All posts in Captive

Kitty Block, President and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States

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. Read more…

Carol Buckley, longtime expert in the care of captive elephants

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 elephants”—seeks to address, 47 years into working with these animals, what exactly it is about elephants that stole her heart, and keep stealing it. Read more…

Barbara Trask Lovett, president of Save Nosey Now, advocate for captive elephants

Barbara Trask Lovett—president of Save Nosey Now, member of the Board of Directors of The Elephant Advocacy Project, and generally a veteran advocate for improving the lives of captive elephants—recounts part of her background and how earlier efforts for Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (at times, working closely with Paul Watson) gradually mutated into parallel concerns for elephants, particularly captive ones. Read more…

Caitlin O’Connell, author of “Wild Rituals: 10 Lessons Animals Can Teach Us about Connection, Community, and Ourselves”

Caitlin O’Connell—a noted scientist who’s spent much of her career studying elephants and their communication, and author of several books, most recently “Wild Rituals: 10 Lessons Animals Can Teach Us about Connection, Community, and Ourselves”—addresses some of her varied professional pursuits, including a NASA project that involved the Space Station, that had prompted me, tongue partly in cheek, to dub her “a Renaissance Woman.” Read more…

Michelle Gadd, elephant expert, head of global conservation for Walters Conservation

Michelle Gadd—who heads global conservation for Walters Conservation, created and funded by philanthropists Mark and Kimbra Walter, and owner of White Oak Conservation, a 17,000-acre spread in northeastern Florida, which houses and cares for endangered and threatened species, among other animals—recounts how, at 19, she embarked on a three-month study abroad program in Africa…and ended up staying about 13 years. Read more…