This represents a highly unusual edition of “Talking Animals,” chiefly, because it features far more guests at one time—eight—than any other show in our 13-plus year history. The overall topic was Pasco County’s Inmate Labor Program, which allows inmates to “work”...
Dr. Laurie Marker—the founder and executive director of the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), speaking by phone from the CCF base in Namibia—recounts her childhood, growing up near Los Angeles, and how animals were central to her life even then, though it was mainly...
Dr. Lisa Kemmerer—a professor of philosophy and religions at Montana State University Billings, who has written and/or edited none books—discusses her unusual, stop-start path as an academic, including what drew her to Harvard Divinity School, where she earned her...
Cheryl Brady—founder and owner of Vet Care Express Ambulance, which is designed to help pet owners, emergency vet clinics, veterinarians, humane societies and other entities in situations where an animal is injured or severely ill, and time is of the essence for...
Chris Hegedus—co-director of the new documentary, “Unlocking The Cage”—explains the criteria she and her partner of 40 years, D.A. Pennebaker, use when deciding on the films to make, an eclectic body of work that includes the Oscar-nominated “The War Room,” which...
Mary Finelli, founder and president of Fish Feel, traces her professional path working in animal welfare--including stints at PETA, the Humane Society of The United States, Animal Place (where she launched Farmed Animal Watch)—before launching Fish Feel, which...
Dr. James Keen—a veterinarian and scientist, and surely one of this era’s most significant whistle blowers in the animal welfare realm--describes the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center (USMARC), a 55 square-mile livestock research facility in Nebraska, where Keen had...
Thomas Ponce—the 15-year-old activist and founder (at age 12) of Florida-based Lobby For Animals—recalls the circumstances that triggered his precocious interest in animal activism, as well as how hearing about the importance of lobbying at an animal rights...
Caitlin O’Connell—one of the elephant experts featured in “Mind of a Giant,” a Nat Geo Wild documentary special premiering June 19—recalls how she did not grow up with a particular fascination or love for elephants, noting her earlier academic work was in...
Steve Jenkins—co-author, with Derek Walter and Caprice Crane, of “Esther The Wonder Pig: Changing The World One Heart At A Time”—discusses how Esther entered his and Walter’s world: He got duped into adopting her when she was a baby, having been told she was a...
