Growing up in the United Kingdom, Will Elgar told his mom he was going to be either an astronaut, dolphin trainer or stunt man. Given the lack of cetaceans in the UK, working with dolphins seemed unlikely, but Will eventually found a way. It turns out that his real passion was working with and training sea lions, which led him to new opportunities and species around the world. Recently named as the director of Zoo Miami in 2021, Will discusses how learning to train animals with positive reinforc...
Aug 18, 2022•34 min•Season 5Ep. 227
Given the lack of familiarity on the current state of animals in research combined with deliberate misinformation by animal rights organizations, it's no wonder people have doubts about the use of animals for biomedical studies. Dr Cindy Buckmaster, Director of Public Outreach for the National Animal Interest Alliance and host of the podcast, GetReal! describes why animals are still necessary to develop therapeutic solutions for human and animal diseases. She also discusses the various levels of...
Aug 11, 2022•37 min•Season 5Ep. 226
From time to time Zoo Logic is approached by publishers, animal facilities, and individuals requesting to appear on this podcast. Recently, we were approached by a publisher in what can only be described as the most unexpected guest request ever! The publisher had re-issued an updated 30th anniversary edition of Free the Animals , written by none other than PeTA founder, Ingrid Newkirk. After sending a review copy and scheduling the interview, communications coming from the publisher and PeTA be...
Aug 04, 2022•21 min•Season 5Ep. 225
Recently, the IUCN Red List announced its findings that the Monarch Butterfly population had declined between 22% and 72% in just the past decade. As a result of this latest census, which largely attributes the dramatic population decline to habitat loss and overuse of pesticides, the species is now listed as endangered by the IUCN. Butterfly Wonderland's director of education, Adriane Grimaldi helps us understand this amazing species and its incredible yearly migration from Canada to Mexico. Pl...
Jul 28, 2022•32 min•Season 5Ep. 224
Emmy winner, best-selling author, and animal advocate Carolyn Hennesy shares news on the launch of her new podcast: Life, Love and Conservation. We also learn more about her work as an actor and how she's able to channel the light and dark she says lies within each of us to create memorable characters on stage and screen. Plus, she reveals her professional link to the Star Wars universe and her family connection to the original Star Trek series. Animal Care Software KONG Zoo Zoo Logic...
Jul 21, 2022•43 min•Season 5Ep. 223
After 15 months of constant care to restore JJ the gray whale calf to health and to prepare her for life in the wild, the complex day to return her back to the sea had arrived. Marine mammal expert Keith Yip describes the apprehension he and his team experienced as they attempted to safely transport the largest living creature in history. Plus, a moment to remember the passing of a marine mammal medicine and science icon, Dr. Sam Ridgway. Animal Care Software KONG Zoo Zoo Logic ZOOmility...
Jul 14, 2022•41 min•Season 5Ep. 222
A quarter of a century ago, SeaWorld San Diego received a days old, nearly one ton gray whale calf whose mother was nowhere to be found and was presumed dead from a possible boat strike. With no previous data or experience on the neonatal nutritional and husbandry needs of a large species of baleen whale, SeaWorld's Keith Yip and the rest of the animal team set about the impossible task of saving an emaciated and dehydrated calf on the verge of death. What began as a long-shot turned into world ...
Jul 07, 2022•47 min•Season 5Ep. 221
Maricopa County Animal Care and Control is one of the largest municipal shelters in the US. Community Outreach Manager, Gina Martino describes the challenges of operating a nearly full public shelter caring for several hundred animals at a time in the fastest growing county in the country. Compounding matters is the July 4th holiday, which invariably leads to more missing and frightened family pets. Gina offers steps the community can take to improve the lives of animals in their care even as we...
Jun 30, 2022•44 min•Season 5Ep. 220
For the past few weeks, the ZooMontana team has been at the center of a local controversy stemming from a scheduled 406 Pride event featuring drag queens reading family friendly stories to children. Executive Director, Jeff Ewelt who has borne the brunt of the criticism by those opposed to the Pride event being held at the zoo, has eloquently and unapologetically posted on social media defending his decision to host this ticketed event because "ZooMontana prides itself in being inclusive of all ...
Jun 23, 2022•25 min•Season 5Ep. 219
The New York State court of appeals announced its decision this week supporting lower court rulings that Happy, the Bronx Zoo elephant, was not entitled to legal rights held by human beings such as Habeas Corpus . This is the latest in a series of attempts by groups such as the non Human Rights Project to have charismatic animals like elephants and great apes granted personhood, under which they could then avail themselves of legal rights such as Habeas Corpus. Animal Law attorney, Michelle Pard...
Jun 16, 2022•33 min•Season 5Ep. 218
Dr. Holley Muraco is the director of research at the Mississippi Aquarium. In addition to starting her career training aquatic and terrestrial animals like dolphins and elephants, she has spent her graduate and post graduate time studying reproduction in marine mammals, especially those that are not as prolific in human care. She also enjoys working with students, particularly girls and minorities from her home state, and exposing them to the possibilities of a marine biology research career. Th...
Jun 09, 2022•29 min•Season 5Ep. 217
Hickman's Family Farms is a family run egg provider almost as old as the state of Arizona where the company was founded. With approximately 10 million laying hens housed across a half dozen facilities in the Southwest, its husbandry and bio-security measures to protect the collection from hazards such as the current strain of Avian Influenza virus dwarf those of any zoo or aquarium. Compliance Manager, Shari Yeatts describes the American Humane certified company's operations, the tracking of cur...
Jun 02, 2022•35 min•Season 5Ep. 216
It's part two of our animal welfare research panel of experts from the recent meeting of the Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums held at SeaWorld of Florida . First up is researcher, Dr Jason Bruck describing his diverse study interests including the first published evidence that dolphins utilize urine to identify conspecifics--an extraordinary finding making national and international news and even a mention in Stephen Colbert's monologue on the Late Show! Also featured are scientists...
May 26, 2022•40 min•Season 5Ep. 215
Recently, the Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums held its annual meeting at SeaWorld of Florida. We had the opportunity to hear from several researchers on the latest zoo and aquarium animal welfare studies, with an emphasis on cetaceans. In part one of this two part series, we hear from Dr. Lance Miller from the Chicago Zoological Society on how the organization monitors, assesses, and studies welfare across the entire zoo collection. Dr. Miller also provides an overview of the exten...
May 19, 2022•31 min•Season 5Ep. 214
In 1988 two veterinarians launched a dolphin facility on the Big Island of Hawaii that would help usher in a whole new experience between humans and bottlenose dolphins. That company, Dolphin Quest, has been a pioneer in creating guest interactive experiences based on science, conservation and education about the ocean environment and its most well-known cetacean ambassadors. Co-founder, Dr. Rae Stone pierced the once male dominated veterinary profession and lead the way in the use of ultrasound...
May 12, 2022•29 min•Season 5Ep. 213
No one is immune from heart-wrenching video clips of animals in dire conditions, particularly a stranded marine mammal or one ensnared in ghost nets, crab traps, and other ocean debris. While most people want to assist wild animals in need, few of us are trained, experienced, and authorized to intervene in what can be an incredibly dangerous situation for both animals and humans. Keith Yip is an experienced animal care professional with decades of experience in husbandry, transport logistics, an...
May 05, 2022•59 min•Season 5Ep. 212
According to its website, Wildlife ACT is a non-profit trust on a mission to save endangered wildlife and wild places from extinction. Its professionals, like our guest PJ Roberts, work in the field to monitor endangered and critically endangered species, including lesser known and appreciated animals like vultures. To assist in their conservation and fundraising efforts, Wildlife Act incorporates tourists as part of their data collection and monitoring services to protected areas in South Afric...
Apr 28, 2022•36 min•Season 5Ep. 211
In a world weary of pandemic, we asked Dr. Yvonne Nadler, long time veterinary expert with the ZAHP Fusion Center, to describe the risks to animals from the latest strain of Avian Influenza. This year's strain appears more active than in recent years, which places the nation's poultry industry at greater risk. Other facilities like zoos and aquariums are at heightened risk of an outbreak due to accidental spread through public visitation as well as the mingling of collection and wild species in ...
Apr 21, 2022•39 min•Season 5Ep. 210
The animal care and veterinary heroes behind Saving the Survivors treat wild and endangered animals that are victims of poaching or traumatic incidents. Most of the organization's work has focused on caring for rhinos in the field that have been illegally and horrifically attacked by those seeking to profit from the animal's horns. According to the organization's website, many injured animals have been given a second chance after undergoing various interventions and multiple surgical procedures ...
Apr 14, 2022•47 min•Season 5Ep. 209
In her new book, After the Forests: Thailand’s Captive Elephants and Their People, Dr. Nikki Savvides explores the life and welfare of Thailand's captive elephants. Neither wild nor domesticated, these animals, once utilized in the country's now defunct logging industry, find themselves in a newer and uncertain industry: tourism. The book also examines the people who care for these elephants — including their mahouts, activists, conservationists, and tourists committed to improving elephant live...
Apr 07, 2022•52 min•Season 4Ep. 208
Should families have long-lived animals like parrots as pets? Do owls make good animal ambassadors? The founder of Avian Behavior International , Hillary Hankey, works to ensure bird’s have better lives and to reduce behavior-caused stress for owners in the home. Bird training is complex and with so much random information online, she believes training them properly with positive reinforcement can be overwhelming to learn and even harder to implement. So she and her team created online and in-pe...
Mar 31, 2022•55 min•Season 4Ep. 207
Following his work in Kabul and Baghdad rescuing zoological animals caught in war zones, author and conservationist Brendan Whittington-Jones began a seven year stint studying endangered and often maligned African Wild Dogs. In his book, African Wild Dogs: on the front lines , he describes his work examining the behavior of this species once they leave the relative safety of protected reserves and venture out into human civilization. Brendan compares them to the story of wolves in North America ...
Mar 24, 2022•41 min•Season 4Ep. 206
Not since Keiko or Tilikum has a killer whale garnered as much attention as the single orca resident of Miami Seaquarium known as Lolita. Estimated to be about 56 years old, she has lived at the park since the early 1970's. To learn more about this amazing animal, one of the park's longtime executives and eventual general manager, Andrew Hertz describes his family's interwoven history with the facility and its grande dame. Animal Care Software KONG Zoo Zoo Logic...
Mar 17, 2022•32 min•Season 4Ep. 205
When Coalition Forces invaded Iraq in 2003, the security situation across the country and in major cities like Baghdad was grim. Amongst all the devastation of war, the situation for the Baghdad zoo animals was critical with starvation, dehydration, poaching, and shelling reducing the collection to a few dozen inhabitants. Along with his boss, South African Brendan Whittington-Jones, a game rancher turned captive animal rescuer, researcher and author , travelled to Baghdad with no money or insti...
Mar 10, 2022•50 min•Season 4Ep. 204
Across the globe, few have been spared the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of personal, public, and animal health, business operations, and travel to name a few. As animal professionals know having experienced it firsthand, public attractions like zoological parks were among the first and hardest hit facilities as the pandemic's effects on a mobile society grew. What were some of the earliest steps taken to blunt these outcomes? How did previous regional pandemics and disaster prepared...
Mar 03, 2022•50 min•Season 4Ep. 203
Recent news reports of state and federal agencies taking the extraordinary step of providing supplemental feeding to starving wild manatees point to a larger problem, the decline of vital seagrass beds due to runoff, coastal development, and dredging. Seagrass not only supplies nourishment to turtles and manatees, it is also used by countless aquatic species as a nursery and habitat. Beau Williams of Aquaticus Plants and Aquatech Eco Consultants discusses their efforts to sustainably source seag...
Feb 24, 2022•24 min•Season 4Ep. 202
Just as the scope of the COVID 19 pandemic was becoming clear, the animal team at OdySea Aquarium realized their latest black-footed penguin hatchling was not achieving normal developmental milestones. While she was otherwise healthy and growing, the team observed "Rosie" was not progressing in her ability to stand or walk. Despite the impact COVID had on staffing, operations and the temporary closure of the aquarium, the team was committed to improving the mobility of this special penguin. Dire...
Feb 17, 2022•31 min•Season 4Ep. 201
Son of famous paleoanthropologists, Mary and Louis Leakey, Richard Leakey was also famous for his discoveries on the origins of early humans, particularly the nearly complete skeletal remains of what became known as Turkana Boy. As a Kenyan of British descent, Richard Leakey lived a fascinating life in East Africa as a researcher and conservationist. In 1989, Leakey was named the head of the Kenyan Wildlife Conservation and Management Department which eventually became what is known today as the...
Feb 10, 2022•41 min•Season 4Ep. 200
While not a completely new phenomena, the COVID pandemic has exposed the public's lack of training in and understanding of the scientific method and the process of doing science. Increasingly, one's opinion or online search results are valued as much as someone else's peer reviewed data, according to returning guest, Dr. Jason Bruck. To guard against unsubstantiated, anthropomorphic narratives or rampant conspiracy theories, he argues we need a return to parsimony, the concept that the simplest ...
Feb 03, 2022•55 min•Season 4Ep. 199
Last year, several major zoological parks named a woman to their organization's top leadership position. In some cases, these appointments mark the first time a woman has ever held the role of director at their respective institutions. As part of our ongoing conversation about increasing diversity in zoos and aquariums, Dr. Brandie Smith, recently named director of the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, discusses what this trend means to her and to future conservation...
Jan 27, 2022•44 min•Season 4Ep. 198
