Travelling to faraway places can create lovely memories but does it come at the expense of wildlife?
Connie Needham joins Anitha to talk about ways to enjoy your holiday without causing harm to animals.
The two chat about experiences such as elephant rides and photo-ops with wildlife and the harm these activities inflict on the animal and most likely their family and habitat.
Connie shares things we can all do to have fun on our holiday while increasing the likelihood that our actions don’t cause harm to another being.
A great episode for those who love to travel and love animals.
To learn more about ethical wildlife tourism you can follow Connie here:
As a thank you to Connie for sharing her story, Anitha donated to Wild Futures Monkey Sanctuary, a registered charity founded in 1964. This charity is committed to protecting primates and habitats all over the world. To learn more about the work they do, check out their website:
Rob Laidlaw, the founder of Zoocheck joins Anitha to talk about his journey into animal activism. For over 40 years, Rob has been speaking up for wildlife. From his initial efforts to close down horrific roadside zoos to helping three elephants, who spent their lives in captivity, find a sanctuary, there is no limit to the kind and compassionate actions Rob has taken for the benefit of wildlife.
Despite witnessing the many atrocities animals are subjected to at the hands of humans, Rob shares why he is still optimistic for the future of wildlife.
An episode full of hope and kindness, and one you don’t want to miss.
To learn more about the amazing work Zoocheck is doing, check out the following links:
As a thank you to Rob for sharing his story, Anitha donated to the New Cat City Rescue & Sanctuary. This small animal rescue located in Toronto, Ontario is a permanent home for animals with special needs and requirements. To learn more about their work, check out their website:
Claire Peters-Lunny, the founder of Wild By Nurture, joins Anitha to share stories about her Wildlife Rehab & Sanctuary.
Claire’s love for animals began at a very early age so it makes sense that she now spends her days and often nights, caring for orphaned and injured opossums, porcupines, groundhogs and many others.
The majority of animals come to her after being injured or orphaned from human activity, such as being hit by a car.
Claire shares heartwarming stories of some of the individuals whose injuries were too severe to be released back in the wild and who now call her home, their home. Animals like Hazel the groundhog and Bramble the porcupine. Claire also talks about how affectionate opossums are and how they are incredible mothers.
Did you know that baby opossums can survive in their mother’s pouch even after she has been struck and killed by a car? Many of the orphaned opossums who come to Wild By Nurture, were found by folks who were kind enough to stop and check on animals struck by a car, as some may still be alive or may have babies who are alive.
To learn more about Wild By Nurture, the many animals they care for, and what you can do if you come across an injured animal, check out the following links:
Anitha rings in the holiday/Christmas season with her special guest Dawn Rasmussen. In May of 2020, Dawn and her husband discovered an abandoned/orphaned baby deer on their rural property. Dawn shares the story of caring for Thor (the name she eventually gave him). Dawn decided early on that Thor would not become a pet, and instead remain a wild animal. Though she bottle-fed him, brushed him and nurtured him, she also went to great lengths to ensure he grew up as a wild deer. Dawn talks about those early days of sleeping outside in a tent so that Thor would learn how to live outside while still receiving regular bottle feedings.
Thor is now a 100% self-sufficient wild deer who is part of a herd. From time to time, he still drops in for a visit to say ‘hello’ to the woman who raised him.
Thor the deer—a perfect story to celebrate the holidays!
To learn more about Thor and Dawn, check out their Facebook page:
As a thank you to Dawn for sharing her story, Anitha donated to Rowena Wildlife Clinic. This clinic provides free veterinary care to injured wild animals and stray homeless domestic animals. To learn more about what they do, check out their website:
Margot Raggett is a wildlife photographer, wildlife warrior and a cancer survivor. She joins Anitha and generously talks about these parts of her life.
After witnessing the death of a young elephant, a tragic victim of poaching, Margot felt compelled to help protect wild animals . . .and thus was born Remembering Wildlife.
The first book in the series, Remembering Elephants, brought together photographers from all of the world, including Margot, donating stunning photographs for the book, which came out in 2015. Since then, eight more books have been produced and to date $1.5 million dollars has been raised through the sale of these books to support 74 projects in 33 countries across Africa, North & South America, Asia and Europe.
The latest book in the series, Remembering Tigers, will be available October 2024.
You can purchase one or more or all of these gorgeous books and help protect wildlife by visiting the Remembering Wildlife website: Remembering Wildlife
To learn about some of the projects Remembering Wildlife supports, click here: Projects
On October 9th, Remembering Wildlife will host a special event to celebrate the release of Remembering Tigers. It will be an evening to showcase tiger conservation and wildlife photography. To attend the event in London, England in person or virtually, click here:
As of the date of airing of this episode, Margot was still deciding on a charity she would like Anitha to donate to. Once Margot decides, Anitha will donate and provide details and a link to the charity.
September 22 is World Rhino Day and to mark this special day when the world recognizes these incredible beings who are critically endangered, Anitha chatted with Elisa Best.
16.11.20 – Mirror Animal Hero Awards 2020 – Picture shows Elise Best at her workplace Rowe Vet Hospital in Bristol.
Elisa is originally from South Africa and works as a small animal veterinarian in the UK. Elisa talks about the plight of rhinos and her desire to help them, and how this evolved into the creation of Blankets For Baby Rhinos (BFBR).
This lovely group began by knitting blankets for orphaned rhinos, who are often both emotionally and physically traumatized when their mothers are killed by poachers. Rhino rescue groups discovered that baby rhinos find comfort when wrapped in these blankets.
BFBR has now grown to provide blankets for other animals such as injured and rescued pangolins, lions, leopards, as well as the dogs and humans who are part of anti-poaching units. These dogs and humans work bravely to protect rhinos from poachers.
To find out more about Blankets For Baby Rhinos and how you can support this incredible group, check out their website and their Facebook Page:
Elisa talked about an amazing place called Care For Wild Rhino Sanctuary. This is one of the rhino rescue groups, Blankets for Baby Rhinos supports. Care For Wild rescues, rehabilitates, releases, re-wilds and protects orphaned rhinos. In 2016, Anitha’s daughter had the privilege to volunteer at this sanctuary. Her daughter’s experience with the baby rhinos at Care For Wild inspired Anitha’s debut picture book, A Family For Faru. Care For Wild will always hold a special place in Anitha’s heart.
Elisa also mentioned the importance of the anti-poaching unit to protect rhinos and the personal risk these brave men, women and dogs face every day. She mentioned a feature length documentary called RHINO MAN. This film focuses on the life of Anton Mzimba, who was the Head of Ranger Services at Timbavati Private Nature Reserve. Anton dedicated his life to protecting and conserving South African wildlife, and made great sacrifices to himself and his family to do so. Sadly, he was murdered in July of 2022. To learn more about this film, check out the following link:
Clarissa Dery, a certified canine nutritionist joins Anitha to talk about what motivated her to create healthy supplements for dogs.
Clarissa not only creates products to help dogs, but after volunteering at a wildlife rehabilitation centre in South Africa, she decided to donate the profits from Clarissa Clover to help wild animals in South Africa.
Clarissa talks about her time in South Africa, the animals she worked with, such as hippos and pangolins, and how this experience affected her.
To learn more about Clarissa and the products she makes, check out these links:
As a thank you to Clarissa for sharing her story, Anitha donated to Umoya Khulula Wildlife Rehab Centre. This non-profit rehabilitation facility in Limpopo, South Africa is dedicated to the rescue, rehabilitation and release of local wildlife that have been orphaned, injured, displaced or confiscated from the illegal trade.
To learn about this wildlife rehab centre, please check out their website:
As a thank you to Malani for sharing her story, Anitha donated to Dutch Thunder Wildlife Shelter, a licensed wildlife shelter providing 24 hour emergency wildlife rescue.
Malani and her family spent time at the shelter helping out. It’s always nice supporting an organization personally known to the guest.
To learn more about Dutch Thunder Wildlife Shelter, check out their social media pages:
Valentin Gruener achieved his childhood goal to live in Africa and work with wildlife, and not just any wildlife. Val has spent the past twelve years raising, caring and loving Sirga, a lioness who came into his life when she was around ten days old.
Val talks about sharing his life with a wild lion, including some heart-warming stories. He also talks about the reasons for the devastating decline in the wild lion population, his conservation initiative—the Modisa Wildlife Project, and so much more.
A very special and important conversation about a man, a lioness and how together they are raising awareness to protect wildlife.
To learn more about Val, Sirga and the Modisa Wildlife Project, check out the following links:
As a thank you to Val for sharing his story, Anitha donated to the Kalahari Research and Conservation (KRC). Kalahari is a unique and fragile ecosystem with a rich diversity of plants and animals. This organization works to understand and conserve Kalahari’s distinctive landscape in the face of increasing challenges.
Izzy Hirji wears many hats—wildlife vet, world traveller, photographer, conservationist, vegan, and television celebrity! He joins Anitha to share his incredible adventures as he follows his hero, Dr. Jane Goodall, in making the world a better place for all beings.
Izzy begins the episode by talking about his childhood fear of dogs and how he not only overcame that fear, but now travels the world, treating all kinds of wild animals.
A fabulous episode for kids and adults, alike—packed full of beautiful, touching and often funny stories about the life of a wildlife vet.
As a thank you to Izzy for sharing his story, Anitha donated to Story Book Farm Primate Sanctuary. This sanctuary provides healing and recovery for primates who have been rescued from laboratories, roadside zoos and other terrible circumstances. In addition to all the amazing and kind things Dr. Izzy is involved with, he also makes time to donate his veterinary skills to treat and care for these residents.
Anitha Rao-Robinson 