Podcasts about Running Bear

Send us a textWelcome to Guess the Year! This is an interactive, competitive podcast series where you will be able to play along and compete against your fellow listeners. Here is how the scoring works:10 points: Get the year dead on!7 points: 1-2 years off4 points: 3-5 years off1 point: 6-10 years offGuesses can be emailed to drandrewmay@gmail.com or texted using the link at the top of the show notes (please leave your name).I will read your scores out before the next episode, along with the scores of your fellow listeners! Please email your guesses to Andrew no later than 12pm EST on the day the next episode posts if you want them read out on the episode (e.g., if an episode releases on Monday, then I need your guesses by 12pm EST on Wednesday; if an episode releases on Friday, then I need your guesses by 12 pm EST on Monday). Note: If you don't get your scores in on time, they will still be added to the overall scores I am keeping. So they will count for the final scores - in other words, you can catch up if you get behind, you just won't have your scores read out on the released episode. All I need is your guesses (e.g., Song 1 - 19xx, Song 2 - 20xx, Song 3 - 19xx, etc.). Please be honest with your guesses! Best of luck!!The answers to today's ten songs can be found below. If you are playing along, don't scroll down until you have made your guesses. .....Have you made your guesses yet? If so, you can scroll down and look at the answers......Okay, answers coming. Don't peek if you haven't made your guesses yet!.....Intro song: A Whiter Shade of Pale by Procol Harum (1967)Song 1: Angel by Shaggy (2000)Song 2: Angel of Mine by Monica (1998)Song 3: Conquistador by Procol Harum (1967)Song 4: Forever by The Little Dippers (1960)Song 5: Babe by Styx (1979)Song 6: Pedestrian at Best by Courtney Barnett (2015)Song 7: Running Bear by Johnny Preston (1960)Song 8: Joy to the World by Three Dog Night (1970)Song 9: Take This Hammer by Lead Belly (1942)Song 10: Hunting High and Low by a-ha (1985)

Hear comedian Jim Gossett on Rob Carson's National Talk Show 12-3 on WMLB 1690 AM in ATL

Dave, Cal, Sean and Gav talk to two Cheshire Dragons. The race director for Run Cheshire who has PBs of 5k - 16:53 10k - 35:33 half - 77:47 Mar - 2:53:51. And The Co-founder of Cheshire Dragons, who is a UKA Licensed endurance coach with PBs of 5k - 18:41 10k - 39:10 half - 1:26:29 Mar 3:18:23 along with some ultras. Mike and Helen Harrington talk about how it Cheshire Dragons came about along with how their running journey started. Mike talks about his events company Run Cheshire and how some of his races have caught the headlines year in year out (for good reasons). Helen talks about getting her runs in when she works on US time as well as her drive for ultras. They both explain about how they manage their running with 3 daughters busy schedules and how they prepare to race, but do they always actually race after their warm up. The team give an update on training after marathons and 3 year breaks. Dave talks about his mass of races in the last few weeks, Sean says about his ankle giving his some jip, Cal is back in training with some goal races and Gav IS BACK with a big race booked, but what race? This episode is in collaboration with BrrHeato. Their competitors have been born from surfing and their products have been adopted by the running market. brrHeato was created with athletes in mind and have the functionality to match. Their robes are completely waterproof, machine washable and perfect for throwing on after a hard session, without costing an arm and a leg. Additionally, they offer personalisation to robes with logos, names and even times able to be printed on to your robe - perfect for a running club. Based in Cheshire and stocked in Running Bear, Sports Feet and PAU, with hopefully more to follow. BrrHeato robes (in a nutshell) are made for athletes, by athletes with a dollop of personality and dont cost the earth. Use code 'LRP' to get 10% off.

Katie and the female Ambassadors met with Ali Lavender, Alice Willson, Katie Syrett, and Sophie Mellor to talk all things women and running. Ali talks about running while pregnant, Katie talks about her advice on helping females of all ages focusing specifically on pelvic health, Sophie explains the struggles post birth with breast feeding and running, and Alice talks about how having children has given her purpose to show them how strong and powerful mummy can be. This episode is in collaboration with Running Bear. Running Bear is an independent running specialist, with a passion to make a difference through the joys of running. Everybody is welcome in their shops, no matter what level of fitness they have. With stores in Alderley Edge and Nantwich, Running Bear creates running communities that bring both fun and knowledge into running

PJ Interview with Izzy Cundy, and Diane Mason. all about three local Mum's Izzy, Emma and Diane are running this year's London Marathon on a treadmill fundraising and in support of Children with Cancer UK All Starts at Running Bear 12, Oat Market, Nantwich, CW5 5AL. at 10am Friday February 23rd and finishes. 10am Saturday 24th February. Please Feel Free to Go Along and Support the Girl's with Their massive Challenge. Plus, if You Would Like to Donate, Please Follow the Link Below. If you want to support them and make a donation, you can do so via JustGiving - justgiving.com/page/izzy-emma-diane

Trainer Jan Bowen joins Luke to discuss the prospects of her three runners at Muswellbrook today including Running Bear in the Denman Cup.

From 2008. The publisher Running Bear created these "Museum In a Book" Packages that not only were written histories but alos came with reproductions of fun artifacts the further illustrated the subjects. Marty discusses his DC history findings.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/3143082/advertisement

La Vernia's Running Bear medal winners from the Floresville Invitational Aug. 20 are (l-r, back) Joren Burkhalter, Corbin Barnette, Alex Placencia, Logan Kirkwood; (middle) Kenedy Brown, Isabella Hinojosa, Izzy Burkhalter, Zoe Breitsprecher, Sarah Thompson, Aurora Castillo, Jack Rappmund; (front) and Maddie Land. The La Vernia High School and Junior High School cross-country teams competed in Floresville. Support the Bears in La Vernia as they host a meet Saturday, Aug. 27 at the La Vernia High School and La Vernia City Park at 8 a.m.Article Link

Little White Dove Bobcat Crossed Rainbow Bridge   Despite having her leg in a cast, Dr. Wynn took her lunch break to come ease Little White Dove to the other side.  A couple weeks ago, when Little White Dove stopped eating we did diagnostics that found her 20 year old kidneys to be failing, but she had some bad molars that could have stopped her from eating too.  We opted to remove those and see if that was enough to get her going again.   It wasn't. Painstakingly, her keepers begged her to eat and offered every variety of food from chopped to pureed to encourage her to eat, but she peaked at 6 oz in a day and declined from there.  For a cat who can eat a couple of pounds a day, this was not enough.   Keepers kept reporting how “sad” Running Bear was and every time I went by he seemed to be as close to his long time mate as he could be.  He knew she was leaving and he seemed to want every last moment to count.  I know he's going to miss her now, but letting her go peacefully today was the kindest thing we could do.   Little White Dove had been born to Little Feather and The Great Pretender on 5/19/97 back before we learned that none of these cats could ever go free or ever serve any sort of conservation purpose.  Running Bear was born June 2, 1997 to Shiloh and Precious and because they were kittens at the same time, Running Bear and Little White Dove grew up together and stayed together all these 20 long years.   This came up today because while Kathryn, Dr. Wynn and I were crying over Little White Dove's lifeless form, Kathryn asked if she had been bottle raised or momma raised.  Little White Dove was probably the most fierce cat on the property…if you were to believe the little fluff ball, so that's probably why Kathryn asked.   Little Feather had allowed us to co-raise her kittens.  Little Feather did all the hard work, and we handled them every day.  In our ignorance we thought it was the best of both worlds, but any exotic cat who is actually raised by their own mom, no matter how “tame” or “sweet” their mom is to people, the wild cat moms instills in the cubs that they should never trust people.   This is a big part of why it's so sad to see wild cats who were used as pay to play or photo props, because we know that they were torn from their moms early and never allowed to go back to her for the love and care that only their own mother can give.   Hi, I'm Carole Baskin and I've been writing my story since I was able to write, but when the media goes to share it, they only choose the parts that fit their idea of what will generate views.  These are my views and opinions. If I'm going to share my story, it should be the whole story.  The titles are the dates things happened. If you have any interest in who I really am please start at the beginning of this playlist: http://savethecats.org/   I know there will be people who take things out of context and try to use them to validate their own misconception, but you have access to the whole story.  My hope is that others will recognize themselves in my words and have the strength to do what is right for themselves and our shared planet.     You can help feed the cats at no cost to you using Amazon Smile! Visit BigCatRescue.org/Amazon-smile   You can see photos, videos and more, updated daily at BigCatRescue.org   Check out our main channel at YouTube.com/BigCatRescue   Music (if any) from Epidemic Sound (http://www.epidemicsound.com) This video is for entertainment purposes only and is my opinion.  Closing graphic with permission from https://youtu.be/F_AtgWMfwrk  

Abby Abinanti is chief judge of the Yurok Tribal Court and a member of the tribe. While previously working in the California court system, she was discouraged and angered by the number of cases in which Indigenous families were separated or tribal members were removed from their communities because of nontribal foster care placements or incarceration. The Prison Policy Initiative, a research and advocacy organization, found that Native people are overrepresented in jails in the United States.Abinanti said the Yurok Tribal Court is helping to address these disparities. The court is one of roughly 400 operated by federally recognized tribes in the United States. These courts reflect the values of their communities, and Abinanti said for the Yurok that means prioritizing restoration over punishment.“I don't think any human being is disposable,” she said. “Our system is designed to help you return to the community and be an asset in the community.” Episode 8 explores the intergenerational impact of historical traumas on the Yurok people and a local tribal court's work to meet community needs.Click here for a transcript of the episode.Voices from the Episode: Abby Abinanti –Chief judge, Yurok Tribal CourtUrsula Running Bear  – Assistant professor of public health at the University of North DakotaBlythe George – Assistant professor of sociology at University of California-MercedSeason 4 of “American Diagnosis” is a co-production of KHN and Just Human Productions.Our Editorial Advisory Board includes Jourdan Bennett-Begaye, Alastair Bitsóí, and Bryan Pollard.To hear all KHN podcasts, click here.Listen and follow “American Diagnosis” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, or Stitcher.

Like a 'Bat out of Hell', this episode drives head on with a look at the 1976 classic by Meatloaf. With songs featuring animals, will Jim and Guy be able to get the better of this icon? Chat turns to Paul Simon, Milton's Paradise Lost, and Desmond (or is Marlon?) Tutu. With one of the duo not a fan of Meatloaf, who will ride along to the gates of hell and who will come crawling back?! Episode details: Bat out of Hell song discussion Booze Talk (08:05) Song 1: When Doves Cry (09:46) Song 2: Pigeons in Flight (14:06) Song 3: Running Bear (18:47) Song 4: Year of the Cat (25:20) Song 5: Dance Monkey (35:20) Near Misses (42:23)

Hey everyone.. I'm in a bit of a reflective mood about how I got to Flagstaff and how there was absolute divine intervention to get me out of Running Bear alive. Though I'm not dwelling on the past I am still processing the events that happened.. as always there is a life message here (I think)

Dawn Carisse went missing from the North Bay Psychiatric Hospital more than two decades ago. She vanished without a trace. Now a private investigator turned podcaster is finding new clues for her family.   You can see more about this episode here

I fill you guys in on my first week of being displaced in Flagstaff AZ. It's not as awful as it sounds considering I chose this over the Hell of Running Bear. Also a little bit about what had to be left behind and a few tears over Peanut and Christopher. Ultimately I'm gonna be ok. The website IS BACK UP though it's brand new and nowhere near done but you can contact me there as well as the Dancing with Bipolar Instagram page. I hope to embed the show into the website soon. STAY ALIVE YOU MATTER!!!! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/dawn-sherine/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dawn-sherine/support

-- (00:01 - Hello, Running Bear & Kaw-Liga, Do Giraffes Hump in Public, To Crazy Horse or To Quanah, Sunset Spotlight) ---- (32:40 - Sunset Sports Spurt: Chief Ate Up With the Dumbass, Booty Radical) ---- (58:34 - COVID Corner: Lady Kiwi Has to Potty) ---- (1:10:08 - Scatter-shooting, What Makes a Gay by Ed Sheeran, Flatland Farmers, Contributor Thanks) --****sunsetdavinci.com****

Catera Bobcat Dies ”You don't have to worry about me anymore…now I'll be looking out for you," Catera purred softly. I sighed deeply, comforted by his words and yet slightly amused by his promise. His rumbling purr gave way to the sound of rain outside as I awakened more fully.   Yes, he was right; I wouldn't awake to the sound of a rain storm and wonder if he was safe and dry. No longer would I fret about him if I had to leave town for more than a day or two. My daily rounds at the sanctuary would no longer carry that heavy sense of dread as I approached his cage; wondering if he would have relapsed back again into some dreadful state of discomfort with processing his food. His life had been so hard from the very day he was born and yet he had such a zest for life and such a happy disposition that every time I thought I just couldn't stand to see him struggle through another setback, he would bounce back and take life by the horns again.   He died in his sleep, curled up in his den on August 10, 2010. Big Cat Rescuer, Sharon Dower may have been the last person to see him alive. It was around noon as she was cleaning in the area and she said, "I was talking with him just this afternoon, around 12:30. He chattered a bit, rolled over and showed me his belly, then yawned." A little while later, Hallelujah the cougar began wailing.   Everyone around the sanctuary knows what that means. Hal has a 6th sense for those who are dying and his wails sent chills down Marie Schoubert and Willow Hecht's backs. When they told Regina Rinaldi about it she exclaimed, "Uh-oh! Hal always gets vocal when a cat passes...he just knows." Some dear four footed friend was leaving the sanctuary and this world and it wasn't long before we discovered it was Catera. When Operations Manager, Gale Ingham called me into the Cat Hospital to tell me, I was stunned. Catera had been doing pretty well lately. I had just visited with him the night before and he was his happy, chirping, dancing self. After 13 years of worrying about his health every day, he was gone in an instant…probably his way of letting us all know that it was his decision and not the hand of fate.   His parents, Shiloh and Indian Summer had been a bonded pair for seven years before coming to live on Easy Street in late 1996. They had never reproduced, so we left them together and of course a litter of three resulted in just a few short months. Indian Summer, on the third day, began killing the kittens and by the time I could get to her, two were dead and she was biting the last one on the chest and abdomen. I snatched the bleeding kitten away from her and took it to medicate and bottle raise.   It wasn't long before the I discovered why Summer had brutally attacked her offspring. Catera (named for the Caddy that zigs) was obviously brain damaged and from the condition of all three kittens, it was apparent that they had not been nursing although the dam had stayed with them faithfully. He was skinny his whole life and that just accentuated his bug eyed face that seemed to be perpetually full of surprise and wonder.   It took hours to feed Catera and every time, it was as if it was the first time for him. It took him a year to get on to solid foods and again, every meal was like the first he ever had. If I were to walk out of the room and walk back in ten minutes later, he had forgotten who I was and only through the vocalizations we have shared over and over and over would he again recognize me. Once he made the mental connection, he would be exuberant and would dance around in circles, chirping, rolling and acting so cute that, no matter what, it would put a smile on my face and in my heart.   Every day was new and exciting to Catera and he is quite possibly the happiest cat who ever lived on Easy Street. Catera would run incessantly in circles and "bark" at everyone he couldn't remember, which was everyone. It wasn't until his "sister," President Jamie Veronica began doing operant conditioning with him many years later that Catera began to show much improvement in his ability to remember something from one day to the next.  I have a chipped front tooth from where Catera, when he was a yearling, excitedly raced up into my lap while I was drinking a cup of coffee at my desk and knocked the ceramic cup into my front teeth.  I never had it fixed and probably never will now as it is a reminder of his crazy antics.    In some ways his short term memory proved helpful. All of the cats just hate getting flea preventatives put on them and after Dr. Liz Wynn makes her rounds the cats all hate her for a few days, or weeks… but not Catera. Whether it be flea treatments, or shots, or being netted for surgery or exams, he would be as mad as a hornet for the moment, but if you walked away and came back 10 minutes later he had forgotten all about it and you got to start with a clean slate with him. What a great lesson he taught us about the beauty of forgiveness. It is even better for the forgiver than the forgiven.   People always ask me who my favorite cats are, but I don't have any favorites. Each one is so unique and has so much to teach us. Some who were especially needy or sickly, like Catera, may have occupied more of my time, than cats like Running Bear who is self sufficient and has never been ill a day in his life, but each one is so special in so many ways.   There was a whole group of people who made sure Catera got his meds twice a day; Becky Gagliardo, Jennifer Ruszczyk, Barbara Frank, Susan Mitchell, Jennifer Flatt and Gale Ingham, to name a few. Without their perseverance past his finicky ways, his life would have been much shorter and painful. He taught them the skills of finding new ways to hide a pill or to coax a cat to eat.   Rescuer Julie Hanan keeps up a memorial site for all of the cats who have passed here: https://sites.google.com/site/bigcattributes/home and our Volunteers can post their tributes to the cats there. I was sad to see that long time Admin Volunteers, like Merrill and Sherry, never got a chance to know Catera because he wasn't on the tour path. Our cats who are not people oriented are not on the tour path, and yet some of them have the greatest lessons to teach us about how to treat each other. I guess that makes it the responsibility of those of us who do know them to carry their message out to the rest of the world.   One of the most important things I have learned from these cats is that we are all one and we are all eternal. I find it interesting that the cats continue to revisit in both tangible ways, like Auroara in the leaves of the poplar tree, Hercules in his lion statue, Crystal in butterflies, Windsong in the dolphin that day on the beach and in the voices in our heads who whisper, "I am with you always."   It came as no surprise that shortly after Catera died I was stopped dead in my tracks by a dragonfly that kept flitting around my face until I stopped to listen. Once I turned off the endless mind chatter and stopped to pay attention to the dragonfly, it came up to hover directly in front of me for a long time. The big eyes locked with my own and I could hear Catera's happy little voice saying, "How's this for bug eyes? See; I can "focus." Ha Ha! Pretty funny, huh? I'm free now! Free as a bird! Free as a dragonfly! Lots to do…gotta go but I'll be "looking" out for you!" he circled around and around in his traditional little dance and then he was off to explore the world from a new perspective.   I've been writing my story since I was able to write, but when the media goes to share it, they only choose the parts that fit their idea of what will generate views.  If I'm going to share my story, it should be the whole story.  The titles are the dates things happened. If you have any interest in who I really am please start at the beginning of this playlist: http://savethecats.org/   I know there will be people who take things out of context and try to use them to validate their own misconception, but you have access to the whole story.  My hope is that others will recognize themselves in my words and have the strength to do what is right for themselves and our shared planet.     You can help feed the cats at no cost to you using Amazon Smile! Visit BigCatRescue.org/Amazon-smile   You can see photos, videos and more, updated daily at BigCatRescue.org   Check out our main channel at YouTube.com/BigCatRescue   Music (if any) from Epidemic Sound (http://www.epidemicsound.com) This video is for entertainment purposes only and is my opinion.

2008 Annual Report     A Year in Video by Jamie Veronicahttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xo4O2srCwX4 Big Cat Rescue is more than just a place that provides permanent care for big cats.  It is a movement;  a change in the tide of human perceptions and is the combined effort of more than 80,000 supporters.  If you are one of them, you are a Big Cat Rescuer and the following is the great work YOU did!  If you haven't helped yet, you can do so now at the top right of the screen or here:  http://bigcatrescue.org/donate.htm   Big Cat Rescue's Mission Statement:  To provide the best home we can for the animals in our care and to reduce the number of cats that suffer the fate of abuse, abandonment or extinction by teaching people about the plight of the cats, both in the wild and in captivity, and how they can help through their behavior and support of better laws to protect the cats.   Advances:  With your help we are winning in the battle for compassion!  Up until 2003 the number of requests for rescues we had to turn down due to lack of space or funds had roughly doubled each year, to 312 that year. We feared it would double again to over 500 in 2004. Instead, it has steadily declined since then. Read why, and about the offers we made this year and why their owners would not agree to our terms. http://bigcatrescue.org/000news/0articlesbybcr/2008AbandonedBigCats.htm   At least one big cat sanctuary has dropped “Feline” from their name as the new laws have caused such a dramatic decrease in the number of unwanted big cats that they are turning their attention to other animals. We are on the brink of no more abused and unwanted big cats.  This change only happened because of you, and I just can't thank you enough!   CFO, Howard Baskin was a finalist in the Tampa Bay Business Journal's CFO of the Year awards.   We became the first animal charity in the world to be qualified for and utilize Mobile Giving Foundation's Text 2 Give program.  Text tiger to 20222.  We discontinued the service in Dec. 2011 however as the carriers were constantly requiring us to change the text everywhere the call to action was posted and we often did not have access to places that reposted our videos.   Animal Care:  Rescued liger and 2 tigers.  What do we do when a baby Florida bobcat arrives that is still nursing? We find a domestic cat who is nursing kittens and hope she will “adopt” the baby bobcat.  Big Cat Rescue's version of Growing Up Bobcat takes you day by day through the challenges of rescuing a baby bobcat, hand rearing her and teaching her all she needs to know so that she can one day be set free.  Watch for Hope to be released in the spring of 2009.   Big Cat Rescue planned Chance the bobcat's escape for months. Last year a baby bobcat call came in as the third one in three weeks. He only had one eye and a lump on his belly the size of an orange. Big Cat Rescue was there to get him the medical attention he needed. Emergency surgery repaired the hernia in his abdominal wall. The swelling was the contents of his intestines and other internal organs that had spilled out of the muscled area and were rubbing away at the inner lining of his skin. The attending vet, Dr. Liz Wynn, believes that his hernia and missing eye were caused by some sort of trauma. The area where he was found is completely surrounded by development in West Tampa, but bobcats are often reported there and last year one was found as road kill. After months of recuperation and rehabilitation, Chance the yearling bobcat was released. Watch the movie and see his wild dash for freedom: http://bigcatrescue.org/video/00190.htm   As our population of exotic cats continue to age, we are dealing with more and more medical issues.  You may have seen some of these procedures on our You Tube site where we have dealt with abscesses, tumors and rotting teeth.  Our cats live about twice as long as cats would in the wild, so their parts begin to wear out, long before the cats are through with them.  Some of our 2008 surgeries have included draining a hemtoma on Windstar the Bobcat's ear, removing a cancerous growth from Trucha the tiger and treating a bite wound after her sister bit her.   Removing a non cancerous growth from her sister, Modnic the tiger, pulling what was left of Indian Summer's rotten teeth to stop the infection, treating a fracture to Cachanga Caracal's front paw and removing rotting teeth from King the tiger.  Shiloh went in to the vet for an evaluation of his rotten teeth and was found to be suffering from bone cancer.  He is the 19 year old cage mate of Indian Summer and was put to sleep to end his misery.   Most captive cats do not get the early nutrition they need for healthy bones and teeth because their owners pull them from their mothers to bottle raise them.  There is no substitute for their own mother's milk and their natural diet in the wild.  While we try to supplement their diets and feed them whole prey, it is always too little, too late.  These great cats were not designed for lives of captivity.  Our hope and your help will ensure a future where wild cats live in the wild and not in cages. Read tributes to our cats who have passed on at: https://sites.google.com/site/bigcattributes/home   Only 4% of our budget is spent on fundraising, so that is why it is so easy to see where your donations go.  The cats got lots of cage enlargements and improvements in 2008.   Our snow leopard cat-a-tat was built in 1997 and featured a freezer box that is air conditioned 24/7 where the snow leopards could choose to go when it got too hot.  11 years ago these enclosures were our most noteworthy and still offer more comfort than most, but due to their shape and location, there was no way to expand them as we have done with most of our other cats' cages. We have two snow leopards and three cage sections, but had no good way to shift the cats from one side to another.  After Shaq the black leopard passed away, It only took volunteers a couple of days to join Shaq's two sections to one section of the old snow leopard enclosure.  Volunteers then spent days painting the cages, landscaping and hauling in logs and lots of stuff for Chloe the snow leopard to enjoy.  Finally the big day came for her to gain access to her new area.  See her enjoying her new, enlarged space here:  http://bigcatrescue.org/video/00205.htm   It's like musical chairs but with big cats!  Windstar moved into the waterfall cage next to Aquarius the Fishing Cat.  Of all of our bobcats, Windstar loves pools the most, so while his cat-a-tat was getting some upgrades, he vacationed with a lake side view and a fish filled private pond.  Now that his enclousure has been remodeled he has returned to his home with its window view into the President's office.   Nyla leopard has been on the list to get an 8 x 12 concrete den, cleverly disguised as a fern covered hill, with a huge room addition since August of last year.  Her project kept getting pushed back due to the rescue of four tigers from a facility that was shut down by USDA in FL and 2 lions and 2 tigers who were rescued from Ohio.  Now Nyla has a hurricane shelter like all of the other cats and she is really loving it.   Snorkel was relocated up next to Auroara's old one acre enclosure next to Shere Khan and China Doll. He will be on the tour path now and rescuers are sure that he will enjoy his new digs. Snorkel is very social and loves to snort and chuff at keepers when they clean his Cat-a-tat or when they are feeding him.   When rescuers released Snorkel into his new pad, he excitedly toured the perimeter, checked out his swimming pond, jumped on top of his den to get a better view of his territory and then chowed down on some fresh grass growing in the enclosure. All the while Shere Khan followed Snorkel, watching his every move. Keepers dug out several large weeds that were growing in Snorkel's previous home and then loaded up Flavio into the tiger transport. What was old to Snorkel was brand new and fun for Flavio. He hopped right into transport and moved just one Cat-a-tat over. All the new smells will keep him busy for quite a while.   Moving all these tigers around does have a purpose. Now two empty tiger enclosures could be joined together to make a double tiger enclosure for Trucha and Modnic. The new enclosure gave them almost twice the room. At Big Cat Rescue there are a few empty enclosures that are set aside for projects such as these. This way as an enclosure needs to be maintained, repaired, replanted or whatever else, Keepers can relocate the resident feline to one of the empty Cat-a-tats. Because we rescued three more big cats this year, we only have one empty enclosure suitable for tigers and could really use a couple more spares for these moveabouts.   The operant conditioning program has become a crucial element in making these relocations go smoothly. Through the use of operant conditioning Keepers are able to get nearly any cat into transport or their feeding lockouts by simply rewarding the cats with their favorite treats. CleoCatra Bobcat has a new, duplex with elevated dens, lots of logs and thick green ferns and bushes.  When she moved out of her old, single sided enclosure, Vern was able to connect it to Cherokee Bobcat's single sided cage.  Now Cherokee has a big duplex, giving her twice as much space as she had before.  She already had lots of ferns and foliage, but now she has a lot more room to run.   We took down a lot of dead pine trees and have planted lush landscaping in cat-a-tats that were renovated to be a new home for Mac the Cougar, Bobcats Bobby Blue Rose and Indian Summer.  When Indian Summer moved, her enclosure was connected to Bobcats, Running Bear and Little White Dove's single cage.  That gave them a duplex and the best climbing tree in the sanctuary.  (Indian Summer is 19 and her climbing days have long since passed)  These younger cats (11 yrs) love to climb and now we frequently see them lounging high in their new tree house.   It took four years of raising funds and a year of permitting hassles but only 2 weeks to build the first phase of the 10 foot high concrete wall that will one day surround Big Cat Rescue.  See photos of this imposing barrier and find out who helped:  http://bigcatrescue.org/000news/0articlesbybcr/zoning.htm   The faithful followers of our site have probably noticed the new addition of pet related articles we have posted to benefit the lives of pets.  http://bigcatrescue.org/pets/000pets.htm   We launched a huge campaign to upgrade two of the largest and most expensive enclosures that housed Auroara, Shere Khan and China Doll the tigers.  See a slide show of the cage enhancements and the biggest of our cats having the biggest of times. http://bigcatrescue.org/000news/0articlesbybcr/TigerCages.htm   As Big Cat Rescue has become more successful in ending the trafficking of exotic and endangered wild cats we have drawn the wrath of the breeders and dealers. Our lives have been threatened and our vehicles vandalized. Twelve tires on our van, trucks and trailers were rigged to explode at high speeds over a 3 month period.  We mounted surveillance cameras around the property and on the rehab cages so we can monitor the bobcats without exposing them to humans. http://bigcatrescue.org/000news/0articlesbybcr/2008cameras.htm   Education:  On March 27th, 2008 Big Cat Rescue was honored to host almost 100 visitors from a very special audience. The American Animal Hospital Association was visiting Tampa for AAHA's 75th Anniversary Yearly Conference held this year in sunny Tampa, Florida.  This specialized group of attendees included veterinarians; practice managers; vet technicians, assistants and support staff; vet students, and family guests. Read more:  http://bigcatrescue.org/000news/0articlesbybcr/2008AAHA.htm   In April Big Cat Rescue was the featured story at Encyclopedia Britannica. Anita Wolff had contacted Jamie Veronica to ask for permission to use some of her photos and she suggested they contact Carole Baskin about some of the legislative work we are doing. Encyclopedia Britannica devotes an impressive section of their site as a source of information, a call for action, and a stimulus to thought regarding humanity's relationship with the animals with whom we share our planet. They support worldwide efforts to ensure humane treatment of animals, develop the understanding of their nature, promote their survival, and protect and restore the environment. We are honored to be a part of the great work they are doing to educate, inform and enlighten.  Read it here and see some of Jamie's photos they have put to use: http://advocacy.britannica.com/blog/advocacy/2008/04/big-cat-rescue/   Our Education Department had to raise their prices to cope with growing demand, but our financial return continues to escalate.  We offer about 220 outreach and field trips per year and have committed to offering 12 of them for free each year to lower income schools, but have already given 30 such free tours this year and expect that demand will continue to rise with the cost of transportation.  Even when we offer the tours for free, many schools cannot come because they cannot afford the $200.00 fee for their busses.  Our Education Department began writing grant proposals to raise the money needed for the buses.   Huge gaps in U.S. regulations for tigers held in captivity could make the big cats a target for illegal trade, wildlife trade monitoring group TRAFFIC and World Wildlife Fund found in the first-ever comprehensive report on captive tiger regulations across the United States. The report, “Paper Tigers?: The Role of the U.S. Captive Tiger Population in the Trade in Tiger Parts,” found there are no reliable regulatory mechanisms to keep track of captive tigers in the United States. Big Cat Rescue provided investigators with crucial data and enabled them to see how the lack of protective laws and enforcement are exploited by animal abusers in the real world. http://bigcatrescue.org/000news/0articlesbybcr/   Big Cat Rescue wants to end the need for big cat sanctuaries, but until that day comes we are involved daily in assisting other sanctuaries.  We help improve their ability to convey their message and assist with manpower, resources and guidance on issues such as fundraising, animal care, volunteer training and more.   On November 21st we began assisting the Parco Zoo Punta Verde in Lignano Sabbiadoro, Italy in a three-year study on Caracal caracal for the purpose of providing information on the species to expand the knowledge of the behavioral, social and pathological state of Caracal caracal in captivity and to create husbandry guidelines on species.  GoNomad.com posted letters from Big Cat Rescuers about animal interaction opportunities that exploit big cats as a way of educating tourists of the real issues involved in keeping big cats captive.   Modified our Children's DNA ID disks so that they can be used in MO as well as FL and distributed 140 via the Assemblies of God in Springfield.  Once a month all of our Big Cat Rescue Volunteers meet to share lunch, stories about the cats and to get the essential training they need to make Big Cat Rescue the haven it is for the cats. In April we had a guest speaker, Laurie Macdonald, Florida Program Director of Defenders of Wildlife, come and educate us about the issues facing the Florida Panther, bobcats, black bears and other native wildlife.  Our boots were lined up at the door as 70 or so of us sat on the floor, mesmerized by her slide show presentation that included some of our own cats as stand-ins for their wild cousins.   Love is the universal language and the one we speak best at Big Cat Rescue, but now our website, which is well over 5,500 pages of information, is available in Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.  Check out the google Translate box in the lower left hand side of every page of our site to translate the page into one of the supported languages.  The translations are far from perfect as this technology is still being developed, but we are happy to be able to reach so many more people around the globe.   Legislation/Education:  Thanks to all of you who wrote letters, attended town hall meetings and met with your lawmakers, the world is a little kinder place. Many of the worst breeders, dealers and tiger-tamer-wanabees were finally shut down.  Most of these collectors were fined or shut down by USDA or the state, or both in some cases:   • CA:  Hesperia Zoo AKA Cinema Safari Zoo owned by Stephanie Taunton was put on probation and fined $30,000 by USDA. • FL: Horseshoe Creek owned by Darryl Atkinson was shut down by USDA and FL. • FL:  Wild Things' land owned by Kathy Stearns went into foreclosure and bankruptcy. • FL:  Amazing Exotics appears to have been shut down.  It was notorious for allowing contact between large exotic cats and the public for a fee.  The head of their tiger-tamer-wanabee program was Ron Holiday (real name Ron Guay) who gained fame in the HBO movie Cat Dancers and the book by the same name.  His career in dancing with big cats ended when a white tiger he had raised from a cub killed his wife and his lover within a few days of each other in 1998. • IN:  Great Cats of Indiana, formerly known as Cougar Valley Farms, Inc., owned by Robert B. Craig and Laura Proper came under investigation by USDA. • IN:  Ervin's Jungle Wonders owned by Ervin Hall was shut down by USDA for a three year term. • MO:  Wesa-A-Geh-Ya owned by Sandra Smith was shut down after a visitor lost his leg to a tiger. • MS:  Cougar Haven closed its doors for good, sending the last 3 big cats to Big Cat Rescue. • NC:  Metrolino Wildlife Park owned by Steven Macaluso was shut down by USDA. • NE:  Zoo Nebraska was ordered to find appropriate homes for their big cats and bears. • OH:  Pearson's L & L Exotics owned by Lorenzo Pearson was shut down by USDA following six years of violations including the mauling death of his own two year old child. • TX:  Zoo Dynamics, owned by Marcus Cook was fined $100,000.00 You can read the USDA reports and news stories at http://www.911AnimalAbuse.com   Better laws were passed:   • CITES Decision 14.69: Parties with intensive operations breeding tigers on a commercial scale shall implement measures to restrict the captive population to a level supportive only to conserving wild tigers; tigers should not be bred for trade in their parts and derivatives. (Most of the tiger breeding in the U.S. is for photo booths and petting sessions. None of the breeding of generic tigers does anything to conserve wild tigers. Ask your lawmakers to uphold this CITES decision and end the breeding of tigers outside of the Species Survival Plans in AZA accredited zoos.)  • MO: Effective March 2008 MO Wildlife Code changed as follows:  Safety:  Because of the inherent danger and potential liability associated with the possession of bears, mountain lions, wolves and their hybrids, the Conservation Commission now requires owners of these animals to identify each individual with a microchip embedded under the animal's skin. The owners must also submit a blood or tissue sample for DNA analysis. All animals must be registered with the Department when acquired, born, at death, or when sold. This will aid enforcement of illegal sales of these animals and will help Department biologists distinguish escaped and released captives from wild animals.  MO Conservationist magazine Feb issue at magazine@mdc.mo.gov where Wildlife Code book for 2008 has been released. • Sheriff Kevin T. Harrison asks county to ban private possession of dangerous exotics. • December 11, 2008 Park Hills, MO bans most exotic animals, except small monkeys, within the city limits. • OK:  5/7/08 Gov. Henry signed Senate Bill 1463 into law last week. Sen. James A. Williamson (R-Tulsa) introduced the legislation which prohibits the use of computer-assisted remote control hunting of wildlife. The bill also makes it illegal to engage in, sell, offer for sale, assist in or provide facilities for computer-assisted remote control hunting. Thirty-eight states prohibit Internet hunting, and a federal bill introduced in the U.S. Congress – S. 2422 and H.R. 2711, the Computer- Assisted Remote Hunting Act – would end Internet hunting nationwide. • UT:  Internet Hunting Banned.  Gov. Huntsman signed Senate Bill 164 into law. Sen. Michael Waddoups (R-6th) introduced the legislation which prohibits the use of a computer or other device to remotely hunt an animal.37 states now prohibit Internet hunting, and a federal bill introduced in the U.S. Congress – S. 2422 and H.R. 2711, the Computer- Assisted Remote Hunting Act – would end Internet hunting nationwide. • USDA roared out in support of Haley's Act HR 1947 but Congress never took the time to hear the bill in 2008.  http://bigcatrescue.org/laws/zPDFlaws/USDAcommentHR1947.pdf • Iberville, LA:  Referring back to a law that has been on Iberville Parish's books since 1993, the LA Wildlife and Fisheries Dept. finally banned the notorious Tiger Truck Stop from using live tigers as a public display. Thanks to Sky Williamson and more than 11,000 letters from Big Cat Rescuers, the Tiger Truck Stop was finally ordered to remove the last remaining tiger from this truck stop cage in Grosse Tete, LA. This should have ended a sad history of 21 years of tigers in small concrete cages in the middle of this busy truck stop, but the owner filed a lawsuit to keep Louisiana's Wildlife and Fisheries from doing their job.  At year end we are still fighting to Free Tony the tiger at FreeTony.com   Directing the traffic to the legislative sections had to be more creative however, because by and large, people don't want to think about politics.  The cat's stories and their photographs had to be compelling enough to overcome this typical aversion to political matters and we feel that we have had considerable success in doing that since we have been able to track 728,656 visitors to our legislative pages in 2008.  1,653,788 legislative pages were viewed in 2008. 1,743,210 visits to our main web site bigcatrescue.org resulted in 5,794,358 pages being viewed.  Combined visitors were 2,471,866 who viewed 7,448,146 pages or 6,772 visitors per day who viewed 20,406 pages per day.  Our peak day in 2008 was May 13 with 9,340 page views on bigcatrescue.org alone.    The most popular campaign was to free Tony the Tiger from the Truck Stop and accounted for one quarter of all letters sent.   Carole filled in for Allen Green at the Public Interest Land Air Water conference that attracted 3,500 people from all over the U.S. who care about issues such as wildlife trafficking, climate change and other important issues concerning our planet's health.   At the Sept. 17-19 Florida Wildlife Commission hearing in Jacksonville discussed public comments on the Captive Wildlife Rules.  Of the 1,700 comments our supporters were 1,430 of them.  44,460 letters were sent via our CatLaws.com site in 2008 which is up 25% from last year.  We now have 42,826 members registered to help us with email campaigns.  That is up 9,542 in 2008.   Big Cat Wins Abroad:     • Brazil:  12/11/08 After ongoing efforts by many animal organizations an animal group in Brazil has successfully lobbied and a law has been passed banning all animals in circuses there. • Johor, Malaysia Bans ALL Commercial Hunting:  The Johor government banned all forms of commercial hunting.  Johor is home to the Endau-Rompin National Park, the second largest national park in Peninsular Malaysia. The state will lose some money in licensing fees — in 2006, it issued more than 2,000 hunting licenses — but that pales into insignificance when compared with the benefits of such a move. Johor wants to save the tiger. The ban would also help the Department of Wildlife and National Parks to collect data, train staff and curb wildlife crime. Classified as an endangered species, the tiger is fully protected. But its food is not. The ban should ensure that the population of animals that the tiger preys on — such as wild boar and deer — will increase. If the tigers have sufficient food, they are also unlikely to wander into areas with human habitation. • Australia:  August 3, 2008 Environment Minister Peter Garrett immediately banned the import of Savannah cats into Australia upon learning they were a cross between a Serval and domestic cat.  He said the Savannah cat posed “an extreme threat to Australia's native wildlife.” • Australia:  Craig Bush, the “Lion Man” was ousted from the Zion Wildlife Gardens by his mom.   Fundraising and Marketing:  Big Cat Rescue was reported favorably in the news 70 times in 2008.   Some of the national press included shows on Animal Planet, Discovery and the History Channel in addition to such publications and Encyclopedia Britannica and Women's World Magazine and major media coverage in several other countries as well.   The Fur Ball netted over $110,000.00!  Over 550 big cat supporters had a blast at the Fur Ball; dining, dancing, shopping in the Bargain Sale, tasting and voting in the cake contest, playing the Wheel of Fur-Tune casino table and bidding in the silent auction and live auctions. Spirited bidders in the live auction won exotic trips see lions in South Africa, tigers in Thailand, visits Paris, Brussels and London and golf at St. Andrews.  Roger and Wilhelmina Hopper  won the mountain condo vacation in the costume contest.  The men's and lady's Rolex watches donated by AvantGold were won by Trey Ashmore and Linda Colon.  The Wheel of Fur-tune raffle prize of $1000 Gift Certificate to AvantGold went to Richard Bosley and the King of Feasts cake contest prize went to Cakes Plus.  Watch the video of the night's fun and see if we caught you on film in the photos posted under the video. http://bigcatrescue.org/000archives/2008furball.htm   We had 24,734 visitors this year, compared to a comparably sized zoo that hosts 700,000 visitors annually.  With our annual budget approaching a million dollars a year, we have to be creative in our fund raising, so we turned to the 1,743, 210 web site visitors to bigcatrescue.org and on Valentine's Day asked them to shop in our new online store at http://www.bigcatrescue.biz/  On July 30th we began cross promoting the online store throughout our main web site.   Watch this new episode of Magnificent Obsessions starring our very own Scott Lope.  Lion Feeding Frenzy premiered with lots of interest sparked with each airing.  Scott has also been featured as the big cat expert in Untamed and Uncut and Monster Quest in the U.S. and U.K.   On 2/9/08 we added this Social Bookmarking option to every page of our site to encourage visitors to add us to their social networks.   People who love animals love to share their photos and stories.  On March 1st Big Cat Rescue unleashed a Chat Big Cats community.  It offers unlimited storage space for members' photos, videos and music.   Members can post their own blogs, or join in our forums and contests. It is a YouTube/ MySpace styled community made up entirely of animal lovers. By year end there were 785 members and nearly 2,500 videos, songs, photos and blogs posted to the site.  Get in on the action free at http://www.chatbigcats.com   In late December, 2008, we qualified for google Adsense ads to run on YouTube.  We ended the year as the 6th most viewed Non Profit of all time and the 8th most subscribed Non Profit with 4,265 subscribers and 111,015 channel views.  By year end we had 139 videos posted on YouTube and we began using TubeMogul to post to other popular sites like google, Blip, MetaCafe, Revver and others.  http://www.youtube.com/bigcatrescue   Our MySpace account now has 6,291 friends, 254,024,879 people in our network and our site has had 34,443 profile views. http://www.myspace.com/1BigCatRescue   We took our cats' faces to Face Book: http://apps.new.facebook.com/causes/68903 and enhanced our presence on Care2.org and many other such sites.  We added 134 contacts to our LinkedIn presence here:  http://www.linkedin.com/in/BigCatRescue If you live in the Tampa bay area, look for Big Cat Rescue videos on Brighthouse Channel 340 in the Pet Performances section.  Some of your favorite videos, like Hope the baby bobcat are playing there right now.   Big Cat Rescue now has an Endowment Fund to provide a secure future for the cats. The Fund resides at the Community Foundation of Tampa Bay. Thanks to the generosity of our donors we were able to qualify for a 33% matching fund by raising $150,000.00.  The Community Foundation granted us a $50,000.00 match and this brought our total to $200,000.00 that can generate income to provide for the cats in years to come. http://bigcatrescue.org/communityfoundationoftampabay.htm   We initiated the Legacy Society. This recognizes supporters who have included the cats at Big Cat Rescue in their estate planning. For more info visit:  http://bigcatrescue.org/legacy.htm   We began offering Instant Bingo in our gift shop and created free bingo to play online as well as a site for non US members to play charity bingo where the big cats win every time the player loses.   http://www.bigcatbingo.com   On 7/31/08 our Google grant went up from $10,000 a month in free ads to $40,000.00 a month at a cost of only $1,500.00 to us.   Our Ink Recycling new supporter count was up 324% increase over September 2007 thanks to 235 new ink recycling supporters!!!  This came following a 1/2 page ad about it in the fall issue of The Big Cat Times.  On Sept. 15th we began distribution of newsletters from Dunedin to Sarasota in 20 CVS, Bally's, Sears, Blockbuster and Albertson's stores at a cost of $150.00 a month.  Read all of the back issues here: http://bigcatrescue.org/cat_tales.htm   Placed first paid ads in Cat Fancy, CATS, Dog Fancy and DOGS to appear in Dec. issue.   In November we began accepting American Express and Discover credit cards.   Thanks to your votes Big Cat Rescue was awarded the People's Choice Award by WEDU, our local PBS affiliate. More than 80 charities competed in a 16 county radius for this award, but Big Cat Rescue took 31% of the vote.  This is the second year in a row that Big Cat Rescue has taken home this coveted prize. We have been advised that we are finalists again for the award in 2009.   In the lead for America's Best Animal Shelter.  Winners to be announced in 2009.   Saving Wild Places for Wild Cats:  Big Cat Rescue was welcomed into the International Tiger Coalition, which is a group of 39 organizations committed to saving the tiger, based upon our unique ability to address the captive issues that imperil tigers in the wild.   The goal is 10,000 tigers in the wild in 10 years.  There are less than 3,000 in the wild currently and we are losing one per day due to poaching.  We persuaded ITC to keep US tiger farming issue as part of their mission to eradicate because legalized trade puts even more pressure on wild populations.   What makes this initiative unlike all of the past programs is two fold.  39 major conservation groups, including Big Cat Rescue, have joined forces with one common goal:  Save the tiger in the wild.  There have been other joint efforts, but none this large and never before has an entity as powerful as the World Bank been a committed partner in saving wild places for wild animals.   Harrison Ford, one of Hollywood's hottest actors, thanks to his latest Indiana Jones movie breaking records in theaters, is on the board of Conservation International and spoke at the June 9th launch.  Also in attendance were our friend, the beautiful Bo Derek, who won the Wildlife Guardian Award at the Fur Ball last year, and Robert Duvall.  HSUS brought Tiger Kids to the launch and this photo is from their participation as a ITC members.  See these celebrities up close and purrsonal in the most important roles of their lives in this video we shot and find out more about how the World Bank and the International Tiger Coalition plan to save the tiger. http://bigcatrescue.org/video/00206.htm   Other:  On 4/4/08 we had another perfect USDA inspection.  We were “green” before it was cool with our recycling, water restrictions and other steps we have taken to walk softly and leave only footprints, but things are going to get a lot greener, and yellower and purpler. Our friends at Biological Research Associates lovingly relocated 2000 pickerelweed, golden canna and gulf coast spikerush.  They spent an afternoon transforming the lake bank and by summer you should see a green three foot swath of native plants that flower in yellow and purple like irises and canas. Kevin Atkins, PWS Senior Project Scientist and Vice President of Biological Research Associates, who once worked with Belinda Wright in the wilds of India to save the tiger, has a deep affection for the big cats.  In reference to wild excursions and his upcoming trip to Africa he commented, “It's a beautiful planet.” http://bigcatrescue.org/000news/0articlesbybcr/2008Greener.htm   With more than 100 big cats on 45 acres, we are always in the process of refurbishing and replacing old cages.  Landscaping is another ongoing project whether it be hauling off tree limbs lost in a storm, to mowing acres of grass, to installing beautiful plants to give the cats shade, privacy and the excitement of the butterflies. Most of the trees and flowers at Big Cat Rescue were donated and this video thanks John Deere, Tampa Bay Nursery, Babs of Garden Magic, our volunteers and those of you who make it possible. http://bigcatrescue.org/video/00192.htm   Helping Others:  Big Cat Rescue offered a $5,000 reward for information resulting in the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for shooting a young, female tiger to death. Her body was found next to an apartment complex and I-35E in Dallas, TX on Christmas Day. This was our first offer of a reward to solve a crime and it generated leads but no convictions.  We donated thousands of dollars worth of our tours to other worthy animal non profits including Animal Coalition of Tampa, Boxer Rescue, the Humane Society, the Lakeland SPCA, the Largo SPCA, National Humane, and many, many others.   America's injured veterans have found Big Cat Rescue a place of tranquility where they can surround themselves with beauty and grace;  a respite from all that they have endured protecting our country.  It started with one group and now they come to visit quite frequently.  It's on the house and we provide lunch when we can as well by asking donors to contribute.  They have done their part in keeping Americans free and we are doing our part to fight for that same freedom for the big cats.  Offered to provide mounted cougar and a native bobcat who was road kill to the Florida Conservation Commission to use in their exhibit at the fairgrounds, if they would stop using live cats.   Then and Now:     Our CFO, Howard Baskin, compiled a ten year snapshot of the sanctuary and its growth.  This is just a comparison between 1996 and 2007. Wildlife on Easy Street to Big Cat Rescue   1996    2007 Visitors    85  24,574 Total Expenses  $1,686,386 *    $926,619 Total Income    $0  $1,509,284 Total Net Assets    $148,455    $2,760,047 Spent on Program Services   100%    86% ** *funded by Founder        ** 14% spent on Management and Fundraising combined   Officers and Members of the Board of Directors in 2008 and meetings: • CEO and Founder  Carole Baskin (not compensated by BCR) • President and Chairman of the Board Jamie Veronica • Vice President & BOD Cathy Neumann (not compensated by BCR) • Secretary Jen Ruszczyk (not compensated by BCR) • Treasurer Howard Baskin (not compensated by BCR) • Director Dr. Liz Wynn, DVM  (not compensated by BCR for her role as a Director)   Paid Staff:  Figures from 2007 as the final reports for 2008 are not in. Check back after April 15, 2009:  We went from 3 paid staff to 7 and now provide worker's comp insurance.  We are working to offer health insurance if enough of our staff opt for it.   • Operations Manager & Volunteer Coordinator Scott Lope $35,000.00 incl. bonuses • Staff Manager, Editor & Creative Director Jamie Veronica $24,700.00 (compensated but not for her work as a member of the board)  Gift Shop & Guest Services  Honey Wayton $22,800.00 • Intern Director & Lead AdvoCat Tiffany Deavor $25,000.00 Replaced by Kathryn Quaas in 2008. Education Directors Dr. Beth Kamhi & Coleen Kremer $14,000.00 combined • Vernon Stairs Cage Builder and Maintenance $35,600.00 • Jessica Allen took Bridget's place in Feb.  Chris took Brian's place May 1. • LaWanna Jones hired as an independent contractor 3/1/08 to work on web issues.  Debra Scott was hired as an independent contractor to do CapWiz alerts in July.   All of our animal care is done by volunteers or by staff who also volunteer time before & after work.   Volunteers:  Big Cat Rescue had 110 volunteers in 2008 who clocked in 39,902.57 man-power hours in addition to staff, intern and Volunteer Committee member hours.  Roughly the equivalent workforce of 23 more full time staff.   2008 The S.A.V.E. award for Scratch's Award 4 Volunteer Excellence.  The recipients were January – Becky Gagliardo, February – Rich Bluder, March – Mary Lou Geis, April – Sherry Levesque, May – Erin Newman, June – Scott Milshaw, July – Shiloh Grant, August – who?  , September – Rachel Pipitone, October – who? , November – who?  and December –  who?  Winners of the S.A.V.E. award are allowed to direct $500.00 to the cat project of their choice.   The Volunteer of the Year Award is Big Cat Rescue's most prestigious award.  It is also the hardest award to bestow as we have the best volunteers in the world and so many of them deserve our highest honors and praise.  This year's recipient was announced at the 2008 Fur Ball by Cathy Neumann, our Vice President.  Because of her outstanding service Cathy won the award herself so frequently that the only way to get her out of the running was to name the award after her and let her present it each year.  This year's winner was Becky Gagliardo.  Check out Becky's hero page to find out more about her. http://bigcatrescue.org/hero/beckygagliardo.htm   Staff and Volunteer Training:  On Jan. 25 Coleen Kremer, Dr. Beth Kamhi, Scott Lope, Jamie Veronica, Honey Wayton, Tiffany Deavor, Jen Ruszczyk, Jessica Allen, Barbara Frank, Dr. Liz Wynn, DVM, Howard Baskin and Carole Baskin met for a four hour crash course in People Mapping by Dr. Mike Lillibridge.http://bigcatrescue.org/000news/0articlesbybcr/PeopleMap.htm  Jamie Veronica and Dr. Liz Wynn completed the Safe Capture Course on Sept. 15, 2008.  We want to say a special thank you to four of our staff & volunteers who have just completed their 10th year of service to the cats:  Bill Lewis, Mary Lou Geis, Cathy Neumann and Scott Lope.  

Musings of a Keeper Walkabout Dec 10, 2008   If well received, this may be the first in a series of Keeper Walkabout notes by our staff and volunteers. As I walk about the sanctuary each day I often think how much our supporters would love to see what we see on a daily basis. It is so sad that these cats are in cages, but inspirational to see them make the best of it. This is an effort to convey the daily life at Big Cat Rescue.   As I arrived Kathryn was scurrying to the gate for a tour. Honey was busy in the gift shop and Jessica popped in to update me on the medical conditions of some of the domestic cats she has taken home to foster and place. The new intern was cleaning inside and outside there were “Blue Shirts” everywhere, buckets in hand, cleaning the cages.   Later Honey updated me on Hope and Ace the rehab bobcats. Hope weighs about six pounds now and has finally figured out that if you stick half your body into the pipe where the rats come from, the rats won't come that way. Back before Ace was diagnosed with AIDS she would have been able to show Hope how to cheat, which is to get in the highest place in the cage and watch all of the rat holes at the same time. Because we don't want the rehab cats to associate people and food Jamie had installed pipes to send the rats into the rehab cages, with the entry point far from the bobcats. Because Hope is getting too good at catching the rats, keepers had to extend the pipes much further away so that the arrival of the rat did not coincide with a keeper coming to clean their water bowl. There is a screen to hide behind while cleaning the water bowl, but bobcats are pretty smart, and we do all we can to insure they will survive in the wild when they get to go free.   The sun is shining through the fuchsia colored Bougainvillea that drapes over Windstar the Bobcat‘s cage outside my window. It is too pretty outside to be sitting at the computer, so I head out. The first cage I notice appears to be waist high grass throughout and guests must wonder why we don't mow in there, but if you stand and gaze at the enclosure, you start to notice a maze of tunnels. Little bobcat size tunnels that weave and wind all over the 1200 square foot space. There is one special little sunning spot where the grass is padded into a purr-fect little cat bed with a view of the white sand beach and lake. Little Feather is the resident here and would surely throw a hissy fit if her grass labyrinth were altered in any way other than her own choosing. Mike was cleaning bobcat cages nearby but he knows that poo and leftovers are all you can take from Little Feather's cat-a-tat.   About 30 mallards, here for the winter, took to flight as I walked too close to where they were hanging out with the swans and guinea hens waiting for Mary Lou and Rosie to feed them. That caught the eye of Apollo, Zeus and Anastasia, the Siberian Lynx nearby. Old Anastasia is crippled and diabetic, but was working on a mat in her ruff when the commotion began. A couple days ago it was 40 degrees and today it is 75 degrees and her coat doesn't know if it is coming or going. As the old coats shed and new coats come in, some of the lynx look like Rastafarians with their dreadlocks.   Calvin the Palm Civet cautiously watches from inside his new den in his new enclosure. This new place has so many more great places to climb and root about thanks to the hard work of our keepers in transforming an otherwise bare space into a Palm Civet wonderland. Also enjoying his new digs, is Pappa Bear the Coatimundi. His former owners had cut off all his toes in a botched declawing attempt and shaved his tail to hawk him as the “world's largest rat.” After the old bobcat Sheera died, Pappa Bear was the perfect candidate for her cage since he cannot climb or dig. Today he was rooting obliviously in the leaves and brush of his new piece of real estate.   Adonnis and Bagheera the Black Leopards were sacked out and sleeping so soundly that even the sound of fall's leaves crunching under my feet didn't elicit so much as a whisker twitch. They were sleeping in exactly the same position and looked like a mirror image of each other. On the far side of the sanctuary the wind blowing in the cattails on the lake was mirrored in the way the breeze swayed Joseph the Lion‘s big dark mane. Cameron the Lion had decided that he didn't want the keepers taking his left overs from last night and was barking at Marie if she came too close. Lions are funny that way. You never know when they are going to get possessive about something; their mate, their food, a stick… but when they get into that mindset, all you can do is leave them be.   While writing this, Scott came in with a hawk in a towel and Chris in tow with a video camera. Apparently the hawk had gone into Hercules the Snow Leopard‘s cage and in the excitement that followed, was unable to take the time of squeezing back out through the 4 x 4 wire. Scott and Chris were taking the hawk to examine him for injuries and if he was OK he would be released immediately. Never a dull moment…   I had just caught Shaniqua the Jungle Cat pinning something to the ground. As I tried to see around her to learn if it was a mouse, lizard, snake or bird, she turned around, one paw behind her back (still holding down whatever it was) and gave me the same feigned innocence of a child with her hand caught in the cookie jar. I asked, “What have you got there?” to which her expression clearly said, “Who me?” Not budging, I just waited to see, and she reluctantly let it go. She probably figured she could easily catch it again when the “prey police” weren't around. Tonight is whole prey night and it is every cats' favorite night because you get whole mice, chicks, rats, rabbits or beef ribs depending on how big you are. They are dead on arrival though and not as much fun as catching your own prey, but we discourage eating lizards here as they often cause liver flukes.   TJ the Tiger was neutered a few days ago and the next day seemed completely over it. Today he was chuffing softly at passerbys and gazing out at the ducks who had settled back onto the lake. Vern was busy renovating a jaguar cage for a new liger and tiger rescue. That meant building a bigger den, bigger feeding area and bigger doors between sides of the enclosure. Somewhere a ball was banging noisily against the side of a cage and guessing from the sound of the impact, it was a tiger having fun. Julie‘s video of cats with balls is pretty hilarious:   The sounds of scrapers clinking against the wire walls of the cages and the sounds of scrubbing and hoses spraying water bowls was not enough to make Cleo Cat Tra the Serval lift her head from a mid morning nap. Not even the flick of an ear, but several of her Serval neighbors, Arizona, Purrsonality, Esmerelda and Shasta were strolling about, with ears ever tuned to each sound. I am sure they were straining to hear the clicker sound that goes along with Operant Conditioning. They love the treats on a stick and the relief from boredom that comes along with the clicker sound.   Passing by Trucha and Modnic, the Tiger sisters, who too were up and about, and King the Tiger who was lounging in his den, I came upon Pat, our resident master gardener, and her troop of gardeners. They were almost entirely obscured by the mountains of trimmings they took out of the butterfly gardens in preparation for winter. She kept reassuring me that this was healthy for the plants and they would come back even more beautiful in the spring. I'm glad we have so many talented volunteers from every walk of life. Dropping into the Volunteer check point, volunteers were clocking in and clocking out. I ran into Kym who gestured wildly in her enthusiasm about having Big Cat Rescue as her team mascot in the cancer awareness event coming up in April. There will be 60 camps at the event and each prepares a goodie bag for all of the other campers. Her bags will be full of information on the tigers at the sanctuary, as the theme was wild animals and she chose tigers. With fewer than 4,000 tigers left in the wild and China farming them for their parts, the tigers need all the awareness they can get.   Catera the Bobcat looked great and lately we have been really worried about him. His mother, Indian Summer, killed all his siblings, 11 years ago at birth, and Catera is mentally challenged as well as being frequently sick. Catera is the canary in the mine here and if there is a flea on the 45 acres, it will be on Catera. If there is anything going around, he will be sick first. His mom knew he wasn't thrifty enough to survive, but we didn't give in so easily. It has been a struggle to keep him healthy, but he has such a zest for life, we just never could give up on him. This last bout of intestinal issues had me thinking it was the end for him, but after exhausting all of the natural remedies we could find, Dr. Liz resorted to a chemical stool softener that he will have to be on for the rest of his life. He was dancing in circles, chirping like a bird on speed and back to his effusive little self today, so I guess it was worth it all to him.   Running Bear and Little White Dove, the dynamic Bobcat duo, just had their cage size doubled. Most of our cages are in excess of 1200 square feet, but as the lesser cats have died we have not found others in need of rescue. There is a huge need for cage space for Lions and Tigers but only our “Green Shirts” are qualified to care for the big cats. It takes as least 2 years and a commitment of no less than 8 hours per week, every week, to be a “Green Shirt” here so we are limited by the number of keepers for bigger cats.   An article in today's news about an idiot taking her bobcat to Petsmart to have her photo with Santa, and the mauling of Santa that followed, said that she paid $1,500. for the bobcat. That is three times what they sold for a decade ago, so that tells me that the breeding is slowing down as a result of the bans we have been able to help pass in 7 states recently. If we could ban it in FL, OH and MO. the suffering caused by the exotic cat pet trade would be all but over. You can help us do that at http://www.CatLaws.com.   Showing off their new space to run, Running Bear and Little White Dove went bounding from one end of the old enclosure to the far end of the new add on. Julie did a great play on the idea of what is on and under our trees during the holiday season in a video.   Nico the Geoffroy Cat was moved to the tour path. As he has grown bolder around people we decided to move him out to where he can get an even broader look at the world. He had been a pet that came to us taped up in a box. He is the last of the Geoffroy Cats at Big Cat Rescue and you never hear about people trying to keep them as pets any more.   The smaller the species, the more they have to prove. It never works out well for the cats when people attempt to make pets of them. It goes against everything they are hard wired to be. Today as I walked by he was peering from the depth of his den; two shining orbs in the pitch blackness.   His new enclosure is closer to the path, but not on the main route and we will watch him carefully to be sure he is happy with the arrangement. We offer 14 regular guided tours each week and the public is not allowed to visit unless on a guided tour. All of our cats have the ability to hide if they want to, but we don't want to put any of them in a position where they are uncomfortable, so we'll see how it goes.   Some cats LOVE attention and Rambo the Jungle Cat is one of them. Perhaps by the next writing he will be in his new home which is right in the middle of where the tour paths converge. He is going to love that kind of attention!   As the three o'clock tour guests arrived I warmed up my long overdue lunch of tofu and green beans and talked to Bill the tour guide. Two years ago, after protesting fur sales at the mall, Bill, a veteran, had gone to MacDill Air Force Base and asked why they were selling animal fur garments in the Base Exchange. Unable to justify such an antiquated practice the base removed the fur products from their store and chose to go fur free. Two weeks ago, the entire SE region, which spans VA, to MS to FL has gone fur free too. One person really can make a difference.   I've been writing my story since I was able to write, but when the media goes to share it, they only choose the parts that fit their idea of what will generate views.  If I'm going to share my story, it should be the whole story.  The titles are the dates things happened. If you have any interest in who I really am please start at the beginning of this playlist: http://savethecats.org/   I know there will be people who take things out of context and try to use them to validate their own misconception, but you have access to the whole story.  My hope is that others will recognize themselves in my words and have the strength to do what is right for themselves and our shared planet.     You can help feed the cats at no cost to you using Amazon Smile! Visit BigCatRescue.org/Amazon-smile   You can see photos, videos and more, updated daily at BigCatRescue.org   Check out our main channel at YouTube.com/BigCatRescue   Music (if any) from Epidemic Sound (http://www.epidemicsound.com) This video is for entertainment purposes only and is my opinion.

This week, Walker and Trivette hit the reservation sweat lodge... shirtless. Needless to say, Walker harnesses the power of his visions to defeat evil and render justice. See complete episode stats (# of fights, explosions, vehicle chases, roundhouse kicks & more) at roundhouseroulette.com.Share your opinions with us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter or by emailing us at roundhouseroulette@gmail.com.If you'd like to support the show, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. To further support our shenanigans, check out our fresh Merch or our ever evolving Patreon mayhem. Most importantly, thanks for hanging with us!Blistering Sound FX obtained from ZapSplat

Biden attacks Gov. Abbott for reopening Texas; Bill Kristol and other so-called conservatives supporting the COVID relief bill; China using anal swab COVID tests on foreigners; Cherokee tribe upset with Jeep for using their name; Texas media ridiculous stories claiming that people don’t want Texas to reopenMichael takes on people angry about the mask order being rescinded; Calls from business on how they handle Texas reopening; The Commandante Judge Hidalgo freaking out over the new mask order Business owner calls on how they’ll handle the reopening; the Running Bear song; illegals show up at the border with “Biden Please Let Us In” shirts

*We need your support to continue the show! If you've listened to more than a few episodes and have learned from our work, please join our Patreon today: www.greendreamer.com/support   About Brandon Running Bear Harrell: Running Bear “B” Harrell (IG: @decolonizedmeateater) is a climate resiliency planner, permaculturalist, archery instructor and youth conservation leader of Afro-Indigenous ancestry. Though deeply rooted in what is now referred to as California and New Mexico, his expertise in community and environmental planning have enabled him to consult on major habitat restoration and climate adaptation projects as far as Taiwan, Portugal, Nicaragua, Cuba, Turkey and Kenya. Running Bear is also known as the Decolonized Meateater on Instagram where he shares his commitment to decolonize the Western hunt and reconnect Black and Indigenous communities with their traditional food pathways.   Song featured in this episode: Rebel Soul by Raye Zaragoza Green Dreamer with Kamea Chayne is a podcast exploring our paths to holistic healing, ecological regeneration, and true abundance and wellness for all. Find our show notes, additional resources, and newsletter on our website: www.greendreamer.com

What if you took the story of Romeo & Juliet, set it in rural east Texas, and made it deeply offensive to anyone who isn't a big fat white disc jockey? Well, in the year 1960, you'd have the recipe for a number one hit! Join Andrew and Dan this week as they re-examine this mostly forgotten relic that would, in all honesty, make a decent TV show theme.

This week Pete and Dan climb in poop conditions and dan did his first big boy run around the hills.

 Listen to the Show Right Click to Save GuestsLess Than Three Conspiracy PlayTrinity Street Players I Am the Mask You Wear What We Talked AboutAmerican Utopia (HBO) Hell You Talmbalt by Janelle Monae VideoWhat the Constitution means to me (Prime) David Byrne & Heidi Schreck Don’t use Memory – Betty Buckley & ALW Hamilton Adams RapMa Rainey’s Black Bottom Trailer (12/18) The Prom Trailer Broadway Access Pro Hyde Park – Will Eno’s Tom Paine (based on Nothing).. next up: Raul Garza’s Running Bear (11/21) Austin Playhouse – Red hot patriot. Vortex – FutureX –11/6-21 Thank you to Dean Johanesen, lead singer of "The Human Condition" who gave us permission to use "Step Right Up" as our theme song, so please visit their website.. they're good! (that's an order)

The 2015 Disappearance of Elijah 'Running Bear' Diaz from El Cajon, California The post #156 The Disappearance of Elijah ‘Running Bear’ Diaz appeared first on Orbital Jigsaw.

Welcome to Pledge Week! I’m doing a week of posting some of the Patreon bonuses I’ve done, to encourage those who can to sign up to my Patreon. Every day of Pledge Week will start with the same section, which I’ll transcribe once, below, before the cut. Pledge Week Intro This is not a proper episode of the podcast. Rather, this is something else. I’ve decided to hold a pledge week, to try to get a few more subscribers to my Patreon. So every day this week I’ll be putting one of the backer-only episodes I’ve done over the past year up on the main podcast feed, so people can hear what it is you get if you sign up for the Patreon, with this little introductory piece before them. If you’re already a backer, you will already have this episode, so you can skip this and everything else labelled “pledge week”. I do one of these every week for my backers, and backers even at the lowest levels get them — if you sign up for a dollar a month you get each new one as it comes out, and access to all the old ones. There are fifty-nine of them up so far, as well as a few other things like the monthly Q&As I’ve been doing for backers. I’m only making seven of these available on the public feed, so there’s a lot still there for you to listen to. If this works well, I might do another one next year, when there’ll be another fifty-odd episodes to choose from. None of this is meant to put any pressure on anyone who can’t afford it to back the podcast — the podcast will always remain free to listen to, and I hope it will remain ad-free as well. I know times are especially tough right now, and many of you literally can’t afford the money you’re already spending, let alone paying any more out. I only want backers who can spare the money. But if you can afford it, and you like these bonus episodes enough, then go to patreon.com slash andrewhickey, that’s spelled h-i-c-k-e-y, or follow the link in the shownotes, and sign up, and you’ll get one of these the same day as every new episode. If you can’t, well… enjoy this extra free bonus, and don’t worry about it. Transcript behind cut —-more—- Since we looked at Ritchie Valens in the main podcast last week, and this week we’re looking at Buddy Holly, it’s probably worth devoting this week’s bonus podcast to the third person who died in that terrible plane crash. The Big Bopper is known as a one-hit wonder who had a novelty hit, and these days when he’s remembered at all by rock and roll fans it’s simply because he died in the same crash as Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens. And certainly his one big hit, “Chantilly Lace”, doesn’t suggest he would have been one of the greats of music. But J.P. Richardson actually had rather more of a career than that might suggest, much of it posthumous: [Excerpt: The Big Bopper, “Chantilly Lace”] Jiles Perry Richardson always liked to be known as “Jape”, after his initials, but he developed a public persona from working as a DJ on KTRM radio, when he switched from his original show, “the Dishwashers’ Serenade”, to a new one called “the Bop”. While on KTRM he took part in all sorts of publicity stunts, such as breaking the world record for longest uninterrupted broadcast by staying on the air for five days, two hours, and eight minutes straight, after which he apparently slept for twenty hours. At KTRM he got to know his fellow DJ George Jones, and he also got to know Pappy Daily, who was the promotion manager for Mercury Starday records (If you listen to the great country music podcast Cocaine and Rhinestones, the episode on Shelby Singleton talks quite a bit about Daily). Mercury Starday had been having some success with records by Jones, who had hit the country top ten a few times, and Jape had written a few country songs, so he started recording for the label. His first effort was a pure country ballad, released under the name Jape Richardson and the Japettes: [Excerpt: Jape Richardson and the Japettes, “Beggar to a King”] That did absolutely nothing sales-wise, so Richardson changed to a rockabilly style. His next single, “Monkey Song”, didn’t do much better: [Excerpt: Jape Richardson, “Monkey Song”] But the next song was much more successful. “Chantilly Lace” is the song that made the Big Bopper’s name. If you don’t mind the objectification in the lyrics, there’s a lot of charm to the song, and at the time it became a massive hit, and it’s one that’s still remembered to this day: [Excerpt: The Big Bopper, “Chantilly Lace”] The fact that it was intended as a novelty cash-in can be seen by its B-side – which was originally its A-side – “The Purple People Eater Meets The Witch Doctor”, a team-up song inspired by the two novelty hits we talked about a few weeks ago: [Excerpt: The Big Bopper, “The Purple People Eater Meets the Witch Doctor”] The single made the top ten, and it was followed up by “The Big Bopper’s Wedding”, which was less successful, but followed the same formula: [Excerpt: The Big Bopper, “The Big Bopper’s Wedding”] But then, of course, came the fateful tour we look at in this week’s main podcast, and the Big Bopper’s death in a plane crash, with two much more prominent musicians. That should, by all rights, have been the end of his career. But as it turned out, his two most important contributions to music hadn’t yet been released. Shortly before he died, Richardson had written a song called “Running Bear”, and he’d given it to a young friend of his, Johnny Preston. It was a teen tragedy song of the type that was a rather successful subgenre of the time, this one with the novelty element that the characters were native Americans (or an “Indian brave” and “Indian maid” as the song puts it) who lived on opposite banks of a river and ended up drowning in the middle when they tried to be together. Richardson and George Jones had sung backing vocals on it, doing Hollywood-Indian chanting and generally playing up to every stereotype of the Western-film Indian, but it hadn’t been released at the time of Richardson’s death. When it was released a few months later, it went to number one and became one of the biggest hits of all time: [Excerpt: Johnny Preston, “Running Bear”] But that wasn’t Richardson’s only posthumous contribution to music. Richardson had already co-written a country top ten hit for George Jones, “Treasure of Love”: [Excerpt: George Jones, “Treasure of Love”] But less than a week after Richardson’s death, Jones went back into the studio again, to record another song that Richardson had written for him. Jones was still shaken by his friend’s death, and turned up to the session drunk — the first time he would do so in a long career of drunkenness. They had to do so many takes that the bass player, Buddy Killen, got blisters on his fingers and threatened to physically attack Jones. Jones never got the song right, and eventually they stuck with either the first or third take — accounts vary — where he’d only messed up one word — singing “s-slug” rather than “slug”, which honestly sounds fine to me: [Excerpt: George Jones, “White Lightning”] That became Jones’ first country number one, and one of only three singles he ever released to also make the pop top one hundred — it reached number seventy-three, the highest he would ever reach in the pop charts. While Jones had had country top ten hits before, “White Lightning” is generally regarded as the breakout hit that made his career — a career that would last more than fifty more years, during which time he would have over a hundred and fifty records make the country charts, thirteen of them going to number one. That’s more chart hits than any other act in history, and that career was owed at least in part to Jape Richardson, the one-hit wonder who died with Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens.

Welcome to Pledge Week! I'm doing a week of posting some of the Patreon bonuses I've done, to encourage those who can to sign up to my Patreon. Every day of Pledge Week will start with the same section, which I'll transcribe once, below, before the cut. Pledge Week Intro This is not a proper episode of the podcast. Rather, this is something else. I've decided to hold a pledge week, to try to get a few more subscribers to my Patreon. So every day this week I'll be putting one of the backer-only episodes I've done over the past year up on the main podcast feed, so people can hear what it is you get if you sign up for the Patreon, with this little introductory piece before them. If you're already a backer, you will already have this episode, so you can skip this and everything else labelled "pledge week". I do one of these every week for my backers, and backers even at the lowest levels get them -- if you sign up for a dollar a month you get each new one as it comes out, and access to all the old ones. There are fifty-nine of them up so far, as well as a few other things like the monthly Q&As I've been doing for backers. I'm only making seven of these available on the public feed, so there's a lot still there for you to listen to. If this works well, I might do another one next year, when there'll be another fifty-odd episodes to choose from. None of this is meant to put any pressure on anyone who can't afford it to back the podcast -- the podcast will always remain free to listen to, and I hope it will remain ad-free as well. I know times are especially tough right now, and many of you literally can't afford the money you're already spending, let alone paying any more out. I only want backers who can spare the money. But if you can afford it, and you like these bonus episodes enough, then go to patreon.com slash andrewhickey, that's spelled h-i-c-k-e-y, or follow the link in the shownotes, and sign up, and you'll get one of these the same day as every new episode. If you can't, well... enjoy this extra free bonus, and don't worry about it. Transcript behind cut ----more---- Since we looked at Ritchie Valens in the main podcast last week, and this week we're looking at Buddy Holly, it's probably worth devoting this week's bonus podcast to the third person who died in that terrible plane crash. The Big Bopper is known as a one-hit wonder who had a novelty hit, and these days when he's remembered at all by rock and roll fans it's simply because he died in the same crash as Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens. And certainly his one big hit, "Chantilly Lace", doesn't suggest he would have been one of the greats of music. But J.P. Richardson actually had rather more of a career than that might suggest, much of it posthumous: [Excerpt: The Big Bopper, "Chantilly Lace"] Jiles Perry Richardson always liked to be known as "Jape", after his initials, but he developed a public persona from working as a DJ on KTRM radio, when he switched from his original show, "the Dishwashers' Serenade", to a new one called "the Bop". While on KTRM he took part in all sorts of publicity stunts, such as breaking the world record for longest uninterrupted broadcast by staying on the air for five days, two hours, and eight minutes straight, after which he apparently slept for twenty hours. At KTRM he got to know his fellow DJ George Jones, and he also got to know Pappy Daily, who was the promotion manager for Mercury Starday records (If you listen to the great country music podcast Cocaine and Rhinestones, the episode on Shelby Singleton talks quite a bit about Daily). Mercury Starday had been having some success with records by Jones, who had hit the country top ten a few times, and Jape had written a few country songs, so he started recording for the label. His first effort was a pure country ballad, released under the name Jape Richardson and the Japettes: [Excerpt: Jape Richardson and the Japettes, "Beggar to a King"] That did absolutely nothing sales-wise, so Richardson changed to a rockabilly style. His next single, "Monkey Song", didn't do much better: [Excerpt: Jape Richardson, "Monkey Song"] But the next song was much more successful. "Chantilly Lace" is the song that made the Big Bopper's name. If you don't mind the objectification in the lyrics, there's a lot of charm to the song, and at the time it became a massive hit, and it's one that's still remembered to this day: [Excerpt: The Big Bopper, "Chantilly Lace"] The fact that it was intended as a novelty cash-in can be seen by its B-side – which was originally its A-side – "The Purple People Eater Meets The Witch Doctor", a team-up song inspired by the two novelty hits we talked about a few weeks ago: [Excerpt: The Big Bopper, "The Purple People Eater Meets the Witch Doctor"] The single made the top ten, and it was followed up by "The Big Bopper's Wedding", which was less successful, but followed the same formula: [Excerpt: The Big Bopper, "The Big Bopper's Wedding"] But then, of course, came the fateful tour we look at in this week's main podcast, and the Big Bopper's death in a plane crash, with two much more prominent musicians. That should, by all rights, have been the end of his career. But as it turned out, his two most important contributions to music hadn't yet been released. Shortly before he died, Richardson had written a song called "Running Bear", and he'd given it to a young friend of his, Johnny Preston. It was a teen tragedy song of the type that was a rather successful subgenre of the time, this one with the novelty element that the characters were native Americans (or an "Indian brave" and "Indian maid" as the song puts it) who lived on opposite banks of a river and ended up drowning in the middle when they tried to be together. Richardson and George Jones had sung backing vocals on it, doing Hollywood-Indian chanting and generally playing up to every stereotype of the Western-film Indian, but it hadn't been released at the time of Richardson's death. When it was released a few months later, it went to number one and became one of the biggest hits of all time: [Excerpt: Johnny Preston, "Running Bear"] But that wasn't Richardson's only posthumous contribution to music. Richardson had already co-written a country top ten hit for George Jones, "Treasure of Love": [Excerpt: George Jones, "Treasure of Love"] But less than a week after Richardson's death, Jones went back into the studio again, to record another song that Richardson had written for him. Jones was still shaken by his friend's death, and turned up to the session drunk -- the first time he would do so in a long career of drunkenness. They had to do so many takes that the bass player, Buddy Killen, got blisters on his fingers and threatened to physically attack Jones. Jones never got the song right, and eventually they stuck with either the first or third take -- accounts vary -- where he'd only messed up one word -- singing "s-slug" rather than "slug", which honestly sounds fine to me: [Excerpt: George Jones, "White Lightning"] That became Jones' first country number one, and one of only three singles he ever released to also make the pop top one hundred -- it reached number seventy-three, the highest he would ever reach in the pop charts. While Jones had had country top ten hits before, "White Lightning" is generally regarded as the breakout hit that made his career -- a career that would last more than fifty more years, during which time he would have over a hundred and fifty records make the country charts, thirteen of them going to number one. That's more chart hits than any other act in history, and that career was owed at least in part to Jape Richardson, the one-hit wonder who died with Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens.

Jester has had another great week section hiking the AT this summer, working on a second completion of the AT! ‪⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀‬ ‪This week Jester had the chance to interview and spend time with “Fresh Ground”, who runs the famous Leap Frog Cafe on the AT.  She also interviews more thru-hikers as they work their way back on trail to continue their dreams of a thru-hike and be part of the unique hiking class of 2020! ‪⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀‬ ‪The heat cranks up and the humidity is high, but that did not stop Wheezy Pee from joining Jester on July 4 for another 20 miler! Big thanks to AlphaGal for joining us for a bit on the 4th as well!!‬ ‪⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀‬ ‪ As the heat and humidity continue to rise Jester takes a look at her schedule and adjusts accordingly!  This week ends with a picnic in Harper’s Ferry with Stickbuilt who Jester met in 2012 and she has officially moved beyond VA! ‬ ‪⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀‬ ‪Follow along on Instagram with some of the hikers and characters who Jester has interviewed. ‪Fresh Ground: https://www.instagram.com/freshgroundleapfrogcafe/ ‪Puddles:‬ https://www.instagram.com/h_buckzz/ Adam or LG: https://www.instagram.com/gooberturkey/ Toy Story: https://www.instagram.com/andysalisbury1/ AlphaGal: https://www.instagram.com/alphagalhikes/ Demona and Running Bear: https://www.instagram.com/nantosuelta_/ Previous Episodes: Lava Girl and Shark Boi: https://www.instagram.com/letstrektogether/ Bearclaw: https://www.instagram.com/kory2katahdin/ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ If you want to see how this week's hike went with Wheezy Pee check out the video over on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mwishart306 ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Days 19 - 25 Mileage from AT Guide (North). Mile 970.8 VA 522 to Mile 1024.2 Harper’s Ferry, WV. Total for the week 53.4. Total for 25 Days 248.1 Connect with Julie "Jester" Gayheart: Email: jesternc2212@gmail.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jesterhikes/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jesterhikes Music provided by: The Okee Dokee Brothers "Through The Woods" www.okeedokee.org

Hutch the serval and Running Bear the bobcat had a blast with their gourds this Halloween season! Check out all of the action! You can help feed the cats at no cost to you using Amazon Smile!Visit BigCatRescue.org/Amazon-smile BIG CAT TV is a close look into our day-to-day operations, the conservation efforts we support, and the exotic feline residents of "Big Cat Rescue" in Tampa, FL. USA. Big Cat Rescue is an educational non-breeding, accredited, sanctuary and a registered non-profit 501c3 so your donations are tax deductible!

Mary sings with Johnny Preston.

On the banks of the river stood runnin' bear, young Indian brave On the other side of the river stood his lovely Indian maid Little white dove was-a her name, such a lovely sight to see But their tribes fought with each other so their love could never be Runnin' bear loved little white dove with a love big as the sky Runnin' bear loved little white dove with a love that couldn't die He couldn't swim the raging river 'cause the river was too wide He couldn't reach little white dove, waiting on the other side In the moonlight he could see her blowing kisses 'cross the waves Her little heart was beating faster, waiting there for her brave Runnin' bear loved little white dove with a love big as the sky Runnin' bear loved little white dove with a love that couldn't die Runnin' bear dove in the water, little white dove did the same And they swam out to each other through the swirling stream they came As their hands touched and their lips met, the ragin' river pulled them down Now they'll always be together in that happy hunting ground Runnin' bear loved little white dove with a love big as the sky Runnin' bear loved little white dove with a love that couldn't die

Dr Paul has been giving lectures about human development and emotional science. The question was ask how he got from there to here. This is a small conversation with that question. This is not an answer this is crumbs to the internal mind. Drpaulholisticscience.com

Tony Diaz-El Librotraficante and the NP Crew talk to emerging YA novelist, Darlene P. Campos and Austin Playwright, Raul Garza. And they break down the #BoycottElTiempo mess that Jeff Sessions left behind after his visit to Houston. Click her to donate to Nuestra Palabra. Donate today and we’ll list you among our summer muses on our website through Hispanic Heritage Month and we’ll give you a shout out on the air: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=9CPLMM88TF5BS Bios: Darlene P. Campos earned her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Texas at El Paso. She is from Guayaquil, Ecuador, but currently lives in Houston, TX with an adorable pet rabbit named Jake. Her new book is titled “Summer Camp is Cancelled”. Her website is www.darlenepcampos.com Raul Garza is an Austin-based playwright who tells stories that resound with culture and sense of place. His full-length play Fantasmaville received the National Latino Playwriting Award, and earned a B. Iden Payne Award nomination for Outstanding Original Script. His short play MyHEB garnered FronteraFest 2015 Best of Fest recognition. Raul’s full length plays include Fantasmaville, Sanctuary, Cura, Confessions of a Mexpatriate, Ruby, There and Back, and El. His short story "In the Room" won the 2014 Austin Chronicle Short Story Contest, and “Running Bear” and "LeBaron" were cited for Honorable Mention by the 2017 and 2014 Texas Observer Short Story Contest. When not writing, Raul explores kundalini yoga, devours pop culture, and serves as creative director of TKO Advertising. NP Radio airs live Tuesdays 6pm-7pm cst 90.1 FM KPFT Houston, TX. Livestream www.KPFT.org. More podcasts at www.NuestraPalabra.org. The Nuestra Palabra Radio Show is archived at the University of Houston Digital Archives. Our hard copy archives are kept at the Houston Public Library’s Special Collections Hispanic Archives. Tony Diaz Sundays, Mondays, & Tuesdays & The Other Side Sun 7am "What's Your Point" Fox 26 Houston Mon Noon "The Cultural Accelerator" at www.TonyDiaz.net Tues 6pm NP Lit Radio 90.1 FM KPFT, Houston www.NuestraPalabra.org 24/7 The Other Side TV www.TheOtherSideTele.com

It's so hot in the bunker that we're starting to have visions. Which one of us is the twig-cramming culprit? (Hint: it was totally Jared) This episode's themes include: Warging, our contributions to the Wild Cards series, Prime Rib, CD's CDs and the moistest blinks. Walker episode: The Legend of Running Bear

Walker literally turns into an eagle in this episode. More importantly though, we have just eaten a large meal and are feeling grandiose.

Jiles always was a big fucker. Tall, sturdy built, he played a defensive lineman in high school. Ol number 85. It was a fair balance for his choir and band enthusiasms which were his true passion. He got himself into college, but when the night time DJ gig started bringing in real scratch, the college just had to go. And apart from a couple years of mandatory military service, Djing is where he stayed. Though workin radar in Fort Bliss is still in radio, I guess. He tried his hand at songwriting, and george Jones turned his ‘White Lightnin’ into a hit. Sadly another of his penned tunes ‘Running Bear’ didn’t get immediate enough release. But he finally conned someone into letting him record one of his own songs, and it became a top ten record. It was time for Jiles to head out with the real stars.

I love talking about running and it's always fun to have our friends from Running Bear Athletics in the studio with us. We always talk about cool races, inspiring stories and what it takes to start pounding the pavement. This week's tip...stop making excuses.

Our friends from Running Bear Athletics were back in the studio with us. We discussed their running club and upcoming races. If running a race is on YOUR life list...this interview might interest you.

Oregon Shakespeare FestivalCostumes, props, sets, Shakespeare. What goes into putting together the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland? We tell you some of what we learned on the backstage tour at the Festival (a tour conducted by veteran Festival actor Rex Young), including an inside glimpse of the Elizabethan Stage (America's first Elizabethan theatre), the Angus Bowmer Theatre (named after the Festival's founder) and the New Theatre. Begun in 1935, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival runs 11 shows in three theatres from February through October every year. This year 82 actors protrayed 195 characters in close to 800 shows. Each actor plays 2 to 3 roles and understudies one to two other parts. And for every actor that you see on stage there are 4 people working backstage designing and building the costumes, sets, lights, and making the magic happen. More information about the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Zephyr Haunts Ashland and TumwaterScience Works Museum in Ashland offers hands-on educational (and fun!) exhibits for children, including the paper airplane launcher for flying airplanes they have been taught to make. A special exhibit of toys and games is coming soon, as is a Halloween haunted house which Zephyr helped design - having recently contributed his talents to a much larger attraction called Twilight's Terror in Tumwater, Washington. Romeo and Juliet (The Four Minute condensed comical version) William Shakespeare's classic tragedy about star-crossed lovers from dueling clans has roots in the Greek legend "Pyramus and Thisbe" (which he also invoked in "A Midsummer Night's Dream") and has inspired books, plays, movies and tv shows throughout the ages. Variations of this tale exist in many other cultures as well; a hit song on the radio in the Sixties called "Running Bear and Little White Dove" related a similar story involving Native Americans from warring tribes. "Romeo and Juliet" illustrates Shakespeare's extraordinary ability to transform a borrowed plot into something wholly original, and uniquely his own. And coming up for 2007 our own national tour of "Shakespeare Shazam", an introduction to the Bard's work. We act out passages from such Shakespearean masterpieces as "Romeo and Juliet", "Macbeth", and "Hamlet", in both the original version and modern English. More about Shakespeare Shazam Happy Listening, Dennis, Kimberly and Zephyr