Erika Abrams—co-founder and president of Animal Aid Unlimited, a rescue operation, hospital, and sanctuary in Udaipur, India—recalls the circumstances under which she, her husband, Jim, and daughter, Claire, began traveling to India in the late 1980s. While noting...
Rachel McCrystal—executive director of Woodstock Farm Sanctuary, which rescues farmed animals and provides refuge for them, now housing around 400 animals—recalls a childhood marked by a houseful of animals, featuring a preponderance of rattlesnakes and other...
Dr. Jaret C. Daniels—an entomologist and professor at the University of Florida, as well as accomplished nature photographer, whose new book is ‘Vibrant Butterflies: Our Favorite Visitors To Flowers And Gardens”—recalls how growing up in a rural section of...
Al Cecere—founder and president of the American Eagle Foundation (AEF), a Tennessee-based nonprofit dedicated to bald eagle rehabilitation, recovery, and breeding programs—recalls seeing an Associated Press photo showing more than 20 dead bald eagles that had been...
For this edition of “Talking Animals,” I altered the show’s usual format to convene an in-studio panel discussion about Canine Companions For Independence (CCI), pegged to CCI’s then-upcoming third annual DogFest Walk ‘n’ Roll event, on March 3 at Al Lopez Park in...
Jane O’Hara—the animal advocate and artist whose paintings explore animal issues, depict their plight, and explore our relationships with them--recalls growing up in a family where animals didn’t have much of a presence, but she liked them. O’Hara notes that art...
Elaine West—the founder of Rooterville Animal Sanctuary, a haven housing about 300 rescued farm animals, predominantly pigs, located in Melrose, FL—recalls the first pig she met, as a kid at her aunt’s farm in Illinois, describing a love-at-first-sight sensation...
Maria McKee—the singer-songwriter who burst onto the music scene some 35 years ago, fronting the band Lone Justice, going on to a storied solo career—discusses her lifelong love of dogs, while noting, early on, there was an incident that so traumatized her that she...
Jodie Wiederkehr—campaign director for Chicago Alliance For Animals (CAA), she’s spearheading CAA’s campaign to ban horse carriages in Chicago—recalls how her earliest professional animal advocacy work began in 1997, but that she grew up in a politically-engaged...
Amy Kight—newly named executive director of Busch Wildlife Sanctuary (though she’s worked at the Jupiter, FL wildlife refuge, hospital, rehabilitation facility, and educational center since 2004)—discusses being so passionate about working with animals and so eager...
