Tune in for this Saturday's podcast to learn more about animal ethics, philosophy, our relationship to other animals, and empathetic engagement with the more than human world.

Lori Gruen is the William Griffin Professor of Philosophy and Professor of Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Science in Society at Wesleyan University where she also coordinates Wesleyan Animal Studies. Her work lies at the intersection of ethical and political theory and practice, with a particular focus on issues that impact those often overlooked in traditional ethical investigations, e.g. women, people of color, incarcerated people, non-human animals. She is currently working to unpack carceral logics by thinking through a complex set of issues like dignity, self-respect, empathy, disposability, and hope and hopelessness.

Learn more about Lori Gruen HERE

Listen on your favourite player or directly HERE

David Neale has been the Director of Animals Asia Foundation since 2002.

David shares with us how when he was 14, he saw chimpanzees used as photo props whilst in Majorca, Spain, and how it ignited his passion for animal welfare. Sabrina shares similar memories of seeing Africa Greys, snakes, and a Tiger. She also mentions apps where the public can record these animals to influence change.

David says his study choices were limited, so studied Environmental Science and then a postgraduate in Conservation Biology. After graduating, David worked as an ecologist for a river restoration charity in England, which aimed to restore lost habitats. When David surveyed for European water voles (a species that declined due to pollution, habitat loss and the release of mink), he determined the mink would need to be culled. This introduces an animal welfare element. David did not want to contribute to this, so embarked on a trip to Asia and South America to determine an alternative career. 

Content warning: This podcast includes descriptive content related to laboratory animals which some listeners may find distressing.

Sally Thompson-Iritani is the Asst. Vice Provost, Animal Care, Outreach & 3Rs and Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Washington. Additionally, she is a Certified Compassion Fatigue Professional and a Human-Animal Bond Practitioner.

Sally shares with us how her love of animals developed from her love of cats. Despite not being allowed one as a child due to living in a small apartment, she found interacting with them comforting. Through this, Sally’s mum nurtured her understanding of ensuring an animal is provided with all their needs. Sally developed an interest in the care provided to research animals due to her childhood friend's father completing research on mice at a university. This was further developed when she read an article on a neuroscience study that used non-human primates, whereby Sally questioned herself on the...

Elisabetta Palagi is an Associate Professor at the University of Pisa, whose research focuses on social and sexual behaviour, and mechanisms underlining empathy such as rapid facial mimicry and emotional contagion.

Elisabetta shares a short story of growing up on a farm, of chickens and other animals, her early interest in animal behaviour, and a wise lesson by her grandmother.

She shares her start in academia, being a student at the University of Pisa, and completing her PhD in evolutionary biology. After her studies she continued at the University of Pisa, in the role of mammal curator at the museum of natural history, expanding her views on animal behaviour through zoology.

She shares her collaboration with the Pistoia Zoo where she studied lemurs. After great apes, wolves, hyenas, sea lions, and others, both in the wild and under human care.
Elisabetta discusses aspects of her and collaborative research on animal friendships, focusing on individuals, agonistic support,...

Becca Hanson is a Founding Principal of Studio Hanson | Roberts. She is a landscape architect with over 44 years of experience.

Becca shares with us how her love of nature started in Cincinnati, Ohio, during her childhood in the woodland behind her home. Here she could interact with nature first-hand by climbing trees, handling animals etc.

Becca started her university career intending to be an architect. However, she realised it was not for her, so took a nine-year sabbatical where she had a child and lived in Europe. During a trip to the Royal Horticultural Society Gardens in Wisley in the UK, she saw the rockery. This inspired Becca to finish her degree to construct similar works. Becca then enrolled in the University of Washington to get a BLA in Landscape Architecture and a minor in plant community ecology.

From here Becca got a job with Jones & Jones, who were working to design landscapes for the Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle. The more she worked with zoos, the more she fell...

Today on iBuzz we welcome Dr Gordon Bauer, Professor Emeritus of Psychology at New College of Florida. Gordon has investigated animal senses, cognition and behaviour in a wide variety of species such as manatees, bottlenose dolphins, humpback whales and sea turtles.

Gordon opens with one of his first interactions with humpback whales and explains how he became interested in studying animals at a young age with frequent trips to his local zoo. He reflects on how he explored a number of possible career paths before returning to work with animals at the age of 30, a decade after graduating from his B.A. in Psychology.

He describes his work at the University of Hawaii, working in dolphin communication and cognition. He talks about how collaboration with researchers from other fields allowed him to pursue biomagnetism in species including bottlenose dolphins, porpoises and humpback whales. This culminated in his first published article, kickstarting his ongoing and influential career in...

On today’s podcast, we welcome Terry Maple onto iBuzz to talk to us about his new book, The Life of Willie B., and his impressive lifelong career as a behavioural researcher, wildlife conservationist, professor, author, and zoo director. 

Terry tells us of the inspirations behind his latest book, citing the positive changes for animals - particularly great apes - that have occurred in the zoo industry during his career. He talks about his life’s journey to Zoo Atlanta, starting out  as an animal social psychologist, and his interest in what made a zoo great. Inspired by his local zoo growing up, San Diego Zoo, he began a 30-year career revitalising and reforming the then-discredited Zoo Atlanta. Through his management, he - alongside a team of “reformers” -  was a key driver in turning Zoo Atlanta into the respected facility it is today. 

Terry talks about how gorilla management has changed since he started...

Samantha Chiew on understanding the effects of animal-visitor interactions, learning from little penguins, and animal welfare policy

Samantha Chiew starts by sharing some of her first memories of connecting with animals at a children’s farm.

With so many other ways to study and work with animals abound, Samantha reflects on different pathways and how she obtained an MSc and joined, like Sabrina, the CAWSEL course in Cambridge.

Samantha shares about her work at the Healesville Sanctuary as a customer service representative, learning about why zoos are so important. Looking at both animal welfare and the visitor experience.

She then pursued a PhD in zoo animal welfare studying penguins and human and visitor interactions. Samantha shares research findings and how outcomes were used to modify environments and regulate the visitor animal interaction. "Findings have increased our understanding of the multifaceted nature of visitor attitudes and have identified some influencing...

This is the 3rd episode with Jan van Hooff in which we continue to follow his stories from England to the Netherlands, back to Burgers' Zoo and the monthly TV program on AVRO TV, called "ZooZoo" from 1964 till 1967 which Jan presented with his brother Antoon. Jan continued on his PhD with the late Professor Dijkgraaf.

Jan shares his involvement in research concerning the socialization of a large group of chimpanzees held at the United States Air Force in 1966. Focusing on not only the physical
but also psychological wellbeing in a group living environment. 

He continues with stories of the chimpanzees at Burgers' Zoo and his work with Frans de Waal who was his PhD student. Jan shares historical perspectives on raising chimpanzee babies, the socialisation of the group and stresses that chimpanzees should never be pets!

Hear about chimpanzees on the loose, building boats and ladders and going to the self-service, and a somewhat surprising ending. 

Jan...

The global zoo community has made great efforts and progresses to understanding, promoting, and engaging in the animal welfare and conservation domain. However, there are, among others, various legal, educational, strategical, and operational aspects which affect animal welfare, and which warrant critical analysis, discussions, mitigation, and resolution. This podcast will not only highlight some of the ‘System failures’ as Sabrina Brando has started to call them, root problems that cause some or many symptoms but will also be a call to action. Too often we still deal with symptoms instead of going to the root of the problem, many of which can only be solved by local and a global approach, and multi-disciplinary collaboration.

Working with zoos and aquariums and promoting optimal wellbeing for the many animals in our care, what does such a relationship look like, what are the different distant and proximate aspects related to animal wellbeing are important for us to...