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1 week ago | 
wmnf.org | Duncan Strauss |Colleen Cole
Jamie Katz–who’s worked as a Fort Lauderdale-based real-life pet detective for a decade—recalls growing up amidst a family that always lived with cats and dogs, as well as her initial efforts helping animals while regularly driving along a prescribed route. Katz notes that around this time, she thought to herself that an ideal professorial path would involve working with animals combined with investigation.
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2 weeks ago | 
wmnf.org | Duncan Strauss |Colleen Cole
Katrina Shadix–founder and executive director of Bear Warriors United (BWU), whose stated mission is to preserve and protect bears, and all of Florida’s natural resources and wildlife—recalls, as a second-generation Floridian, the formative joys of growing up in rural Seminole County.
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4 weeks ago | 
wmnf.org | Duncan Strauss |Colleen Cole
Occasionally, I jettison the chief component of the “Talking Animals” format–a long form interview with a single guest–to give voice to a broader array of animal organizations and leaders, concerned animal advocates, and others who simply care about animals. That’s what happened today, when I invited listeners to call in (or email) and briefly serve as the show’s guest, eliciting an array of responses.
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4 weeks ago | 
wmnf.org | Duncan Strauss |Colleen Cole
Veteran science journalist Stephen S. Hall–the author of several books, most recently, Slither: How Nature’s Most Maligned Creatures Illuminate Our World—recounts how he approached writing Slither, a strategy seeking to beckon even those amidst the sizable contingent of people who are creeped out by snakes, hate snakes, or are afraid of snakes.
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1 month ago | 
wmnf.org | Duncan Strauss |Colleen Cole
Kate MacFall and Katherine McGill—longtime wildlife experts joining me for a discussion devoted to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), specifically, the FWC’s current effort to evaluate existing rules for wildlife trapping—address what for many may be the surprising prevalence of trapping in Florida.
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1 month ago | 
wmnf.org | Duncan Strauss |Colleen Cole
Kari Bagnall–founder and executive director of Jungle Friends Primate Sanctuary, which offers permanent care to nearly 200 monkeys retired from laboratory research, who are former pets, or have been confiscated by the authorities—recalls the first monkey that entered her world and forever altered her life. As part of this account, Bagnall describes creating the earliest iteration of Jungle Friends, and we go on to discuss the array of challenges faced by those who run animal sanctuaries.
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1 month ago | 
wmnf.org | Duncan Strauss |Colleen Cole
Kelly McCormick and Glenn Maresca–co-founders of Florida Rescue Farm, a sanctuary in Duette, FL, devoted to rescuing, rehabilitating, and housing pigs, goats, geese, chickens, ducks, cattle, other critters, and no less devoted to cultivating a strong educational presence—described the remote community of Duette, and what prompted them to settle there.
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2 months ago | 
wmnf.org | Duncan Strauss |Colleen Cole
This show was presented in direct acknowledgement of Women’s History Month…Jocelyn Stokes and Katie Schuler—co-creators of “In Her Nature,” a new digital series carried on the YouTube channel for the longstanding PBS program, “Nature”—retrace the path that led each of them toward their present filmmaking careers, specializing in natural history documentaries.
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2 months ago | 
wmnf.org | Duncan Strauss |Colleen Cole
Michael Schneider, a pilot and founder of Pilots To The Rescue—which flies animals from shelters plagued by low rates of adoption (and, often, high rates of euthanasia), to rescues where foster or forever homes have been arranged—describes the career reinvention that preceded his taking flying lessons. Schneider remembers that, back then, like most new pilots, he was perennially seeking opportunities to fly—hours in the air—and some of those opportunities involved transporting shelter animals.
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Mar 8, 2025 | 
wmnf.org | Duncan Strauss |Colleen Cole
Joining me on “Talking Animals” to discuss bird flu and the Avian Flu Resource Center–an online portal Cornell recently launched, designed to provide timely and accurate information about bird flu, amidst ongoing rumors and misinformation—Travis describes the current strain, and why it’s become so nefarious.
