The Animal Wellness Podcast

In this year-end episode of the Animal Wellness Podcast, host Joseph Grove is joined by Animal Wellness Action leaders to reflect on major wins for animals in 2025—and the critical fights ahead in 2026.

In this episode of the Animal Wellness Podcast, we explore the extraordinary true story behind “Penelope: The World of Each Other” with author Paul Bochner. His memoir recounts a years-long relationship with a disabled, abandoned fawn who appeared unexpectedly on his property. What began as a simple act of compassion evolved into a profound interspecies bond—one built on trust, patience, and an emotional depth rarely ...

In February 2023, Flaco—a majestic Eurasian eagle-owl—made headlines after escaping the Central Park Zoo when vandals damaged his enclosure. Born in captivity and confined for more than 13 years, few expected him to survive in the wild. But Flaco defied the odds, becoming a symbol of resilience and freedom as he soared over Manhattan, hunting rats and perching on high-rises—even doing some peeping-tom-ing along the wa...

From the running of the bulls in Spain to groundhog weather predictions in Pennsylvania, festivals featuring animals exist all over the world. Some are celebrated as cultural treasures, while others are seen as outdated, even cruel. These events often raise difficult questions: Are they harmless fun, or do they exploit animals for human entertainment? Do traditions justify practices that might otherwise be considered ...

What can a philosopher teach us about veganism and how to make the change when confronted with old habits, latent desires, and an apprehension of the difficulty the adjustment would mean to those who share our dinner tables?

That’s the focus of this episode. Host Joseph Grove talks to Matthew C. Halteman, Ph.D., a professor of philosophy at Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Mich., and a fellow at the Ox...

This show focuses on the Los Angeles wildfires, what is being done to save domestic and wild animals involved.

As of recording, January 15, the massive blazes in Southern California have killed at least 25 people and destroyed thousands of houses and other buildings. We’ll never know how many animals have been lost since the Eaton Fire and the Palisades Fire began their scorching march across the Los Angeles area just more than a w...

Oliver Starr came to our attention when he spoke in an Animal Wellness Action webinar about wolves and stole the show—and the hearts of attendees—by taking his camera out among the small pack of wolves at Tahoe Wolf Center, where he is executive director. His passion and his endearing bond with the animals made us want to learn more.

Starr also is the author of a new book, “The Wolf Lover’s Guide to Rais...

The only thing we learn from history is that we don’t learn anything from history. That was the summary comment of host Joseph Grove in a conversation about the federal government’s lackadaisical response to the emergent bird flu crisis.

The podcast was recorded shortly after the virus claimed its first U.S. human fatality, a man in Louisiana. Grove was joined by Dr. Jim Keen and Dr. Tom Pool. They revie...

Wayne Pacelle again joins the show as he and host Joseph Grove recount the accomplishments of the past year and how Animal Wellness Action and sister organization Center for a Humane Economy have set things for a successful 2025. Along the way, they discuss the differences among distinct victories, protecting them and ensuring they fulfill their promise for relief for animals, and long-term work that may take years to pay off.

You ...

Animal Wellness Action this year intensified its efforts to help elect candidates who vote with animals in mind and to defeat incumbents who don’t. In 2024, the Washington D.C.-based group invested heavily in nine races across the country and prevailed in seven of them.

Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action, recounts the victories in our latest podcast. Joined by host Joseph Grove, he breaks...

The Proposition 127 ballot initiative in Colorado has garnered national attention even as the presidential election and other national races dominate the headlines. The initiative, launched and supported by the Cats Aren’t Trophies campaign, seeks to modify state law by criminalizing, according to the ballot language, “the intentional killing, wounding, pursuing, entrapping, or discharging or releasing ...

The episode comes from a webinar hosted by Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy relative to the Yes on Prop 127 | Cats Aren’t Trophies ballot initiative in Colorado.

The two groups are members of a broad coalition supporting the initiative, which would make illegal the cruel, inhumane, and unsporting practice of trophy-hunting mountain lions in the state. The practice is egregious because it uses packs of dogs...

Many of our shows deal with complex legislative and veterinary issues, so every once in a while we like to meet up with people on the ground, deep in day-to-day work with animals. This is one of those episodes. In it, we talk to:

• Paul Collins, the Wisconsin state director for Animal Wellness Action. In his free time, he volunteers at a local rescue sanctuary, where he ha...

The past year was busy on the animal-wellness front. Not only did Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy see some major wins outside of Congress, we worked to set up major legislative victories for when the 118th Congress returns for its second and final year.

In this podcast, Wayne Pacelle, president of the groups, and Jennifer Skiff, director of international, review those wins and ...

About 1.5 million kangaroos a year are shot, bludgeoned or left to starve to death or die of their injuries. This occurs because companies like Adidas and New Balance still pay hunters to head into the Australian wilderness to hunt the animals. The hunters make the kills, the kangaroos are skinned, and the skins are made into soccer shoes for affluent customers across the United States and other parts of the world.

Last May, Marielle Williamson was an anonymous teenager doing anonymous teenager things. Like her classmates at Eagle Rock High School in Los Angeles, California, she was busy preparing to graduate and to leap across the threshold into adulthood. The last thing on her mind was becoming the subject of countless news stories and being thrust into a debate about nutrition, animal welfare and the First Amend...

Don’t be a Dick’s.

That’s the message of a new campaign initiative by Animal Wellness Action and its sister organization, the Center for a Humane Economy. It’s targeted at Dick’s Sporting Goods, the largest sporting-goods retailer in the United States, and intends to call attention to the chain’s role in the largest commercial slaughter of land-based wildlife in the world.

Dick’s Sporting G...

Animal Wellness Action is one of many organizations pushing for Congress to pass the ADD SOY Act, a bill that would require the USDA to make soy milk available as a beverage alternative to the 30 million children who are part of the National School Lunch Program.

Every year, about $300 million in cow milk is tossed into the garbage—much of it still in unopened containers—by children who d...

For decades, a wide range of man-made and environmental threats have endangered Southern Resident Orca—thinning the population in the Pacific Northwest to only 73. Today, they’re looking directly at extinction.

The urgency of the orcas’ plight cannot be overstated. While many agencies and organizations are working to save our orca through scientific research, mitigation programs, public p...