As we’ve done 10 times prior—spanning three-plus years–today’s program involved setting aside the usual “Talking Animals” format in order to present the show-length feature, “Ask The Trainer.” In each instance, listeners are invited to call or email questions about their dogs or cats, particularly involving behavioral issues or training concerns. The Trainer these listeners have an […]

The post Glen Hatchell: dog trainer, behaviorist–“Ask The Trainer”–11th Edition first appeared on Talking Animals.

Peter Singer–the philosopher, professor emeritus of bioethics at Princeton University, and author (including his landmark 1975 work, “Animal Liberation” and the just-published “Consider The Turkey”—explains that his slate of pursuits post-retirement from Princeton includes a stint as visiting professor at the National University of Singapore. He goes on to clarify that while, yes, he did […]

The post Peter Singer, philosopher, professor, author: “Consider The Turkey” first appeared on Talking Animals.

Jodie Wiederkehr–veteran animal advocate and Founder-Executive Director of the Chicago Alliance for Animals (CAA)—recounts details of how CAA was formed, in 2015. (She has recalled in a previous “Talking Animals” conversation how her earliest professional animal advocacy work began in 1997.) Wiederkehr explained that she and her initial CAA cohort decided that aiming to ban […]

The post Jodie Wiederkehr, Founder-Executive Director of the Chicago Alliance for Animals first appeared on Talking Animals.

Mara Hvistendahl, a The New York Times reporter who wrote “The Panda Factories”–an extraordinary piece of investigative journalism probing the impact of China’s gambit nearly 30 years ago to send pandas to zoos in other countries, hoping the visiting animals would breed, ultimately resulting in pandas that could be returned to the wild–recounts the genesis […]

The post Mara Hvistendahl, New York Times reporter: “The Panda Factories” first appeared on Talking Animals.

Nancy Murrah—President of The Raptor Center of Tampa Bay (RCTB), which rescues, rehabilitates, and releases hundreds of native birds of prey annually—describes the preparations required at RCTB before something like Hurricane Milton, and how the facility fared through the storm. This led to a discussion of why tending to a veritable battalion of squirrels constituted […]

The post Nancy Murrah, President of The Raptor Center of Tampa Bay first appeared on Talking Animals.

Melissa Zepeda–an attorney and accomplished animal rights advocate, with a notable breadth of interests and topics that have animated her activism—recalls growing up in family that revered animals, then being stopped in her tracks when a fellow high school debate-club member asked her how Zepeda could love her dog yet eat a hamburger. Zepeda not […]

The post Melissa Zepeda, attorney, animal rights advocate, Amendment 2 foe first appeared on Talking Animals.

Marion Gwizdala, CEO of Advocates for Service Animal Partners Inc. (ASAP)—a Tampa-based national nonprofit dedicated to securing, protecting, and advancing the rights and responsibilities of service animal handlers and the businesses they patronize—recalls receiving his first service dog in 1987, and just days later, encountering discrimination when a restaurant he frequented prevented Gwizdala from entering […]

The post Marion Gwizdala, CEO of Advocates for Service Animal Partners Inc. (ASAP) first appeared on Talking Animals.

Cathryn Michon–the showbiz hyphenate who co-wrote with husband W. Bruce Cameron “A Dog’s Purpose,” the film adaptation of Cameron’s New York Times bestselling novel, considered the most popular live-action dog movie of all time—reflects on the dizzying number of dog books (including children’s books) and films that constitute the collective Michon/Cameron juggernaut. She goes on to […]

The post Cathryn Michon, author of “I’m Still Here: A Dog’s Purpose Forever” first appeared on Talking Animals.

Dr. Gregory Berns—author, neuroscientist, professor of psychology at Emory University (and an M.D.)—addresses the change he was seeking when he and his wife decided to buy a farm outside of Atlanta, a saga that’s among the experiences chronicled in Berns’ new book, “Cowpuppy: An Unexpected Friendship and A Scientist’s Journey into The Secret World of […]

The post Dr. Gregory Berns, neuroscientist, professor, author of “Cowpuppy” first appeared on Talking Animals.

Will Braden, filmmaker—and curator of CatVideoFest 2024, a 75-minute compilation of short cat videos, edited into a briskly-paced reel, screening at theaters across the country, including the Tampa Theatre Aug. 23 & 25-27—recalls what first drew him to film.  Studying film, at first informally, then later in film school, he realized that he was particularly […]

The post Will Braden, curator of CatVideoFest first appeared on Talking Animals.

Mark Devries–the documentary filmmaker (https://markdevries.com/) who specializes in exploring the realm of animals and animal welfare—expands on the final line (the fate of our kin is up to us) of his new film, “Humans and Other Animals.” Laying out an eloquent and philosophical operating principle—which permeates his new film, as it did his debut doc, […]

The post Mark Devries, documentary filmmaker, “Humans and Other Animals” first appeared on Talking Animals.