shepherdscottj

Julianna Acuña on a childhood dolphin encounter, building a marine science career from the Arizona desert, and what it actually takes to change how people treat wildlife Right after I graduated college, I went for a swim at Crystal Cove State Beach in Orange County. Past the break, a pod of dolphins came close enough that I could see them underwater when I opened my eyes. Close enough to hear them talking to each other. I still think about that swim more than almost anything else from that...

When I was a kid, the adult I most wanted to grow up to be wasn't a doctor or an astronaut. He was my outdoor educator — a guy who'd been a dog-sledding instructor in Canada, sailed around the world, led kayaking trips across Southeast Asia. I didn't want his job. I wanted his lifestyle. Aaron Haiman holding his binoculars looking into the trees for birds Aaron Haiman had a version of that same moment, just with birds instead of boats. He was maybe six years old, wandering the East Bay Hills...

A rescued vulture, a childhood spent hiding half his identity, and thirty years at San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance — on what it actually takes to earn trust from the animals, and people, who don't meet you halfway. Clarence didn't like most people. A Cinereous Vulture perched on a stump He was a Cinereous Vulture — the largest vulture species in Europe and Asia — and when Marco Wendt met him, Marco was sixteen, working his first summer job at what was then called the Wild Animal Park outside...