Animal Instinct

On this week's episode of Animal Instinct, Celia is joined by Ulara Nakagawa and Dr. Keith Lindsay of Elephants in Japan.

In 2015, the story of a solitary, elderly Japanese elephant named Hanako went viral. Dubbed “the loneliest elephant in the world,” Hanako lived and died alone in a concrete jail within a Japanese zoo, having spent the vast majority of her life without a mate and without basic amenities like heating or shade.

Now Ulara Nakagawa, the same person that brought to light the story of Hanako, has created an organization called Elephants in Japan. The organization is working with Dr. Keith Lindsay, a biologist best known for his long-term study of elephants, to research and develop a report that reveals the dire conditions of 14 additional solitary elephants in public and private zoos across Japan.

Elephants in Japan is a humanitarian wildlife group dedicated to providing a better life for extremely lonely, socially-deprived elephants before they suffer the same fate as Hanako. Time is of the essence - since the report began, two of the 14 elephants observed have already died. Three of the remaining 14 elephants live in particularly cruel environments, including the case of Teru, who has been entirely alone since 2000 and is kept in extreme weather conditions.

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On the season finale of Animal Instinct, guest host Ada Nieves is joined in the studio by Todd Evans of Dawn Animal Agency and The Sanctuary for Animals, a non-profit charity that cares for old, abandoned, and abused animals on their large and scenic farm in Westtown, located in rural Orange County, New York.

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This week on Animal Instinct, host Celia Kutcher is on vacation, but filling in is special guest host, Ada Nieves! Joining Ada are Cristal Rojas of Let Your Bark Create Photography, and Mina Miyoko of Matilda's Annual Celebration & Cat Fashion Show!

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Denise Herman is the owner and lead trainer at Empire of the Dog in NYC. Empire of the Dog was founded in 2000. Denise has written for The Bark magazine, Modern Dog, and The Nest, and has been profiled in Dog Fancy magazine. She also apprentices and trains dog trainers through the Dog Training Internship Academy, and is on the advisory board for AFAR NYC, an organization that runs local pet programs including programs to provide support of pets of military veterans. She just started fostering a rat to train, named Splinter.

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On this week's episode of Animal Instinct, Celia is joined by sculptor, installation artist, and painter Karrie Hovey. Karrie grew up in the Northeast Kingdom, a rural area in northern Vermont. There she developed an appreciation of the natural world and a respect for the environment. This is also where she learned many of the hand-craft and construction techniques that are present in her current installations and paintings. On today's show she talks about some of her installations and how animals inspire her to create her work.

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This week on Animal Instinct, host Celia Kutcher is joined by Ceyda Torun, the director and producer of Kedi, a new documentary film about the hundreds of thousands of Turkish cats that roam the metropolis of Istanbul. Far from being mere strays, these cats live between two worlds, neither wild nor tame, and have become an essential part of the communities that make the city of Istanbul so rich.

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We talk with Julie Andersen about Plastic Oceans, her non-profit that helps to save the oceans by educating people about plastic and helping to get organizations to band together to save the oceans and the planet.

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On this week's episode of Animal Instinct, Celia is joined by Joanne Rittenhouse of Companions for Courage, an organization that brings therapy dogs into the courtroom to help kids deal with stress during trials. Joanne got involved in rescue work 25 years ago after a few years of witnessing abuse and neglect. She is an educator and advocate for adopting deaf and blind dogs.

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On this week's episode of Animal Instinct, Celia is joined by Susan Ewing.

Nature and animals have played a key role in Susan’s work and in her life. She has been writing about natural history and the outdoors since the early 1990s, and has written books on the nature of Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, and the Rocky Mountains. Her greatest joys and comforts have come from a string of very good dogs and the birds, frogs, foxes, and other animals she is lucky enough to encounter on her hikes and walks in the Montana mountains where she lives.

She is the author of six books, most recently Resurrecting the Shark, and her articles, essays, and short stories have appeared in Salon, The Pacific Standard, Cowboys & Indians, Montana Quarterly, Big Sky Journal, and numerous other publications and anthologies.

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This week on Animal Instinct, host Celia Kutcher is joined by Maribeth Decker, an intuitive animal communicator, and owner and founder of Sacred Grove. Maribeth uses her abilities to address animals’ issues that interfere with people being able to enjoy their animals.

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