Pacelle Discusses Leadership, Legislation--And Vick

We were pleased to host Wayne Pacelle, the President and CEO of The Humane Society of The United States--the country's largest animal protection organization--on the Sept. 9 edition of "Talking Animals," at roughly the five-year mark of his being top dog of HSUS.

With upwards of 11 million members, the HSUS is a elephantine, sprawling entity, and therefore an interview with Pacelle about his organization runs the risk of being quite sprawling, too.

So I partly tried to frame the conversation around the notion of leadership.

Which means we touched on topics ranging from what he views as the three most important hallmarks of his tenure as CEO, to his decision to have HSUS team with Michael Vick for educational efforts on dogfighting--and how that decision (and reaction to it) speaks to the intricacies and challenges of leadership at that level--to the increasing premium he has placed on cultivating and passing legislation as a more profoundly effective way to alter the animal welfare landscape, and more.

It felt like a good, substantive, lively conversation, and the calls and e-mails I've received afterward underscore that impression--including one listener who called the studio mere seconds after we'd finished the broadcast, wondering where she could hear the Pacelle interview again.

Uh, right here.

Ric O' Barry Elaborates On His Tale Of Redemption--And Dolphins

In "The Cove," the award-winning, revolutionary documentary about--among other things--the annual dolphin slaughter that takes place in the cove of a small Japanese town called Taiji--Ric O' Barry looks deeply weary, but is also a riveting, heroic presence, emerging as the nominal star of film.

As soon as I saw "The Cove," I knew I wanted to interview O' Barry on "Talking Animals."

For one thing, I'm fascinated by people who undergo a wholesale transformation, and O' Barry's arc extended from dolphin trainer in the 1960s--most notably, training the five dolphins who portrayed the titular star of "Flipper"--to shortly after that experience, becoming, arguably, dolphins' chief protector/rescuer/advocate.

This has meant everything from trying to generate attention toward the tightly-guarded carnage that takes place at Taiji, to emerging as a staunch opponent of any form of dolphin captivity.

Interestingly, going through proper channels to seek the interview with O'Barry, I got jerked around in myriad, puzzling ways--I can only conclude, counter-intuitively, that the studio and others affiliated with "The Cove" do not want to encourage O'Barry-centered publicity.

Maybe their mandate is to place director Louie Psihoyos at the center of such efforts. At any rate, with a clock ticking ever more loudly before I knew O'Barry was flying back to Japan, I finally recognized that the folks ostensibly helping me coordinate the interview couldn't/weren't going to get it done, I started trying to track O'Barry down on my own.

I did so Friday Aug. 28, as he was racing around handling final preparations to depart first thing the next morning for Japan, and we recorded this interview, which aired on the Sept. 2 edition of "Talking Animals."

We touched on everything from his surprise that he ended up being the focus of "The Cove," to what triggered his transformation (Cathy, the main dolphin portraying "Flipper," was so despondent in captivity after the series concluded that she committed suicide in his arms), to his ensuing efforts on behalf of dolphins and attendant tale of redemption.

Which led to some intriguing comments on the prospect of Michael Vick experiencing his own tale of redemption.

Even with the audio challenges (in recording this interview, there were some ghosts in the machine), it was a powerful conversation, laced with O'Barry-derived insights and surprises.

And then we said goodbye, so he could resume preparations for his return to Japan. Clearly, as this L.A. Times piece made clear, when he arrived in Taiji, he hit the ground running.

Indeed, he's got dolphins to save.

Vick Story Has A Weird Wrinkle That Hits Close To Home

When it comes to the ongoing Michael Vick story, recently turbo-charged in the media world (most notable, Sunday's interview on "60 Minutes") and blogosphere by the double-barrel news that he was released from prison and signed by the Philadelphia Eagles, I think it's safe to say there's been no shortage of opinions--many quite emotionally charged--being expressed...well, damn near everywhere.

For the record, my own view is closely aligned with that of Humane Society Of The US honcho Wayne Pacelle, who obviously feels that this particular leopard not only can change his spots, and did, but having done so is in a uniquely potent position to influence and guide young Vick types away from the dogfighting subculture--and Alec Baldwin, whose Vick-deserves-a-second chance piece on Huffington Post was, I thought, spot-on.

But as has been made abundantly clear since the first bit of Vick news broke--and was underscored on last night's edition of "Larry King Live," which did a nice job of capturing some of the chief facets of the current Vick brouhaha, featuring a key exec from PETA, a key exec from HSUS, a Philadelphia Inquirer sportswriter and James Brown, who conducted the "60 Minutes" interview--animal welfare groups, including the most notable ones, are sharply divided on the matter.

We've already outlined the Pacelle/HSUS position, whereas the PETA stance is squarely opposed to Vick--and vehemently opposed to Vicks' new Eagles contract. Part of PETA's campaign to make this displeasure known, loud and clear, is to urge PETA supporters to boycott Eagles sponsors, and otherwise communicate just how unhappy they are with the Eagles, and anyone affiliated with the Eagles.

Here's where the plot thickens (or sickens): One of those sponsors is an organization called The Strauss Foundation. Now, I don't know what this Strauss Foundation does, but I will tell you I'm part of something called The Strauss Foundation--full name: The Donald A. Strauss Public Service Scholarship Foundation--which, as the longer name suggests, provides public service scholarships.

Our Strauss Foundation is based in Newport Beach, CA, was founded more than a dozen years ago by Mom, the late Dorothy Strauss (to pay tribute to my Dad after he died, the titular Donald, and cultivate interest in public service) and provides those scholarships to juniors at more than 15 California colleges and universities, including Stanford and all the UCs.

My Mom's vision for the foundation has proved to be pretty remarkable. We're now mentioned by administrators at prominent schools in the same breath as big, venerable, national scholarships like the Rhodes. Our alumni include a slew of impressive young adults (among them, multiple Rhodes Scholars)--one is a member of the Obama Administration, working in the West Wing.

So the administrator of that Strauss Foundation--my Strauss Foundation, as it were--rolls into the office Monday, fires up the computer, and there's a zillion e-mails, virtually all with the subject heading "sponsorship"...all quite peeved about our support of the Eagles.

But, of course, we don't sponsor or support the Eagles. We aren't that Strauss Foundation. Weird.