As a podcaster, I thought I would share some of the other animal-focused podcasts that I listen to. Maybe you listen to podcasts on your commute, or maybe at work or just while out walking. Whether you have lots of time for podcasts or just a little time, we all only have so many hours in the day. Meanwhile, the number of animal-oriented podcasts is growing at an incredible rate. There have always been several podcasts about cats in general, but we now have podcasts covering a shelter every week, an interview with an animal welfare professional each week, plus a couple of animal law podcasts and some large organizational podcasts—and I’m sure I’m not covering them all!

Here is a sampling of some of the podcasts that I listen to and my thoughts about them. If you have an animal welfare podcast that you want me to review, feel free to send me your information. I will also include several other podcasts in Part 2 of this post, coming up on Feb. 6, 2020

Doobert’s Many Podcasts

Chris Roy of Doobert must never sleep, as he has produced five podcasts! He currently hosts the Animal Professionals Podcast. I believe this was the first podcast that he started and he has a nice catalog of interviews here (great for binge-listening!). Since Doobert was originally started to help with rescue relay and transport, many of the individuals and shelters Chris profiles discuss transport. Many of the folks are either executive directors or directors of marketing or development for the organizations, however, so you can get a sense of all of their programs.

One thing that stands out for me while listening to these podcasts is how accepted trap, neuter, return; return to field; and/or offering some sort of affordable spay/neuter have become. For larger organizations, this seems to have become the norm rather than the exception. Maybe it seems that way because Chris is profiling leaders in the industry, but I am still amazed to hear about another organization that embraces TNR in their community. For an old-timer like me, this is quite refreshing.

Chris seems to be expanding a bit on the folks he interviews to include more than just those working with companion animals. There have been interviews with folks from the New England Aquarium and Elephant Care Unchained recently.

Doobert is launching another podcast soon called The Animal Trainers Podcast, which will focus on behavior and will be hosted by Rachael Wondra. Keep an eye out for that one!

Animal Rescue Professionals Organization’s Podcasts

The Animal Rescue Professionals Organization has three podcasts. Doobert is very supportive of the ARPO’s work and is part of the organization.

Their podcasts include Animal Shelter of the Week and Animal Rescue of the Week, both hosted by Kimberly Ruiz, and then Chris Roy hosts their third podcast, Professionals in Animal Rescue. There is definitely something to listen to here for anyone in the field of animal welfare.

Congratulations to Chris and his team for producing fantastic content for the animal welfare field!

Paw and Order

Hosted by Animal Justice, Paw and Order is a relatively new podcast that I just discovered in the last month or so. For those of you interested in the ethics around animal care and how we treat animals in general, I found this podcast to be very thought-provoking. It is focused on what is happening in animal welfare in Canada, but many of the themes can certainly be applied to the US as well.

The hosts, Camille Labchuk and Peter Sankoff (who are both lawyers), are engaging and not overly chatty, an issue I find some co-hosted shows to have. I found one podcast that discussed the concept of “risk” (in terms of putting animals at risk) how this impacts animal welfare particularly interesting. This, along with the concept of how we treat animals with dignity, makes for interesting listening. There is a lot to think about with this show.

Tracie Hotchner’s Dog Talk® (and Kitties Too!)