Talking Animals

Owing to the coronavirus pandemic and the ongoing Stay at Home order, I produced and recorded this show remotely from home, the second program prepared this way at the Talking Animals corporate headquarters in Jupiter Farms, Florida, and likely the way the broadcast will be assembled for the foreseeable future.

William Nimmo—founder of  Tigers in America, a rescue network that has relocated more than 250 tigers from private owners, roadside zoos, and other nefarious operations, to top-tier sanctuaries—recalls his first expedition to pull tigers from a facility that had gone bankrupt, closed and planned to euthanize all the animals. He was then working as a Wall Street investment banker, had no experience with animal rescue, but plucking and placing the seven tigers in two sanctuaries was a success. Some months later, he says, he got another call about a different situation, where both tigers and people were in peril, including the desperate owner of the tigers. Again, Nimmo and colleagues successfully intervened, and the calls kept coming—and haven’t stopped. But the chief reason for the conversation was to ask Nimmo, arguably the country’s top expert on captive tigers, to assess “Tiger King”–the Netflix docu-series that generated tons of chatter on social media, countless instant experts, a long string of think pieces (and, unfortunately, an equal number of  non-think pieces)—with an eye toward what the series got right, got wrong, and missed altogether. So, he addresses, among other, what Joe Exotic represents, the way the world of black market buying and selling of tigers works, cub petting ventures, and tiger mills. Nimmo also responds to my observation (noted by many others) that “Tiger King” seemed to suggest an equivalency between Joe Exotic, Doc Antle, and others of that ilk and Big Cat Rescue founder Carole Baskin—agreeing that this was really a false equivalency. (And agreeing that Baskin, whom I’ve interviewed five times on “Talking Animals” since 2006, was depicted very poorly, a portrayal permeated by more than a little misogyny.) Nimmo also outlines the criteria for a top-tier tiger sanctuary, describes an encounter with Eric Goode, half the “Tiger King” filmmaking team, who invited Nimmo to be interviewed for the film (an invitation he declined), and recounts the story of buying a zoo—really just a breeding facility—expressly with the purpose, after finding homes for the animals, of shutting the place down. (https://www.tigersinamerica.org/, https://www.facebook.com/TigersInAmerica)

ALSO: I spoke with Scott Trebatoski, director of the Hillsborough County Pet Resources Center, who explained how COVID-19 has affected the shelter, and how it has adapted amidst virus concerns and restrictions, notably the Stay at Home order. This includes altering employees’ schedules (one team spending half the week at the shelter—to care for the animals—while the other team works from home, then switching), offering “Curbside Adoption” of dogs and cats, and noting the tremendous surge in the number of folks who are fostering and adopting…and the corresponding dramatic decline in the shelter’s current animal population. (https://www.hillsboroughcounty.org/en/locations/pet-resource-center, https://www.facebook.com/PRCPets/)

 

 

COMEDY CORNER:  Paul F. Tompkins’ “Apologize For Your Dog”  (https://paulftompkins.com)

MUSIC: Rebekah Pulley’s “Talking Animals Theme,” Stephanie Seymour’s “Ruby-crowned Kinglet,” instrumentals

NAME THAT ANIMAL TUNE:  Joni Mitchell’s  “Black Crow”

AUDIO ARCHIVE:

Listen Online Now: https://talkinganimals.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/TAApril22.mp3 | Open Player in New Window

Owing to the coronavirus pandemic and the ongoing Stay at Home order, I produced and recorded this show remotely from home, the first program prepared this way at the Talking Animals corporate headquarters in Jupiter Farms, Florida.

Jane Velez-Mitchell— the New York Times bestselling author and former TV anchor, whose newer ventures including hosting “New Day New Chef,” a vegan cooking show that currently streams on Amazon Prime Video—resumes the critique of the way others in the media covers animal welfare issues that began in our previous Talking Animals interview in 2012. She’s clearly just as disappointed in this conversation, if not more so, raising concerns tied to the media coverages—and causes—of the coronavirus pandemic. Velez-Mitchell notes that the long-term dissatisfaction with the media in this regard prompted her to take matters into her own hands: launching the Jane Unchained News Network, which covers an array of news and developments in the realms of animal rights, climate change, vegan issues and lifestyle stories, and more. Also under the Network umbrella is “New Day New Chef,” which features different vegan chefs or other notable figures on each episode, demonstrating how to make a vegan dish, and if the preparation of that dish involves using a blender, the chefs and Velez-Mitchell do the fabled “blender dance” (she explains the origin of that zesty ritual). She also describes how the show came together, including the pivotal played by executive producer Eamonn McCrystal, who’s won multiple Emmy Awards, and happens to be a former Irish tenor. Velez-Mitchell also credits McCrystal with the unusual arrangement by which the episodes of “New Day New Chef” initially air on Amazon Prime Video, then will later be broadcast on public television stations. (https://janeunchained.com/newdayshow/,https://www.instagram.com/newdaynewchef/, https://www.facebook.com/newdaynewchef/)

ALSO: I spoke with Linda Hamilton, executor director of Animal Coalition of Tampa (ACT), which has long offered low-cost spay/neuter procedures and other affordable veterinary services. Hamilton explained that ACT is still offering those services, though now following some COVID-19-dictated changes in the protocols for providing them. On a related note, Hamilton also previewed a new ACT program for inexpensively diagnosing animals, and sometimes treating them, by telephone. (https://actampa.org, https://www.facebook.com/actampa/)

 

COMEDY CORNER:  Myq Kaplan’s  “Meats and Robots”  (http://myqkaplan.com)

MUSIC: Rebekah Pulley’s “Talking Animals Theme,” Neko Case’s “I Want A Dog,”  instrumentals

NAME THAT ANIMAL TUNE:  The Beatles’ “And Your Bird Can Sing”

AUDIO ARCHIVE:

Listen Online Now: https://talkinganimals.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/TAApril15.mp3 | Open Player in New Window

Owing to the coronavirus pandemic and the ongoing Stay at Home order, this was the second show I broadcast remotely from home, with in-studio help from my friend/WMNF music director Lee “Flee” Courtney, featuring live and recorded elements…

Susan Fleming—a filmmaker who’s been making movies for 30 years, and specializing in nature films for 20; her latest documentary, “Remarkable Rabbits,” was to air that night on the PBS series, “Nature”—confirms that she fits the pattern of nature filmmakers: As a kid, she loved being outdoors and felt a powerful kinship with animals and other critters. Fleming recounts her entry into film, and discusses some of the favorite docs she’s made, among them, “A Murder of Crows,” which explored the world of these smart and sophisticated birds, including remember specific humans (and holding a grudge against some), and “Moose: Life of a Twig,” which profiled a mother moose and the first year of life of her calf. Regarding her new film, “Remarkable Rabbits,” she explains the impetus was that her “farm-sitter”—who looks after Fleming’s property and animals when the filmmaker travels—has a rabbit, named Pancakes, who she brings everywhere. Pancakes made friends with Fleming’s sizable dog, Milo, who towers over the rabbit—Fleming was struck by this relationship, and that, improbably, Pancakes was in charge. That served as a jumping off point, Fleming says, for considerable rabbit research, learning there’s an enormous number of breeds, all tending to be highly specific to their habitat. She particularly cites the Swamp Rabbit, the largest cottontail anywhere, found in the swamps and wetlands of the southern U.S., and—spoiler alert!—can swim. “Remarkable Rabbits” represents the first time Swamp Rabbits have ever been filmed swimming. Although the Swamp Rabbit population is robust, Fleming discusses how other species of rabbits are facing serious threats of extinction, an important aspect of her film, which shows efforts by two zoos to help restore the population of the New England cottontail. She also spends a few minutes offering observations about the rabbit show documented in her film—as I suggest in this conversation, the Westminster Dog Show has nothing on this rabbit-centric extravaganza, brimming with colorful characters and an array of distinctive bunnies, very much including the lionhead. Remarkable Rabbits” can be streamed on the PBS/”Nature” website through May 6. (https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/remarkable-rabbits-a2lqwt/21527/)

 

ALSO: I spoke with Rhonda Eldridge, president of Community Pet Project, which provides pet food to homeless and at-risk communities in Hillsborough County, and has significantly broadened its efforts in the wake of the expanding coronavirus impact. Eldridge and her battalion of fellow volunteers are offering pet food and other products and accessories—and even helping with veterinary bills—to a growing number of individuals and families. (https://communitypetproject.org, https://www.facebook.com/communitypetproject/)

COMEDY CORNER:  We didn’t step into the Comedy Corner today.

MUSIC: Rebekah Pulley’s “Talking Animals Theme,” instrumentals

NAME THAT ANIMAL TUNE:  We didn’t play “Name That Animal Tune” today.

AUDIO ARCHIVE:

Listen Online Now: https://talkinganimals.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/TAApril8Final.mp3 | Open Player in New Window

Owing to the coronavirus pandemic and the new Stay at Home order, this was the first show I broadcast remotely from home, with in-studio help from my friend/WMNF music director Lee “Flee” Courtney, featuring live and recorded elements…

Jerry Bishop—the co-founder and director of training at F1 K9, a Florida-based firm that provides training and dogs for various purposes, including the detection of drugs and agricultural disease—recalls how he moved into working with dogs some 20 years ago, when he was a union pipefitter looking for a chance, and was offered an opportunity to learn dog training. Bishop says that while he’d had pet dogs, training was brand new to him. Over time, he learned to work with dogs in order to teach them to detect explosives, narcotics, weapons and more. Bishop did this sort of work for about 17 years, and then retired, he says, but not before helping launch a collaborative effort between that dog-training firm and a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) study. That study aimed to research whether dogs could be trained to detect Huanglongbing, or HLB, a bacterium that prevents fruit from ripening. HLB was wreaking havoc on Florida’s $9 billion citrus industry. (It’s now estimated that HLB has caused 75% devastation of that industry.) He recounts how he was approached to come out of retirement (co-founding F1 K9) in order to resume work on the study, led by Dr. Tim R. Gottwald, a veteran and highly respected USDA plant epidemiologist. Bishop speaks to the differences—in both the speed and accuracy of detecting HLB–between the dogs he (and others) had trained, and other methods of detection: The dogs are much, much faster, and far more accurate—Gottwald has placed their accuracy at 99%. Bishop addresses a bit about the dogs’ professional sweeps of citrus groves—they’ve done so for less than two years, mostly in north Florida and a few areas of California, like Ventura, noting that coronavirus-related restrictions have forced him and his F1 K9 to place all work trips on hold. (https://f1-k9.com)

I wrote a Washington Post story on Bishop, F1 K9, and HLB-detecting dogs: https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2020/01/14/dogs-are-helping-save-floridas-citrus-groves-devastating-disease/

 

 

ALSO: I spoke with the show’s longtime “Greyhound Correspondent,” Don Goldstein, addressing how the coronavirus has closed down the Florida dog racing tracks—as it has so many businesses—in a way that’s starting to brush up against the deadline for shutting down the tracks permanently, under the dictates of Amendment 13—and what that means for the dogs and adoption.

COMEDY CORNER: David Spade’s “Evicting A Bird”  (http://www.davidspade.com)

MUSIC: Rebekah Pulley’s “Talking Animals Theme,” EELS’ “I Like Birds,” instrumentals

NAME THAT ANIMAL TUNE:  Buck Owens’ “I’ve Got A Tiger By The Tail”

AUDIO ARCHIVE:

Listen Online Now: https://talkinganimals.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/TAApril1Final.mp3 | Open Player in New Window

For this edition of “Talking Animals,” we set aside the show’s usual format in favor of convening a panel of three veterinarians for a discussion of ethics and other topics. This approach was spurred, in part, by the news last year about that Virginia woman who was very ill, and had her healthy Shih Tzu euthanized so that the dog could be buried with her. I haven’t stopped thinking about this story, and I’ve wondered—both before and after the story broke—if veterinarians observe something akin to the Hippocratic oath. So, unsurprisingly, this was the initial ethical issue addressed by our panelists: Dr. Mary Sebzda (a transplanted Canadian who, 20 years ago, moved to southern California, where she’s primarily practiced small animal medicine; in 2011, she became a board-certified member of the American College of Theriogenologists. She trains and teaches veterinary students); Dr. Sy Woon (born and rasied in Australia, graduated from the University of Sydney. For the past five years, she’s been practicing in south Florida, and is the State Representative for the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association, reflecting her passion for animal ethics and advocating for animal welfare); and Dr. Laurie Hess (one of approximately 150 board-certified avian specialists worldwide, she is the author of  the memoir, “Unlikely Companions: The Adventures of an Exotic Animal Doctor” and the owner of the Veterinary Center for Birds & Exotics, a bird and exotic pet specialty hospital in Westchester County, New York), who was unable to participate until the last 15 minutes or so of the discussion, because of coronavirus-related impact on how her hospital operates, as she explains in gripping detail. The other topics included the feline declaw procedure— many cat owners don’t realize the procedure actually constitutes amputation at the first knuckle of each toe—whether or not the vet would perform the surgery, and why; the impact of coronavirus on pets; the costs of veterinary care, and why the charges for the same treatment can vary widely at one office or another; and, finally, answering these two questions: 1) What’s the most difficult, trying part of being a veterinarian? 2) What’s the best, most rewarding part of being a veterinarian?

MUSIC: Rebekah Pulley’s “Talking Animals Theme,” instrumentals

AUDIO ARCHIVE:

Listen Online Now: https://talkinganimals.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/TAMarch18.mp3 | Open Player in New Window

Zina Goodin— co-founder, with her husband, Michael, of Old Friends Senior Dog Sanctuary, a Mount Juliet, Tennessee haven housing 95 elderly dogs on a two-acre parcel of land–recalls becoming a dog person somewhat later in life, and feeling lukewarm enthusiasm initially when her family adopted its first dog in 1990. But, in relatively short order, she fully embraced that pooch, and over time, the Goodins started volunteering at a Golden Retriever rescue, becoming acquainted with senior dogs and how they’re often overlooked for adoptions—so they began adopting some. Those included Lucy-Lu, whose previous life involved experiencing severe, almost fatal neglect and, who Zina Goodin notes, immediately flourished under their care. (Later in the interview, Goodin cites Lucy-Lu as one of the two or three dogs who most captured her heart, of the dozens she’s known, noting she considers Lucy-Lu a co-founder of Old Friends Senior Dog Sanctuary.) She traces the history and evolution of the Sanctuary, including a period where they had purchased the home next to theirs, creating a compound of sorts to house numerous dogs—and where their neighbors made it clear at a certain point that the slew of canines were no longer welcome there. Not too long after, they relocated to the two-acre former garden center they currently occupy, which Goodin provided a verbal guided tour, noting that areas are earmarked for big dogs versus small dogs (and how a bonded pair of a big dog and small dog will be placed together rather than split up by size). She also reveals they’re building a new facility that will be much larger than the present digs. (https://ofsds.org, https://www.facebook.com/OldFriendsSeniorDogSanctuary/)

 

ALSO: I spoke with Maria Matlack, marketing and public relations manager at the Humane Society of Tampa Bay, about their “Easter Eggstravaganza” event taking place on March 28, 11am-2pm. She outlines some of the activities planned for the Eggstravaganza, including a visit by the Easter Bunny, egg hunt for kids, photos, a bunny petting pen, lotsa food including cotton candy and Kona Ice. Matlack also issues a caution about buying bunnies as Easter gifts for kids, which has been done for many years, often with disastrous results for the newly-purchased rabbit. (https://humanesocietytampa.org/events-list https://www.facebook.com/events/667275217151482/)

 

COMEDY CORNER: K. Trevor Wilson’s “Deer”  (portion) (https://www.ktrevorwilson.com)

MUSIC: Rebekah Pulley’s “Talking Animals Theme,” instrumentals

NAME THAT ANIMAL TUNE:  The Beatles’ “Hey Bulldog”

AUDIO ARCHIVE:

Listen Online Now: https://talkinganimals.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/TAMarch11.mp3 | Open Player in New Window

Jamie Katz— a Fort Lauderdale-based real-life pet detective—recalls that her love of animals began in childhood, where her family had dogs and cats she adored them all, and always wanted them close to her. She outlines her early training and experience as a private investigator, and how when a friend’s cat, Honey, went missing, she was afforded a close-up view of how her friend’s pet detective operated: flaky, not showing up three days in a row. But the idea that the no-show pet detective would’ve used tracking dogs intrigued Katz, and before long, she hung out her shingle as a pet detective, capable of employing her own two tracking dogs, Gable and Fletcher. She describes what the dogs do, comparing how she would carry out a case using Fletcher and Gable as opposed to a case that didn’t require help from the dogs. Katz addressed the challenges of finding missing cats, some of whom often turn out to be located very close to their home—but, sometimes that’s decidedly untrue, she says, offering a surprising analogy: cat as drug dealer, not wanting other cats on his turf, so pushing the visiting (missing) cat further and further away from the area where he might be more readily found. She also spent a serious hunk of time laying out the components of good, effective signs or posters, and how the best ones often need to offer a reward, though some don’t have to identify a specific amount initially. She gives the lowdown on the longest period a pet was missing that she found, and about some of the animals she’s located beyond cats and dogs.(http://www.jamiekatzpetdetective.com, https://www.facebook.com/jamiekatzpetdetective/)

 

ALSO: I played back the interview I had recorded the previous night with 12-year-old Austin Testa, who some years ago created Every Bark Counts, a nonprofit organization whose chief mission is to raise money to help animal shelters, rescues, and sometimes, individual animals—who often have been on the brink of being euthanized. He spoke about what prompted him to help animals, and to begin his fundraising efforts, including a GoFundMe, page, through which Austin has raised tens of thousands of dollars. Austin also outlined his future plans. (https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Community/Every-Bark-Counts-294438190909667, https://www.gofundme.com/f/EveryBarkCounts)

 

 

 

COMEDY CORNER: Joe Zimmerman’s “Crows”  (http://www.zimmermancomedy.com)

MUSIC: Rebekah Pulley’s “Talking Animals Theme,” instrumentals

NAME THAT ANIMAL TUNE:  Rondellus’ version of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs”

AUDIO ARCHIVE:

Listen Online Now: https://talkinganimals.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/TAMarch4FINAL.mp3 | Open Player in New Window

Logan Vindett—executive director of Kindred Spirits Sanctuary, a Citra, FL facility that provides safe, permanent refuge to disabled, abused, abandoned, and neglected farm animals—recounts growing up with a powerful love of animals, with some in her family thinking she should become a veterinarian. Vindett recalls working at a zoological park, which involved caring for exotic animals, and then her husband was hired by Kindred Spirits to create their website, started volunteering at the sanctuary to get more steeped—so Vindett began volunteering there, too, and it was something akin to love at first sight.  This was in 2006 and after a few years, she explains, she and the Kindred Spirits founders formulated a plan for Vindett to try to develop the sanctuary in certain ways, at which point she would become executive director.  She’s still there, 14 years later, and counting. Vindett offers a verbal guided tour of the Sanctuary, pointing out that, generally, species are housed together—in part, because their food tends to be specific to a given species, and there can be serious risks associated with eating food intended for another. (A notable exception: Fiona, a blind cow, lives with a goat and a sheep—a better fit, given her condition, than her sharing quarters with other cows.) Vindett outlines the various ways people can visit Kindred Spirits, including Tours, Vegan Potlucks, and the Sanctuary Sleepover. She elaborates on the virtues of these visits, allowing people direct contact with the animals—maybe even a kiss from a cow—and the educational element that drives these opportunities. Related to this, Vindett says they will offer visitors a chance to sample various kinds of vegan food, or advise them on tasty vegan counterparts to their favorite foods. (https://www.kssfl.org, https://www.facebook.com/KindredSpiritsSanctuaryFl)

 

ALSO: I spoke with Todd Goldfarb, who, along with his wife, own Hair of the Dog Park, a new dog park/bar hybrid in the Seminole Heights area of Tampa (a ball’s throw, incidentally, from WMNF), having its grand opening on Feb. 29. Goldfarb speaks about the numerous challenges they faced—zoning, licensing, etc.—while explaining how it will work to be a human or canine patron of Hair of the Dog, emphasizing some fundamental rules for visitors, including humans being 21 or older (conversely, no dogs under 6 months old) and having a copy of their dog’s current vaccination records. All rules—and other information–are presented on Hair of the Dog Park’s website and their Facebook page. (https://www.hairofthedogparkandbar.com, https://www.facebook.com/Hair-of-the-Dog-Park-751255295019662)

 

 

COMEDY CORNER: Kevin Nealon’s “Cows On The Roof”  (https://kevinnealon.com)

MUSIC: Rebekah Pulley’s “Talking Animals Theme,” instrumentals

NAME THAT ANIMAL TUNE:  We didn’t play “Name That Animal Tune” today.

AUDIO ARCHIVE:

Listen Online Now: https://talkinganimals.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/TAFeb26.mp3 | Open Player in New Window

Mark Emery—one of the cinematographers, and the narrator, on the new documentary “Wild Florida,” part of the PBS series, “Nature”—addresses the early part of his career as a wildlife filmmaker, and how he may have been singularly equipped for it, growing up in Ocala, Florida. Elaborating, he says his childhood cultivated an early love for exploring outdoors and observing assorted animals, and the resulting familiarity with various critters’ movements and behavior proved enormously helpful when it came time to efficiently film those animals. Emery notes that he still lives in Ocala, part of the year, spending the other part in Alaska—and has traveled to some 30-plus countries to work on films. He addresses how the “Wild Florida” filmmakers made some of the decisions about what to cover—and which conservationists and other experts to interview—in preparing the production. Emery also speaks to a couple animals featured in the film—alligators, Burmese pythons—that are almost constitutionally required in a documentary about Florida wildlife, yet in each case, information is provided that will likely be surprising to even lifelong Floridians.  Other topics featured in the film, and discussed in the interview, range from kites (and their 5000-mile migration to South America), to key deer, to the Coral Restoration Project, whose work includes the fascinating process of growing corals in a nursery setting before relocating them to reefs. “Wild Florida” is currently streaming on the “Nature” website.   (https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature, https://markemeryfilms.com)

ALSO: I spoke with Suzanne King, organizer of Gulfport’s Get Rescued, the annual rescue/adoption event—now in its 16th year—that spreads across four city blocks of Gulfport. King explains this year’s incarnation, which was to be held on Feb. 22, would present 49 rescue groups, each offering adoptable pets. Though that constitutes the event’s focus, King noted some of the day’s other activities, including various elements of the Weiner Dog Derby, as well as the Bark-B-Que Fun-Raiser and Pet Supply Drive,  among others. (http://gulfportsgetrescued.com, https://www.facebook.com/Getrescued/)

COMEDY CORNER: Jim Gaffigan’s “I’m A Manatee” (excerpt) (https://www.jimgaffigan.com)

MUSIC: Rebekah Pulley’s “Talking Animals Theme,” The Sun Society’s version of “Octopus’s Garden,” instrumentals

NAME THAT ANIMAL TUNE:  Sweet’s “Fox On The Run”

AUDIO ARCHIVE

Part One: Listen Online Now: https://talkinganimals.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/TAFeb19-Part-One.mp3 | Open Player in New Window

Part Two: Listen Online Now: https://talkinganimals.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/TAFeb19-Part-Two.mp3 | Open Player in New Window

Alana Miller—founder of the Blind Cat Rescue and Sanctuary, a North Carolina facility that, since 2005, has rescued and provided a forever home for blind cats—recounts her first experience with a blind cat, and how by thee time she’d adopted three more, she realized she needed to create an entity to serve this feline constituency. Miller elaborated, noting that it didn’t take long for her to recognize that resources for blind cats in shelters were scarce, so consequently, the typical outcome was they were euthanized. She notes that some 60 blind cats live at the sanctuary, and only a very tiny percentage were born that way. The vast majority lose their sight at some point, she explained, often due to conditions—upper respiratory ailments, for example, or high blood pressure—that with proper, speedy intervention at the veterinarian’s office, would not result in blindness. Miller observes how blind cats don’t know they’re blind, they think they’re normal cats, and play, eat, interact, use the litter box, etc, like any other cat—including successfully hunting lizards and birds. Miller outlines how, a few years after starting the sanctuary, she widened out the operation, to also provide forever homes to cats that leukemia positive (FELV+) and carry the feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV+), providing some information about each condition and the implications. Miller fields some listener calls, and touches on other topics, including their powerful social media presence, especially on Facebook. (https://blindcatrescue.com/, https://www.facebook.com/BlindCatRescue/, https://www.instagram.com/blindcatrescue/)

 

ALSO: I spoke with Bob Gray, aka “The Commuter From Hell”—he hosts “The 60s Show,” Saturdays from noon to 2 p.m. on WMNF–discusses the Schipperke, a breed of dog that’s little known, largely flying under the canine radar. But Gray is highly familiar, and has been for many years. He his wife currently live with one Schipperke, Xiao Xiong (left), or Little Bear, he recalls sharing his home with one before Little Bear, and that his mother had Schipperkes in her home, which is how he was initially introduced to them. He describes their temperament, which sounds like it leans toward the anal retentive side, while noting they’re loving, cuddly, and how much they enjoy playing games. (https://www.wmnf.org/events/the-sixties-show/  )

 

COMEDY CORNER: Nick Kroll’s “Cats vs. Dogs” (excerpt) (https://www.nickkroll.com/)

MUSIC: Rebekah Pulley’s “Talking Animals Theme,” instrumentals

NAME THAT ANIMAL TUNE: We didn’t play “Name That Animal Tune” today.

AUDIO ARCHIVE:

Listen Online Now: https://talkinganimals.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/TAFeb12.mp3 | Open Player in New Window