May 15, 2018
Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom
television show during the 1970s
inspired so many people I have interviewed, including myself, to
fall in love with wildlife. If you aren’t familiar with this show,
(maybe you are too young!) it was a show bringing adventure, exotic
animals, and different cultures into our American living rooms
every week. Marlin Perkins, a zoologist, and his partner, Jim
Fowler, also a zoologist, would travel the world to educate us
about an exotic animal in a faraway land. (Often, I believe, Jim
was usually the one to risk life and limb to get close to some
dangerous animal). This show was my gateway “drug” show to
reading Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen, watch Born Free
over and over and learning to
sketch leopards and elephants in great detail.
Our
podcast guest May 15th, Dr. Andrew Stein, an Assistant Professor at Landmark
College, was also influenced by Mutual of Omaha’s
Wild Kingdom and other
wildlife documentaries growing up in central Massachusetts. He
didn’t believe he would ever have the chance to visit places in
Africa to see big cats, elephants and more. That all changed when
entered the School of Field Studies and was able to travel to
Kenya. It was in Kenya where he began to see a confluence of his
interests with culture, wildlife, and conservation.
Now
Dr. Stein is one of the leading experts in leopard conservation.
His passion drove him to create CLAWS
Conservancy in 2014;
where CLAWS stands for - Communities Living Among Wildlife
Sustainably. CLAWS is collaborating with many communities in Africa
and the US where there is potential human-wildlife conflict. His
goal is to problem solve with these communities to find a way where
wildlife and people can coexist peacefully.
Current CLAWS Projects (click on links to find out
more):
Below
are some field pictures provided by Dr. Andrew Stein.
*intro and closing by Dale Wilman and music soundtrack
provided from www.bensound.com