Investigations | Talking Animals

Mark Devries, documentary filmmaker, “Humans and Other Animals”

Duncan — Wed, 14 Aug 2024 04:00:34 +0000

Mark Devries–the documentary filmmaker (https://markdevries.com/) who specializes in exploring the realm of animals and animal welfare—expands on the final line (the fate of our kin is up to us) of his new film, “Humans and Other Animals.” Laying out an eloquent and philosophical operating principle—which permeates his new film, as it did his debut doc, […]

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Dr. Daniel Promislow, principal investigator of The Dog Aging Project

Duncan — Wed, 24 Jan 2024 05:00:54 +0000

Dr. Daniel Promislow–a biogerontologist, professor at the University of Washington, and principal investigator of The Dog Aging Project, a long-term study of health and longevity in dogs—recounts the genesis of the Project. **NOTE: There is static on the line during the first portion of the interview; it does clear up. He explains that it was […]

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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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Gene Baur, co-founder and president of Farm Sanctuary

Duncan — Wed, 19 Jul 2023 04:00:51 +0000

Gene Baur–co-founder and president of Farm Sanctuary, which Baur helped launch in 1986—responds to the observation that, nearly 40 years later, he could be excused if some days felt “same old, old,” recounting some of the activities that currently most invigorate him. Fortunately, for him (and, really, for the rest of us), Baur explains he […]

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Jane O’Hara, animal advocate and artist

Duncan — Wed, 24 May 2023 04:00:13 +0000

Jane O’Hara, the animal advocate and artist–whose paintings tend to celebrate animals or explore animal issues—recalls a regular upbringing, amidst conventional companion animals. Only some years later, O’Hara adds, did she start researching animals, reading some influential books, becoming steeped in the good, the bad, and the ugly of eating and otherwise mistreating animals. It […]

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Alene Anello, founder and president of Legal Impact for Chickens

Duncan — Wed, 08 Mar 2023 05:00:02 +0000

Alene Anello–founder and president of Legal Impact for Chickens (LIC), a nonprofit dedicated to bringing lawsuits that benefit chickens—recalls growing up in a family with plenty of animals, mostly dogs. However, when at age 11, she asked for her very own animal, her parents gave her a cockatiel, Conrad. Anello says that Conrad lived for […]

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Dr. Dani McVety, co-founder of Lap of Love Veterinary Hospice

Duncan — Wed, 21 Jul 2021 04:00:56 +0000

Dr. Dani McVety—the veterinarian, and Tampa native, who co-founded Lap of Love Veterinary Hospice in 2009—recounts the circumstances behind launching what has since become the nation’s largest network dedicated to end of life veterinary care, operating in 36 states. McVety provides an overview of how Lap of Love works, describing how and when one of […]

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Ingrid Newkirk, co-founder & president of PETA

Duncan — Wed, 29 Jan 2020 05:00:31 +0000

Ingrid Newkirk—the co-founder and president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), and co-author (with Gene Stone) of “animalkind: Remarkable Discoveries about Animals and Revolutionary New Ways to Show Them Compassion”—recalls how she decided on the book’s format. Newkirk outlines some of the things she learned over the course of working on “animalkind. […]

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Paul Solotaroff, Rolling Stone contributing editor

Duncan — Wed, 11 Jan 2017 05:00:41 +0000

Paul Solotaroff—Rolling Stone contributing editor who wrote a wide-ranging, high-profile exposé about the netherworld of puppy mills in the then-new issue of the magazine—discusses how he came to write the piece, sort of goaded into it by Humane Society of The United States CEO Wayne Pacelle, after Solotaroff completed another Rolling Stone investigative opus about factory […]

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Nathan Runkle, founder of Mercy For Animals…Plus, Joan Jett!

Duncan — Wed, 01 Apr 2015 04:00:23 +0000

Nathan Runkle—founder and president of Mercy For Animals—recounts the horrific incident (a fellow high school student that Runkle said slammed a baby piglet on a concrete floor during class) that prompted him to create the organization in 1999. He discusses Mercy For Animals’ early years and early achievements, as well as the evolution of the organization […]

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Kip Andersen & Keegan Kuhn, “Cowspiracy” filmmakers

Duncan — Wed, 10 Sep 2014 04:00:45 +0000

Kip Andersen & Keegan Kuhn—filmmakers behind the documentary “Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret,” which examines how the animal agriculture industry dwarfs all other causes of global climate change (and other ills), and how the most prominent environmental nonprofit organizations look the other way, and worse—discuss their respective backgrounds and how they teamed up for this project. […]

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Jo-Anne McArthur, photojournalist & activist

Duncan — Wed, 05 Feb 2014 05:00:37 +0000

Jo-Anne McArthur—an award-winning photojournalist whose passion as an animal activist has informed her work in an ongoing project, “We Animals”—recounts her first forays into photography. She discusses her evolution as a photographer, deciding to specialize in animals at the urging of a mentor who recommended she follow her passion, as well as a light bulb […]

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Mark Devries, director of “Speciesism: The Movie”

Duncan — Wed, 06 Nov 2013 05:00:36 +0000

Mark Devries—director of the new documentary, “Speciesism: The Movie”—discusses how the film came about, and how he first became interested in factory farming. He traces the genesis of “Speciesism” to encountering some PETA protests, spurring an interest in learning more about what truly goes on behind the walls of factory farming operations, at about the […]

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Paul Shapiro, VP Farm Animal Protection, HSUS

Duncan — Wed, 08 May 2013 04:00:33 +0000

Paul Shapiro—Vice President, Farm Animal Protection, at The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS)—recounts his formative years as an animal lover and advocate, including launching Compassion Over Killing and how that organization’s undercover video investigations in the pre-Internet age served as an important precursor to the more sophisticated ones later undertaken by HSUS, Mercy […]

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