Ashley Bell—the actress perhaps best known for her acclaimed work in such top horror films as “The Last Exorcism” and “Psychopath”—discusses the elements and interests that led her to directing “Love & Bananas: An Elephant Story,” a documentary chronicling the...
On this program, we marked the 15th anniversary of “Talking Animals”—almost to the day! I launched the show on June 16, 2003 at KUCI, the campus-community radio station at the University of California at Irvine. At the tail end of 2005, “Talking Animals” found a...
Kristen Auerbach—Director of Pima Animal Care Center (PACC), and recognized as a prominent, pioneering figure in the animal shelter world, in part through her previous stints at Austin Animal Center (which became the nation’s largest no-kill shelter), and Fairfax...
Arin Greenwood—a journalist who specializes in writing about animal welfare, and whose sterling new novel, “Your Robot Dog Will Die,” was published Tuesday (April 17)—offers her synopsis of the book, and recalls key elements of the setting, story, and fundamental...
For this edition of “Talking Animals,” I altered the show’s usual format to convene an in-studio panel discussion about Canine Companions For Independence (CCI), pegged to CCI’s then-upcoming third annual DogFest Walk ‘n’ Roll event, on March 3 at Al Lopez Park in...
Jane O’Hara—the animal advocate and artist whose paintings explore animal issues, depict their plight, and explore our relationships with them--recalls growing up in a family where animals didn’t have much of a presence, but she liked them. O’Hara notes that art...
Maria McKee—the singer-songwriter who burst onto the music scene some 35 years ago, fronting the band Lone Justice, going on to a storied solo career—discusses her lifelong love of dogs, while noting, early on, there was an incident that so traumatized her that she...
Jodie Wiederkehr—campaign director for Chicago Alliance For Animals (CAA), she’s spearheading CAA’s campaign to ban horse carriages in Chicago—recalls how her earliest professional animal advocacy work began in 1997, but that she grew up in a politically-engaged...
Dr. Peter Rork—a retired orthopedic surgeon and pilot who co-founded Dog Is My CoPilot, an organization that flys shelter animals to different parts of the country, boosting their prospects of being adopted—recalls his lifelong love of flying, taking his first...
Kathy Stevens—founder and director of Catskill Animal Sanctuary, which sprawls over 148 acres in New York’s Hudson Valley, providing refuge to about 300 farmed animals rescued from cruelty, neglect, and abandonment—recalls a childhood growing up on a horse farm in...
