Our audio series introduces listeners to wild animal welfare
June 6, 2023
If you’re planning a roadtrip or long flight this summer, you might be looking for new podcasts to help pass the time. We have a recommendation for you: Wild Animal Initiative's Wildness podcast, a series produced by multimedia journalist Maia Laperle in 2019. The four-part series covers introductory topics surrounding wild animal welfare and features interviews with leaders in the larger wild animal welfare community, including Animal Ethics Co-founder Oscar Horta.
Episode 1: Who cares about wild animals?
Maia introduces the values and tenets of wild animal welfare while interviewing leaders in the wild animal welfare space.
Guests:
Persis Eskander, co-founder of Wild Animal Initiative
Abraham Rowe, co-founder of Wild Animal Initiative
Oscar Horta, co-founder of Animal Ethics
Episode 2: Addressing uncertainty
Maia considers the role uncertainty plays in wild animal welfare research, and how we handle it.
Guests:
Joe Ballenger, writer for Ask An Entomologist
Hollis Howe, former team member at Wild Animal Initiative
Marianne van der Werf, program officer for the Effective Animal Advocacy Fund
Brian Tomasik, advisor for the Center on Long-Term Risk
Episode 3: Who is nature for?
Maia asks hard questions about what we value in nature, who we’re preserving it for, and what that means for wild animals.
Guests:
Rachel Bjork, board member at Northwest Animal Rights Network
Rob Smith, Northwest Regional Director of the National Parks Conservation Association
Mark Davis, biology professor at Macalaster College
Christopher Sebastian, author, researcher, and lecturer
Episode 4: A seat at the table
In the season finale, Maia explores the moral and political future of wild animal welfare.
Guests:
Natalie Kofler, founder and director of Editing Nature
Jay Shooster, associate and animal welfare legal fellow at Richman Law Group
Maia Laperle
Producer and Host
Maia is an interdisciplinary artist, teacher, and animal advocate living in Portland, Oregon. She has a degree in fine arts from the Massachusetts College of Art & Design, and is committed to promoting equity and compassion through art, storytelling, and education.
