Spay/Neuter | Talking Animals

Lenore Braford and Paul Drake, co-founders of Piedmont Farm Animal Refuge

Duncan — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 16:10:07 +0000

Lenore Braford and Paul Drake–co-founders of Piedmont Farm Animal Refuge, a highly-innovative animal sanctuary in North Carolina; owing to Drake being an architectural designer, each structure is uniquely tailored to the species housed there, reflecting their behavioral inclinations and preferences—discuss “Forever Home,” the new documentary by award-winning filmmaker Allison Argo profiling the Refuge.In addressing the […]

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Andria Gibbon, founder and president of Protecting Paws for Life

Duncan — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 16:10:18 +0000

Andria Gibbon–founder and president of Protecting Paws for Life, a nonprofit Florida organization dedicated to helping more domestic violence shelters become pet-friendly–recalls, as a young woman in New Jersey, her transformative first foray into animal rescue, never imagining she’d still be doing it 27 years later. In a conversation pegged to October being Domestic Violence […]

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Dr. Crystal Heath, veterinarian and activist

Duncan — Wed, 15 Oct 2025 16:08:23 +0000

Dr. Crystal Heath–a veterinarian who’s bristled at inhumane treatment of animals throughout her career, and before, dating back to her childhood as a 4-H kid discovering the goats she’d raised would be slaughtered—recalls growing up in a rural part of Northern California, adoring animals and riding horses. Dr. Heath, a speaker at the Tampa Bay […]

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Kirk Johnson, onscreen narrator of “Walrus: Life on Thin Ice”

Duncan — Wed, 01 Oct 2025 16:31:51 +0000

Kirk Johnson—paleontologist, Sant Director of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, and onscreen narrator of “Walrus: Life on Thin Ice,” a documentary that airs Oct. 22 in the season premiere of the PBS series “Nature”—recalls a research opportunity as a grad student some 40 years ago, involving walruses. It was, he says in the […]

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Stephanie Boydston, founder and director of Love Life Animal Rescue & Sanctuary

Duncan — Wed, 24 Sep 2025 16:10:25 +0000

Stephanie Boydston–founder and director of Love Life Animal Rescue & Sanctuary, a refuge in Myakka City, FL devoted to rescuing, rehabilitating and re-homing farmed animals—recalls a childhood in Long Island, NY amidst a string of foster animals, reflecting her father’s belief that family members should become accustomed to saying goodbye to animals. These were mostly […]

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Callers & Emailers Are The Guests

Duncan — Thu, 08 May 2025 00:29:46 +0000

Occasionally, I jettison the chief component of the “Talking Animals” format–a long form interview with a single guest–to give voice to a broader array of animal organizations and leaders, concerned animal advocates, and others who simply care about animals. That’s what happened today, when I invited listeners to call in (or email) and briefly serve as the […]

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Dara Eckart, CEO of Friends of Strays

Duncan — Wed, 26 Jun 2024 04:00:12 +0000

Dara Eckart–CEO of Friends of Strays, St. Petersburg’s oldest no-kill animal shelter, currently undergoing a significant transformation, including opening a cats-only adoption center, The Cat Box on July 1—outlines the shelter’s history, citing key milestones of the early years. Eckart explains that Friends of Strays began in 1978, when co-founder Jean Bomonti, who’d been volunteering […]

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Rhonda Eldridge, Executive Director of The Community Pet Project

Duncan — Wed, 05 Jun 2024 04:00:04 +0000

Rhonda Eldridge–Executive Director of The Community Pet Project, which provides pet food and several other resources to homeless and at-risk communities throughout Hillsborough County—discusses the organization’s origin story, beginning in 2017 as an offshoot of a local rescue, before peeling off as a separate entity with 501c3 nonprofit status. The Community Pet Project was launched […]

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Deborah Howard, President of Companion Animal Protection Society (CAPS)

Duncan — Wed, 03 Apr 2024 19:45:54 +0000

Deborah Howard—founder-president of the Companion Animal Protection Society (CAPS), self-described, you may recall, as “the only national nonprofit organization dedicated exclusively to protecting companion animals from cruelty in pet shops and puppy/kitten mills”—returns for a conversational sequel to our January interview, because we didn’t have time to discuss the ways CAPS has broadened its mission […]

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Josh Fox, founder of The Brady Hunter Foundation

Duncan — Thu, 08 Feb 2024 01:16:57 +0000

Josh Fox–founder of the Brady Hunter Foundation, a Miami-based nonprofit whose mission reflects a commitment to helping end animal cruelty, protecting wildlife, and making a positive impact in the lives of children—observes his love of animals is truly lifelong, citing a photo of Fox as an infant in his crib being happily licked by the […]

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Jessica Kelly, co-leader of Cat Trap Fever

Duncan — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 23:48:42 +0000

Jessica Kelly—who, along with Sue Rountree, runs Cat Trap Fever, a nonprofit focused on improving the lives of feral cats, chiefly in Pinellas County—recounts the “hodgepodge” of jobs she held before devoting herself to long days of TNVR: Trap, Neuter, Vaccinate, Return. Kelly’s jobs included teenage waitress, traveling with the carnival, and ballet instructor. But […]

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Dr. Catherine Macdonald, shark expert

Duncan — Wed, 23 Aug 2023 04:00:28 +0000

Dr. Catherine Macdonald–a marine conservation biologist and assistant professor at the University of Miami, who conducts, and oversees, research on sharks—recalls a childhood less enamored of the sea, at first, than of mud. This, Macdonald says, was part of being a kid who loved being outdoors, exploring nature, endlessly curious, and not at all opposed […]

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Susan Hanus, executive director of Cat Depot

Duncan — Wed, 12 Jul 2023 04:00:29 +0000

Susan Hanus–executive director of Cat Depot, a unique feline-only shelter in Sarasota—recalls when she first became a cat person. Hanus has remained staunchly feline-friendly ever since, though, she explains, she stopped living with them when it turned out one of her kids is allergic to cats. Hanus outlines some of the traits that help make […]

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Kathy Finelli, director of Gainesville Rabbit Rescue

Duncan — Wed, 05 Jul 2023 04:00:04 +0000

Kathy Finelli–the director of Gainesville Rabbit Rescue (GRR), a nonprofit organization founded in 1998 by two University of Florida students—recalls how her involvement with GRR began 20-plus years ago, when she sought their help after finding a domestic rabbit outside her home. That was a fateful moment in more ways than one. It not only […]

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Valerie Benka, Director of Programs for the Alliance for Contraception in Cats and Dogs

Duncan — Wed, 21 Jun 2023 04:00:18 +0000

Valerie Benka–the Director of Programs for the Alliance for Contraception in Cats and Dogs (ACC&D)—recalls being someone who was nuts about animals from the time she was a kid, growing up in a family amidst a veritable menagerie. This early pet passion created something of a gravitational pull, drawing Benka toward animals, as she traveled […]

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Rick Yocum, executive director, the Humane Society of Manatee County

Duncan — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 04:00:32 +0000

Rick Yocum–executive director of the Humane Society of Manatee County (HSMC), established more than 50 years ago, and now a truly multifaceted operation—traces his career path to his current job, which he’s held for seven years. In answer to a question of mine, Yocum allows that it makes perfect sense he holds this job, noting […]

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Glen Hatchell: dog trainer, behaviorist–“Ask The Trainer” 6th Edition

Duncan — Wed, 14 Dec 2022 05:00:46 +0000

As we’ve done five times prior, today’s show involved setting aside the usual “Talking Animals” format in order to present the extended feature, “Ask The Trainer,” in which listeners are invited to call or email questions about their dogs or cats, particularly involving behavioral issues or training concerns.The Trainer these listeners have an opportunity to […]

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Samantha Wishman & Christina Thomas, co-directors of “Free Puppies!”

Duncan — Wed, 03 Aug 2022 04:00:45 +0000

Christina Thomas and Samantha Wishman are co-directors of “Free Puppies!,” a documentary examining rescue dogs being regularly transported from the South to the North for adoption, probing deeper into why the South is a repository for so many homeless dogs.

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Dr. Jennifer Conrad, founder of The Paw Project, advocate for banning feline declawing

Duncan — Wed, 17 Nov 2021 05:00:45 +0000

Dr. Jennifer Conrad—a veterinarian and founder of The Paw Project, and a tireless crusader against declawing cats for many years; I first interviewed her about it on “Talking Animals” in 2005, and she’d already been working on the issue for some time—recounts the initial impetus for taking on the cause, spurred by performing reparative surgery […]

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Glen Hatchell, veteran dog trainer: “Ask The Trainer” II

Duncan — Wed, 18 Aug 2021 04:00:36 +0000

As we did in May, in what was then an experimental effort, on today’s show we jettisoned the regular “Talking Animals” format, presenting a still semi-new extended feature, “Ask The Trainer,” in which listeners are invited to call or email questions or concerns about their dogs, particularly involving behavioral issues. That experiment in May was […]

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Julie Castle, CEO of Best Friends Animal Society

Duncan — Wed, 14 Jul 2021 04:00:41 +0000

Julie Castle—the CEO of Best Friends Animal Society, the national animal welfare organization, founded in 1984, and based in Kanab, Utah—describes the organization currently in broad strokes, offering notable contrasts to when she scrapped plans for law school and began working there some 25 years ago, as just the 17th employee of this now-sprawling entity. […]

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Barbara Trask Lovett, president of Save Nosey Now, advocate for captive elephants

Duncan — Wed, 05 May 2021 04:00:34 +0000

Barbara Trask Lovett—president of Save Nosey Now, member of the Board of Directors of The Elephant Advocacy Project, and generally a veteran advocate for improving the lives of captive elephants—recounts part of her background and how earlier efforts for Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (at times, working closely with Paul Watson) gradually mutated into parallel concerns […]

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Peter J. Wolf, Best Friends Animal Society’s cat initiatives analyst

Duncan — Wed, 14 Apr 2021 04:00:22 +0000

Peter J. Wolf—who works for Best Friends Animal Society as cat initiatives analyst, which involves helping the organization shape its community cat policies, and has overseen some of its national cat programs—starts the conversation by answering the almost-inevitable question: How did he move from holding an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering, and a master’s degree […]

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Rick Chaboudy, co-founder of Suncoast Animal League

Duncan — Wed, 13 Nov 2019 05:00:39 +0000

Rick Chaboudy—the co-founder and executive director of Suncoast Animal League, the Palm Harbor-based animal welfare organization/shelter that is distinct by virtue of caring for both domestic animals and wildlife—traces the history of his long career working in animal welfare in the Tampa Bay area, going back even before he spent 20-plus years as executive director […]

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Chris Poole, colleague of feline phenoms Cole & Marmalade

Duncan — Wed, 20 Feb 2019 05:00:32 +0000

Chris Poole—a Tampa resident best known, as he describes it, being owned by feline phenoms Cole and Marmalade—remembers growing up in Nottingham, England and his family having an array of pets, including his first black cat, Sarah. Poole recalls landing an internship at Big Cat Rescue, in Tampa, which sounded appealing, as an animal-loving young […]

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Kristen Auerbach, Director of Pima Animal Care Center

Duncan — Wed, 23 May 2018 04:00:11 +0000

Kristen Auerbach—Director of Pima Animal Care Center (PACC), and recognized as a prominent, pioneering figure in the animal shelter world, in part through her previous stints at Austin Animal Center (which became the nation’s largest no-kill shelter), and Fairfax County Animal Services—recalls her earliest days in this field, as a humane officer. As the story […]

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Denice Heatherly, co-founder of Music City Animal Advocates

Duncan — Wed, 12 Jul 2017 04:00:49 +0000

Denice Heatherly—co-founder of Music City Animal Advocates, a non-profit organization whose stated goal is “to create an animal-saving culture in greater Nashville and surrounding counties” —describes her formative years, when her grandmother was a serious animal lover, and always had a dog, whereas Heatherly’s mother didn’t want animals in their house. She recalls moving to Nashville […]

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Stacy LeBaron, host of The Community Cats Podcast

Duncan — Wed, 21 Jun 2017 04:00:49 +0000

Stacy LeBaron—a veteran animal welfare advocate (felines, in particular) who hosts The Community Cats Podcast—recalls her first memory of a cat…who happened to be named Duncan! Still, she allows that her powerful passion for cats was cultivated cumulatively; over the course of several kitties she’s known and loved. LeBaron explains what it is she finds […]

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Luan Dean, Director of Mission Advancement at SPCA Tampa Bay

Duncan — Wed, 21 Sep 2016 04:00:16 +0000

Luan Dean—the Director of Mission Advancement at SPCA Tampa Bay—explains the scope of her duties at the organization, which began in 1940, while describing the work undertaken there in the earliest days, some 70 years ago. Dean also briefly traces SPCA Tampa Bay’s evolution and change in those ensuing decades, including relocating from St. Petersburg to […]

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Mindy Smith, Singer-Songwriter

Duncan — Wed, 22 Oct 2014 04:00:18 +0000

Well, as these show summaries go, this is certainly an unusual one. Quite fitting, really, given how unusual this show was, to say nothing of the morning this show aired. WMNF is in Tampa and as many listeners know, I live on the opposite coast of Florida. Which means a three-plus hour drive, each way, […]

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Ashley Mutch, Pets For Life

Duncan — Wed, 30 Jul 2014 04:00:54 +0000

Ashley Mutch, the Philadelphia Manager of Pets For Life—a nationally-expanding outreach effort that, relying on an array of strategies, and offering a variety of resources, seeks to help pets and their humans in low-income communities–recounts growing up loving animals, and deciding early on she wanted to make working with them her occupation. She recalls her […]

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Jeanine Cohen, co-founder of Cat Crusaders

Duncan — Wed, 04 Jun 2014 04:00:39 +0000

Jeanine Cohen—the co-founder and co-director of Tampa Cat Crusaders, an all-volunteer cat rescue—recalls the circumstances that propelled her into cat rescue, a story which involves a semi-feral feline near Cohen’s office that had kittens. (That cat, Tramp, now lives with Cohen and her family.) This led to her volunteering for many years with an organization […]

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Francis Battista, Best Friends Co-Founder And NKLA Leader

Duncan — Wed, 12 Mar 2014 04:00:00 +0000

Francis Battista—a co-founder of Best Friends Animal Society, who helped form a coalition of 70 L.A. organizations in 2012, working with Los Angeles Animal Services, launching NKLA, or No-Kill Los Angeles—discusses the history of the city’s shelter landscape. He describes how Brenda Barnette’s arrival in 2010 as general manager of L.A. Department of Animal Services […]

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Jane Hoffman, president of Mayor’s Alliance of NYC’s Animals

Duncan — Wed, 20 Nov 2013 05:00:55 +0000

Jane Hoffman—president and co-founder of the Mayor’s Alliance of NYC’s Animals, a coalition of more than 150 animal shelters and rescue groups—provides a wide-ranging assessment of the Alliance as it marks its 10th anniversary. She discusses its history, mission and the evolution of the organization, noting that when she and others launched the Alliance, the […]

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Vicki Kilmer, Best Friends Animal Society

Duncan — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 04:00:36 +0000

Vicki Kilmer—Director of Brand Management & Business Intelligence for Best Friends Animal Society, which operates the nation’s largest sanctuary for abused and abandoned animals—outlines a bit of Best Friends’ history and mission.As part of that summary, she touches on Best Friends taking in some of the Michael Vick dogs and the “DogTown” TV series […]

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Fred Willard, comedian, actor, animal guy

Duncan — Wed, 18 Sep 2013 04:00:36 +0000

Comedian, actor and improviser Fred Willard—who delivered a legendary performance as TV commentator Buck Laughlin in “Best In Show,’ the classic Christopher Guest-directed mockumentary set in a canine competition not unlike the Westminster Dog Show—discusses an array of topics, including animals, “Best In Show,” animal welfare organizations, comedy, Twitter, his birthday, his cat Mittenz, Hawaii, […]

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Ian Hallett, Director of Hillsborough County Animal Services

Duncan — Wed, 15 May 2013 04:00:44 +0000

Ian Hallett—Director of Hillsborough County Animal Services—discusses his formative years in Riverview, the sort of animals he grew up with and around, including becoming a staff vet tech at 16. He explains how his educational path took him to Austin, where he began volunteering at the animal shelter there, taking on various volunteer roles, […]

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Becky Robinson, co-founder of Alley Cat Allies

Duncan — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 14:38:03 +0000

Becky Robinson—co-founder and president of Alley Cat Allies, which bills itself the only national advocacy organization dedicated to the protection and human treatment of cats—recounts the incident and surrounding circumstances that led in 1990 to the launching of Alley Cat Allies. She also discusses the history, evolution and effectiveness of Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR). Robinsons responds to […]

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Callers And E-Mailers As Guests

Duncan — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 04:00:50 +0000

As part of an ongoing effort to continue experimenting with different approaches to presenting guests and information on “Talking Animals”–and a parallel desire to give voice to a broader array of animal organizations and leaders–we returned to a format we try to employ once or twice a year. We invited people to call in and […]

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Jack Talman, founder of Fostering Is Cool

Duncan — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 04:00:53 +0000

Jack Talman–founder of Fostering Is Cool, a Tampa organization that promotes the fostering of cats and dogs, with an emphasis on on the animals saved from a grim fate by rescue groups–discusses his background as a lifelong animal lover, and how after retiring (he owned a transportation company), he had the time and inclination to work […]

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