Dan Piraro—creator of the innovative, acclaimed, and much-beloved comic strip, “Bizarro,” which he’s drawn for more than 35 years, and in which animals (talking, and otherwise) often play a central role—surveys some of the notable changes he’s experienced,...
Dr. Matt Johnson—a professor at Humboldt State University, in the school’s Department of Wildlife, who’s overseeing an extended research study gauging the effectiveness of using owls, versus rodenticides, to remove rodents from nearby Napa Valley vineyards—provides...
Steven M. Wise—founder and president of the Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP); an attorney, author, and legal scholar, Wise is leading NhRP’s pioneering effort to free an elephant named Happy from the Bronx Zoo through a writ of habeas corpus, aiming to change her...
Dr. Lisa Wiese—associate professor of Nursing at the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing at Florida Atlantic University (FAU), and co-author of a study conducted recently at FAU, which found that interacting with a robotic pet can serve as a boon to the health of...
Ellen Quinlan—executive director of the Darbster Foundation (& Darbster Rescue), whose chief mission involves plucking cats and dogs from crowded south Florida shelters, and finding homes for them in the adoption-friendly New England area, with that process...
Susan Kurowski—executive director of the Pets for the Elderly Foundation (PFE), which covers a portion of the adoption fee for seniors, 60-years-old or older, adopting a shelter dog or cat from one of PFE’s participating shelters—outlines the history of the...
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...
Kitty Block—President and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), as well as CEO of Humane Society International, HSUS’ global division—discusses getting a precocious start working in animal welfare, in that her Mom was an animal activist. Block...
Coleen Ellis—an expert on pet loss and dealing with the kind of grief that results from losing an animal companion—recalls how the loss 18 years ago of her beloved dog, Mico, coupled with then working in the human funeral profession, inspired her to start the first...
Carol Buckley—a longtime expert in the care of captive elephants, who co-founded The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, moving on to found Elephant Aid International, a nonprofit organization “that creates innovative approaches to the care and management of captive...
