Talking Animals

Researchers are trying to determine why midshipman fish only sing at night. Here's CBS News Correspondent Sam Litzinger.

CBS News Correspondent Sam Litzinger questions why the death of Cecil the lion gained such world wide attention.

Joel Rockey—executive director of One Last Treat, a nonprofit founded by a group of veterans whose mission (carried out by veterans who volunteer) is “to provide comfort, compassion, and one last treat to severely at-risk and soon-to-be-passing animals”—discusses his own history, including growing up with various animals, but at that point, being indifferent to them. He recounts his military career, initially serving as a Navy corpsman as part of traveling the path toward his true objective: to work as a medic in the Marines. During his combined five-year stint, he did tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and felt the virtues of a six-month transitional period between his discharge and returning home. Still, when he did get home, Rockey reports, he contended with some of the challenges that veterans often experience in the transition from being in combat to being at home, including being bothered by crowded rooms. He describes, partly owing to that sort of struggle, how the seeds of One Last Treat were sown, and the first animal was a blind, deaf pug that was roaming the streets of Detroit. Rockey recounts how helping that pug, the way a lot of fellow veterans were struggling the way he was—very much feeling less important and needed than they did while serving in the military—and recognizing a need to care for senior dogs all merged in what became the mission of One Last Treat. While acknowledging that One Last Treat is a nascent organization whose operation is largely confined to the Detroit area, Rockey outlines some scenarios on how they currently help senior and ailing dogs—and sometimes their families—including when that animal is facing euthanasia. (www.onelasttreat.org, www.facebook.com/onelasttreat/?fref=ts)

ALSO: I spoke briefly with Sue Pike, a Reiki Master and Animal Communicator—and monthly guest on Eluv’s show, “Ultrasounds,” Thursday nights on WMNF—about her visit to Tampa, in which she was to again appear on “Ultrasounds,” and do a variety of Reiki sessions, pet readings and more. (www.suepikeenergy.com, http://animalchanneler.blogspot.com)

COMEDY CORNER: Sean Donnelly’s “I Love My Bulldog,” (http://seandonnellycomedy.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/2016/11/TANov2-.mp3 | Open Player in New Window

CBS News Correspondent Sam Litzinger explores the connection between cats and vikings.

As if the internet was not filled with enough cat videos -- now you can live stream them from South Korea. CBS News Correspondent Sam Litzinger has the story.

Dr. Laurie Hess—a veterinarian specializing in caring for exotic pets, and author of the new book “Unlikely Companions: The Adventures Of An Exotic Animal Doctor”—recounts growing up in a family that embraced a wide array of pets, how she herself loved animals as a child, and that’s also when she decided she wanted to be a veterinarian. Unlike most kids who declare the same career goal, Hess actually became a vet, propelled by ambition and laser-like focus (including attending Yale as an undergrad). Hess addresses the point at which she started contemplating a practice that would specialize in caring for birds and exotic animals, and what pulled her in that direction. A mother of two teenage songs, Hess outlines the components of any given workday—which tend to be exceptionally long and often grueling—starting at 5am with feeding and looking after the seven pets at home, various Mom duties, hitting the gym (critical to her, as a Type 1 diabetic) and only then beginning her day of seeing patients at her hospital, Veterinary Center for Birds & Exotics. Asked to cite a few animals she’d treated in recent days, Hess mentions a Bearded Dragon lizard (that hadn’t been exposed to enough ultraviolet light, spurring a calcium deficiency) and a rabbit, noting she sees a large number of rabbits at the Veterinary Center and dental problems are common, because rabbits’ teeth keep growing. Hess discusses other elements of “Unlikely Companions,” including a sugar glider-related mystery—not whodunnit so much as whatdunnit–that augments the book’s narrative drive. (http://avianexoticsvet.com, www.lauriehessdvm.com)

ALSO: I spoke briefly with Diane Koon, one of the organizers of the 7th Annual Tampa Bay Veg Fest, to be held Nov. 12 at Cotanchobee Fort Brooke Park. (www.tampabayvegfest.org)

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

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

NAME THAT ANIMAL TUNE: EELS’ “I Like Birds”

AUDIO ARCHIVE:

Listen Online Now: https://talkinganimals.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/TAOct26-.mp3 | Open Player in New Window

CBS News Correspondent Sam Litzinger reports on the fight against poaching -- and how technology will help.

Scientists are trying to determine how smart animals really are. CBS News Correspondent Sam Litzinger has the story.

The alala -- an endangered Hawaiian crow -- has the ability to use tools to search for food. CBS News Correspondent Sam Litzinger explains more.

CBS News Correspondent Sam Litzinger discusses a study that determines which words humans use most often when communicating with their dogs.