Hello everyone, my name is Ryan and you are listening
to The Vegan Report. Today is a solo episode.
I have been wanting to record this since forever.
If you follow me on social media, you might guess
where I'm going with this. As you know, every
year people come up with new ways of exploiting
and harming animals. I remember the first time
I heard about those Chinese streamers torturing
cats in front of a live audience. It was pretty
horrifying at the time. Recently, I came across
a disturbing video of a food stall in Thailand
serving live shrimps. They call this a dancing
shrimp salad. And of course backyard chickens
were not at all as prevalent when I was a kid.
My last solo episode was all about that. Link
in the episode notes if you want to fall into
that rabbit hole. For today, I want to address
one of those new harmful trends. Hiking raves.
Have you heard of those people going into the
heart of the wilderness, often in protected spaces
like national parks, only to blast techno music
and dance? It's real. It has been happening for
a while now. And I'm making an episode denouncing
it because we need to stop this trend dead in
its tracks. This should not become another new
normal. And I invite you to check if there is
a local hiking rave group plaguing the forest
near you. Maybe this concerns you more than you
think. So, my interest for hike raves started
last spring when Instagram's algorithm recommended
me videos from an account called PartyScientistLab.
It was a bunch of people carrying the biggest
and loudest speakers and flashing lights, and
they were hiking and dancing, hike dancing across
the forest of a protected park. In one video,
they had stopped at a pond near a waterfall,
if I remember correctly. In another, they were
hike dancing at night. When I saw those videos,
my heart broke. Truly. I thought of dogs cowering
in fear from fireworks detonating far away. I
thought of the birds I feed outside my home.
flying away completely panicked when they hear
me open a window. I thought of our streetlights
and car lights and how they disturbed the behavior
and flight patterns of countless insects. I thought
of a simple truth, observable by anyone. Animals
are incredibly sensitive to sounds and light.
And the idea of invading some of the only places
left on earth where they can get a break from
human harm only to blast loud music and blinding
lights is just cruel at the heart of their habitats
it's what I call an act of animal terrorism and
terrorism is a good word for this because With
your music, you have injected in their small
hearts profound terror. And this is not just
common sense. The harmful effects of noise pollution
on animal behavior has been documented extensively.
Even the direct impact of that sound blast can
cause tinnitus, hearing loss, if not death. to
creatures with a sense of hearing far superior
to that of humans. Well, let me tell you, the
guy behind the party scientist lab account is
named Jack Martique. He's based in Vancouver
and calls those high craves a natural antidepressant.
I decided to message him. And this is what I
told him. Hi Jack, my name is Ryan and I'm messaging
you today about the hiking raves you organize.
I'm happy for your success. However, can you
please consider that your forest raves are disturbing
countless animals and insects? Human generated
sound negatively impacts animals by interfering
with communication, foraging, navigation and
reproduction, potentially leading to stress,
habitat abandonment and even injury or death.
By avoiding loud music or screams in the forest,
you are providing a safe and peaceful environment
for innocent beings who struggle to survive.
Maybe your groups could wear headphones or organize
those raves in the artificial environment of
a greenhouse or glass house. I hope this message
finds you well. Thank you, Ryan." His response
was that he blocked me. But a few weeks later,
his hiking raves videos reappeared in my Instagram
feed. Coming from another account of his, SubberRaveGuy.
Now, I'm not trying to pick on him, but this
is an interesting case study. I mean, how has
he been allowed to terrorize wildlife for so
long? Is it not illegal? Well, I did some investigative
reporting and was able to interview someone who
knows him very well. I believe that the person
is employed as a park ranger. The person did
not want to appear on the podcast, but this is
what they had to say about the party mad scientist.
Search and rescue teams and others keep asking
him to do a few really basic things like have
a list of people participating, a noun route
and something like a sweep, someone designated
to go last and make sure there are no stragglers.
It would be nice to also have someone to do first
aid. Land managers dislike him because he's doing
large events in regional parks without permits.
He refuses to do any of the basic safety things.
He is unreasonable about it. He claims it would
ruin the vibe. He also claims the events are
sober but he has no way of knowing or enforcing
that. Just checking who shows up and that they
all got home is the most basic thing so he would
know to call for help if someone got lost or
injured. Aside from all that a lot of people
are upset at the music being played in the bush,
a place they value for peacefulness. He doesn't
have much to say about how his party ruins other
people's enjoyment of what some consider a sacred
place. Following that, I asked that person why
haven't authorities stepped in with fines, and
I also asked to your knowledge Is he violating
any law? And what about the animals of the bush?
Some are endangered species. Have there been
complaints regarding that? His answer was, he's
been shut down, but I don't know if he has been
fined. Like a lot of normal raves, he doesn't
post the location until close to the event happening.
partly to avoid authorities from stopping him.
So he knows what he is doing is against various
laws or bylaw. In one case, he changed destination
at the last minute. And then person shared with
me an article about one instance in which the
police intervened, but they did absolutely nothing.
Let me read you from that article. Authorities
meanwhile voiced concern about wildfires and
the safety of those planning to dance their way
up the mountain and back down in the dark. Party
for Health, which organized a high -crave – it's
the same party scientist guy – did not appear
to be deterred by the police presence and took
their party to the adjacent old Buck Trail parking
lot. A crowd of about a hundred people turned
up wearing eccentric fashion and for the most
part completed their outfits with sensible hiking
boots or runners. The group made their way up
Old Buck Trail, toting a sound system for about
two kilometers where they stopped to have a dance
party under the power lines. Now going back to
that person's answer. Whether he's breaking a
law or not is not clear. Parks have regulations.
Events planned for parks require permits. They
could find him or charge him with something,
maybe trespassing. He's clearly breaking the
regulations for British Columbia's parks. There
have been some raves on Crownland I know of.
They drive up Forest Service roads and set up
in clearings. Cops usually try to shut those
down too, but I do not know what part of the
law they are violating. As far as endangered
animals, that's hard to measure. The parks he's
operating in see thousands of people a week hiking
the trails. The rave is louder and at night,
so it could disturb nocturnal animals. But it's
not the main thing I'm concerned about. From
the search and rescue perspective, it's just
the simple safety things. Make a trip plan, have
a safety plan, sign people in, and make sure
they come home. Can you imagine the degree of
navel gazing? I will even say narcissism and
blind hedonism of those people. Going in those
forests with no care in the world for other hikers
and even less for the animals. In fact, I'm sure
the whole underground aspect of this, the fact
that this is illegal and possibly dangerous,
just excites them even more, makes the whole
thing more appealing. And the animals? Well,
as long as they don't see them, it's easy to
ignore them. Although, I'm sure if I interviewed
those rave hikers, they would have a story or
two to share about a baby bird falling from a
tree, how random and incredible that was, and
maybe they even took a few selfies with that
bird. Who knows? But it does sound like a plausible
scenario to me. Like I said before this is not
only happening in Vancouver. This has been happening
everywhere The party scientist is the face of
that in Canada in New Zealand It's a guy that
goes by rave hiking on Instagram He climbs on
mountains for what to enjoy the peace and serenity
at the top Oh no, it's to play loud disco music
while filming himself awkwardly dance for a social
medium. Awkwardly because the surface is not
flat and there is a risk that he falls down.
So cool, at least he has not turned this into
a business. Well, I hope. So that's it for today.
Thank you everyone for listening. Thank you for
allowing me to get this off my chest. You know,
I'm a hiker. I'm a regular hiker. I do believe
those places are kind of sacred. It's one of
the few concessions humanity has made to Mother
Nature. We give you back this land. We won't
touch it. We won't let our greed destroy it and
I don't want to see that agreement That those
beautiful sanctuaries of peace disappear again,
thank you everyone for leaving a good review
for sharing the show and for subscribing and
tuning in every week. It's truly gratifying to
have an audience. Thank you for caring and see
you next Tuesday.