Talking Animals

Here's an obscure question -- do rats like to be tickled? CBS News Correspondent Sam Litzinger finds out.

Anthony Bellotti — founder of the White Coat Waste Project—describes his formative years, and the role animals played in them, highlighting his pivotal experience as a high school student, when he worked as an intern in an animal experimentation lab, and was horrified by what he witnessed. That jarring misadventure was the impetus, nearly two decades later, for Bellotti launching the White Coat Waste Project, which seeks to combat federally-funded animal research, primarily motivated by what it considers the wasteful government spending of taxpayers’ money that bankrolls this research. Bellotti outlines the stints he did spanning many years as a political consultant, working for Arnold Schwarzenegger, senators, congressman, ballot initiatives, and more, learning all about how the mechanics of elections, how Washington machinery operates, etc., in order to be well armed with expertise, experience and an array of tools to be fully effective at the helm of White Coat Waste Project. Bellotti goes on to explain that White Coat flipped the model of all the other organizations protesting animal experimentation, essentially making the bottom line the bottom line, as such, calls White Coat “the only animal organization with bipartisan reach.” He addresses one of White Coat’s current campaigns, including one focused on Veterans’ Administration facilities in four locations (http://www.prisonersofwaste.org), which has yielded information about a Dr. Alex Tan, who has botched operations on dogs at the Richmond, VA facility, and has somehow been permitted to treat veterans, too. (www.whitecoatwaste.org)

ALSO: I spoke briefly with Ken Koenig, of Dunedin Doggie Rescue, about their focus on pulling dogs from facilities that are otherwise likely to be euthanized, and places them in foster homes en route to landing in forever homes. He also discussed a series of Dunedin Doggie events scheduled in the coming weeks, which help underwrite the expenses of this small organization. (www.dunedindogs.com)

COMEDY CORNER: Dana Gould’s “Snakes & Alligators” (www.danagould.com)

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

NAME THAT ANIMAL TUNE: X’s “Hungry Wolf”

AUDIO ARCHIVE:

Listen Online Now: https://talkinganimals.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/TAMay17-.mp3 | Open Player in New Window

There seems to be an app for everything -- including finding the perfect pet. Kenneth Craig has the story. Plus -- military veterans have found a new way to cope with life after service -- by scuba diving. Mark Strassman reports. Sam Litzinger highlights these pieces on this week's "Talking Animals."

Sam Litzinger takes us inside the Frozen Zoo. Plus -- Carter Evans visits a shelter in Santa Barbara that lets the local track team run with their dogs.

W. Bruce Cameron — the New York Times bestselling author of numerous books, including “A Dog’s Purpose,” made into a feature film starring Dennis Quaid —discusses how he decided to make Breed Specific Legislation, or BSL (in this case, Denver’s ban on pit bulls) a core element of his new novel, “A Dog’s Way Home.” Cameron expands on the injustice of how municipalities and counties where BSL exists can take action against a dog simply because of how it looks—and that government in those places can dictate what sort of dogs you can, and cannot own. While the Denver pit bull ban is central to “A Dog’s Way Home,” Cameron notes that it triggers the extended journey that Bella, the novel’s pup protagonist and narrator, embarks on, and the marvelous, distinctive canine traits her odyssey reflects. We return to a topic we’ve explored before—Cameron has been a guest multiple times—how to write dogs, especially when there’s a canine narrator like Bella, including his self-established tenets for what that narrator can know, and what observations and expressions can (and can’t) be included. Noting earlier in the interview that some individuals and organizations are staunch pit opponents, Cameron acknowledges toward the end that it’s a distinct possibility that PETA (he won’t say their name) may attack him and/or “A Dog’s Way Home,” given their anti-pit stance—he says he’s “braced” for it—and the outfit’s orchestrated attack on the film version of “A Dog’s Purpose” with the doctored video on TMZ. (www.brucecameron.com)

ALSO: I spoke briefly with Anita Krajnc, the Canadian animal activist and founder of Toronto Pig Save arrested for giving water to a truckload of thirsty pigs, as the truck was pulling into a slaughterhouse. The case generated worldwide attention and media coverage (I’d spoken with her at length of Feb. 2016), and six days earlier, the judge found Krajnc not guilty. (www.facebook.com/anita.krajnc.58, www.torontopigsave.org)

COMEDY CORNER: Tom Papa’s “Pet People” (http://tompapa.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/2017/05/TAMay10-.mp3 | Open Player in New Window

The country had so much fun watching - and - waiting for April the Giraffe to give birth - now you can watch bears wonder through Yosemite National Park. Plus - another look at the bond between humans and their pets. Sam Litzinger has those stories on this week's Talking Animals.

Out of their five senses -- dogs navigate the world through smell. Martha Teichner learns more. Plus -- Sam Litzinger shares the story of a musician who released an entire album -- for cats.

Ellie Laks —the founder of The Gentle Barn, a Southern California sanctuary that houses more than 170 animals that have been rescued from abuse, neglect or slaughter—discusses the ideas and impulses that propelled her to create the facility, some of which can be traced back to dreams she had as a self-described stubborn seven-year-old. Laks explains how Mary the goat, and later, other “decrepit” animals from a petting zoo became the founding critters of The Gentle Barn. From the moment Laks conceived The Gentle Barn, a key component, along with providing refuge for animals facing those challenges, was—in one of those powerful instances of two-way healing—those animals are visited, and often cared for, by inner city, at-risk, and special needs children. She recounts a story involving one of the first groups of such children to visit The Gentle Barn, where not long after arriving a kid threw a rock at a spider, Laks had a conversation with the boy (who was angry and hurt, from years of difficult foster care), and the boy spent the rest of the day as chief protector of the Barn animals—a profound experience that Laks guesses may have influenced him for years. With The Gentle Barn now in its 18th year, Laks surveys the notable ways the facility has evolved and changed, detailing the unusual protocol of care their animals receive and how, consequently, those animals live typically live well beyond the normal life expectancy. Noting that she opened a second Gentle Barn location in Knoxville, TN nearly two years ago, Laks outlines her goal to open a Gentle Barn in every state in America, and responds to concerns I raise about such an ambitious undertaking. (www.gentlebarn.org)

 

ALSO: I spoke briefly with journalist Bronwen Dickey, author of “Pit Bull: The Battle Over An American Icon,” a widely—and wildly—acclaimed book, now out in paperback. (www.bronwendickey.com)

 

 

 

COMEDY CORNER: Kevin Nealon’s “Cows On The Roof” (http://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/2017/05/TAMay3-.mp3 | Open Player in New Window

Humans have begun treating their ailing pets with pot. Kenneth Craig reports. Plus -- what is a crow cafe? Sam Litzinger finds out.

CBS News Correspondent Sam Litzinger learns more about the snow leopard population. Plus -- how are shelters helping their animals get adopted? Find out on this week's Talking Animals.