprivation in the train.
It's the same thing.
It's presented differently.
So what the California Coastal Commission said was, look, we'll grant you permission to make this large expanse.
You can't breed orcas anymore.
So what SeaWorld basically said was, okay, well, A, they've considered not doing it altogether.
B, now they're suing the California Coastal Commission, alleging that they've overstepped their boundaries.
joe rogan
But what's really- So they want to keep breeding them.
phil demers
Exactly.
Doesn't that tell you everything?
All of a sudden, they're not going to create this large habitat for the existing animals that they supposedly care so much for.
But if there's that clause for breeding, no, they're not going to do it.
I mean, that says it all.
Really, it does.
joe rogan
Wow.
So they're not going to create the new larger environment just because they're not allowed to breed them?
phil demers
Because they've got this clause.
Well, they're going to sue, I assume, to try to have that overturned, which I hope the California Coastal Commission would reconsider their approval of.
joe rogan
They should step it up and just make the whole fucking thing illegal.
Jerry Brown.
Come on, Jerry Brown.
You're a hippie.
phil demers
There is a recently tabled bill, which is a federal ban across the states for orca captivity.
joe rogan
They should.
They should.
It's 100%.
I mean, I wish there was a way that they could hook up a fucking machine to a pond or a pool where an orca is and have that orca communicate and have it broken down to English.
You know, we have Google Translate for Russian and Spanish.
How about an orca translate?
If they figured out a way to scientifically, without debate, analyze the sounds and break them down into an English language that we could read and understand Yeah, people would be mortified.
Oh my god, what if orcas just start saying really racist shit?
They just hate Chinese people.
phil demers
Well, maybe not the orcas, but dolphins and whatnot have reason to hate the people of Taiji, Japan, who are just repeatedly hacking them up.
And then, of course, in the Faroe Islands, and I watched a documentary on what's called The Grind, is when they do these drive fisheries.
They drive the animals.
They're sonic animals, so you pound the bottom of the ocean floor or these metal rods into other steel structures, and then it herds the animals onto the land.
Well, what they do here in the Faroe Islands is they grab these hooks, And they embed it in the fucking blowhole of the pilot whales, for instance, and there's a long rope and then the people drag these things up and then they go up and hack their throat, right?
They want to call it subsistence hunting, but it's hard to call that subsistence hunting.
Maybe historically it has been, but it's pretty brutal.
joe rogan
So they eat the pilot whales?
Is that what it is?
phil demers
They eat the pilot whales, yeah.
But I'm of the opinion that it's a cultural thing and they're on the wrong side of history now.
You've done it.
It's done.
It's documented.
You got the photos, if you will.
The history's there.
Let it be there.
Keep it in the history books.
joe rogan
Well, it's one of those things where if you look at the environments where they eat whales, there's people starving.
It's desperation.
phil demers
In those places, I'm not going to argue.
Subsistence eating and hunting is important.
I don't doubt that.
But in the Faroe Islands, across from where they're doing the grind, is a vast, beautiful cityscape.
Like, you can't tell me you can't just go grab a couple eggs and make yourself an omelet.
I don't know.
joe rogan
Yeah, I know what you're saying.
The dolphin thing in the movie The Cove, which is what you talked about about Japan, they were killing them because they were eating the tuna, right?
Isn't that the idea behind it?
phil demers
They will use anything to defend the culture of killing these dolphins, but really it's fueled by the captivity industry.
Those dolphins are invaluable, and places like And I'm not going to say SeaWorld now because it's been a number of years, but they have historically acquired animals from these dry fisheries, but they buy these animals.
And these hunters are driving around fucking Porsches and shit.
It's not because they're chopping the dolphins up for meat.
That's not the thriving industry.
It's the captivity industry.
They're selling them.
joe rogan
When they're killing all those, why would they kill them if they could sell them?
phil demers
Well, because they're not aesthetically pleasing.
They take so many of the animals, they take the more aesthetically pleasing ones, they sell them for the tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars, and then they chop up the dolphins, and then they, whatever, I guess they give them the supermarkets and whatnot.
joe rogan
They give them the supermarkets?
phil demers
Well, they are sold, yeah.
I've never eaten dolphin.
I've been in Japan.
I never ate dolphins.
joe rogan
In Japan, they eat dolphin?
phil demers
They have.
I think that that's something that's going away.
I think the new sort of...
Generations of kids.
joe rogan
I didn't watch the Cove because I didn't want to see it because I've seen enough YouTube videos of it.
It's just it's horrific.
I can't watch.
It's murder.
I didn't know that they ate him.
phil demers
Yeah.
Well, and what we're coming to learn is that there's high levels of mercury in the dolphin meat, so it's actually poisoning people.
So people are really getting away from that.
But more than not, I think it's front to keep the captivity industry going and to keep that money there.
Because they sell them to places in China, they sell them to places in, you know, wherever, in Japan itself.
And there's a lot of money that's being exchanged between the facilities and the hunters.
joe rogan
So outside of Canada and the United States, there's a bunch of places in the world that still have those sort of marine-type shows.
phil demers
China, especially right now.
China is really starting to...
It's like a burgeoning environment for the captivity industry.
joe rogan
So they're ramping it up.
phil demers
They're plucking elephants out of Thailand and stuff.
I mean, wild-caught, wild-born baby elephants, they're stripping them from their mothers and they're shipping them to these places in China now, these zoos.
I mean, this is another thing that has to stop now, right?
joe rogan
China.
Damn.
That dog festival's rough.
Yeah, the Yulin Dog Festival.
I watched that the other day on TV. There was some sort of a special.
This woman goes over there.
It was interesting, though, the way the Chinese people looked at it.
And it's hard to argue.
They're looking at it the same way we look at bacon.
phil demers
It offers great perspective for the people that are, for instance, saying, I will never fucking eat this dog.
Well, guess what?
It's not any different.
It's no less a conscious being than your pigs, who are arguably significantly more intelligent than dogs, or your cows, or your whatever.
I mean, it is what it is.
But it does offer a glimpse into the hypocrisy of loving one animal and eating the next.
So I appreciate that this thing offers that context.
joe rogan
It's bizarre how we have these ideas, these hierarchies of animals.
This one, it's okay to kill and eat them.
This one, it's not.
phil demers
It seems more novelty-based, really.
joe rogan
Yeah, it was a lot.
phil demers
You can make a hell of a pet out of a pig, but what, it's less cute?
joe rogan
Well, there was a guy who had a pig the other day.
Where the fuck were we?
Um, somewhere here in California, a guy had a pig on a leash.
phil demers
Awesome.
joe rogan
Yeah, with a dog.
He has a dog and a pig, and he had the pig on a leash.
Like, well, okay.
phil demers
Don't quote me, but the intelligence of a pig is, from what I believe, I remember...
joe rogan
They're very smart.
phil demers
A ten-year-old or something?
A human?
joe rogan
Eh, not my kid.
phil demers
Because it's so much smarter.
Exactly!
joe rogan
My fucking kid!
No, they're supposed to be intelligent.
I don't know if they're like a ten-year-old, but they're supposed to be quite intelligent.
It's hard to quantify, you know, like octopus.
phil demers
Of course.
joe rogan
They're just starting to realize how intelligent octopus are.
phil demers
Of course.
joe rogan
I eat the fuck out of some octopus.
unidentified
Fish?
phil demers
Tuna?
joe rogan
Yeah.
Tuna intelligent?
phil demers
Apparently brilliant, yeah.
joe rogan
Really?
phil demers
Yeah.
Well, to some...
joe rogan
Not smart enough to stay out of the cans.
Cans of tuna, you know what I'm saying?
phil demers
The ocean's fisheries are decimated.
I think we've got basically an expiry date of, I think they said 2040. I watched a documentary called End of the Line recently, and they basically said that 90% of the ocean's fisheries are decimated.
Fucking gone.
And tuna, especially, is really susceptible to extinction.
joe rogan
And it's just because we just overfish.
phil demers
Overfish, and it's the methods that we do it.
I mean, you got these trawlers that are setting up nets that are the size of football fields, and they're just grinding the ocean floor, and it's just decimating the ocean.
joe rogan
Yeah, it ruins the beds.
phil demers
The ecology as a whole.
joe rogan
It fucks up coral reefs, everything.
And what could be done about that?
I mean, they've got to leave it alone and let these things grow back.
phil demers
It all comes down to what you can do with your wallet if you don't, if you're not spending the money to go to, you know, Nobu and get that piece of tofu, or rather that tofu shit.
That piece of tuna, then you assume that in some way, shape, or form that that's going to curb this behavior.
joe rogan
The problem is also that the ocean is not like...
If you're in a country and the country establishes bag limits on animals, they can keep the populations very healthy.
You can't really do that with an ocean.
phil demers
No one's governing the oceans very aggressively.
joe rogan
Well, if they were, this whole thing in China or Japan wouldn't be taking place with the dolphins.
phil demers
The only people that are doing it is Sea Shepherd, and unfortunately, Paul Watson is considered a terrorist in a lot of countries and can't actually set foot on firm land.
joe rogan
Right, in some countries.
phil demers
It's funny, he's the one that's being demonized for really trying to save the fucking planet.
joe rogan
Well, one of the things they've done in Japan, where they've sort of skirted around this whale-killing thing, is they say that they're doing it for scientific research, but then they take these animals on board, and they butcher them, and they sell the meat.
But it's so fucked up, all they have to do is, like, pretend to run a few tests, and they've documented this.
Sea Shepherd has done that.
They've documented these whalers.
phil demers
And they're doing it in whale sanctuaries.
They're doing it in places where it shouldn't be done, but it's not monitored by anyone except for Sea Shepherd, right?
End of the world, brother.
joe rogan
Fuck it.
It's not, though.
phil demers
No, you're right.
It's not.
joe rogan
Because this is the first time ever where people are widely aware of this kind of activity.
phil demers
And this is where I credit this show.
I'm telling you, I'm sitting here before you as a fan, first and foremost.
You've illuminated so many issues and broadened the spectrum of my consciousness so much.
I am now, I can tell you, I am in the seat of your millions of listeners.
I am that person right now who's saying to himself, damn, I wish I could be on that fucking show.
I just happen to do something that, you know, my life circumstances just ultimately led me here, but I am that guy.
And I have to extend another, you know, a big thank you for ultimately shaping...
A paradigm that is shifting so goddamn fast on so many different levels and so many different topics out there.
And largely, what you did started, what, six years ago, I believe it was, when you started the podcast.
You know, you're the guy who did this.
joe rogan
Well, I couldn't have done it if it wasn't for people like you being on the show.
All I'm doing is having conversations with cool people.
This whole thing has made itself.
It's very bizarre.
phil demers
I love that my ass is, in some way, making physical contact with some awesome asses that have sat here, man.
joe rogan
That's an interesting way of looking at it.
unidentified
Oh, I love it.
phil demers
I love him rubbing up against this going, oh, Neil deGrasse here?
unidentified
Yeah, right on.
joe rogan
He wasn't in that one.
Those old seats.
phil demers
Oh, right.
I should mention, these are pretty comfortable.
joe rogan
These are dope, right?
phil demers
Yeah, they are.
joe rogan
Thanks to Ergo Depot for...
Providing me with these.
These are called Capisco chairs because people constantly ask me on Twitter.
They're super comfortable.
They're ergonomic chairs.
phil demers
And they move well, too.
joe rogan
Well, they move well, but here's the most important thing.
These are the only chairs I have ever sat in that are comfortable that I can sit for a three-hour podcast and my back doesn't hurt.
phil demers
It's got the lumbar support, eh?
joe rogan
Yeah, well, when I leave, well, it's just, it forces you to sit in a way where you're erect, which is how we're supposed to sit.
And when I would sit in, like, a standard office chair, by the end of the day, my back's all fucked up from jiu-jitsu.
So, like, the middle of my back would be hurting like hell.
I'd be like, ah!
Like I'd leave podcasts and I'd be all stiff.
I leave these like I feel right now like I just sat down.
Like it doesn't bother me at all.
phil demers
Yeah, full disclosure.
I was moving in my seat because I'm just fidgety guy.
joe rogan
Not because I wasn't uncomfortable.
These ergonomic chairs, man, they are the future.
They are the present.
They're so much better than a regular office chair.
Regular office chairs cause you to sit in sort of a weird way.
Unless you consciously...
Like, I need to get these fucking things to the UFC. Because when I sit and watch the UFC for six hours, I sit like a hot chick on Instagram.
Like, when they stick their ass out.
That's how I sit.
I purposely force myself to sit in this unnatural way.
Whereas if I had chairs like this, I would just...
So, Ergo Depot, holler at me.
We'll send these bitches over to the UFC and...
You know, that's actually like the UFC has, you know, they use the chairs that are there at the Mandalay Bay or MGM or whatever.
But my point is these are the shit.
Yeah, they're great.
Anything else before we wrap this thing up?
phil demers
Everything else.
I could talk for hours, man.
Wrap it up and let me...
joe rogan
Is there anything else important that we left off the table?
phil demers
Oh, shit.
joe rogan
I know you got a whole notebook there, dude.
You're like a comedian.
You have, like, notes.
phil demers
That's my process.
Oh, ag gag laws.
You're familiar with ag gag laws?
This is the agriculture laws that...
Yes.
joe rogan
Factory farming.
phil demers
That's a perfect example of sort of what we're going through.
This is a microcosm of what we're dealing with.
You know, Marine Land sort of gets creative in sort of creating their own little ag gag sort of procedures with existing laws.
But, yeah, these ag gag laws are just an absolute...
Just a fucking horrible thing.
I mean, to be able to prosecute and punish people that are trying to expose the truth of farming and agriculture practices?
This is absurd.
This is fucking crazy, right?
joe rogan
Yeah.
Well, what they're doing is if people have a video, like a cell phone video or something like that, and you film a Pigs in captivity or chickens or anything in agriculture where they have factory farming, you can get sued.
phil demers
Yeah, exactly.
joe rogan
And you can go to jail.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Like, you can go to jail for exposing something that makes people sick and a reality of a business.
If you're buying something, I feel like if I'm buying a chicken and then I find out, oh...
I can no longer be detached from this process because now I know exactly how this chicken lived and I feel horrible about it.
I've been educated.
And so that company needs to change its practices because I don't want to buy chickens from them anymore.
And if some people do, that's fine with them.
But to stop people from filming that and showing you, you're trying to keep people in the dark.
phil demers
You're misleading people.
joe rogan
You're hiding facts.
You're hiding truth.
That's not cool.
phil demers
This is exactly what we're dealing with in reality, right?
Is this the same fucking thing?
joe rogan
Yeah, it is.
It is.
It is exactly the same thing.
Hiding truth, hiding reality, and trying to keep people from being aware of what's essentially torture.
You know, I buy as little meat as possible and no eggs.
I don't buy any eggs from anywhere, unless I'm in a restaurant or something like that.
phil demers
You have your own chickens.
joe rogan
I have my own chickens and I have a good feeling.
My chickens like me.
They come to me.
I come out to them, and I bring food, and I'm like, what's up, kids?
Hey, girls.
And I put the plate down.
They're not scared of me.
They run over, and they lay eggs, and I take the eggs.
Sometimes they peck at me when I try to steal their eggs, but I reach under them to take them.
Barely.
They don't know me that good.
phil demers
You could take them.
joe rogan
But my point is, it's like I enjoy that relationship, and I know that not everybody can have that sort of a relationship, but...
That is what you want if you want eggs.
Like PETA has these really ridiculous campaigns against chickens and against eggs where they call it a chicken period and they have a frying pan on their website with a pair of panties that has like a fucking bloody spot on the panties and you're frying the period.
It's so bizarre.
Have you ever seen it, Jamie?
Pull it up.
phil demers
If periods tasted as good as eggs, I don't think there'd be an issue.
joe rogan
Periods don't taste that good.
Ew, Jesus, come on.
How dare you?
It tastes like a penny.
What's the problem?
Ew, how dare you keep going?
The problem is captivity.
It's not eggs.
Joel Salatin, who is a really fascinating guy, I had him on my podcast, and he's an advocate of...
What you would call natural farming.
When he has pigs, what he does is he puts this enormous electrical fence up, and the pigs, they don't want to go near the fence.
It doesn't hurt them, but it zaps them so they don't pass it.
And then they move the fence, so they continue to graze in new property.
So they're eating acorns and roots and all natural things that pigs eat.
And that's what he does with these pigs.
With chickens, the same thing.
He has these enormous chicken houses and they roll them to new environments.
And so on his farm, this chicken house, the hen house, has rollers on it.
And they'll move it to a new area.
And the chickens, my chickens, I open the gates and my chickens run around my yard.
And then they go back in the hen house at night.
It's what they do.
phil demers
It's also stimulating for them because they get a new environment all the time.
joe rogan
Yes, and they're free.
They're literally free.
And when you get eggs from those kind of chickens, they're a dark orange, like a really dark, deep orange.
And that's because it's much healthier.
When you see something that says vegetarian-fed chickens, guess what?
Chickens aren't vegetarians.
They're fucking dinosaurs.
I fed my chickens a mouse once, and here's another example of the hierarchy of animals we love and animals we don't love.
It's really interesting how this happened in my house.
My kids found a hawk.
The hawk slammed into, I think, a window or something.
I'm not sure.
We weren't there, but we found this wounded hawk.
So my kids...
Decided that what we're going to do is we're going to take this hawk and get it to a wildlife rescue organization.
So they had to feed it because it was over the weekend and the rescue organization wasn't open.
So they went to the pet store and they got, they're called pinkies, which are these little tiny mice.
Yeah.
To the people listening, they're mice that haven't, they're baby mice.
And they use them to feed snakes and stuff like that.
And so they fed the hawk.
These pinkies.
And there was one pinky left.
And they got the hawk to the Wildlife Rescue Organization.
The hawk was taken care of and everything, and hopefully it was released into the wild.
But we had one pinky left over, and my daughter wanted to raise it.
And I said, sweetie, this is going to die.
It has to eat milk.
It's only been alive for a few days.
It's just not going to last.
I'm amazed it's still alive.
And she was crying.
And I said, but we just fed them to the hawks.
Do you understand this?
I go, there's one of two things we should do.
I go, we should either bring it back to the pet store.
No!
I go, listen, if we don't bring it back to the pet store, it's going to die.
We bring it back to the pet store.
The pet store, I don't know if the mouse will accept it now that we've got our scent on it.
I don't know how that works, but they're going to feed it to a snake.
phil demers
They're just going to resell it.
joe rogan
Someone's going to buy it or it might die because it hasn't eaten in 24 hours.
I don't know.
And our other option is we give it to the chickens.
And there's a sauce crying and this and that.
phil demers
At this point, had you known that the chicken was likely to eat this thing?
joe rogan
I knew it.
I've seen them eat a mouse before.
phil demers
Oh, really?
joe rogan
They're fucking ruthless, dude.
They're ruthless.
Like, I put that mouse down.
It was not down on the ground for a fucking half a second when one chicken slammed it.
Got it in his beak and the other chickens were chasing this chicken around the hen house.
Like this chicken couldn't pause to try to eat this because all the other chickens knew what it had and they were running around.
It couldn't stop.
It was running and it's trying to eat it and the other chickens are running with it and I should have filmed it.
phil demers
I had no idea.
joe rogan
Dude, they're monsters.
phil demers
I heard they're pretty ruthless with each other and they like to peck the shit out of each other.
joe rogan
They peck everything.
Here's what's fucked up, man.
They pecked my daughter a couple of times.
And one time I almost killed one of them because it pecked her face.
And my wife is like, it doesn't, no.
I go, listen, listen.
It's trying to eat her.
It just can't.
You need to get this in your head.
It's not that it doesn't know.
It knows she's alive and it's trying to fucking eat her.
And if we held her down, those chickens would eat her.
She's like, you just, you get crazy with this.
I go, I'm telling you right now, they are fucking dinosaurs.
They're cold-blooded.
They have the fucking brain of a pencil eraser, okay?
Little tiny on the tip of your pencil.
That's how big their fucking brain is.
phil demers
Walk, fuck, fight, eat.
joe rogan
Exactly.
They'll eat everything.
They follow my wife around like she'll lift up rocks, and they dive under the rocks to try to get worms and anything that's there.
They're little predators, man.
They're straight-up predators.
So when you see, like, vegetarian-fed, those aren't good eggs.
phil demers
You're not doing any service to that egg.
joe rogan
They're omnivores.
They're omnivores and they would eat meat all day long above grass if you gave it to them.
They like that more.
Like my lawn is filled with grass and they peck at the grass and they eat all kinds of other stuff too.
And they eat the chicken food that we bought.
We try to buy the most nutritious chicken food available.
There's some brands that are like more diverse in the food and the nutrients that are in them.
But the bottom line is they abandon all that shit when they see something live.
They try to eat living things.
That's what they want to do.
phil demers
So that's the thing we got to be scared of most is...
Chickens that are going to get big.
joe rogan
Which is lucky they're little.
phil demers
Yeah.
joe rogan
Well, you ever heard of terror birds?
phil demers
I like to tell people that all the time.
It's just like, if you don't think that that cat wouldn't fucking eat you if it was just a significantly larger, believe me, you'd have a different respect for...
joe rogan
Oh, fuck yeah.
phil demers
For, A, the animal and the idea that, you know, eating meat is...
joe rogan
Fuck yeah, dude.
Fuck yeah.
phil demers
Like a largemouth bass.
If you're swimming in a pool big enough for a largemouth bass to eat you, you're done.
joe rogan
Like a grouper.
Have you ever seen those giant groupers in Florida?
unidentified
It's crazy.
joe rogan
They would eat a baby.
100%.
phil demers
Guaranteed.
joe rogan
The baby was floating around, a grouper would come up.
There was a nutty video of a grouper eating a shark.
phil demers
I saw it.
joe rogan
Isn't that crazy?
phil demers
It's fucking crazy.
joe rogan
The shark was like three feet long?
unidentified
Yeah, swallowed it.
phil demers
Just put it right in his mouth.
Such a mammoth fucking animal.
joe rogan
It's like a giant largemouth bass from a Hobbit movie.
phil demers
It's crazy.
joe rogan
They don't even seem real.
phil demers
Yeah.
joe rogan
I don't know how big they get, but I think it's hundreds and hundreds of pounds.
phil demers
What about that massive...
joe rogan
Look at this.
Here it is.
These people, they caught a shark, and they put the camera in the water to film this grouper that's coming up to the shark.
So they have a small shark on the hook, and as they're reeling it in...
And they're bringing it in.
This video could use some editing.
And as they're reeling it in, they've got this shark.
It's not a small shark.
It's about three feet long, maybe even more.
It might even be four feet.
And this grouper comes along and smashes it as they're trying to get it out of the water.
Look at this.
unidentified
Boom!
Jesus Christ.
joe rogan
I mean, that grouper's got to be two, three hundred pounds.
I don't know how big they get, but I would assume they get to be like 300 or 400 pounds.
How big are groupers, Jeremy?
I don't know.
Let's end this with groupers.
They taste good, though.
You ever have a grouper sandwich?
phil demers
No, I haven't.
joe rogan
I don't know if you would want to eat an old one like that.
phil demers
Probably not.
joe rogan
Yeah, they get a little...
I don't know.
I don't know if that's the case with fish.
phil demers
Oh, it's definitely the case with fish.
unidentified
Is it?
phil demers
I go fishing.
You don't want to keep your 11-pound walleye.
You want to eat between three and really three-pound ones.
joe rogan
I went walleye fishing for the first time last year.
phil demers
Good eating, huh?
unidentified
Oh, yeah.
phil demers
Perch and walleye.
joe rogan
Yeah, and Alberta, man.
How big they get?
2.5 meters.
Eight feet!
Oh my god!
They can weigh as much as 790 pounds!
Holy fucking shit!
unidentified
Wow!
joe rogan
That is insane!
I had no idea!
Eight feet!
phil demers
That could eat you.
joe rogan
700 fucking pounds!
That is so crazy.
Wow, I did not know they got that big.
Oh my god, eight feet.
Can you imagine Shaquille O'Neal, a foot bigger than him, is a grouper?
That's insane.
Look at the size of that thing!
There's one with a dude.
Oh my god.
This thing is bigger than the guy.
phil demers
Look at the little fish that's staying on the other side of the guy going like, fuck, no, I'm not coming around.
I'll stay gonna hide behind you.
joe rogan
It's hoping that the grouper takes chunks out of that guy and leaves a little for him.
God, the ocean is awesome.
unidentified
Yeah, it is.
joe rogan
The ocean is so amazing.
phil demers
The deep ocean, the more you learn about it.
I mean, did you see in Japan that massive squid?
joe rogan
Squid, yeah.
phil demers
That's crazy.
joe rogan
They're swimming with it.
phil demers
I don't want to swim anywhere near that fucking thing.
Now, that's an evil predator right there.
You do not want to get stuck in those tentacles.
joe rogan
Oh yeah, they are really evil, and they're so big.
What's really nuts is that giant squid were just a myth a couple of decades ago.
They had no idea if they were real.
Like, they had never caught one of these things on camera.
Now they have one, it looked like it was in a bay somewhere.
Look, it was really close to boats.
phil demers
It was crazy to look, to watch.
joe rogan
It was allowing people to swim with it.
Like, they never had caught one before.
Like, they didn't know if they were real.
Then they started catching them.
phil demers
I wouldn't swim with that thing.
joe rogan
I wonder how they're catching them.
Because they're catching them much more frequently now.
Like, look at it.
Look at the video of it.
My god, what an amazing, amazing creature.
The entire body flexible.
Nothing but a beak.
It's the only thing that's hard.
Do you know they found evidence really recently of gigantic, some sort of octopus type species that would be like a kraken.
They're thinking by the size of the tentacles this thing would be 100 feet long.
And they found these enormous tentacles that were like, you know, dinner plates.
phil demers
Yeah.
joe rogan
And they're saying, okay, well this is what the myths of the kraken have always been.
The kraken was always this gigantic tentacled monster that would eat anything.
phil demers
Look at that fucking thing.
joe rogan
Well, it's hard to perspective.
When you see it with a person, you get a real good idea of how enormous it is.
But I think that thing is like 18 feet long or something crazy.
But these Krakens, there's nothing left of them when they die.
So what they found is the fossilized remains of the tentacles had died.
When it had died, the tentacles had left an imprint on the ground on the bottom of the ocean.
unidentified
Oh, cool.
joe rogan
And so they got the fossilized remains of these tentacles.
They're like, holy shit.
And they realize, well, okay, this is where these myths come from.
This was a real creature.
phil demers
It's amazing how little we know in terms of what the deep ocean has available to it in terms of animal life.
unidentified
It's crazy.
phil demers
We're discovering stuff every day.
joe rogan
Yeah, they say we know more about the moon than we know about the ocean.
Well, it's, what is it, 70% of the Earth or something like that?
I don't know.
Some giant percentage of the Earth is water, and the ocean floor, I think they've only examined like 5% of it, which is amazing.
So 95% of this incredible, essentially wild world, I mean, it is a wild world.
phil demers
And it ultimately comes from the ocean.
I mean, the ocean is what gives us life.
That's where we have to respect it.
joe rogan
Supposedly, it all came from, right?
We all started off somehow or another as some little fucking fish thing.
phil demers
I gotta watch more Cosmos.
That's another thing I can't get enough of.
joe rogan
Yeah, I know, right?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
I'm so glad they brought that back, especially with Neil deGrasse Tyson.
He has a great podcast, too.
It's called StarTalk.
It's awesome.
It's really good.
phil demers
Definitely check that out.
joe rogan
And it's all about a bunch of different subjects, too.
Like, he had a really cool one with David Byrne from The Talking Heads about creativity, and he's just a really interesting, curious guy, Neil deGrasse Tyson.
phil demers
Yeah.
He's got a great demeanor.
And I like the way they do the Cosmos with the imagination and the animation.
joe rogan
It's great.
phil demers
It's very engaging.
joe rogan
So we're good.
Anything else?
phil demers
Yeah, solid.
Safesmooshy.com.
Follow me.
You never know when that Periscope broadcast is going to happen.
joe rogan
You have Periscope broadcast?
What do you do?
We say you never know.
phil demers
You never know when that Periscope broadcast is going to happen.
joe rogan
So we should follow you on Twitter, WalrusWhisperer on Twitter.
phil demers
Hit me up on Facebook and then Periscope.
That's how I keep my voice alive, man.
joe rogan
Well, we're going to help you, man.
We're going to help you keep your voice alive, for sure.
phil demers
Can't thank you enough.
joe rogan
Thank you, brother.
Appreciate it.
All right, fuckers.
We'll be back tomorrow with the great Tom Segura.
Until then, much love.
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