Conservation Cast

During this episode of the Conservation Cast, Maya spoke with Marcus Wernicke about what Marcus has experienced and learned working at Marine Mammal Rescue for over four thousand hours. Marcus talks about the most common mammals rescued at the two locations, California and Vancouver, and California’s surrogate programs to teach orphaned seals how to survive in the wild. Later, Marcus helps answer many questions from chat about otters such as their threats, diets, and favorite toys. Marcus does a great job bouncing off of the chat which makes sense given that it was his idea for Marine Mammal Rescue to start streaming on Twitch! Maya’s community raised $801.00 for Marine Mammal Rescue, a foundation dedicated to the rescue, rehabilitation, and release of all marine mammals. MMR also works to educate and research marine mammals in hopes of continuing the upward trend of their populations.

During this episode of the Conservation Cast, Maya spoke with Simon Morgan about how Morgan decided to help found the Wildlife ACT fund and their mission. ACT helps to protect many species in Africa such as the African Wild Dog, Cheetah, and the major focus of this talk, the Black and White Rhino. ACT prevents the poaching of these species by monitoring and tracking them, educating people, and by using anti-poaching techniques like dehorning rhinos. Maya’s community raised $642.83 for the Wildlife ACT Fund, a non-profit trust working in Africa to prevent the poaching of many important species. Their focus lies in wildlife monitoring, community outreach, and anti-poaching.

During this episode of the Conservation Cast, Maya spoke with Dr. Tara Stoinski about Tara’s personal experiences with the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund and what DFGF does in Africa to uphold their organization’s four pillars of conservation. DFGF is continuing to expand its conservation area and research campus in order to provide more room not only for the endangered gorillas but also for scientific research and training new conservationists. On Earth Day, DFGF announced an exciting new agreement with the Congolese government that will hopefully allow them to continue to reduce the poaching done to gorillas. Maya’s community raised $1588.00 for the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, an organization focused on the protection of gorillas through four important pillars. These pillars are daily protection, scientific research, training future leaders, and helping communities.

Maya speaks with Louie Psihoyos, the famous director of award-winning documentaries such as “The Cove” and “Racing Extinction” about the importance of influential conservationists and their impact on society. During this episode of the Conservation Cast, Maya spoke with Louie about how he became so invested in his cause and transitioned from National Geographic photographer to director. Louie shares some of the most interesting and impactful stories of his experience becoming a conservationist and spreading his message. Louie presents his thoughts and experiences with so much passion that you can not help but be encouraged and believe that change in society is possible.

Maya speaks with Niko Ankergren, a video game developer turned zookeeper, about his zoo in Denmark focused on rescuing and providing homes for all kinds of animals. During this episode of the Conservation Cast, Maya spoke with Niko about a few of the 600 rescued animals living at Play Rescue Zoo. Play Rescue aims to save animals from illegal industries like the pet or fur trade. Niko and Maya visit some of the cutest animals found around the zoo and discuss the increased difficulty of running a zoo during quarantine. Niko excitedly awaits for the day he can fully reopen the zoo to the public and have people fall in love with these important species.

During this episode of the Conservation Cast, Maya spoke with Larson about his work and experience tracking, tagging, and researching bears. Larson answers viewer questions about each bear’s unique characteristics, their hunting styles, and about being a wildlife biologist. However, Larson knows about more predators than just bears. Larson’s Tooth and Claw podcast hopes to bring attention to some of the wildest and most fearsome animals in order to teach humans to give them the amount of respect they deserve. $1543.22 for the Tooth and Claw Podcast, a podcast focused on preventing wildlife attacks by sharing gruesome stories and prevention strategies.

During this episode of the Conservation Cast, Maya spoke with Michael about founding a non-profit and his path to becoming a pilot. Michael shares how lucky he feels to be able to do something this fulfilling and impactful. He also encourages others to try flying to feel the freedom it gives. Michael hopes that he and his organization can continue to bring awareness to the hundreds of thousands of animals that could be saved from euthanization if they were given more opportunities for adoption. Maya’s community raised $2562.69 for Pilots to the Rescue, a non-profit organization focused on giving abandoned, shelter, and endangered animals a greater chance of living.

During this episode of the Conservation Cast, Maya spoke with Downey about her role and mission at the Wolf Conservation Center. Downey explains how WCC hopes to help wolf conservation by educating people, providing wolves with tools to survive, and rearing wolves. An important topic brought up by Downey is the devastating impact habitat loss has on many of the endangered animals today, including wolves. Downey hopes that by raising awareness, wolves can have a fighting chance of coming back. Maya’s community raised $2418.75 for Wolf Conservation Center (WCC), a non-profit focused on education, protection, and rearing of wolves

During this episode of the Conservation Cast, Maya spoke with aquatic ecologist and assistant professor Dr. Solomon David, about his favorite fish, the gar. Dr. David shows off all of the interesting and unique attributes of gar in hopes of sparking the same joy he feels for gar in others. He even gives a live demo of gar feeding! Another important topic brought up is the story of how Dr. David got into conservation. He showcases the importance of conservationists sharing their passion with the younger generation to improve our future. Maya’s community raised $1059.82 for Ranger Rick Magazine, a nature magazine being published since 1967. The magazine hopes to introduce kids to the beauty of nature and inspire young conservationists.

During this episode of the Conservation Cast, Maya spoke with Dr. Hennen about the underappreciated work and beauty of millipedes. Throughout the podcast, Maya showed photo after photo of millipedes taken by Dr. Hennen himself. Both Maya and her viewers were surprised at how interesting and nice-looking millipedes are up close. Dr. Hennen expressed an infectious passion for his favorite arthropod which helped everybody fall in love with them. By showing their ecological importance and beauty, Dr. Hennen hopes to inspire his readers to protect millipedes. Maya’s community raised $2268.40 for The Nature Conservancy, a worldwide environmental organization impacting 72 countries and protecting over 125,000 million acres of land.