Kerulos Center Faculty

FACULTY

Y. Gavriel Ansara, MSc Y. Gavriel Ansara (席嘉力/ آتش جاوید / גבריאל‏ יוסף) recently was awarded a MSc with Distinction in Social Psychology at the University of Surrey, UK and received a departmental bursary toward his PhD commencing in October, 2009. Read more.

Marc Bekoff, PhD Marc Bekoff is a former Professor of Biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and co-founder with Jane Goodall of Ethologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and teaches through Roots and Shoots at school and prisons. Read more.

Robin Bjork, PhD Robin Bjork is a Senior Scientist for SalvaNATURA, a non-profit non-governmental environmental organization in El Salvador. She holds a doctorate in wildlife science and a master’s degree in coastal ecology. Read more.

Martin Brüne, Dr. med Martin Brüne graduated in Medicine from Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Germany, in 1988. He received specialist training in neurology, psychiatry, and psychotherapy. Read more.

Carol Buckley Carol Buckley is an international leader in trauma recovery of Asian and Africa elephants. She has over thirty years experience with elephants in captivity and is co-founder of the first natural-habitat refuge for sick, old and needy endangered elephants, the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee. Read more.

Ginger Casto Ginger has been active in llama rescue activities and education for llama care. She has lived in the Rogue Valley, Oregon, for over 20 years in the social service and non-profit consulting profession.Read more. Casto

Margo DeMello, PhD Margo DeMello is President and Executive Director of House Rabbit Society, an international rabbit rescue and education organization. She holds a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology and currently lectures at Central New Mexico Community College, teaching sociology, cultural studies, and anthropology. Read more.

pattrice jones pattrice jones is the author of Aftershock: Confronting Trauma in a Violent World, a Guide for Activists and Their Allies and the cofounder of the Eastern Shore Sanctuary and Education Center. She received her graduate training in clinical psychology at the University of Michigan. Read more.

Lori Marino, PhD Lori is a Senior Lecturer in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology at Emory University, Atlanta and a Faculty Affiliate of the Living Links Center for the Advanced Study of Ape and Human Evolution. Her research expertise and interests include the evolution of intelligence and self-awareness in other species. Read more.

Eileen McCarthy Eileen McCarthy is Founder, President & CEO of the Midwest Avian Adoption and Rescue Services (MAARS), a unique organization located in St. Paul, MN that has provided sanctuary, advocacy and rehabilitation for wild birds living in captivity since 1999. Read more.

Joseph Daniel Mitchell, MS Joseph is a fullblood citizen of the Creek Nation and a member of the Muskogee Indian Community. For the past 26 years, he has worked in environmental sciences and conservation on tribal and federal lands. Read more.

Michael Mountain Michael is the co-founder and President of Zoe, which is building a global community of people who care about the animals, nature and the environment.Read more.

Vera Muller-Paisner, LCSW Vera is a psychoanalyst and daughter of Holocaust survivors. She has spent the last dozen years studying the chronicity and transmission of trauma. Read more.

Susie O'Keeffe, MS Susie received her Master's with distinction from Oxford University in England. Her research explored the human / wolf relationship, with an emphasis on how wolves can guide us toward sustainable agricultural systems. For the past twenty years she has also worked with a variety of environmental and local agriculture organizations in the United States and Europe. Read more.

Dave Perry, PhD Dave is a Professor (emeritus) in the Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society at Oregon State University, and lead author of the acclaimed textbook, Forest Ecosystems. Read more.

Elke Riesterer, CMT Elke is a Certified Massage Therapist and registered Jin Shin Do Practitioner with the broad experience of having worked with people and animals for over 25 years. Read more.

Charlie Russell Charlie Russell is the founding director of the Pacific Rim Grizzly Bear Co-Existence Study. Renowned worldwide for his ground-breaking work with grizzly bears in Canada and Russia, Charlie has spent the better part of 48 years closely observing the nature of these animals in their natural habitat. Read more.

Allen M. Schoen, DVM, MS, PhD (hon.) Dr. Schoen received his DVM from Cornell University, College of Veterinary Medicine, in 1978. He also holds a Master's Degree in neurophysiology and behavior from the University of Illinois. Dr. Schoen is a pioneer who has dedicated his professional career to the advancement of complementary and alternative veterinary medicine. Read more.

Dr. Dame Daphne Marjorie Sheldrick, DBE, MBS Daphne Sheldrick’s involvement with wildlife has spanned a lifetime. Born in Kenya on the 4th June 1934, she grew up amongst animals, both wild and domestic. Read more.

Barbara Smuts, PhD.
Smuts received a Bachelors Degree in Anthropology from Harvard University and a Ph.D in neurological and biological behavioral science from Stanford Medical School and has studied baboons, dolphins, and chimpanzees. Read more.

Ann Southcombe Ann Southcombe is an Animal Relation Specialist and licensed wildlife rehabilitator who, for over 35 years, has dedicated her life to the care of gorillas, squirrels, lynx, bears, and many other species in captivity. Read more.

Ed Tick, PhD Edward Tick, Ph.D. is a holistic psychotherapist and transformational healer. He is a writer, educator, journey guide, activist and veterans’ advocate. He specializes in using psycho-spiritual, cross-cultural, nature-based and international reconciliation practices to bring healing to veterans, survivors, communities and nations recovering from the traumas of war and violence. Read more.

Thidi Tshiguvho, PhD Thidi Tshiguvho’s main research focus is on human-environment relationships, particularly the relationships between indigenous communities and wildlife. With a Ph.D. in Geography from Clark University and a background in conservation biology (M.Sc), Thidi’s work explores indigenous peoples’ perception of nature. Read more.

Joseph P. Yenkosky, PhD. Joseph P. Yenkosky, PhD. is Coordinator of Interagency Initiatives, MidWest Avian Adoption and Rescue Service (MAARS), Minnesota - and Coordinator of The Parrot Directed Research Initiative (PDSI), Kerulos Center, Oregon. Read more.

Y. Gavriel Ansara, MSc

Y. Gavriel Ansara (席嘉力/ آتش جاوید / גבריאל‏ יוסף) recently was awarded a MSc with Distinction in Social Psychology at the University of Surrey, UK and received a departmental bursary toward his PhD commencing in October, 2009. His recent psychological research examined cisgenderism, the prejudice that people whose gender identities match their assigned gender are ‘natural’ or superior in comparison to those with non-assigned, self-articulated gender identities. This research shares many conceptual links with trans-species psychology, including the belief that biological and cultural diversity should be embraced and protected; a critical view of essentialist taxonomies that valuate sentient beings based on their conformity to social norms; and an awareness of the harmful consequences of treating sentient beings as distinct classes of life. He recently co-authored a chapter on gender identity/expression and bullying in /Bully-proofing your school: Cultural proficiency/ (in press) with child psychologist Carla Garrity of the Neuro-Developmental Ctr (Denver, CO) and has other publications in progress. During a sojourn in the US, his pioneering work as founder and coordinator of the Tiferet Outreach Project earned him the Keshet 2002 Leadership of the Year Award. From 2006-2008, he founded and directed Lifelines Rhode Island/Cuerdas de Salvamento, a state-wide advocacy, education, and support organization serving individuals of trans, non-binary gender, and intersex experience, and was subsequently awarded the 2008 Lifelines Pillar of the Community Award by board members and volunteers. He has diverse clinical training and as served on numerous boards and task forces related to social justice, public health policy, and civil rights for marginalised populations. Some of his past positions include youth counsellor, multilingual psychiatric rehabilitation caseworker, and editorial staff at Developmental Psychology, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Psychological Association.

Gavi has designed educational curricula and conducted professional training on numerous topics for psychologists, law enforcement, clergy, social workers, youth educators, and physicians, including a Grand Round at Rhode Island Hospital's Hasbro Developmental-Behavioural Paediatrics Division with internationally recognised paediatric transgender medical expert Dr Norm Spack and HIV expert Dr. Jody Rich. Gavi is the author of "Beyond Cisgenderism: Counselling People with Affirmed Gender Identities" in Ed. Lyndsey Moon's forthcoming text "Queer Dilemmas in Counselling and Psychotherapy" (in press). He is UK Speaker on Multicultural Issues for Organisation Intersex Internationale and the first elected Trans Representative Officer of Surrey’s LGBT Society. As a polycultural, traditionally observant Empath and Healer with ties to multiple continents, he is committed to Tikkun Olam (repairing the world and establishing sanctity within it), moving toward full dietary and lifestyle veganism and challenging human supremacist assumptions. His many trans-species friendships have taught him to appreciate the range of emotional, intellectual, cultural, and spiritual capacities possessed by our fellow beings.

Marc Bekoff, PhD

Marc Bekoff Ph.D. is a former Professor of Biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and co-founder with Jane Goodall of Ethologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and teaches through Roots and Shoots at school and prisons. He has won many awards for his scientific research including a Guggenheim Fellowship, and is a prolific writer with more than 200 articles as well three encyclopedias to his credit. His is author of numerous books, including the Encyclopedia of Animal Rights and Animal Welfare, The Ten Trusts: What We Must Do to Care for the Animals We Love (with Jane Goodall), the Encyclopedia of Animal Behavior, and the Encyclopedia of Human-Animal Relationships, his most recent books include The Smile of a Dolphin, Minding Animals, Animal Passions and Beastly Virtues: Reflections on Redecorating Nature, The Emotional Lives of Animals, and Why Animals Matter. Marc was presented with The Bank One Faculty Community Service Award for the work he has done with children, senior citizens, and prisoners.

Robin Bjork, PhD

Científica Principal
Programa de Ciencias para la Conservación, SalvaNATURA
Colonia Flor Blanca, 33 Ave. Sur # 640
San Salvador, El Salvador

Robin Bjork is a Senior Scientist for SalvaNATURA, a non-profit non-governmental environmental organization in El Salvador. She holds a doctorate in wildlife science and a master’s degree in coastal ecology. Her past research has focused on documenting spatial patterns of regional migrant tropical birds with a goal of providing guidance to regional conservation planning. Robin began working with wild psittacines in 1994 when she directed development of the first radio tracking device to withstand the force of macaw bills and used the device to track the movements of Great Green Macaws in Costa Rica. Her dissertation research identified the migration of Mealy Parrots across Guatemalan lowlands, the first detailed documentation of such a pattern in psittacines. She continues conservation research with wild parrots and macaws and is currently directing a program to reintroduce Scarlet Macaws to El Salvador and protect endangered Yellow-naped Parrots. Email Robin or visit her website.

Martin Brüne, Dr. med.

Martin Brüne graduated in Medicine from Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Germany, in 1988. He received specialist training in neurology, psychiatry, and psychotherapy. Since 1998 he has worked as Consultant Psychiatrist in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Bochum, Germany. In 2001 he completed his habilitation thesis and was promoted to Professor of Psychiatry in 2007. His main research interests are social cognition in psychiatric disorders, and psychopathology in evolutionary perspective including cross-species comparison. He has conducted research into the theory of mind and nonverbal behaviour in various psychopathological conditions. He co-edited a book, The Social Brain -Evolution and Pathology, with Hedda Ribbert and Wulf Schiefenhövel (Wiley, 2003). Most recently, he published a book entitled Textbook of Evolutionary Psychiatry-The Origins of Psychopathology (Oxford University Press, 2008).

Carol Buckley

Carol Buckley is an international leader in trauma recovery of Asian and Africa elephants. She has over thirty years experience with elephants in captivity and is co-founder of the first natural-habitat refuge for sick, old and needy endangered elephants, the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee. Previously, she operated her own elephant management company, Tarra Productions, named after two-year old female elephants, Tarra, who inspired Carol to create the Sanctuary where Tarra now lives. Carol coordinated the rescue of the first elephant ever confiscated by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and was responsible for bringing 24 elephants to sanctuary. She attended the Exotic Animal Training and Management Program at Moorpark College in California. Through her intimate experience and knowledge of elephant values, physiology, and culture, Carol developed the philosophy and method of passive control as part of a non-dominating, holistic healthcare program for elephants in recovery. In an unprecedented event, Carol coordinated and designed treatment for a group of eight female elephants who had lived nearly four decades as circus elephants and were released to sanctuary after being confiscated from the Hawthorn Corporation by the USDA. This seminal work that articulates the interface between individual and cultural recovery constitutes a vital contribution bridging elephant welfare and conservation. In addition to her clinical work with individual elephants, Carol is an active spokesperson, expert witness, and educator for elephant care and protection, nationally and internationally. She works with governmental agencies and private organizations to strengthen regulations pertaining to the welfare of elephants in captivity. Featured on diverse television, books, films documentaries, and news media, Carol has also received the Genesis Award in 2001 and was awarded TIME Magazine’s prestigious Hero for the Planet Award in recognition for her innovative work.

Ginger Casto

Ten years ago, after a challenging two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the South Pacific, Ginger and her husband discovered llamas as they were transitioning from the culture shock of returning to the U.S.A. Since then, Ginger has been active in llama rescue activities and education for llama care. She has lived in the Rogue Valley, Oregon, for over 20 years in the social service and non-profit consulting profession where she was the Director of Residential Services for The Youthworks, Inc. (now Community Works), in Medford, Oregon, and supervised staff, foster parents and volunteers to provide non-traditional residential services in foster home settings for runaway and homeless youth as well as criminal offender youth. In the mid 1980’s Ginger left direct services to become the Executive Director of the Pacific Non Profit Network, a Foundation Center Grantsmanship Library and in 1996 became an organizational development consultant working with non-profit organizations in all aspects of non-profit work.

Margo DeMello, PhD

Margo DeMello is President and Executive Director of House Rabbit Society, an international rabbit rescue and education organization. She holds a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology and currently lectures at Central New Mexico Community College, teaching sociology, cultural studies, and anthropology. She is one of the foremost experts on rabbit social behavior and lives with a group of 50 domestic rabbits at her home. Her books include Bodies of Inscription: A Cultural History of the Modern Tattoo Community (2000), Stories Rabbits Tell: A Natural and Cultural History of a Misunderstood Creature (2003), Low-Carb Vegetarian (2004), Why Animals Matter: The Case for Animal Protection (2007), and The Encyclopedia of Body Adornment (2007). The Encyclopedia of Body Adornment was included in the 2008 list of Outstanding Reference Sources for small and medium-sized libraries by the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), a division of the American Library Association.

She has recently had articles published in the Encyclopedia of Human-Animal Relationships (Marc Bekoff, ed.), Encyclopedia of Animal Rights (Marc Bekoff, ed.), and A Cultural History of Animals: The Modern Age (Randy Malamud, ed.). Her newest books, to be released in 2009 and 2010, will be A Cultural Encyclopedia of Feet and Footwear and the edited collection, Teaching the Animal: Human Animal Studies Across the Disciplines, and she is under contract to write Animals and Society, a textbook for Brill.

pattrice jones

pattrice jones is the author of Aftershock: Confronting Trauma in a Violent World, a Guide for Activists and Their Allies and the cofounder of the Eastern Shore Sanctuary and Education Center. She received her graduate training in clinical psychology at the University of Michigan, having previously completed the Clinical Concentration program jointly administered by Towson University and the Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital in Baltimore. She has facilitated support groups for survivors of childhood sexual abuse, growth groups for at-risk youth, and workshops for stressed social change activists, including animal advocates. At the Eastern Shore Sanctuary, she developed a method of rehabilitation for roosters traumatized by cockfighting and has closely observed the process by which chickens who have not been traumatized by captivity or genetic manipulation readily "re-wild" themselves. Her theoretical work focuses on the role of trauma in the origins and maintenance of the race-sex-species nexus of oppression and in the escalating water and climate emergencies.

Lori Marino, PhD

Lori is a Senior Lecturer in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology at Emory University, Atlanta and a Faculty Affiliate of the Living Links Center for the Advanced Study of Ape and Human Evolution. Her research expertise and interests include the evolution of intelligence and self-awareness in other species, noninvasive studies of brain and behavior, cognitive ethology, human-nonhuman relationships, and animal welfare, ethics, and conservation. She has worked extensively with dolphins and chimpanzees and, in 2001, co-authored the first definitive evidence of mirror self-recognition in a non-primate species, the bottlenose dolphin. She is also involved in NASA Astrobiology Program initiatives on the evolution of intelligence and active in many animal advocacy and sheltering efforts. She is Co-founder of Act For Dolphins, an international coalition seeking the end of the annual Japanese dolphin hunts. Dr. Marino also co-founded the Atlanta Animal Studies Group, a group of faculty interested in scholarly exploration of the cultural and ethical relationship between humans and other animals.

Eileen McCarthy

Eileen McCarthy is founder, president, and CEO of the Midwest Avian Adoption and Rescue Services (MAARS), a unique organization located in St. Paul, MN that has provided sanctuary, advocacy and rehabilitation for wild birds living in captivity since 1999. Ms. McCarthy is also co-founder of the Avian Welfare Coalition (AWC), and served as President of The Association of Sanctuaries, an animal sanctuary accrediting organization, from 2004 through 2008. She conducts local and national presentations regarding the welfare and protection issues inherent in the keeping of wild birds in captivity, and has worked to promote animal protection legislation and regulation at the state and federal levels. She consults with and assists law enforcement, regulatory and animal control agencies, animal protection and advocacy organizations, and legislators regarding the welfare of avian species in captivity. Ms McCarthy also leads workshops, research, and courses, and is actively involved in ongoing local, national and international avian advocacy and protection projects and initiatives campaigns.

More recently, the therapeutic environment and treatment program utilized by MAARS for the many birds in their care suffering from capture or captivity-related trauma has led to a partnership with The Kerulos Center and the development of the Avian Care and Recovery Center (ACRC). The foundation of ACRC is to create a model for scientific, animal directed trans-species psychology and psychiatry. The ACRC focuses on the treatment of common conditions including post-traumatic stress disorder, attachment disorders, affect dysregulation, obsessive-compulsive disorders, and other psychological and psychiatric conditions. Such condtions, and effective treatment interventions, are well-documented in the literature and research involving both human and non-human behavior, psychology, psychiatry and neurology. The mission, accomplishments and residents of ACRC will be the strongest evidence available in advocating for the protection and legal rights of non-human animals.

Joseph Daniel Mitchell, MS
Joseph is a fullblood citizen of the Creek Nation and a member of the Muskogee Indian Community. For the past 26 years, he has worked in environmental sciences and conservation on tribal and federal lands with the tribes, the USDA Forest Service, Washington, DC, and Bureau of Indian Affairs. He was Senior Executive Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and has worked with more than 200 tribes across the nation. Joe consults with tribal governments and communities on Indian law and treaties and advocacy for tribes to exercise treaty rights on federal lands, and implement traditional practices. He has also been involved in the evolution of several of the 26 tribal colleges throughout the country and has assisted many with establishing traditional ecological knowledge programs.

Michael Mountain

Michael is the co-founder and President of Zoe, which is building a global community of people who care about the animals, nature and the environment. Until 1998, Michael was also President (and one of the founders) of Best Friends Animal Society, which runs the largest animal sanctuary in the U.S. for companion and domestic animals.

Through the 1990s, as editor of Best Friends magazine, he brought together grassroots groups and people all across the country to help build the no-kill movement that helped bring the number of homeless pets being killed in shelters down from 17 million a year to fewer than 5 million.

“Today,” he says, “it’s not just dogs and cats who are losing their homes. Our fellow animals are being made homeless all over the world: from elephants and tigers, who are being hunted and encroached upon to extinction ... to life in the oceans, where 90 percent of predatory fish are now gone due to overfishing, and where the coral reefs, where most fish are birthed, are now dying due to warmer, polluted waters ... to animals large and small who are being forced to leave their homes in search of new habitat due to climate change ... to dolphins who are torn from their homes to entertain people by doing party tricks in tanks.

“Zoe will do online what we did with Best Friends magazine in the 1990s, becoming the go-to place for news, both serious and light, philosophical and quirky, and bringing us all together to help transform the way people relate to the animals, nature and, by extension, each other.”

Michael adds that he’s delighted to be part of the Kerulos faculty: “Speaking as an Oxford dropout from the 1960s, I’d say that the Kerulos Institute is providing the kind of education that all universities should be offering!” As part of Kerulos, Michael is particular concerned with helping people understand that almost all the ills of the world today stem from our sense of disconnection from the natural world – and therefore from our own nature. “The Earth is our home,” he says, “and the other animals are our family and our neighbors. We’re destroying our home and killing our neighbors. No good can come of this. It’s time to build a whole new relationship to our fellow animals. And Kerulos will be laying the foundations and providing much of the key groundwork for this.”

Vera Muller-Paisner, LCSW

Vera Muller-Paisner is a psychoanalyst with a master’s degree in social work who has spent the last two decades years studying the chronicity and transmission of trauma. She was a research consultant for the International Study Group for Trauma, At Yale University and in 1996 received an appointment in the Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine. She has conducted extensive research and clinical experience working with Holocaust survivors and is the author of Broken Chain: Catholics Uncover the Holocaust's Hidden Legacy and Discover Their Jewish Roots. Much of her clinical work focuses on helping those who suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). One of the tools that she has found to be effective in managing memories of trauma is a protocol called Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). She has adapted the protocol to Bilateral Equine Tapping (BET) for use with horses who display traumatic memory. Riding is a partnership, and trauma can be transmitted between partners.

Susie O'Keeffe, MS

Susie received her Master's with distinction from Oxford University in England. Her research explored the human / wolf relationship, with an emphasis on how wolves can guide us toward sustainable agricultural systems. For the past twenty years she has also worked with a variety of environmental and local agriculture organizations in the United States and Europe. Currently she is developing an education project entitled, The Art of Reciprocity. This effort explores the sensuous exchange, or "natural return" that people experience with nature, and other species, when their capacities for creative perception, (i.e. intuition, dreams, imagination, symbolic and metaphorical perception and emotion), are joined with a commitment to consciousness, and a practice of contemplation. Her work explores how these forms of perception and understanding help humans cultivate reciprocal relationships with the natural world and other animals, and the ways in which these exchanges bring forth an inspiration to coexist with all life. Susie is especially intrigued by the unique role that artistic and creative expression play in helping people deepen and relay this inspiration, and the insights it imparts. She is currently writing about her recent trip to Alaska where she explored the roles that integrating creative perception, consciousness and contemplation play in deepening our ability to coexist with brown bears, wolves, and the complex communities of other self-willed animals, elements and landscapes, of the Katmai region.

The educational element of Susie's work includes an undergraduate course that examines contemporary and historic case studies of naturalists who have used creative perception, and prolonged contemplation, as forms of inquiry and understanding. Traditional conservation approaches are compared and contrasted with emerging ideas about our capacity for mutual exchanges with other beings, and the emerging understanding of animal cultures, intelligence and emotion. Students are introduced to the idea of creative perception, moral consciousness and forms of contemplative practice as valid tools of inquiry. They explore role that these practices and ways of understanding play in addressing our ongoing destruction of life and landscape. Students express what they have discovered, felt, dreamed and imagined through art forms of their choice.

Dave Perry, PhD

Dave is a Professor (emeritus) in the Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society at Oregon State University, and lead author of the acclaimed textbook, Forest Ecosystems. He is a member of the National Commission on the Science of Sustainable Forestry, and on the Board of Directors of two nonprofits, the National Center for Conservation Science and Policy, and Na Huapala ‘O Hawai’i, which is dedicated to restoration and perpetuation of traditional Hawaiian values.

Dave’s research interests have focused on various aspects of ecosystem function, including especially how cooperation among species contributes to ecosystem health. He has taught ecology, silviculture, ecosystem management, and currently an online course in the ecology of sustainable resource management. He has conducted short courses on ecosystem management in Canada, Chile, and Brazil.

Elke Riesterer, CMT

Elke is a Certified Massage Therapist and registered Jin Shin Do Practitioner with the broad experience of having worked with people and animals for over 25 years. She has been volunteering in the capacity of an all species Body Therapist at the Oakland Zoo since 1997 and uses a combination of body-centered therapies including her most favored modality, the Tellington Touch (TTouch™). The focus of her work centers in general around the complex well being issues of Elephants worldwide. Besides her work with Elephants at the zoo, Elke also tends to animals such as the giant Aldabra Tortoises, Monitor Lizards, Snakes and Giraffes. She has lectured extensively and has brought her work to the Elephant and Rhino Orphanage in Nairobi, Kenya, and toThailand and India at many locales. In addition to many exotic species, Elke works with Horses, Dogs and other home animals. Her upcoming book describes her love and healing journey with Elephants in different countries. Numerous articles have featured her mission.

Charlie Russell

Charlie Russell is the founding director of the Pacific Rim Grizzly Bear Co-Existence Study. Renowned worldwide for his ground-breaking work with grizzly bears in Canada and Russia, Charlie has spent the better part of 48 years closely observing the nature of these animals in their natural habitat — more time than anyone else in direct, peaceful relationship with wild grizzly bears. A former rancher and guide, Charlie is also an author, photographer, and self-taught pilot.

Charlie's visionary and courageous work has overthrown countless widely held convictions concerning the nature of grizzly bears. He is the only person to ever successfully demonstrate that, when treated as intelligent beings, worthy and deserving of respect, grizzly bears will co-exist peacefully with humans.

His experience includes an 18 year exploration of how grizzlies used and shared his ranch situated on the boundary of Waterton / Glacier International Park near the border between Alberta and Montana. During this time he developed systems that allowed his cattle and the bears to co-exist. In 1992-93, Charlie lived on Princess Royal Island to create a film about the Spirit Bear with award winning wildlife filmmakers Jeff and Sue Turner. His first book, Sprit Bear—Encounters with the White Bear of the Western Rainforest, chronicles the two years spent living with and filming these little understood animals.

From 1996 to 2006 Charlie explored how human fear, anger and aggression have shaped the human-bear conflict. Determined to examine whether or not trust, kindness, openness and respect could transform our relationships with grizzlies, Charlie lived at the heart of a very dense population of bears in Kamchatka, Russia. In this rugged and remote area, he pioneered raising ten orphaned cubs rescued from a Russian zoo. To gain maximum understanding about bears that do not fear humans, Charlie and his project partner, Maureen Enns, established deep and lasting bonds with the cubs, as well as several of the wild bears in the region. Wild and free after six years, the cubs grew into peaceful, trustworthy adult bears. They demonstrated no signs of violence or aggression toward humans.

Charlie's latest best selling book, Grizzly Heart – Living Without Fear Among the Brown Bears Of Kamchatka, chronicling this extraordinary story and visionary work, is published in five languages. He also co-authored with Maureen Enns a companion photo album, Grizzly Seasons – Life with the Brown Bears of Kamchatka. Several films have brought this remarkable story to the world, including the 1997 documentary for PBS Nature: Walking with Giants: The Grizzlies of Siberia. In 2005 the BBC film Bear Man of Kamchatka was made. Jeff and Sue Turner created a 90 minute theatre production entitled The Edge of Eden from which much of the footage for the BBC film was taken. To date this moving film has won 12 awards in both European and North American film festivals.

At 67, Charlie is working to bring co-existence home through the Pacific Rim Grizzly Bear Co-Existence Study. When he is not out sharing his experience and knowledge with audiences throughout the World, he is enjoying his granddaughter and his other great passion – flying the airplane he built himself.

Allen M. Schoen, DVM, MS, PhD (hon.)

Dr. Schoen received his DVM from Cornell University, College of Veterinary Medicine, in 1978. He also holds a Master's Degree in neurophysiology and behavior from the University of Illinois. Dr. Schoen received an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Becker College in 1998 for his contributions to Veterinary Medicine. He established the Department of Acupuncture, the first in the world outside of China, at the Animal Medical Center in New York City in 1982

Dr. Schoen has held faculty positions at Colorado State University College of Veterinary Medicine and Tufts University College of Veterinary Medicine in addition to being a faculty member of the Chi Institute for Traditional Chinese Medicine. He is certified in both veterinary acupuncture (1982) and veterinary chiropractic (1990). He is a former President of the International Veterinary Acupuncture Society (IVAS).

Dr. Schoen is a pioneer who has dedicated his professional career to the advancement of complementary and alternative veterinary medicine. He is the founder and director of the Center for Integrative Animal Health, a division of Global Communications for Conservation, Inc. (GCC). He is the co-editor of Complementary and Alternative Veterinary Medicine, Principles and Practice, and the editor of both Veterinary Acupuncture: Ancient Art to Modern Medicine and Problems in Veterinary Medicine: Veterinary Acupuncture. Dr. Schoen is the author of Kindred Spirits, How the Remarkable Relationship between Humans and Animals Can Transform our Lives (Broadway, Random House, 2001) and author of Love, Miracles & Animal Healing (Simon & Schuster, 1995). He has published numerous research articles on complementary and alternative veterinary medicine (CAVM). He has lectured on CAVM throughout the world including Europe, Scandinavia, Australia, New Zealand, South America, Africa, the U.S. and Canada.His research grants include one from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation for developing CAVM curriculums for veterinary schools, and one from the Gauntlett Foundation for developing new approaches to chronic disease. He has received research grants through GCC, Inc., from the Janet Stone-Jones Foundation, and from the McIntosh Foundation. Dr. Schoen is a charter fellow of the American College of Acupuncture, an organization of physicians dedicated to scientific acupuncture. Dr. Schoen was appointed to the American Veterinary Medical Association's (AVMA) six member committee on alternative and complementary veterinary medicine for whom he developed approved guidelines for CAVM in 1996. He has been on numerous editorial boards of journals and advisory committees of various veterinary nutritional companies. He authored a column with Time-Warner's Pathfinder web site titled The Healing Arts. He was a consultant for a new Public Broadcasting System television series on health care as well as having his own radio show.

In addition, Dr. Schoen maintains a referral practice in large and small animal integrative veterinary medicine. Through this practice he has developed new approaches to such degenerative conditions as cancer, arthritis, liver disease and others. Dr. Schoen continues to create innovative natural nontoxic approaches to animal health, environmental health and human health care and integrate them into a new interdisciplinary program with a commitment to compassionate care for all beings.

Dr. Dame Daphne Marjorie Sheldrick, DBE, MBS

Daphne Sheldrick’s involvement with wildlife has spanned a lifetime. Born in Kenya on the 4th June 1934, she grew up amongst animals, both wild and domestic. She was educated at Nakuru Primary School and the Kenya High School where she matriculated in 1950 with Honours and the possibility of a bursary for University Entrance in the Cambridge School Leaving Certificate, achieving the position of 8th in the Colony. Instead Daphne opted for marriage. Living as she did within a National Park, she had the opportunity to observe and study most species at both the field level and in a captive situation. Rearing their orphaned young has brought to her a unique and unparalleled understanding of the "inside story" of wild creatures. - knowledge of their minds and emotions, the role of instinct where it impacts on behaviour, the importance of scent and chemistry in their daily lives, telepathic capabilities, individuality, vocalizations, and the ability to interpret the subtleties of a complex body language..

For over 25 years, from 1955 until 1976, Daphne Sheldrick lived and worked alongside her late husband, David, the famous founder Warden of Kenya's giant Tsavo National Park. During that time she raised and rehabilitated back into the wild community orphans of misfortune from many different wild species, including Elephants aged two and upwards; Black Rhinos, Buffaloes, Zebra, Eland, Kudu, Impala, Duikers, Reedbuck, Dikdiks, Warthogs and many smaller animals such as civets, mongooses and birds. She is a recognized International authority on the rearing of wild creatures and is the first person to have perfected the milk formula and necessary husbandry for both infant milk dependent Elephants and Rhinos. The key to her success has been her life-long experience of wild creatures, an in-depth knowledge of animal psychology, the behavioral characteristics of the different species, and, of course, that most essential component, a sincere and deep empathy. For her work in this field Daphne Sheldrick was decorated by the Queen in 1989 with an M.B.E., elevated to U.N.E.P.’s elite Global 500 Roll of Honour in 1992, among the first 500 people worldwide to have been accorded this particular honour, and awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine and Surgery by Glasgow University in June 2000. In December 2001 her work was honoured by the Kenya Government through a prestigious decoration - a Moran of the Burning Spear (M.B.S.), and in 2002 by the B.B.C. when she received their Lifetime Achievement Award. In the November 2005 issue of the Smithsonian Magazine Daphne Sheldrick was named as one of 35 people worldwide who have made a difference in terms of animal husbandry and wildlife conservation. In the 2006 New Year’s Honours List, Queen Elizabeth II appointed Dr. Daphne Sheldrick to Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, the first Knighthood to be awarded in Kenya since the country received Independence in 1963.

Barbara Smuts, PhD
Smuts received a Bachelors Degree in Anthropology from Harvard University and a Ph.D in neurological and biological behavioral science from Stanford Medical School and has studied baboons, dolphins, and chimpanzees. In the 1970s she began research with Jane Goodall on chimpanzees in Gombe National Park. She uses perspectives derived from evolutionary theory, studies of complex systems, and developmental research to examine the dynamics and functions of long-term social relationships. Her work focuses on social behavior in primates, wolves, and domestic dogs in the areas of play, social reciprocity, cooperation, greetings, conflict resolution, emotions, and mood. Questions that inspire her wok include: How do other animals develop trusting relationships in the absence of spoken language? What do animals understand about the beliefs and intentions of their social partners? And how can understanding of nonhuman social relationships help us to better understand human behavior?

Ann Southcombe

Ann Southcombe is an Animal Relation Specialist and licensed wildlife rehabilitator who, for over 35 years, has dedicated her life to the care of gorillas, squirrels, lynx, bears, and many other species in captivity. It has been her goal to learn and perfect how to facilitate their process of “meaning making” as they renew their lives after trauma and hardship. Ann has learned there is a delicate balance in being with them as a human yet relating on their terms. Ann is the author of several books and conducts wortkshops and lectures throughout North America including series called “Kinship With Animals” that shares her experiences with diverse species to raise public awareness concerning the deep emotional feelings and intellectual capabilities of other animals on the planet. Ann brings profound knowledge of animal experiences and values to intergate into human science and culture. Ann has no formal academic degree: her teachers have been the animal individuals who she has cared for. She therefore exemplifies the new kinds of learning and knowledge that can teach other humans and include other animals' participation in knowledge-making.

Ed Tick, PhD

Edward Tick, Ph.D. is a holistic psychotherapist and transformational healer. He is a writer, educator, journey guide, activist and veterans’ advocate. He specializes in using psycho-spiritual, cross-cultural, nature-based and international reconciliation practices to bring healing to veterans, survivors, communities and nations recovering from the traumas of war and violence.

Ed is Co-founder, Director and Senior Clinician of Soldier’s Heart: Veterans’ Safe Return Initiatives. He has been a psychotherapist for 35 years, specializing in working with veterans and others suffering with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) since the late 1970s. He has served as distinguished visiting faculty at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, West Point, Ft. Hood, and numerous universities, colleges and cultural centers around the world. He is internationally recognized as an expert on veterans, PTSD, and the psychology of military-related issues.

Ed leads semi-annual international educational, healing and reconciliation journeys to Greece and Viet Nam. He has published four books: Sacred Mountain, Encounters with the Vietnam Beast (1989), The Practice of Dream Healing (Quest, 2001), The Golden Tortoise: Viet Nam Journeys (Red Hen, 2005), and the award-winning War and the Soul (Quest, 2005), credited with transforming the trauma field to include spiritual and cultural dimensions of wounding and healing. His work has been translated and published in Greece, Japan, Viet Nam and Bulgaria. He is also a poet and author of over 100 articles in psychology, holistic health, mythology and spirituality, literature, philosophy, culture and travel.

Spirituality, soul, the Earth, and their well-being are at the center of all Ed’s work.

Thidi Tshiguvho, PhD

Thidi Tshiguvho’s main research focus is on human-environment relationships, particularly the relationships between indigenous communities and wildlife. With a Ph.D. in Geography from Clark University and a background in conservation biology (M.Sc), Thidi’s work explores indigenous peoples’ perception of nature, how that shapes their interaction with plants and animals, and the biological conservation outcomes of these relationships. Her research in South Africa, her country of origin, explored how traditional beliefs about plants and animals species, which were based on traditional people’s knowledge of the behavior, morphology, and physiology of these plants and animals, determined how they treated these species and why they incorporated them into the local culture and the sacred forests conservation system.

Thidi’s work highlighted how snakes were believed able to communicate with humans about the biological and social condition of sacred forests they inhabit. Her research also compares the basis for (1) respectful vs. abusive treatment of plants and animals within indigenous and western societies, and (2) “othering” other beings in general. Thidi’s recent interest is on the behavioral similarities between humans and other species, particularly in terms of how they respond to environmental stress.

For the past 10 years, Thidi has taught ecology, conservation biology, geography, and other environmental science courses at several universities in South Africa and the USA. She is currently at Clark University, the Department of International Development, Community and Environment, working on Aids 2031 and other projects. Previously, she was part of National Science Foundation task force to establish a Long-term Ecological Research site in South Africa.

Joseph P. Yenkosky, PhD

Joseph P. Yenkosky, PhD. is Coordinator of Interagency Initiatives, MidWest Avian Adoption and Rescue Service (MAARS), Minnesota - and Coordinator of The Parrot Directed Research Initiative (PDSI), Kerulos Center, Oregon. The PDSI is an interagency collaboration integrating recent academic findings in comparative intelligence, neuropsychology and sanctuary knowledge - towards a trans-species paradigm. He holds a B.A., in Clinical Psychology (Washburn University - 1982); an MS, Health Services and Information Systems, (Central Michigan University, 1985); and his PhD. in Health Services and Economics (Walden University, 1995). He is a Mental Health Practitioner, specializing in PTSD, as well as a certified Clinical Hypnotherapist. Dr. Yenkosky has been working with traumatized, special need dogs since the 1980s, developing a method for recovery grounded in human PTSD models. His background in human intelligence, neuropsychological testing, communication and brain function also found a home in the underestimated population of abandoned captive parrots.

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