Nicole speaks with three hosts of Vigil4Elephants that commemorates the elephant lives that were lost each year in captivity;

• Barbara Lovett, founder and president of Save Nosey Now, Inc.

• Courtney Scott, founder and president of Free the Oregon Zoo Elephants.

• Sandra Clinger, president of The Elephant Advocacy Project (TEAP) and a board member of Save Nosey Now.

This group of dedicated souls have been coming together since 2019 to honor and mourn the captive elephants who lives were lost each year whether it be in a zoo, circus, forced labor, or other tourist attraction.

These elephants who endured living a life held captive and exploited, whether it was short or long life, had their freedom and rights to live wild taken away. Some of these sentient beings were traumatically separated from their family. No longer were they to live a life in the wild as intended but a life in servitude to humans who exploited each elephant until the end.

In this podcast we learn;

• How Vigil4Elephants began.

• How elephants whose lives were lost are commemorated each year.

• About the negative impacts and trauma an elephant endures in captivity in regards to their physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health.

• The difference between an elephant’s life in the wild versus in captivity.

• About the breeding programs in zoos and the life span of captive born elephants.

• Which countries allow wild elephants to be taken out of the wild and placed in captivity.

• How zoos in the United States are lobbying to capture wild elephants and import them to the U.S.

• How you can be a part of Vigil4Elephants and what you can do to help captive elephants.

Nicole Rojas reads Sadness for the Captive Elephants by Staci-lee Sherwood in support of Vigil for Elephants 2022.

Is Conservation money being wisely spent? Yvonne takes a look at saving turtles with Staci-lee to consider can we do better?

For nearly a century our National Parks were considered the jewel of the country. The parks were suppose to be a safe haven for both animals who lived there and humans who visited. That has now changed, without public input. The park service now allows hunts, essentially trophy hunts, with outside hunters not rangers doing the killing. This goes against all that the park system was suppose to stand for.

Poet Gordon Meade reads 3 poems from his collection. Pileated Gibbon France 2016, Snow Leopard and Cow.

All About Animals Special hosted by Nicole Rojas

Today, we will be discussing the magnificent rhino, with our guest, Simon Jones, CEO of Helping Rhinos. Helping Rhinos is predominantly based in Africa. Their focus is on helping the species survive at sustainable levels by improving protection, care, and welfare of the rhino in its natural habitat as well as to forge significant partnerships with successful organizations.

Helping Rhinos is celebrating ten years of protecting rhinos in their natural habitat. Its start began in March of 2012, when Simon learned of the shocking poaching of three rhinos at the Kariega Game Reserve in the Eastern Cape of South Africa.

It had been just two years prior that Simon had spent six weeks on a conservation project at the Kariega Game Reserve and became acquainted with a rhino named Thandi. Thandi was one of those three rhinos who fortunately survived the poaching incident. After enduring many operations, she has given birth to four calves in the past ten years. A remarkable story that speaks volumes of Helping Rhinos’ dedication to ensure the future of the magnificent rhino.

Yvonne talks with Duncan McNair from Save The Asian Elephants (S.T.A.E.). Save The Asian Elephants is a not for profit association of prominent professionals, experts and campaigners that informs public opinion on the brutal capture, beating, poaching and abuse for festivals and tourism of these wondrous but beleaguered creatures and the plunder of their habitat; and exerts influence on governments, politicians and the tourist industry to adopt solutions it advances.

In this episode Erica Salvemini, host of The Rising Lioness converses with Jeff Harrison, founder and creator of Pedaling Against Poaching, Board member and ambassador for HelpingRhinos.org.

Jeff shares his inspirational story of how he’s combined his passions for mountain biking and love of animals together to create positive change for the world, specifically to help save the critically endangered rhinos.

Jeff discusses his work as Ambassador and Board Member for Helping Rhinos.org as well as his collaborative efforts with Craig Spencer, founder of the Black Mambas; an elite, all-female, anti-poaching unit based out of Africa. The audience will learn about how these fiercely passionate and highly skilled animal kingdom warrior women are making a tremendous difference in animal protection and conservation today.

Listen in and perhaps you’ll be inspired to find your passion today!

Nicole speaks with Jodie Wiederkehr, founder of Chicago Alliance for Animals. Chicago Alliance for Animals is a volunteer grassroots animal advocacy organization that began in 2015.

The first goal of Chicago Alliance for Animals was to ban horse carriages in downtown Chicago, and in 2017, the organization began diligently documenting how the horses were treated by their handlers as well as the horses’ workloads by volunteers spending countless hours observing the horses. With this documentation and persistence, an official horse carriage ban went into effect in January of 2021.

Below is a quote by Jodie that represents the effectiveness and efficiency of Chicago Alliance for Animals:

“As you likely know, we banned horse carriages and shut down puppy mill pet stores in the 3rd largest city in the U.S. without any paid staff, any accidents or fatalities, any celebrity support and with very little funding.”

For Chicago Alliance for Animals, the intention is simple and focused; to end suffering of animals and support their freedom.

Eagle's Landing by Staci-lee Sherwood. Read by Nicole Rojas.