About once a year, I jettison the chief component of the “Talking Animals” format—a long form interview with a single guest—to offer a debate or some other multi-guest panel discussion. As part of that periodic effort to rejigger the program, and a parallel desire...
Raymond J. Lesniak—veteran State Senator of New Jersey, who has a distinguished track record of working on behalf of animals and animal welfare—explains that he didn’t really harbor any political ambition while growing up, sort of wandering into that realm after...
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...
Jennifer Arnold—the founder and executive director of Canine Assistants, which trains and provides service dogs for children and adults with physical disabilities and author, most recently, of “Love Is All You Need: The Revolutionary Bond-Based Approach To...
Mark Reinfeld—the award-winning vegan chef and author of numerous books, including “The 30-Minute Vegan” series and, most recently, “Healing The Vegan Way: Plant-Based Eating for Optimal Health and Wellness”—discusses the first portion of the new book, which...
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...
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...
Jamie Katz — who runs the only licensed private investigation agency in Florida that specializes in locating pets (so, yes, she’s a pet detective)—discusses growing up with a passion for animals, how during her childhood there was just one dog and two cats in her...
