Dr. Vint Virga—veterinarian, animal behaviorist and author of “The Soul of All Living Creatures: What Animals Can Teach Us About Being Human”—explains how the anti-zoo view he held earlier in his career evolved into seeing zoos in a more positive light. He also...
Lily Tomlin, who’s collected a trunkful of major awards, including Emmys, Tonys, a Grammy and two Peabody Awards—and who has a similarly distinguished record in the realm of animal welfare—recalls childhood experiences with animals, growing up in Michigan and...
Scott Blais—CEO and Board President of the newly-formed Global Sanctuary for Elephants—discusses his more than 20 years experience working with elephants, including co-founding, in 1995, The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee. He addresses some of the traits...
Adam Roberts—executive vice president and co-founder of Born Free USA—outlines the chief categories of animal welfare that Born Free USA concerns itself with, noting where those efforts overlap and differ from those of the Born Free Foundation, which gave rise to...
Ron Kagan, who's been Director of the Detroit Zoo for nearly 20 years, and whose career working for zoos has spanned 35 years--discusses the philosophy behind functioning as something of an iconoclast in the zoo industry, including how he arrived at the decision...
Archele Hundley--a former Ringling Bros. employee on the animal crew who's done PSAs for PETA (though, interestingly, is not a PETA member), has spoken in front of various groups about the plight of circus animals, and testified at the big federal lawsuit against...
Writer-reporter-poet essayist Charles Siebert, the author, most recently, of "The Wauchula Woods Accord: Toward A New Understanding Of Animals"--which chronicles his extended encounter with a retired circus chimp named Roger at The Center For Great Apes, a...
Catherine Doyle--an elephant expert with In Defense Of Animals, an international animal advocacy organization, and a central figure in the national story about the debate that's erupted over the Los Angeles Zoo, its lone elephant, Billy, and the Zoo's plans to...
Tom Rider--who once worked for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus caring for the elephants, became a whistleblower after witnessing the abuse of the circus' elephants, and is now a central figure in a federal lawsuit brought against Ringling by multiple...
RaeLeann Smith--who works for People For The Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) as a full-time circus specialist--discusses The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus (three units of which had engagements in various parts of Florida pending, and had just...
