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...
Dr. Dame Daphne Sheldrick, a Kenyan author, conservationist and expert on raising and reintegrating orphaned elephants into the wild, work she's engaged in for some five decades. ...
Joyce Poole--co-founder of ElephantVoices and considered one of the world's foremost elephant experts--discusses some of her pioneering work in the realm of elephant communication, including identifying and decoding their vocalizations; addresses some of the...
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...
Pat Derby--co-founder of The Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), which operates three animal sanctuaries in Northern California, among them the 2300-acre ARK 2000, where upwards of a dozen elephants live--discusses the needs of and challenges faced by captive...
Leslie Griffith--a veteran television journalist who's won numerous awards, including nine Emmys, and also won awards and acclaim for a TV piece she did on the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus and its abuse of Asian elephants--discusses the genesis of...
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...
