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In this episode, Madeline and Erin sit down with Jeff Flocken, President and CEO of the Aquarium of the Pacific, for his first podcast appearance since joining the institution. Jeff shares the winding path that brought him here, from studying giraffes in Africa, to law school, to nearly two decades of global wildlife policy work, and what it felt like to trade policy campaigns for waders in the San Gabriel River.

We also hear the full story of Porkchop, the Aquarium's three-flippered green sea turtle, from her rescue and rehabilitation to her release back into the river she calls home.

In this episode:

• Jeff's path from field research and law school to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Humane Society International, and the Aquarium of the Pacific
• The campaign to list African lions as endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act
• The Emerging Wildlife Conservation Leaders program (EWCL), what it is, how it works, and why Jeff co-founded it 20 years ago
• Erin's connection to the program as a member of the 11th class
• Jeff's first impressions of the Aquarium and the conservation work already underway
• Porkchop's rescue from the San Gabriel River, her year of rehabilitation at the Aquarium, and her release
• What it felt like for Jeff, a career policy advocate, to release an animal into the wild for the first time
• The Aquarium's current conservation programs: white abalone, sunflower sea stars, sea otter surrogacy, coral restoration, bull kelp, zebra sharks, monarch butterflies, mountain yellow-legged frogs, and more
• Jeff's conservation dream: sea otters reclaiming their historic range from Alaska to Mexico
• The animated short film Save Ralph, and how it helped pass cosmetic animal testing bans in four countries within a year
• Jeff's wildlife hero: Dr. Jane Goodall
• Chewbacca, Jeff's golden retriever, a rescue from a dog meat farm in South Korea

Get involved:

• Southern California Sea Turtle Monitoring Program: first Saturday of each month, 8:30 to 10:30 a.m.
• Los Cerritos Wetlands monthly cleanup
• Donate to the Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Center
• NOAA's Sea Turtle Stranding Hotline: 562-506-4315
• Emerging Wildlife Conservation Leaders (aka EWCL)
• Watch "Save Ralph", Humane Society International’s global campaign to ban animal testing for cosmetics

Stay connected: 

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Email us at [email protected]! Follow the Aquarium of the Pacific across social media (@aquariumpacific) for fun animal videos, conservation updates, and more. Follow the podcast's own Instagram (@podcific) for episode updates and behind-the-scenes content.

Thanks for listening!