Beprovided Conservation Radio

When my guest today was a young boy, his grandmother would share stories about the many penguins on the beaches near where he was living. These stories stayed with Pablo (Popi) Garcia Borboroglu into adulthood and have inspired him to share the stories of penguins, not only with his children but with the world. Popi founded the Global Penguin Society (GPS) just over 10 years ago in Argentina. GPS is now internationally recognized as one of the leading organizations dedicated to the conservation of the worlds penguin species, the coasts and the oceans they inhabit. Below is a condensed audio version of a live FaceBook interview I did with Popi in July 2020. I have included some of the pictures we mention that I showed to the audience at the time of the show. If you prefer watching video, you can find the live video feed of the show at: https://www.facebook.com/BeProvided/videos/616550252395575 You can see photos at : www.beprovided.com If you like what you hear and learn from this conversation, please reach ou

Marcia Sivek of BeProvided Conservation Radio speaks with Lisa Owens Viani, Co Founder of Raptors Are The Solution.  They discuss the signing of bill AB1788 by Governor Gavin Newsom on September 29, 2020 and what that will do to help our wildlife. Lisa also gives advice of what we can do next now that this bill is signed. 

I was honored to host this episode of BeProvided Conservation Radio because of my two special guests: Shavaun Mara Kidd and Jak Wonderly. We talked about their book that is coming out very soon (Octoberl) called Searching for the Snow Leopard: Guardian of the High Mountain. Full show notes along with the Facebook Live video version of the show and photographs can be seen at www.beprovided.com. 

In early Spring 2019, Bigs Eyes and Laimos wandered into new territory around the Palo Alto Baylands Nature Preserve in Palo Alto, California from Shoreline, near Mountain View. They are a young couple hoping to find more of their kind in this new area and raise a family. I don’t know for sure, but I don’t think they expected to be alone. They did not know that 25 of their kind died off in 2016 due to overpopulation, disease and drought, a perfect storm for wildlife, leaving no other gray fox in the Baylands area. Now, it is up to Big Eyes and her mate, Laimos, to bring new gray fox into this area. As they do so, the “Fox Guy.” also known as Bill Leikam, is working hard to make sure the perfect storm of 2016 doesn’t happen again on his watch.  Since 2009, Bill has been going to gray fox territory in the Baylands twice a day, every day. The only time he has taken off is when he is on vacation in Montana. When he is near them, he talks to them and they listen. Many would come out to see him when he called thei

I am honored to have Dr. Liz Tyson as our guest today. Liz is an animal advocate with over 16 years of experience working for animal protection and conservation. Since 2018 she has been with Born Free USA and is currently the Program Director; here she is responsible for running the largest primate sanctuary. She is also leading the organization's campaign program to help stop illegal pet trade and roadside zoo operations. Liz has worked as a freelance consultant for the organization’s linked charity, Born Free Foundation in her native United Kingdom for some years prior to taking up her current role. She has been all over the world — UK, Ireland, Colombia, Spain, Middle East, Bolivia, Ethiopia, and Peru —advocating for animals. Some of her work includes running sterilization programs for street dogs in the Middle East, and working with indigenous communities in the Colombian Amazon to bring the end to hunting of wild primates. In this episode, Liz shares the stories of the monkeys that come into the care of

Sloth is one of the seven deadly sins; meaning laziness and failure to act on ones talents. So why did the animal sloth get this name? They may be slow, but they are not lazy. They are efficient in conserving energy and they certainly utilize their talent by being able to hang in a tree and hide from potential threats and pesky tourists!   I sought out The Sloth Conservation Foundation Founder, Rebecca Cliffe and Development Director, Tess Robitschko, to share the story of the sloth and clear up this myth that sloth are lazy! We did a live FaceBook event and had a great audience turnout. However, we had some audio and video trouble but we got many questions answered. I merged our show into audio and it is available below. I was unable to show the beautiful photographs by Suzi Eszterhas that are shown below. Suzi is a board member of the Sloth Conservation Foundation and co-authored a book with Rebecca Cliffe in which these photographs and more can be found. Here is a link to their website and to the book

Joshua Hammer, the author of our topic today, The Falcon Thief, has traveled the globe as a foreign journalist for Newsweek and is now a freelance writer living in Berlin. He is the New York Times bestselling author of The Bad Ass Librarians of Timbuktu . He has also written for many publications that include the New York Times, Smithsonian, Outside, GQ and the New Yorker to name just a few!! The Falcon Thief uncovers the world of oology- egg collecting. He introduces us to an obsessed wild bird egg thief and smuggler, Jeffery Lendrum. The adventures of this thief are balanced with The Wildlife Crime Unit's detective, Andy McWilliams who is determined to stop Lendrum's egg thief activities. I thought this a gripping adventure of these two men. It exposed me to a world I did not know existed and feel the world should know about this. Peregrine's and birds in general are facing great threats already at the hands of humans, they don't need the challenge of egg thieves stealing their eggs for collections that si

Boto's are Amazon River Dolphin, sometimes pink but always cute. They have a long rostrum with teeth that can munch through a turtle shell. They can reach up to 400+ pounds with strong flippers and tails but are graceful swimmers in the dark waters of the Amazon.     I spoke with Suzanne Smith, founder of the Amazon River Dolphin Conservation Foundation during a Facebook live presentation about the boto. This is the audio version of our live show. Enjoy!

Hi, everyone. Welcome back to BeProvided Conservation Radio. Today is a special edition of a live Facebook event and you can find the full video version on my Facebook or you can also find. A recorded version on YouTube. This is an abbreviated audio version of that interview with highlights about P-22 and the current vote on the California Endangered Species Act for Southern CA mountain lions.   This interview was with Beth Pratt, California regional Executive Director for the National Wildlife Federation, and co-creator of Save LA Cougars, which is a campaign to build one of the largest crossings over highway 101, one of the busiest highways in LA.   Beth is also the author of, When Mountain Lions are Neighbors: People and Wildlife Working it out in California. In this book, she shares hopeful stories from people coexisting with wildlife throughout California. Such as coyotes living in San Francisco, Grey Fox raising a family on the campus of Facebook, raptors in cities, backyard wildlife and much mu

  My guest today is award winning journalist with master's degrees in both journalism and biology. Peter Christie, we are going to be talking about his new book, Unnatural Companions, Rethinking Our Love of Pets in an Age of Wildlife Extinction, we will discuss the pets versus conservation dilemma, such as domestic animals, preying on backyard wildlife, invasive species being released into the wild and how the food we feed our pets is impacting the environment. Are we loving nature literally to death through our pets we bring into our home. Don't worry, this isn't all doom and gloom. We're going to be discussing small changes we can make with, that can make a difference. And, Peter doesn't think that pets are really the problem, but we do need to change how we love and care for them by becoming more educated on how our pet choices affect the wildlife we are trying to protect.    

Lori Marino is a neuroscientist and expert in animal behavior and intelligence. She coauthored a ground breaking study that showed that bottlenose dolphins can recognize themselves in the mirror. This altered Lori's career path, she stopped working with captive animals after this, it was too difficult to know about their intelligence an see them confined to small concrete enclosures. Lori moved on to become Director and Founder of the Kimmela Center for Animal Advocacy. She also appears on the documentary Blackfish and its's sequel Long Gone Wild. Both about killer whales and captivity. Her current project, The Whale Sanctuary Project begins where Long Gone Wild left off. The Whale Sanctuary is the first of its kind. It will be located off the coast of Nova Scotia and offer previously captive whales and dolphins a natural place, with no concrete walls, to live out the rest of their lives. It is an amazing project and a major undertaking. Listen to this week's episode to hear more about this project. 

Good day everyone this is Marcia Sivek the host of BeProvided Conservation Radio. I hope this finds everyone and their loved ones safe in these crazy times. I have been fortunate enough to be healthy and have a healthy family. I know there is a lot of news about COVID 19. There is a lot of anger toward China and the live wet markets. There is a lot of crazy finger pointing, blaming and bad planning tactics from government and others we should trust in such crazy times. But with all this I do see the majority of us coming together globally, a positive light in the chaos. My guest today is Dr. Hayley Adams. She is veterinarian who has a PhD in epidemiology and virology. She has many years of experience working with One Health in Africa, wildlife and domestic animals. She is also an author of the book Conscious Conservation which is a worthwhile read during these times and any time. She is certified in meditation and compassion fatigue therapy. On top of all of this she is a mother, who is currently home schooli

This week's show is a little different, in that I am interviewing the co-founder of an investment management firm called Karner Blue Capital. I have never thought of interviewing an investment company co-founder until I saw their recent press release titled: Socially responsible investment leader urges a collective reassessment of our relationship with animals to fight global outbreaks of infectious disease. I became curious how investing can make a difference.   On this show we talk about many ways you and I can make contributions to help protect our natural world in terms of volunteering, education, artwork and donations. But do we look closely at the companies we invest in, through say our 401 K s etc in order to make an impact? To be honest, I have not looked at every company in my plan to see how they treat people or animals. Well, we are all about to learn how investing can make an impact. We have been told we can vote with our forks, now we can vote with how we invest to let companies know we care

Hello everyone. Marcia Sivek here with BeProvided Conservation Radio. We are doing a re-broadcast today of one of my favorite interviews with John Muir Laws. I interviewed Jack at his home a couple of years ago, and I'm happy to say that he has won the Bay Nature Local Hero Award for Environmental Education for 2020. This is well deserved as he has inspired me and my love of nature and nature drawing, so please listen and so he can inspire you as well. Maybe inspire you to start a nature journal or get outside during this crazy coronavirus time. Journaling is easy, meditative, and definitely easy to do while you are social distancing yourself from others and getting back into nature. So enjoy the show and congratulations Jack, and I'm really happy that you have won this Local Hero Award, it is well deserved.

Our most recent podcast is with Ayana Young, founder and host of the popular podcast, For The Wild. Ayana is a lover and protector of wild nature. She teaches us about empowered earth stewardship and leads biodiversity enhancement workshops. Ayana will discuss her experience with falling in love with old growth forests and the creation of her film, When Old Growth Ends. Please check it out here...https://forthewild.world/when-old-growth-ends. (In this episode we discuss the threat of the Tongass National Forest. Last year the forest Service announced that the preferred action of the service at this time is a full exemption of the designated Roadless Rule. Which means the Tongass would lose protections against clear cutting by roadbuilding being allowed through this old growth forest. But GOOD NEWS...Earlier this month and after we created this podcast episode, the Federal Court ruled against the massive old growth rainforest logging plan in Alaska! Read about it here....https://www.audubon.org. ~there is

Getting to Know the Noble Persons of the Rainforest "The beauty of this whole process is becoming more altruistic...find love in your and have an attitude of giving...There is no sacrifice in that sense." ~Leif Cocks Hello everyone welcome back to our new season of BeProvided Conservation Radio. Today we are sharing the story of the great apes that share 97% of human DNA, the orangutans. Leif Cocks, founder of The Orangutan Project, global orangutan expert and Orangutan Whisperer regards these great apes as the most noble people on our planet. Leif has just received one of Australia’s highest honors, the Medal of the Order of Australia for services in conservation and today he will be the one telling the story of his friends living in the rainforest. He will also share his story on how, even after 30 years, he continues to work tirelessly to improve the welfare of orangutans in captivity and ensure their survival in the wild. For more information on how to help save the orangutans and their rainforests, vis

Hello everyone I am happy to be back with another show about the Land of the Snow Leopard Network. I interviewed Darla Hillard of the Snow Leopard Conservancy and Maria Azhunova, the newly elected leader of the Land of the Snow Leopard Network. Last year I interviewed the founder of the Snow Leopard Conservancy, Dr. Rodney Jackson where he explained what is happening in conservation of these cats. Today’s topic is more about the people coming together to not only protect these cats but protect their traditions. The Land of the Snow Leopard Network spans across 12 countries in Asia: China (where at least half of all wild snow leopards are believed to exist), Bhutan, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Russia, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Mongolia. As you can imagine this area is diverse in tradition, culture and political views. The Land of the Snow Leopard Network shares the voices of local stewards working in the same areas where snow leopards reside. In these indigenous communit

Hello everyone welcome back to BeProvided Conservation Radio, this is your host, Marcia Sivek. In today’s episode I speak via telephone with Lisa Owens Viani, cofounder of Raptors are the Solution or in short RATS. We discuss the topic of rodenticides or rat poison that seems to me, to be the DDT of our times and it is very important to learn more about this topic because our wildlife is being greatly affected, such as raptors (owls, hawks, eagles) and animals such as bobcats, mountain lions and even our own beloved pet cats and dogs. Research has even shown that rodenticides are finding their way into slugs, snakes and even sea otters.   This is a heavy subject because it seems like such a big feat to take on but Lisa has done so and started a movement. This is what keeps her going.   Also in todays episode we will discuss an important assembly bill AB 1788 created by assemblyman Richard Bloom from Santa Monica. Just after this episode was completed, Lisa contacted me that there will be a sign-on letter and

So you want a pet cheetah?   When you see a baby cheetah your heart melts. They have dark golden eyes that are curious with goofy spikey mohawk hair that is meant to mimic honey badgers in the wild. Not to mention, the hundreds of tiny little spots from the top of the head to the tip of their long tail. Their faces have that distinctive black tear line and when they look at you, you can see an intelligence, grace and thoughtfulness.    When I ask my fellow feline lovers if they could have an exotic cat as a pet, what would it be?The answer is almost always a pet cheetah. It is something I have even said too, but would never ever do or support anyone who does. There is something magical and mystical about them. BUT, these beautiful creatures belong in the wild. They do not belong on the passenger seat of a wealthy persons sports car with a collar and leash or in a high rise apartment.   Having a cheetah as a pet isn’t new, but it presently getting out of control. I spoke briefly with Dr. Laurie Marker when she

Allyson Jayne Miller is the Founding Director of Oregon Action Team (ORECAT), a nonprofit foundation dedicated to protect Oregon’s cougar from being hunted down and poached and educating communities how to coexist with cougar and other predators without fear Here is a message from Allyson on her website: “There is nothing in our Universe that indicates that humans are the only species for which to be blessed with the ability to reason, think, and feel; indeed, there is growing evidence that is quite the contrary. Everyone, it seems, claims to love a particular animal or ecosystem. But I say, rather than fall in love, fall into an epiphany that changes your insights or perspectives as to the reality of the simple and often seemingly mystical elements of ecosystems and the animals and plants that sustain them. Because when you fall into an epiphany, you will never view the ecologies and animals as a commonplace occurrence or experience again. You will love them as if your life depended upon it. “Allyson Miller