Lori Shepler—an award-winning former Los Angeles Times photographer who now presides over CityTheKitty.com, among the most informative and influential websites dealing with feline declaw surgery--traces that unlikely path. Shepler recalls how the cat who later...
Stephen Wells—the executive director of the Animal Legal Defense Fund ALDF)—traces his intriguing, sometimes colorful, career path before joining ALDF, particularly his years in Alaska, where, among other developments, he formalized his commitment to becoming a...
Moshow—the Portland, Oregon-based artist and online phenomenon who specializes in rapping about cats—recounts starting to rap at 16, but stopped because, although he grew up in the projects of Baltimore, felt his raps (heavily influenced by gangsta rap) were...
Alison Eastwood —the actress, director and animal advocate whose Eastwood Ranch Foundation recently launched FosterFurkids.com, a website that connects rescue groups and animal shelters with a nationwide network of pet fosters and transporters—discusses a childhood...
Dr. Tim Caro —a professor at UC Davis and wildlife biologist whose new book is “Zebra Stripes”—traces some of the arc of his academic career, including how he became interested in researching animal coloration. Caro goes on to explain how this focus led to...
For today’s edition of Talking Animals, I jettisoned the usual format and convened a panel discussion about the end of the Ringling Bros. circus. I was inspired to present the panel because I was struck by the array of reactions in the wake of the announcement by...
Bruce Cameron and Cathryn Michon—the husband-wife team who wrote the screenplay for A Dog’s Purpose, a film starring Dennis Quaid, based on Cameron’s bestselling novel of the same name—discuss how the book has yet again become a New York Times bestseller (this...
Paul Solotaroff—Rolling Stone contributing editor who wrote a wide-ranging, high-profile exposé about the netherworld of puppy mills in the then-new issue of the magazine—discusses how he came to write the piece, sort of goaded into it by Humane Society of The...
Sarah Baeckler Davis—a primatologist and lawyer who is president and CEO of Project Chimps, a relatively new chimpanzee sanctuary in Northern Georgia—discusses how, at eight years old, reading a book about Jane Goodall absolutely fascinated her, and she decided...
Tippi Hedren—the actress and longtime animal advocate, who recently published her memoir, “Tippi: A Memoir”—discusses Shambala Preserve, her sanctuary for rescued lions, tigers and other big cats that she established in 1972, and where Hedren, now 86 years old,...
