February 6, 2024 • 51 mins
Hollywood sweetheart Amanda Seyfried stops by the show to catch up with Kevin and update him on life on her farm. They chat about their mutual love of all creatures and taking care of the homestead. They are joined by Julie Castle, CEO of Best Friends Animal Society, a "no-kill" animal welfare organization fighting to save the lives of cats and dogs all-across America, giving pets second chances and happy homes.
To learn more and get involved with Best Friends Animal Society, head to BestFriends.org. To support more initiatives like this program, text 'BACON' to 707070 or head to SixDegrees.Org to learn more.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey. You know, if you follow me on social media,
you know that I live on a farm. I got
a lot of animals. Go it's pigs, horses, miniature horses,
pack because chicken. What am I forgetting? I think we're
about to get a couple of tiny little sheet I
got this place in the eighties, and you know, a
(00:22):
kid growing up in the city, I just really started
to connect a lot with animals and with nature, and
I for some reason, developed this love of horses, and
that was really what brought me to buy this piece
of property back in nineteen eighty three. But I find
that when I start caring for another creature, it really
(00:43):
helps me to kind of recenter my days. And I
think that spending time, certainly in lockdown, around living, breathing
animals and connecting with them was incredibly helpful. And to
this day, my wife and I will just say, oh, wow,
you know, we haven't been down to hang out with
(01:03):
the animals today, and we'll just go and sit there
and just I don't know, do little it up and
you know, hang out with them, and it can be
a very very therapeutic moment. The Fabulous Amanda sayfer It
is our guest today on the podcast, and she also
(01:24):
lives on a farm. And I really love this person
and I love that she is so compassionate for all creatures.
Apparently not male ducks, however, But a little bit more
on that later. So if you love animals, lean in
and listen up. I'm glad you're here, Amanda. Thank you
(01:53):
so much for being here. It's so good to see you.
As I've told you multiple times, I admire are you
so much for your chameleon like work. A lot of
us are pretty good at doing maybe one thing and
maybe two, and I'm talking about some of our greatest,
greatest performers. But you are someone who really, really truly
(02:18):
does disappear into all sorts of different kinds of parts,
as well as all sorts of different kinds of genres
of movie. I mean, you really, your your career has
been completely unclassified. And I just wondered if when when
(02:39):
you start out, you're really young, right, and you start
to do this thing where you're gonna, you know, become
somebody else, was it in your mind to try to
have the kind of career, to try to explore the
different kinds of uh variety of parts that you have
(02:59):
been able.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
No, it was here. Listen, here's the thing you said.
Amazing things. I really appreciate all everything that your perspective
on my acting is really meaningful because you have continued
to bring any kind of refreshing angle or take to
(03:22):
any new character. You always find something different to do.
It's never boring, You're never one saying it's that kind
of career that like most people want. You're able to
bend yourself in ways that you know people wish they could,
and I try to do. And I think the answer
to that question is that I was. I very deliberately
(03:46):
wanted to bend myself as much as possible when I
was younger, so I didn't fit into any mold, or
I didn't let the industry put me in any mold
because it was super easy to do to a young
blonde girl next door. Sure, and then I was like
and then, but it was totally this movie Chloe that
I think got people within the industry, producers and actors
and casting directors to see that I was kind of
(04:09):
pushing my own boundaries and they were like, okay, And
that creates trust, maybe not with everybody, but with enough
people so they can start seeing me in other ways.
You know, it's a little harder for women, it seems,
to get out of that box.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Yeah, I mean, I think everything is harder for in
our industry for women. But I also think that you
make a very good point which a lot of people
don't really necessarily get unless they happen to choose this life,
and that is that people really would rather have you
do the same thing, especially if that thing that you've
(04:44):
done has been successful. You know, the first time I
was in a successful movie, they just wanted to find
pretty much the same movie for me to do again.
But they weren't sequels. They were just in that same
sort of pocket and pushing back against that. Sometimes it's
(05:05):
a couple of things. Number One, it is without even
knowing it, it's pretty risky, you know, because you're not
leaning towards the money, really, you know, you're leaning towards
something that satisfies you creatively. But you know, I think
that you've really been able to do that. And also,
(05:27):
as I pointed out, across all kinds of genres, I
make comedy and musicals and horror and dramas and and
you know real you know, what do they call rep
from the headlines type characters and and and all this stuff.
I mean, it's it's it really is amazing. Now, is
(05:50):
there We've probably discussed this before, but is there one
thing that's at the top of the list when you
look through that giant pile of scripts that come up,
uh via email to you just just you don't even
have enough room in the hard drive for all those PDFs.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Yeah, just mountains men.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
I mean, is is there one? Is there one? Is it?
You know, direct, director or star whatever.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
It's director, it's totally director. And if it and if
it's not, if it's somebody who's very new to the
industry or new to directing, or at least somebody that
we've we haven't seen before, it's it's descript. It just
has to happen. There's got to be something incredibly interesting
(06:39):
about the character and what the character goes through, even
if it's just me on my own in a short film.
Just if if this person has a true vision and
and not an incredible and incredibly like fascinating story or
at least grounded or at least realistic story, then I'm in.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
But you do so many other things besides uh, this
acting stuff. What have you been busy with since we've
been on strike.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Well, when the pandemic hit, we were all kind of
at a standstill in every industry of course, everywhere. So
my creative brain was still churning out, like fiber art
as it does because I can't stop. But with fiber art,
you can only do so much and you're always stuck
in your little bubble on the couch.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Or wherever you are, and explain to explain that those
people that might not know what fiberart is, oh, just.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Anything you can make with yarn really, yeah, yeah, because
I've seen you fiberarting on on a step before and
I did.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
I didn't even know that there was that debt, that
that was the thing, anything that could be done with
y art.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Yeah, I was, I know, I was in a I
was very deep into weaving while we were working together.
It's just uh an a knitting, of course, but but
I needed I my friends and I my friends who
don't aren't actors, aren't in this business at all. We
grew up together and so we started this business. That God,
(08:11):
starting a business is hard, and also doing something to
create to generate money also feels weird because when you
I'm usually working with organizations, charities working to generate money
from investors to donate to a certain cause. And this
felt different because I'm the cause is our product, and
(08:35):
so it's very different, and I'm used to using myself
as a marketing tool to get people to donate to
these very specific organized war child best friends Inada, and
I think with starting a business, I was so I mean,
it was all mine. We started it together, the three
of us, so we were all founders and we are
(08:57):
all what we say goes. We're all so inc control
of what we were building and we really believed in it,
and so that was just weird. It's kind of a
new path because you.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Were out there looking for investors, looking for seed money
to get going.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
We never did that. We actually kept it all in
house between us. That was really great. But it's still
weird to try to get people to buy your product.
But I do believe in it and it is amazing.
But it is like I did, I started a business.
I started a business, and that's what it is.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
And this is make it cute, Make it cute.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
And we have a charitable like fact factor too, like
it's it's you know, we're trying to we are in
a sustainable business, and it's really great to network and
connect with other people that are like minded. And in
this generation where we're trying to buy less for our kids,
and when we do buy things, we want to buy
(09:52):
things that are recycled, and we want to we want
to be responsible with as consumers because we are, you know,
we're always going to be in this capitalists sect, so
why not create something that does less damage to the world.
And we're doing that, But at the at the core
of it, I really like designing playhouses.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Okay, yeah, tell us about the product though, because I
I just I just saw it and it looks really
super You want one? Sure, I don't have. I don't
don't need little.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Kids, I don't think so actually we are going to
do it. We are going to make a smaller version
for animals because people are people have been asking us
and it was always my design and my friends are like, yeah, maybe,
and I was like, we must because I've got my fin,
I've got my dog and yeah, it's uh, it's made
out of cardboard and you can call it corrogate, but
(10:40):
the layperson says cardboard and people are like, well, our
kids make stuff out of cardboard. All the time, and
unfortunately we've got these massive like boats that look like
crap and don't they don't want to throw them away?
So why not make something that's incredibly easy to use.
I mean, it's it folds up so mm hmm. It's
(11:01):
made from recycled well, cardboard is recycled, has to be
fifty percent at least.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
And their playhouses, right, and their playhouse.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
You just it's three little pieces. There's no assembly, you
just I mean you do have to assemble it, but
it's just three pieces and you just pop it open
and you put it in and the roof on and
it you're done.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
So what was the genesis of that idea? I mean, well,
how did that? What made you even think.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
About in the market place?
Speaker 1 (11:23):
A hole in the marketplace? Do your partners have kids too?
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Yeah, we all have kids.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
It's the same because you have two kids. How old
are the kids?
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Know, six and a half and three and there's our
six and a half and four, And we were all
pregnant with our first the same time, and we all
like went on vacations together. We've been best friend since
we were five.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Oh wow.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
And they all have different experiences like what Maureen was
a physician's assistant. She still is and quit her job
when she had kids. She has a very good business
sales mind and she's also incredibly designed forward and just
we have similar tastes and we just were like we
(12:02):
need to we don't, there's no ear and was building
these playhouses out of all these these refrigerator box and
there were double wall, which is a box is normally
like Amazon box. It's like one wall m h. And
it breaks down easily and it's great. But she was
building them with extra shingles, and she was painting them
with ferowe ball colors and everything that we love to
(12:25):
see in our own homes. And she's like, this is
where I throw all the toys in at night, and
this is how I have my zen back with all
these kids crappy toys. Sorry, it's chunk. A lot of
it's junk. And and then we were like, this is
there's nothing like this. There's nothing cute. All the toy
all the playhouses. If they're cardboard, they're a pain to
(12:46):
put together and they're not nice looking at all.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
And plus I love that you're not using plastic, because
you know that's that's one of the tough that's a
whole other conversation about, you know, our overuse of play
classic and what's more single use than a playhouse once
your kid, you know, grows out of it. And that's
just a lot. That's a lot of that's a lot
of stuff that's good going to.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Never break down and it doesn't break down. There's a
lot of like different materials that aren't plastic, you know
those those there's canvas tents and stuff it takes at
least an hour to put together there. Some of them
are insanely expensive. The kid craft stuff is great for outside.
Our product is not outside. But it's just like it
was a giant hole in the market. We're like, I
(13:33):
don't want to build. I don't want to build that.
I want that. I don't want to build. I want
someone to do it for me. And I don't want
to have any butt clenching when I'm at the checkout
in online. I just because we were doing market research too.
When we started our business. We had to buy all
of them, and I mean it was it was stressful
(13:53):
because we knew we needed to do we but we
needed help making it. We needed engineers, we needed hard
woork companies, people that work with this material. We did
it all our own and then we met somebody who
this Robert, who actually created Green Toys. Him and his
partner created Green Toys, which is all those really cool
trucks made out of plastic milk jugs. But so it
(14:15):
looks like plastic, it's durable like plastic, but it's not.
It's made out of recycled material and it blew up.
He sold his company. Now he's an employee of he's
a consult and he helps with our finances. But I'm
telling you, Kevin, business is hard. We're finally finally starting
(14:35):
to talk to investors, like I can't do it anymore.
We have a lot of people interested. We've sent it
out to so many people. We you know, we did
quality control, We've met everybody. We work within the facilities
and on the East Coast. It's expensive to build things
in the US. It's just keeping things sustainable is expensive.
(14:57):
So it's like, I don't know if this business is
you know, to make money as much as it is
to create something that we love. Hopefully one day that's great.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Tell me how's your music?
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Thank God, I'm working.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Have you been are you doing anything?
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Are you doing any.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
No, I'm out with the band. We're playing a lot
of shows.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
This fall around the country or like everywhere, all.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Around the country. Yeah, we're on our way. What's our
next run? I think our next roun is maybe Texas
and then we're going down south and we were just
up in Maine a couple of days ago. So yeah,
we're actually playing a lot. And the weird thing about
being in a band is that the gigs get booked,
Like oftentimes weigh in advance of when my acting gigs
(15:48):
get booked. So I'm always a little bit stressed out
because I say, well, if something's going to come through,
then we're going to have to you know, cancel a
show or or you know, or or or boot it
down the road. And it's or I'll have to be
flying from some place to another place to another place
in a place ranged all bills. And because of the strike, Yeah,
(16:10):
you know, it's it's been We've been just able to
play all these shows and it's been great. I feel
very grateful to have that. I think both of us,
Kier and I have kind of realized during this strike
that we we're for better or for worse, we're kind
of workaholics. You know, we really do like to work,
(16:32):
and so it's been a it's been a whole.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
That's the thing. We create all these other worlds for
ourselves on purpose or not on purpose, and because we're
we want to be creating. And I mean, yes, we're
artists and we're actors, but we're artists. So it's like
that's many things, like you have you traveling with your
band and being able to finally say yes, are you availble, yes,
(16:57):
can you do yes? Instead of trying to to fit in,
try to do it all because there's only enough time
in the day. And so right now, yeah, I feel
privileged too that we're on strike for a great reason.
We got to keep negotiating. We got to sort this
out sooner than later because people need to work.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
They definitely did. What's the thing on the stage?
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Speaking for fillings, it's Ashlma Louise the musical, and I've
been working on its almost.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
I mean, oh, that is so exciting.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
But am I ready for that? Am I really? Is
my body really ready to do to the show?
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Of course it is?
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Is it though? Because I did that and it was
really great and it was hard, and I didn't have
any kids and I didn't live here on a farm
full time.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
You were with Tommy with your husband, right, were you
guys in the play?
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Yeah, but this is music and this is Broadway, so
there was no pressure to do off Broadway and no music.
This is music, him singing. If I lose my voice,
I'm not gonna be able to drink as much as
I like to drink. There is that, And the kids
don't go to school in the city. So it's just
(18:04):
am I ready for it? But I keep thinking it's
a dream come true. Every challenge has a rainbow at
the end of it, and it's gonna be amazing. I'm god,
I'm so sicking.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Do do you love love love the music that's in
the show. That's great? And so do you so you
have all you have all the songs now so you
can you can literally work on them all the time. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Because we did well, they're probably changing because we only
did two workshops. Have you ever done a musual?
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Never done a musical?
Speaker 3 (18:36):
No?
Speaker 1 (18:37):
I did one music. We did one show where it
was about the Yale Whiff and Proofs, which was a
is the a cappella a cappella group at Yale? Yeah,
we did a play probably in the Know the eighties
or something like that in New York off Broaby and
so they were singing in that, but it was definitely
not a musical. So so you have the songs. Is
(18:58):
it the world party? Are you? Are you feeling like
you really want to strengthen your voice? Is that the
thing to make it through the.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Hos yamina and need to stand or whatever. I also
need to find my middle voice again. I mean I've
been training in a different way with different music for
so long for fun, and then now I'm just getting
back to like the OZ because there's a lot of
OZ and I hate singing. You know, we sing, we
go in our middle voice and head voice. It's like
(19:26):
oohs and ease are so easy. So I work out
OS's is.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
It? Do this? Are the songs? Do they kind of
sit in the pop rock world or are they more
traditional Broadway o case?
Speaker 2 (19:39):
So it's like all rock. I'm flok. It's it's my dream.
It's like it couldn't be better.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
Oh that's so great.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
Because we had just Tommy and I had just seen
Nico Case at levon Helm Studios. Have you played there before?
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Yeah? We played there. Yeah, we played with with Levon
when he was alive the Midnight Ramble. Yeah, it was
quite an experience, you know. It's yeah, it's a great
place for people that don't know. Levon had this barn
up up in in Woodstock and uh, yeah that he built,
(20:18):
and you know, you got we get the opportunity to bands,
We get the opportunity to go and essentially play in
this in this barn to a small but great crowd,
amazing sound, and then uh, you're you're kind of opening
for Levon. In this case, it was Levon and and
(20:42):
Larry Campbell and a bunch of great players and and
and then at the end of it you get asked
to sit in and it was such a great experience.
He's one of my favorite drummers. And I got to
sit sort of like on the lean against this radiator
that's against the wall behind him and just and watch
(21:05):
his amazing left hand and the stuff that his left
hand was doing. And it was a it was a
great night, great night for me. I actually acted with him,
uh a few years ago, many many years ago, Uh,
in a movie and uh so we we kind of
knew each other already, but that was great anyway. So
so what did you you saw? What did you see
(21:26):
up there? At that point?
Speaker 2 (21:28):
We saw yeah, and it was incredible. And it was
our first time at Lewand Hill Studio and we sat
there and it was just it was Tommy's my husband
is the biggest Ego caes fan, like of all time.
For his birthday, I had his daughter to learn our daughter, sorry,
his daughter, my daughter, our daughter. I had her learn
(21:53):
I wish I was the Moon tonight and she learned
the entire thing and and have and and and that's
like one of her best songs. And the lyrics are
crazy for six year olds to be singing amazing. But
I was working. I was doing my second workshop with
Nico at the time. I was teaching my daughter the
song and she listened. I showed her the video of
(22:14):
her practicing, and she was just so alown away and
she was like, are you trying to kill him? And
I was like, he's you know, it's her. Her voice
speaks to him and me and many people. It made
people feel safer in the world. Nico cases like a treasure,
a national treasure, and the fact that she's composing all
of the music for this show is just so kismet
(22:37):
and it makes me feel like this was like sent
to me from God because I you know, I can
sing it, and I feel connected to it in a
way that I don't feel for with a lot of people,
a lot of musicians. And also I get to act
and I get to play Thelma, and that it gets
to work with friends, you know, I Trip Coleman's directing
(22:59):
and beautiful theater director. Yeah, and so many wonderful people
are part of it, and Mandy who was ran Williamstown
for a long time who I'm friends with, and it's
just like such a perfect little pocket of art for
me to now fulfill.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
Okay, I wait to see that.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
When do you go into rehearsal, I think, well, we
have our third workshop in November, which is the two
week workshops. We do all the songs again and everything again,
and then we have like most of our cast, and
then I think we're I think we're hoping for January
twenty twenty five because we need this next year to
(23:41):
I mean, dude, putting things something new, putting new musical
out on Broadways.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Apparently, yes it is.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
I have digests.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
Well that's so exciting. Now I want to just talk
about your you grew up in Allentown, and I know
that you you just have this great, great, deep love
for animals. Did you have animals or ride horses when
you were younger or any of that? Now you didn't.
You didn't grow up on a farm in Alaison. So
what do you think it came out of?
Speaker 2 (24:12):
I don't. I truly don't know.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
You're in a barn, right, animals. Yeah, the barn.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
This is the like really this was an old stable
obviously we made into these two rooms are guests room.
This is like the middle barn, the barn barn that's
actually over there. You can kind of see it right
over right over there. That's like the barn, and that's
you know, where where all the good stuff happens, where
(24:43):
all the sick animals come in when they need help.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
So you take animals in. I didn't. I didn't realize that.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
You take for instance, we're getting two new horses, and
the fencing guys are here right now to fix the
third paddock, and we only have three, and we'll only
ever have three and we always will always you know,
be a capacity. But everybody in the town kind of
knows what our deal is. We'll take it animals who
are very old and they all pretty much pass away
here m so it's a sanctuary essentially, okay, and we
(25:13):
get retire So this retire he's coming. He's thirty years old.
He's coming on this week this weekend, once the fencing's done,
and he's coming with a friend.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
Of horse, a horse. Sorry, yeah, okay, because you have
you have some other stuff too, you have got goats.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
We mainly it's like we can have as many many
horses as anyone can have because we have room. We
have a retiree, a trail horse who's who's thirty and
he's he was going to go off to auctions, so
we were just like I'm here and then his friend.
But his friend is not retired. He's ten years old
and he's in great health. Oh good, So that's not
(25:47):
that's not normal. We don't normally take in people who
are in great health.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Do you get up on him ever? I mean, they
sound like they're not they're they're they're not sound.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
But but no, this guy is going to be the
first sound. Oh it's thirty year olds of the thirty
year old the ten year old. I wouldn't read on
because I'm not experienced enough. But she can be broken,
and he will be one day, hopefully. But the thirty
year old is the one that I'm gonna put my
kids on.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
Oh nice, that's awesome. That's very exciting. And you have
and you have goats and your beloved dog.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
I love a dog. And ducks. We've just taken in
two more ducks. Ducks are real pain. I don't recommend it.
Do anybody do you have ducks?
Speaker 1 (26:32):
No chickens, but no ducks.
Speaker 4 (26:33):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (26:33):
No, ducks.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Don't do it. Don't do it. It's hard, it's there.
They're very very vicious to each other.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
Wow, okay, I didn't know that about ducks. Well, I
think that's a good segue. Is Julie available to hop
on with us?
Speaker 2 (26:51):
Hey?
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Why Julie? You guys know each other?
Speaker 4 (26:54):
Yes we do.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
There's Julie Castle from Best Friends Animal Society. Thank you
so much for joining Amanda and me.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
It's an honor to be here, big big fans of
both of your work.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
Thanks you too. You know I was I was reading
up about you and have just what I find to
be pretty fascinating journey into what it is that you do.
So maybe just explain that it's almost like you got
You're on your way to law school and got a
flat tire or something and ended up going into animal rescue.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
But UH, talk to me about how it happens, you know.
Speaker 3 (27:32):
I think it's a measure of really, I don't want
to sound too wu, but it's a measure of really
being up into the universe, you know. And I was
I just graduated from college, and my friends and I
knew it was our last hurrah before graduate school.
Speaker 4 (27:51):
So we decided to take a trip to Mexico.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
And at the time, I drove this really old nineteen
seventy nine Dodge Colt and it had a different color panel.
Every panel was a different color because I'd been in
so many accidents. And we stay down there until we
ran out of money, and we realized that we had
(28:17):
just enough for a candy bar each and gas to
drive eighteen hundred miles back home, and we decided to
drive straight through. And my friend who was with us,
she was a huge animal fan, and she'd been donating
(28:38):
to this small sanctuary in southern Utah. She begged us
to stay, to stop at this sanctuary. None of us
wanted to. We hadn't showered, we retired. We were fighting.
Finally we agreed to stop, just to kind of shut
her up, and we pulled into the magnificent canyon, Red
(29:03):
Rock Canyon, that in any other state would be a
National park. And I was so taken by the spiritual nature.
Speaker 4 (29:12):
Of the place.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
I was taken by the founders, and I was taken
by the the ethic of no kill.
Speaker 4 (29:22):
I'd never heard of it before.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
And well, maybe you could just explain to us what
that means.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
No yeah, no kill is really it's a philosophy. It's
that every life has intrinsic value, and every life that
can be saved should be saved. In pure data terms,
it means we know that about ninety percent of all
the animals that in our America's shelter system are savable,
(29:53):
and that ten percent sometimes they need to be humanely euthanized,
either they they're too sick or injured, or maybe their
behavior issues are too severe. And so that that's the
pure definition of no kill. But for us, it really
is a philosophy.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
And so you you walked, you saw this animal sanctuary,
and you decided to just that your life would take
a different path.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
I saw this animal sanctuary, We pulled out of the sanctuary,
and I stopped the car at a gas station and
put a couple of quarters in the pay phone and
called my dad and said, Hey, I'm not going to
the University of Virginia law school.
Speaker 4 (30:38):
I'm a canab Utah.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
And I how did how did that? How did that?
Speaker 4 (30:42):
Oh? He was so happy for me. No, he was.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
Okay, okay, I you know, honestly, I don't think he
got over it for a decade. Wow. We were really
it was really hard scrabble stuff in those early days.
You know. It was I was making one hundred and
(31:10):
eighty three dollars every two weeks. You know, we didn't
really have an h R department.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
And that was in canep.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
That was in cannap And you were expected to do
whatever it took just to keep the lights on and
keep the animals fed.
Speaker 4 (31:26):
And so it was tough. It was really. I mean
it's still tough in its own way.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
But back then, were the majority of the animals horses.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
No, we had about seven hundred dogs, seven hundred dogs,
five hundred cats.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
How do you keep I can't imagine seven hundred dogs.
Speaker 4 (31:48):
Oh, it was crazy.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
So I was employee number seventeen, so there were seventeen
employees and then the founders. There were about twenty founders,
so all told, are about forty people taking care of
this massive sanctuary. You know, the acreage back then was
about three thousand acres.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
God, So I've been to caneb and I'm I'm we're here.
You have a pizza joint? Oh yeah, yeah, that I
want to go to. But it's hard for me to
imagine that there's that many animals even around there. It's
it's it's not a very heavily populated part of the world.
Speaker 4 (32:30):
No, it's not.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
A cannab is one of the most sparsely populated places
in America. So we knew social distancing before it became
a thing.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
A We are so thrilled to share that. Best Friends
Animal Society is partnering with Warner Brothers Discovery for the
twentieth anniversary Puppy Bowl to help animals find the loving
home and match donations to cover adoption fees for their
pet life saving centers nationwide. From February seventh to the fourteenth,
(33:10):
All you gotta do is text puppy, that's puppy to
seven zero seven zero seven zero or head to puppybowl
dot com to donate to double your impact, or find
a shelter near you. Watch Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet
at Sunday, February eleventh, at two pm Eastern time eleven
am Pacific time.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
We've got parrots and bunnies and pigs and horses, and
we have a whole wildlife department where we see golden
eagles and bald eagles and hawks and deer and bob
cad and all sorts of things.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
And what do you think about men and I were
speaking about her desire. I don't know how this works
to to actually kind of take her own property and
try to make it and try to use it as Obviously,
I don't think you're going to be able to fit
(34:10):
that many dogs at your place, will you, But just
try to use it as a you know, a sanctuary
is is that something that you can that people can
actually look into doing and that you can help them
with or or you know, navigating you were talking about
navigating the governmental rules around that and I'm curious about that.
Speaker 3 (34:32):
Yeah, we have a whole course on that how to
start Wow amazing sanctuary where we go through all that
for people, you know, how to get your how to
register for a five LLO and C three status, what
legal support you need, what you're operating budget should look like,
basic animal care. We go through the whole thing and
(34:56):
we get a lot of people that have come through
that course over the years. We've been doing it for
about thirty years, and our whole premise is just to
be generous, generous with our experience, with our knowledge, with.
Speaker 4 (35:15):
The success that we've had.
Speaker 3 (35:16):
We really really believe that passing that along to other
organizations and people, it just makes this community stronger as.
Speaker 2 (35:27):
Environing people to like, if they want to, if they
really want to do this, take animals in or at
least advocating for animals at any at any cost, like
just to get people just to get it on their
minds to know that they can do that because everybody
can advocate for what they believe in, and especially animals
because they don't have voices. It's just like, I love
(35:48):
that you're teaching people how to how to save animals,
like physically saved them too, and bring them into their homes.
It's like fostering is Fostering is like one of the
most incredible things that I've I can that humans can
do because they take them in until they can find homes.
(36:10):
And I think that's amazing too, Like you get people
to really foster if they can't commit to these animals,
they foster them, but then they also have to get
rid of them and send them away to their forever home.
And that's it's like the most selfless thing to me
that I feel like that you can do. And you
guys are so good at advocating for that too.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
Do people come to actually come to you and adopt
off off of the best friends, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:38):
They do. And our sanctuary holds a really special place
because it really is the place where most animals that
come here and need that extra lover or attention, extra
medical care, extra special needs. But we've got life saving
centers all over the country.
Speaker 4 (36:56):
Because okay, I see broader goal is.
Speaker 3 (36:59):
To end killing of shelter pets five and so the
bulk of our adoptions take place in one of those
centers or through our network partners, about forty four hundred now.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
So and do you do it also online that people
go and look look for look at animals online and
come from other places, because like you said to me,
there's so few people in Cannab for instance, that you
know or or or do most of the animals and
Cannab just kind of stay there.
Speaker 3 (37:30):
No, No, it's like destination location for people.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
So I want to go. I really will not that
no I need, I don't need any more animals, but
I would like to go. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (37:46):
I mean, it's crazy how many see it online, see
an animal that what they want to meet, and they
travel all the way out to Canab fall in lot
have a new family member.
Speaker 1 (37:59):
I want to ask you both something that man that
we can start with you and okay, I'll give you.
I'll give you example. I'm the youngest of six, and
to me, this is a really this really is kind
of a head scratcher for me. With all of my
brothers and sisters, the desire to uh be around animals,
(38:25):
be comfortable with animals, have animals. It goes from I
don't want to ever see any animals in my life
to a complete obsession with one of my sisters. You know,
has Has has always had multiple dogs, sometimes for at
(38:47):
a time, and is just you know, obsessed.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
With her dogs.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
And I'm just wondering, I mean, because both of you
actually clearly care deeply about you know these creatures. What
do you think it is that makes somebody feel that
way about them or not? Because I can't figure it
out for myself, and I can't figure it out for
the people in my family.
Speaker 2 (39:10):
It's almost like it feels like Nature talks through animals
more than they do human more than it does humans,
I guess, because animals are simpler and it's easier to trust.
Maybe maybe there's just that, maybe you feel closer to
God with them. For me, I feel I feel closer
to nature. I feel like the energy from an animal
(39:31):
gives me a sense of belonging in the world. I don't.
I'm I still can't make sense of it, so I
can't really answer your question. I just know how I
feel when I'm around them, and how I feel when
they're hurt, And I think that they never would. They
just don't they need our help. They don't deserve it.
(39:54):
They don't to see an animal and pain. It's just
like I have to interview. You have to intervene because
they need they most neatly need it. It's up to them,
I guess. But if, like especially if you can, you know,
(40:14):
intervene and and help them, you should. But it's just
I don't know, I don't know. I just feel I
feel like I'm more fulfilled. Maybe it's just like a
like a selfish need, but also like there's a symbiosis happening,
you know, when I'm in the mornings, when I go
out and feed. It's just even if the mini is
(40:34):
trying to kick me, I can't fault them for any
They're just innocent kick you. That's just the law. And
the guy he's he's cut off really hard life and
it's not his fault. So it's just like I have
to be careful around him, you know. And it yeah,
he really whips. He's very no but they couldn't walk
when they got here, so they It's just like there's
(40:57):
just something so incredible. And you know, Julie, you like
the impact that you had for like millions of them.
It's just like you, you know, there's a spiritual level
to carry for animals and being around them, being in
their presence that like really just uh, how about for you, Julian.
Speaker 3 (41:16):
You know, I mean I feel like it's almost some
of it, I think is your approximate location to animals
growing up, and I think the younger you're exposed.
Speaker 4 (41:28):
The younger you're exposed.
Speaker 3 (41:29):
The the more quickly that develops.
Speaker 4 (41:33):
It's almost like a sixth sense.
Speaker 3 (41:36):
And you know, you hear people talk about developing that
sixth sense. I think with animals that bond is so
powerful once you experience it, because it's almost on a
different plane. To me, it's like there's no judgment, there's
no These are special beings that we inhabit the earth
(41:59):
with and for us to think that somehow.
Speaker 4 (42:02):
We're the.
Speaker 3 (42:06):
You know, we are the elevated being on this planet,
I think for obvious reasons, you know, we gravitate toward that.
But at the end of the day, it's quite arrogant
to place ourselves on this different level when the reality
is we are all connected.
Speaker 1 (42:25):
You you have a goal in twenty twenty five. Can
you talk to us about that?
Speaker 4 (42:28):
Ah?
Speaker 3 (42:29):
It's so like this is this is what gets me
up in the morning. You know, when you think these
founders that started this organization in this sanctuary in the
middle of nowhere really smart people, and they just ask
the simple question, why why is a society have we
(42:51):
chosen to round up animals, put them in a shelter
and exterminate them. It's just such a The practice was crazy,
and you know, it's something that had been going on
for one hundred and ten years by the time they
rolled around, and so their idea was so radical and novel,
(43:13):
but so simple and so so I can't even imagine
that today. Because back then the estimation was seventeen to
twenty million animals were dying every day in Americas shelters.
We have gotten numbered down to three hundred and eighty
five thousand.
Speaker 1 (43:31):
That's oh my wow, that's increasible.
Speaker 3 (43:35):
To think about a lot of these founders are still
alive and active in the organization. And to imagine that
you could bookend actually changing the world in your lifetime
starting this movement and then seeing it kind of you know,
get across the finish line.
Speaker 4 (43:54):
I just marvel at that for real.
Speaker 3 (43:57):
And so you think, okay, there's three hundred and eighty
thousand animals that are still dying. That's a thousand a
day roughly, it's a lot. It's like forty three an
hour or something.
Speaker 2 (44:12):
And how do you decide who goes and whose days.
It's just like I can't imagine being that position. Yeah,
I mean, that's what needs to happen, Like, how does
it get that bad because there's just no room.
Speaker 3 (44:24):
It's a combination of factors. You know, some of these
shelters that we work with, we worked with one in
a fairly decently sized city.
Speaker 4 (44:35):
This was right before COVID.
Speaker 3 (44:37):
We we have programs all over the country.
Speaker 4 (44:40):
We walked into the shelter.
Speaker 3 (44:42):
Thirty thousand animals were coming in every year, twenty six
thousand were dying. And within a year and a half
we had taken that shelter from saving four thousand lives
a year to completely getting them to ninety percent. And
(45:03):
they have never gone back. And that's the beautiful thing.
It's a combination of letting the public public know you're
there really these animals, the public. Because seventeen million people
are going to get a pet this year, we know
that for a fact, YAP that del alta between seventeen
(45:26):
million and three hundred and eighty five.
Speaker 4 (45:29):
This is not rocket.
Speaker 3 (45:30):
Science, like we're talking about putting people on Mars and
we can't figure this out.
Speaker 4 (45:36):
There's something.
Speaker 1 (45:37):
Yeah, that's that's a that's a fascinating statistic. Is there
a some place that people can go either to learn
about the work you're doing or to find to find
an animal. You know, it's this is this is this
is the moment for the call to action.
Speaker 3 (45:55):
Yeah, we've got two years left to solve this. We're
all we're all in, we're all working very hard. You
can go to best Friends dot org. There's so many
different ways to get involved. Amand dimension fostering which immediately
saves a life. That we have an action team that
(46:16):
helps locally. We've got a network of rescues and shelters
that's forty four hundred strong that we support every single day,
and that you know, we hope others support through volunteering
and donating.
Speaker 4 (46:34):
But you can go on our website.
Speaker 3 (46:35):
You can see all of our adoptable animals, and there's
a lot of different ways you can get involved, even
if you don't have the time.
Speaker 1 (46:43):
That's awesome, that's awesome. I love what you're doing, you know,
on behalf of let's say Doc and Norma, Jean and
Jolene and Apollo and June and Johnny and Lucy and
(47:03):
Little Ricky and Daisy Junior and Sharona and Kate, whom
I forget thank you. They just they wanted me to
say thank you for all all that what you're doing
it's it's it's really amazing. Thank you, and both of
you keep up the good work. Amanda. I hope that
(47:25):
you can continue to to uh, you know, to work
this this this angle of taking in animals that need help.
Speaker 2 (47:35):
I've I've so enjoyed my time with best friends. They
always it's always such a celebration set of I mean,
you look at the numbers and they're harrowing and it's
really upsetting to know, yes, it's three hundreds, it's it's
less than half are being used nice, but it's still
so many. Like it's not ignoring that fact, but it's
also celebrating the fact that we're you're going in the
(47:57):
right direction and you are and nobody's stopping. So I'm
I'm through. I mean, it's coming up and it's every day.
I I know how how how much you love your job,
and it really rubs off.
Speaker 3 (48:11):
Well, thank you and we're grateful for your support, and
you know, it's uh, I think there's an authenticity to
you that that I really gravitate toward.
Speaker 4 (48:27):
I know a lot of people do.
Speaker 3 (48:28):
There's just this, you know, really special message that you
have to deliver about just about anything you talk about.
Speaker 4 (48:36):
So it's very.
Speaker 3 (48:38):
Cool too, you know, have both of you to support
this cause so deeply, and I'm super grateful, and I
think it's a at the end of the day, it
really is a noble cause. Like it's it's it's one
of those that you know, there's no there's no divide
(48:58):
to it. Really, there's no politics around it in terms
of you know, when eighty percent of Americans have a
pet at home, you know, it's a it's one of
those rare causes that so many different people get behind.
Speaker 4 (49:16):
And it's just.
Speaker 3 (49:17):
A true honor for me to do this, Like I
feel like this work is not I didn't choose this,
this is it's like what you said earlier, I kind
of just walked into this and and I feel like
I'm really not it's it's it's at some other hand whatever.
Speaker 4 (49:44):
May be.
Speaker 1 (49:47):
Awesome. Well, thank you guys so much for being here.
I really do appreciate your time.
Speaker 2 (49:51):
It's so nice to your employee.
Speaker 1 (49:53):
That's your face and yeah, back at you, back at you.
And I think it's very very fitting that you did
this interview from a.
Speaker 2 (50:02):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (50:08):
Hey, guys, thanks for listening to another episode Six Degrees
with Kevin Bacon, and if you want to learn more
about the Best Friends Animal Society and all that incredible
work that they are up to, head to their website
Bestfriends dot org. That's best Friends dot org. You can
find all the links in our show notes, and if
(50:30):
you like it, you're here. Make sure you subscribe to
the show and tune in to the rest of our episodes.
You can find six Degrees with Kevin Bacon on iHeartRadio,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. See you
next time.
Speaker 3 (50:47):
If you are inspired by today's episode, please join us
in supporting SixDegrees dot org by texting the word Bacon
to seven zero seven zero seven zero.
Speaker 2 (50:56):
Your gift empowers us to continue to produce programs that
highlight the incredible work of everyday heroes, while also enabling
us to provide essential resources to those that need it
the most. Once again, text b a c O N
to seven zero seven zero seven zero or visit six
degrees dot org to learn more.
Hey. You know, if you follow me on social media,
you know that I live on a farm. I got
a lot of animals. Go it's pigs, horses, miniature horses,
pack because chicken. What am I forgetting? I think we're
about to get a couple of tiny little sheet I
got this place in the eighties, and you know, a
(00:22):
kid growing up in the city, I just really started
to connect a lot with animals and with nature, and
I for some reason, developed this love of horses, and
that was really what brought me to buy this piece
of property back in nineteen eighty three. But I find
that when I start caring for another creature, it really
(00:43):
helps me to kind of recenter my days. And I
think that spending time, certainly in lockdown, around living, breathing
animals and connecting with them was incredibly helpful. And to
this day, my wife and I will just say, oh, wow,
you know, we haven't been down to hang out with
(01:03):
the animals today, and we'll just go and sit there
and just I don't know, do little it up and
you know, hang out with them, and it can be
a very very therapeutic moment. The Fabulous Amanda sayfer It
is our guest today on the podcast, and she also
(01:24):
lives on a farm. And I really love this person
and I love that she is so compassionate for all creatures.
Apparently not male ducks, however, But a little bit more
on that later. So if you love animals, lean in
and listen up. I'm glad you're here, Amanda. Thank you
(01:53):
so much for being here. It's so good to see you.
As I've told you multiple times, I admire are you
so much for your chameleon like work. A lot of
us are pretty good at doing maybe one thing and
maybe two, and I'm talking about some of our greatest,
greatest performers. But you are someone who really, really truly
(02:18):
does disappear into all sorts of different kinds of parts,
as well as all sorts of different kinds of genres
of movie. I mean, you really, your your career has
been completely unclassified. And I just wondered if when when
(02:39):
you start out, you're really young, right, and you start
to do this thing where you're gonna, you know, become
somebody else, was it in your mind to try to
have the kind of career, to try to explore the
different kinds of uh variety of parts that you have
(02:59):
been able.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
No, it was here. Listen, here's the thing you said.
Amazing things. I really appreciate all everything that your perspective
on my acting is really meaningful because you have continued
to bring any kind of refreshing angle or take to
(03:22):
any new character. You always find something different to do.
It's never boring, You're never one saying it's that kind
of career that like most people want. You're able to
bend yourself in ways that you know people wish they could,
and I try to do. And I think the answer
to that question is that I was. I very deliberately
(03:46):
wanted to bend myself as much as possible when I
was younger, so I didn't fit into any mold, or
I didn't let the industry put me in any mold
because it was super easy to do to a young
blonde girl next door. Sure, and then I was like
and then, but it was totally this movie Chloe that
I think got people within the industry, producers and actors
and casting directors to see that I was kind of
(04:09):
pushing my own boundaries and they were like, okay, And
that creates trust, maybe not with everybody, but with enough
people so they can start seeing me in other ways.
You know, it's a little harder for women, it seems,
to get out of that box.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Yeah, I mean, I think everything is harder for in
our industry for women. But I also think that you
make a very good point which a lot of people
don't really necessarily get unless they happen to choose this life,
and that is that people really would rather have you
do the same thing, especially if that thing that you've
(04:44):
done has been successful. You know, the first time I
was in a successful movie, they just wanted to find
pretty much the same movie for me to do again.
But they weren't sequels. They were just in that same
sort of pocket and pushing back against that. Sometimes it's
(05:05):
a couple of things. Number One, it is without even
knowing it, it's pretty risky, you know, because you're not
leaning towards the money, really, you know, you're leaning towards
something that satisfies you creatively. But you know, I think
that you've really been able to do that. And also,
(05:27):
as I pointed out, across all kinds of genres, I
make comedy and musicals and horror and dramas and and
you know real you know, what do they call rep
from the headlines type characters and and and all this stuff.
I mean, it's it's it really is amazing. Now, is
(05:50):
there We've probably discussed this before, but is there one
thing that's at the top of the list when you
look through that giant pile of scripts that come up,
uh via email to you just just you don't even
have enough room in the hard drive for all those PDFs.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Yeah, just mountains men.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
I mean, is is there one? Is there one? Is it?
You know, direct, director or star whatever.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
It's director, it's totally director. And if it and if
it's not, if it's somebody who's very new to the
industry or new to directing, or at least somebody that
we've we haven't seen before, it's it's descript. It just
has to happen. There's got to be something incredibly interesting
(06:39):
about the character and what the character goes through, even
if it's just me on my own in a short film.
Just if if this person has a true vision and
and not an incredible and incredibly like fascinating story or
at least grounded or at least realistic story, then I'm in.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
But you do so many other things besides uh, this
acting stuff. What have you been busy with since we've
been on strike.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Well, when the pandemic hit, we were all kind of
at a standstill in every industry of course, everywhere. So
my creative brain was still churning out, like fiber art
as it does because I can't stop. But with fiber art,
you can only do so much and you're always stuck
in your little bubble on the couch.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Or wherever you are, and explain to explain that those
people that might not know what fiberart is, oh, just.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Anything you can make with yarn really, yeah, yeah, because
I've seen you fiberarting on on a step before and
I did.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
I didn't even know that there was that debt, that
that was the thing, anything that could be done with
y art.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Yeah, I was, I know, I was in a I
was very deep into weaving while we were working together.
It's just uh an a knitting, of course, but but
I needed I my friends and I my friends who
don't aren't actors, aren't in this business at all. We
grew up together and so we started this business. That God,
(08:11):
starting a business is hard, and also doing something to
create to generate money also feels weird because when you
I'm usually working with organizations, charities working to generate money
from investors to donate to a certain cause. And this
felt different because I'm the cause is our product, and
(08:35):
so it's very different, and I'm used to using myself
as a marketing tool to get people to donate to
these very specific organized war child best friends Inada, and
I think with starting a business, I was so I mean,
it was all mine. We started it together, the three
of us, so we were all founders and we are
(08:57):
all what we say goes. We're all so inc control
of what we were building and we really believed in it,
and so that was just weird. It's kind of a
new path because you.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Were out there looking for investors, looking for seed money
to get going.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
We never did that. We actually kept it all in
house between us. That was really great. But it's still
weird to try to get people to buy your product.
But I do believe in it and it is amazing.
But it is like I did, I started a business.
I started a business, and that's what it is.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
And this is make it cute, Make it cute.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
And we have a charitable like fact factor too, like
it's it's you know, we're trying to we are in
a sustainable business, and it's really great to network and
connect with other people that are like minded. And in
this generation where we're trying to buy less for our kids,
and when we do buy things, we want to buy
(09:52):
things that are recycled, and we want to we want
to be responsible with as consumers because we are, you know,
we're always going to be in this capitalists sect, so
why not create something that does less damage to the world.
And we're doing that, But at the at the core
of it, I really like designing playhouses.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Okay, yeah, tell us about the product though, because I
I just I just saw it and it looks really
super You want one? Sure, I don't have. I don't
don't need little.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Kids, I don't think so actually we are going to
do it. We are going to make a smaller version
for animals because people are people have been asking us
and it was always my design and my friends are like, yeah, maybe,
and I was like, we must because I've got my fin,
I've got my dog and yeah, it's uh, it's made
out of cardboard and you can call it corrogate, but
(10:40):
the layperson says cardboard and people are like, well, our
kids make stuff out of cardboard. All the time, and
unfortunately we've got these massive like boats that look like
crap and don't they don't want to throw them away?
So why not make something that's incredibly easy to use.
I mean, it's it folds up so mm hmm. It's
(11:01):
made from recycled well, cardboard is recycled, has to be
fifty percent at least.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
And their playhouses, right, and their playhouse.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
You just it's three little pieces. There's no assembly, you
just I mean you do have to assemble it, but
it's just three pieces and you just pop it open
and you put it in and the roof on and
it you're done.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
So what was the genesis of that idea? I mean, well,
how did that? What made you even think.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
About in the market place?
Speaker 1 (11:23):
A hole in the marketplace? Do your partners have kids too?
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Yeah, we all have kids.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
It's the same because you have two kids. How old
are the kids?
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Know, six and a half and three and there's our
six and a half and four, And we were all
pregnant with our first the same time, and we all
like went on vacations together. We've been best friend since
we were five.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Oh wow.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
And they all have different experiences like what Maureen was
a physician's assistant. She still is and quit her job
when she had kids. She has a very good business
sales mind and she's also incredibly designed forward and just
we have similar tastes and we just were like we
(12:02):
need to we don't, there's no ear and was building
these playhouses out of all these these refrigerator box and
there were double wall, which is a box is normally
like Amazon box. It's like one wall m h. And
it breaks down easily and it's great. But she was
building them with extra shingles, and she was painting them
with ferowe ball colors and everything that we love to
(12:25):
see in our own homes. And she's like, this is
where I throw all the toys in at night, and
this is how I have my zen back with all
these kids crappy toys. Sorry, it's chunk. A lot of
it's junk. And and then we were like, this is
there's nothing like this. There's nothing cute. All the toy
all the playhouses. If they're cardboard, they're a pain to
(12:46):
put together and they're not nice looking at all.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
And plus I love that you're not using plastic, because
you know that's that's one of the tough that's a
whole other conversation about, you know, our overuse of play
classic and what's more single use than a playhouse once
your kid, you know, grows out of it. And that's
just a lot. That's a lot of that's a lot
of stuff that's good going to.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Never break down and it doesn't break down. There's a
lot of like different materials that aren't plastic, you know
those those there's canvas tents and stuff it takes at
least an hour to put together there. Some of them
are insanely expensive. The kid craft stuff is great for outside.
Our product is not outside. But it's just like it
was a giant hole in the market. We're like, I
(13:33):
don't want to build. I don't want to build that.
I want that. I don't want to build. I want
someone to do it for me. And I don't want
to have any butt clenching when I'm at the checkout
in online. I just because we were doing market research too.
When we started our business. We had to buy all
of them, and I mean it was it was stressful
(13:53):
because we knew we needed to do we but we
needed help making it. We needed engineers, we needed hard
woork companies, people that work with this material. We did
it all our own and then we met somebody who
this Robert, who actually created Green Toys. Him and his
partner created Green Toys, which is all those really cool
trucks made out of plastic milk jugs. But so it
(14:15):
looks like plastic, it's durable like plastic, but it's not.
It's made out of recycled material and it blew up.
He sold his company. Now he's an employee of he's
a consult and he helps with our finances. But I'm
telling you, Kevin, business is hard. We're finally finally starting
(14:35):
to talk to investors, like I can't do it anymore.
We have a lot of people interested. We've sent it
out to so many people. We you know, we did
quality control, We've met everybody. We work within the facilities
and on the East Coast. It's expensive to build things
in the US. It's just keeping things sustainable is expensive.
(14:57):
So it's like, I don't know if this business is
you know, to make money as much as it is
to create something that we love. Hopefully one day that's great.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Tell me how's your music?
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Thank God, I'm working.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Have you been are you doing anything?
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Are you doing any.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
No, I'm out with the band. We're playing a lot
of shows.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
This fall around the country or like everywhere, all.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Around the country. Yeah, we're on our way. What's our
next run? I think our next roun is maybe Texas
and then we're going down south and we were just
up in Maine a couple of days ago. So yeah,
we're actually playing a lot. And the weird thing about
being in a band is that the gigs get booked,
Like oftentimes weigh in advance of when my acting gigs
(15:48):
get booked. So I'm always a little bit stressed out
because I say, well, if something's going to come through,
then we're going to have to you know, cancel a
show or or you know, or or or boot it
down the road. And it's or I'll have to be
flying from some place to another place to another place
in a place ranged all bills. And because of the strike, Yeah,
(16:10):
you know, it's it's been We've been just able to
play all these shows and it's been great. I feel
very grateful to have that. I think both of us,
Kier and I have kind of realized during this strike
that we we're for better or for worse, we're kind
of workaholics. You know, we really do like to work,
(16:32):
and so it's been a it's been a whole.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
That's the thing. We create all these other worlds for
ourselves on purpose or not on purpose, and because we're
we want to be creating. And I mean, yes, we're
artists and we're actors, but we're artists. So it's like
that's many things, like you have you traveling with your
band and being able to finally say yes, are you availble, yes,
(16:57):
can you do yes? Instead of trying to to fit in,
try to do it all because there's only enough time
in the day. And so right now, yeah, I feel
privileged too that we're on strike for a great reason.
We got to keep negotiating. We got to sort this
out sooner than later because people need to work.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
They definitely did. What's the thing on the stage?
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Speaking for fillings, it's Ashlma Louise the musical, and I've
been working on its almost.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
I mean, oh, that is so exciting.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
But am I ready for that? Am I really? Is
my body really ready to do to the show?
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Of course it is?
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Is it though? Because I did that and it was
really great and it was hard, and I didn't have
any kids and I didn't live here on a farm
full time.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
You were with Tommy with your husband, right, were you
guys in the play?
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Yeah, but this is music and this is Broadway, so
there was no pressure to do off Broadway and no music.
This is music, him singing. If I lose my voice,
I'm not gonna be able to drink as much as
I like to drink. There is that, And the kids
don't go to school in the city. So it's just
(18:04):
am I ready for it? But I keep thinking it's
a dream come true. Every challenge has a rainbow at
the end of it, and it's gonna be amazing. I'm god,
I'm so sicking.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Do do you love love love the music that's in
the show. That's great? And so do you so you
have all you have all the songs now so you
can you can literally work on them all the time. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Because we did well, they're probably changing because we only
did two workshops. Have you ever done a musual?
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Never done a musical?
Speaker 3 (18:36):
No?
Speaker 1 (18:37):
I did one music. We did one show where it
was about the Yale Whiff and Proofs, which was a
is the a cappella a cappella group at Yale? Yeah,
we did a play probably in the Know the eighties
or something like that in New York off Broaby and
so they were singing in that, but it was definitely
not a musical. So so you have the songs. Is
(18:58):
it the world party? Are you? Are you feeling like
you really want to strengthen your voice? Is that the
thing to make it through the.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Hos yamina and need to stand or whatever. I also
need to find my middle voice again. I mean I've
been training in a different way with different music for
so long for fun, and then now I'm just getting
back to like the OZ because there's a lot of
OZ and I hate singing. You know, we sing, we
go in our middle voice and head voice. It's like
(19:26):
oohs and ease are so easy. So I work out
OS's is.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
It? Do this? Are the songs? Do they kind of
sit in the pop rock world or are they more
traditional Broadway o case?
Speaker 2 (19:39):
So it's like all rock. I'm flok. It's it's my dream.
It's like it couldn't be better.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
Oh that's so great.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
Because we had just Tommy and I had just seen
Nico Case at levon Helm Studios. Have you played there before?
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Yeah? We played there. Yeah, we played with with Levon
when he was alive the Midnight Ramble. Yeah, it was
quite an experience, you know. It's yeah, it's a great
place for people that don't know. Levon had this barn
up up in in Woodstock and uh, yeah that he built,
(20:18):
and you know, you got we get the opportunity to bands,
We get the opportunity to go and essentially play in
this in this barn to a small but great crowd,
amazing sound, and then uh, you're you're kind of opening
for Levon. In this case, it was Levon and and
(20:42):
Larry Campbell and a bunch of great players and and
and then at the end of it you get asked
to sit in and it was such a great experience.
He's one of my favorite drummers. And I got to
sit sort of like on the lean against this radiator
that's against the wall behind him and just and watch
(21:05):
his amazing left hand and the stuff that his left
hand was doing. And it was a it was a
great night, great night for me. I actually acted with him,
uh a few years ago, many many years ago, Uh,
in a movie and uh so we we kind of
knew each other already, but that was great anyway. So
so what did you you saw? What did you see
(21:26):
up there? At that point?
Speaker 2 (21:28):
We saw yeah, and it was incredible. And it was
our first time at Lewand Hill Studio and we sat
there and it was just it was Tommy's my husband
is the biggest Ego caes fan, like of all time.
For his birthday, I had his daughter to learn our daughter, sorry,
his daughter, my daughter, our daughter. I had her learn
(21:53):
I wish I was the Moon tonight and she learned
the entire thing and and have and and and that's
like one of her best songs. And the lyrics are
crazy for six year olds to be singing amazing. But
I was working. I was doing my second workshop with
Nico at the time. I was teaching my daughter the
song and she listened. I showed her the video of
(22:14):
her practicing, and she was just so alown away and
she was like, are you trying to kill him? And
I was like, he's you know, it's her. Her voice
speaks to him and me and many people. It made
people feel safer in the world. Nico cases like a treasure,
a national treasure, and the fact that she's composing all
of the music for this show is just so kismet
(22:37):
and it makes me feel like this was like sent
to me from God because I you know, I can
sing it, and I feel connected to it in a
way that I don't feel for with a lot of people,
a lot of musicians. And also I get to act
and I get to play Thelma, and that it gets
to work with friends, you know, I Trip Coleman's directing
(22:59):
and beautiful theater director. Yeah, and so many wonderful people
are part of it, and Mandy who was ran Williamstown
for a long time who I'm friends with, and it's
just like such a perfect little pocket of art for
me to now fulfill.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
Okay, I wait to see that.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
When do you go into rehearsal, I think, well, we
have our third workshop in November, which is the two
week workshops. We do all the songs again and everything again,
and then we have like most of our cast, and
then I think we're I think we're hoping for January
twenty twenty five because we need this next year to
(23:41):
I mean, dude, putting things something new, putting new musical
out on Broadways.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Apparently, yes it is.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
I have digests.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
Well that's so exciting. Now I want to just talk
about your you grew up in Allentown, and I know
that you you just have this great, great, deep love
for animals. Did you have animals or ride horses when
you were younger or any of that? Now you didn't.
You didn't grow up on a farm in Alaison. So
what do you think it came out of?
Speaker 2 (24:12):
I don't. I truly don't know.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
You're in a barn, right, animals. Yeah, the barn.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
This is the like really this was an old stable
obviously we made into these two rooms are guests room.
This is like the middle barn, the barn barn that's
actually over there. You can kind of see it right
over right over there. That's like the barn, and that's
you know, where where all the good stuff happens, where
(24:43):
all the sick animals come in when they need help.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
So you take animals in. I didn't. I didn't realize that.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
You take for instance, we're getting two new horses, and
the fencing guys are here right now to fix the
third paddock, and we only have three, and we'll only
ever have three and we always will always you know,
be a capacity. But everybody in the town kind of
knows what our deal is. We'll take it animals who
are very old and they all pretty much pass away
here m so it's a sanctuary essentially, okay, and we
(25:13):
get retire So this retire he's coming. He's thirty years old.
He's coming on this week this weekend, once the fencing's done,
and he's coming with a friend.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
Of horse, a horse. Sorry, yeah, okay, because you have
you have some other stuff too, you have got goats.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
We mainly it's like we can have as many many
horses as anyone can have because we have room. We
have a retiree, a trail horse who's who's thirty and
he's he was going to go off to auctions, so
we were just like I'm here and then his friend.
But his friend is not retired. He's ten years old
and he's in great health. Oh good, So that's not
(25:47):
that's not normal. We don't normally take in people who
are in great health.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Do you get up on him ever? I mean, they
sound like they're not they're they're they're not sound.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
But but no, this guy is going to be the
first sound. Oh it's thirty year olds of the thirty
year old the ten year old. I wouldn't read on
because I'm not experienced enough. But she can be broken,
and he will be one day, hopefully. But the thirty
year old is the one that I'm gonna put my
kids on.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
Oh nice, that's awesome. That's very exciting. And you have
and you have goats and your beloved dog.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
I love a dog. And ducks. We've just taken in
two more ducks. Ducks are real pain. I don't recommend it.
Do anybody do you have ducks?
Speaker 1 (26:32):
No chickens, but no ducks.
Speaker 4 (26:33):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (26:33):
No, ducks.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Don't do it. Don't do it. It's hard, it's there.
They're very very vicious to each other.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
Wow, okay, I didn't know that about ducks. Well, I
think that's a good segue. Is Julie available to hop
on with us?
Speaker 2 (26:51):
Hey?
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Why Julie? You guys know each other?
Speaker 4 (26:54):
Yes we do.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
There's Julie Castle from Best Friends Animal Society. Thank you
so much for joining Amanda and me.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
It's an honor to be here, big big fans of
both of your work.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
Thanks you too. You know I was I was reading
up about you and have just what I find to
be pretty fascinating journey into what it is that you do.
So maybe just explain that it's almost like you got
You're on your way to law school and got a
flat tire or something and ended up going into animal rescue.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
But UH, talk to me about how it happens, you know.
Speaker 3 (27:32):
I think it's a measure of really, I don't want
to sound too wu, but it's a measure of really
being up into the universe, you know. And I was
I just graduated from college, and my friends and I
knew it was our last hurrah before graduate school.
Speaker 4 (27:51):
So we decided to take a trip to Mexico.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
And at the time, I drove this really old nineteen
seventy nine Dodge Colt and it had a different color panel.
Every panel was a different color because I'd been in
so many accidents. And we stay down there until we
ran out of money, and we realized that we had
(28:17):
just enough for a candy bar each and gas to
drive eighteen hundred miles back home, and we decided to
drive straight through. And my friend who was with us,
she was a huge animal fan, and she'd been donating
(28:38):
to this small sanctuary in southern Utah. She begged us
to stay, to stop at this sanctuary. None of us
wanted to. We hadn't showered, we retired. We were fighting.
Finally we agreed to stop, just to kind of shut
her up, and we pulled into the magnificent canyon, Red
(29:03):
Rock Canyon, that in any other state would be a
National park. And I was so taken by the spiritual nature.
Speaker 4 (29:12):
Of the place.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
I was taken by the founders, and I was taken
by the the ethic of no kill.
Speaker 4 (29:22):
I'd never heard of it before.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
And well, maybe you could just explain to us what
that means.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
No yeah, no kill is really it's a philosophy. It's
that every life has intrinsic value, and every life that
can be saved should be saved. In pure data terms,
it means we know that about ninety percent of all
the animals that in our America's shelter system are savable,
(29:53):
and that ten percent sometimes they need to be humanely euthanized,
either they they're too sick or injured, or maybe their
behavior issues are too severe. And so that that's the
pure definition of no kill. But for us, it really
is a philosophy.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
And so you you walked, you saw this animal sanctuary,
and you decided to just that your life would take
a different path.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
I saw this animal sanctuary, We pulled out of the sanctuary,
and I stopped the car at a gas station and
put a couple of quarters in the pay phone and
called my dad and said, Hey, I'm not going to
the University of Virginia law school.
Speaker 4 (30:38):
I'm a canab Utah.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
And I how did how did that? How did that?
Speaker 4 (30:42):
Oh? He was so happy for me. No, he was.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
Okay, okay, I you know, honestly, I don't think he
got over it for a decade. Wow. We were really
it was really hard scrabble stuff in those early days.
You know. It was I was making one hundred and
(31:10):
eighty three dollars every two weeks. You know, we didn't
really have an h R department.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
And that was in canep.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
That was in cannap And you were expected to do
whatever it took just to keep the lights on and
keep the animals fed.
Speaker 4 (31:26):
And so it was tough. It was really. I mean
it's still tough in its own way.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
But back then, were the majority of the animals horses.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
No, we had about seven hundred dogs, seven hundred dogs,
five hundred cats.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
How do you keep I can't imagine seven hundred dogs.
Speaker 4 (31:48):
Oh, it was crazy.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
So I was employee number seventeen, so there were seventeen
employees and then the founders. There were about twenty founders,
so all told, are about forty people taking care of
this massive sanctuary. You know, the acreage back then was
about three thousand acres.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
God, So I've been to caneb and I'm I'm we're here.
You have a pizza joint? Oh yeah, yeah, that I
want to go to. But it's hard for me to
imagine that there's that many animals even around there. It's
it's it's not a very heavily populated part of the world.
Speaker 4 (32:30):
No, it's not.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
A cannab is one of the most sparsely populated places
in America. So we knew social distancing before it became
a thing.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
A We are so thrilled to share that. Best Friends
Animal Society is partnering with Warner Brothers Discovery for the
twentieth anniversary Puppy Bowl to help animals find the loving
home and match donations to cover adoption fees for their
pet life saving centers nationwide. From February seventh to the fourteenth,
(33:10):
All you gotta do is text puppy, that's puppy to
seven zero seven zero seven zero or head to puppybowl
dot com to donate to double your impact, or find
a shelter near you. Watch Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet
at Sunday, February eleventh, at two pm Eastern time eleven
am Pacific time.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
We've got parrots and bunnies and pigs and horses, and
we have a whole wildlife department where we see golden
eagles and bald eagles and hawks and deer and bob
cad and all sorts of things.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
And what do you think about men and I were
speaking about her desire. I don't know how this works
to to actually kind of take her own property and
try to make it and try to use it as Obviously,
I don't think you're going to be able to fit
(34:10):
that many dogs at your place, will you, But just
try to use it as a you know, a sanctuary
is is that something that you can that people can
actually look into doing and that you can help them
with or or you know, navigating you were talking about
navigating the governmental rules around that and I'm curious about that.
Speaker 3 (34:32):
Yeah, we have a whole course on that how to
start Wow amazing sanctuary where we go through all that
for people, you know, how to get your how to
register for a five LLO and C three status, what
legal support you need, what you're operating budget should look like,
basic animal care. We go through the whole thing and
(34:56):
we get a lot of people that have come through
that course over the years. We've been doing it for
about thirty years, and our whole premise is just to
be generous, generous with our experience, with our knowledge, with.
Speaker 4 (35:15):
The success that we've had.
Speaker 3 (35:16):
We really really believe that passing that along to other
organizations and people, it just makes this community stronger as.
Speaker 2 (35:27):
Environing people to like, if they want to, if they
really want to do this, take animals in or at
least advocating for animals at any at any cost, like
just to get people just to get it on their
minds to know that they can do that because everybody
can advocate for what they believe in, and especially animals
because they don't have voices. It's just like, I love
(35:48):
that you're teaching people how to how to save animals,
like physically saved them too, and bring them into their homes.
It's like fostering is Fostering is like one of the
most incredible things that I've I can that humans can
do because they take them in until they can find homes.
(36:10):
And I think that's amazing too, Like you get people
to really foster if they can't commit to these animals,
they foster them, but then they also have to get
rid of them and send them away to their forever home.
And that's it's like the most selfless thing to me
that I feel like that you can do. And you
guys are so good at advocating for that too.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
Do people come to actually come to you and adopt
off off of the best friends, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:38):
They do. And our sanctuary holds a really special place
because it really is the place where most animals that
come here and need that extra lover or attention, extra
medical care, extra special needs. But we've got life saving
centers all over the country.
Speaker 4 (36:56):
Because okay, I see broader goal is.
Speaker 3 (36:59):
To end killing of shelter pets five and so the
bulk of our adoptions take place in one of those
centers or through our network partners, about forty four hundred now.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
So and do you do it also online that people
go and look look for look at animals online and
come from other places, because like you said to me,
there's so few people in Cannab for instance, that you
know or or or do most of the animals and
Cannab just kind of stay there.
Speaker 3 (37:30):
No, No, it's like destination location for people.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
So I want to go. I really will not that
no I need, I don't need any more animals, but
I would like to go. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (37:46):
I mean, it's crazy how many see it online, see
an animal that what they want to meet, and they
travel all the way out to Canab fall in lot
have a new family member.
Speaker 1 (37:59):
I want to ask you both something that man that
we can start with you and okay, I'll give you.
I'll give you example. I'm the youngest of six, and
to me, this is a really this really is kind
of a head scratcher for me. With all of my
brothers and sisters, the desire to uh be around animals,
(38:25):
be comfortable with animals, have animals. It goes from I
don't want to ever see any animals in my life
to a complete obsession with one of my sisters. You know,
has Has has always had multiple dogs, sometimes for at
(38:47):
a time, and is just you know, obsessed.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
With her dogs.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
And I'm just wondering, I mean, because both of you
actually clearly care deeply about you know these creatures. What
do you think it is that makes somebody feel that
way about them or not? Because I can't figure it
out for myself, and I can't figure it out for
the people in my family.
Speaker 2 (39:10):
It's almost like it feels like Nature talks through animals
more than they do human more than it does humans,
I guess, because animals are simpler and it's easier to trust.
Maybe maybe there's just that, maybe you feel closer to
God with them. For me, I feel I feel closer
to nature. I feel like the energy from an animal
(39:31):
gives me a sense of belonging in the world. I don't.
I'm I still can't make sense of it, so I
can't really answer your question. I just know how I
feel when I'm around them, and how I feel when
they're hurt, And I think that they never would. They
just don't they need our help. They don't deserve it.
(39:54):
They don't to see an animal and pain. It's just
like I have to interview. You have to intervene because
they need they most neatly need it. It's up to them,
I guess. But if, like especially if you can, you know,
(40:14):
intervene and and help them, you should. But it's just
I don't know, I don't know. I just feel I
feel like I'm more fulfilled. Maybe it's just like a
like a selfish need, but also like there's a symbiosis happening,
you know, when I'm in the mornings, when I go
out and feed. It's just even if the mini is
(40:34):
trying to kick me, I can't fault them for any
They're just innocent kick you. That's just the law. And
the guy he's he's cut off really hard life and
it's not his fault. So it's just like I have
to be careful around him, you know. And it yeah,
he really whips. He's very no but they couldn't walk
when they got here, so they It's just like there's
(40:57):
just something so incredible. And you know, Julie, you like
the impact that you had for like millions of them.
It's just like you, you know, there's a spiritual level
to carry for animals and being around them, being in
their presence that like really just uh, how about for you, Julian.
Speaker 3 (41:16):
You know, I mean I feel like it's almost some
of it, I think is your approximate location to animals
growing up, and I think the younger you're exposed.
Speaker 4 (41:28):
The younger you're exposed.
Speaker 3 (41:29):
The the more quickly that develops.
Speaker 4 (41:33):
It's almost like a sixth sense.
Speaker 3 (41:36):
And you know, you hear people talk about developing that
sixth sense. I think with animals that bond is so
powerful once you experience it, because it's almost on a
different plane. To me, it's like there's no judgment, there's
no These are special beings that we inhabit the earth
(41:59):
with and for us to think that somehow.
Speaker 4 (42:02):
We're the.
Speaker 3 (42:06):
You know, we are the elevated being on this planet,
I think for obvious reasons, you know, we gravitate toward that.
But at the end of the day, it's quite arrogant
to place ourselves on this different level when the reality
is we are all connected.
Speaker 1 (42:25):
You you have a goal in twenty twenty five. Can
you talk to us about that?
Speaker 4 (42:28):
Ah?
Speaker 3 (42:29):
It's so like this is this is what gets me
up in the morning. You know, when you think these
founders that started this organization in this sanctuary in the
middle of nowhere really smart people, and they just ask
the simple question, why why is a society have we
(42:51):
chosen to round up animals, put them in a shelter
and exterminate them. It's just such a The practice was crazy,
and you know, it's something that had been going on
for one hundred and ten years by the time they
rolled around, and so their idea was so radical and novel,
(43:13):
but so simple and so so I can't even imagine
that today. Because back then the estimation was seventeen to
twenty million animals were dying every day in Americas shelters.
We have gotten numbered down to three hundred and eighty
five thousand.
Speaker 1 (43:31):
That's oh my wow, that's increasible.
Speaker 3 (43:35):
To think about a lot of these founders are still
alive and active in the organization. And to imagine that
you could bookend actually changing the world in your lifetime
starting this movement and then seeing it kind of you know,
get across the finish line.
Speaker 4 (43:54):
I just marvel at that for real.
Speaker 3 (43:57):
And so you think, okay, there's three hundred and eighty
thousand animals that are still dying. That's a thousand a
day roughly, it's a lot. It's like forty three an
hour or something.
Speaker 2 (44:12):
And how do you decide who goes and whose days.
It's just like I can't imagine being that position. Yeah,
I mean, that's what needs to happen, Like, how does
it get that bad because there's just no room.
Speaker 3 (44:24):
It's a combination of factors. You know, some of these
shelters that we work with, we worked with one in
a fairly decently sized city.
Speaker 4 (44:35):
This was right before COVID.
Speaker 3 (44:37):
We we have programs all over the country.
Speaker 4 (44:40):
We walked into the shelter.
Speaker 3 (44:42):
Thirty thousand animals were coming in every year, twenty six
thousand were dying. And within a year and a half
we had taken that shelter from saving four thousand lives
a year to completely getting them to ninety percent. And
(45:03):
they have never gone back. And that's the beautiful thing.
It's a combination of letting the public public know you're
there really these animals, the public. Because seventeen million people
are going to get a pet this year, we know
that for a fact, YAP that del alta between seventeen
(45:26):
million and three hundred and eighty five.
Speaker 4 (45:29):
This is not rocket.
Speaker 3 (45:30):
Science, like we're talking about putting people on Mars and
we can't figure this out.
Speaker 4 (45:36):
There's something.
Speaker 1 (45:37):
Yeah, that's that's a that's a fascinating statistic. Is there
a some place that people can go either to learn
about the work you're doing or to find to find
an animal. You know, it's this is this is this
is the moment for the call to action.
Speaker 3 (45:55):
Yeah, we've got two years left to solve this. We're
all we're all in, we're all working very hard. You
can go to best Friends dot org. There's so many
different ways to get involved. Amand dimension fostering which immediately
saves a life. That we have an action team that
(46:16):
helps locally. We've got a network of rescues and shelters
that's forty four hundred strong that we support every single day,
and that you know, we hope others support through volunteering
and donating.
Speaker 4 (46:34):
But you can go on our website.
Speaker 3 (46:35):
You can see all of our adoptable animals, and there's
a lot of different ways you can get involved, even
if you don't have the time.
Speaker 1 (46:43):
That's awesome, that's awesome. I love what you're doing, you know,
on behalf of let's say Doc and Norma, Jean and
Jolene and Apollo and June and Johnny and Lucy and
(47:03):
Little Ricky and Daisy Junior and Sharona and Kate, whom
I forget thank you. They just they wanted me to
say thank you for all all that what you're doing
it's it's it's really amazing. Thank you, and both of
you keep up the good work. Amanda. I hope that
(47:25):
you can continue to to uh, you know, to work
this this this angle of taking in animals that need help.
Speaker 2 (47:35):
I've I've so enjoyed my time with best friends. They
always it's always such a celebration set of I mean,
you look at the numbers and they're harrowing and it's
really upsetting to know, yes, it's three hundreds, it's it's
less than half are being used nice, but it's still
so many. Like it's not ignoring that fact, but it's
also celebrating the fact that we're you're going in the
(47:57):
right direction and you are and nobody's stopping. So I'm
I'm through. I mean, it's coming up and it's every day.
I I know how how how much you love your job,
and it really rubs off.
Speaker 3 (48:11):
Well, thank you and we're grateful for your support, and
you know, it's uh, I think there's an authenticity to
you that that I really gravitate toward.
Speaker 4 (48:27):
I know a lot of people do.
Speaker 3 (48:28):
There's just this, you know, really special message that you
have to deliver about just about anything you talk about.
Speaker 4 (48:36):
So it's very.
Speaker 3 (48:38):
Cool too, you know, have both of you to support
this cause so deeply, and I'm super grateful, and I
think it's a at the end of the day, it
really is a noble cause. Like it's it's it's one
of those that you know, there's no there's no divide
(48:58):
to it. Really, there's no politics around it in terms
of you know, when eighty percent of Americans have a
pet at home, you know, it's a it's one of
those rare causes that so many different people get behind.
Speaker 4 (49:16):
And it's just.
Speaker 3 (49:17):
A true honor for me to do this, Like I
feel like this work is not I didn't choose this,
this is it's like what you said earlier, I kind
of just walked into this and and I feel like
I'm really not it's it's it's at some other hand whatever.
Speaker 4 (49:44):
May be.
Speaker 1 (49:47):
Awesome. Well, thank you guys so much for being here.
I really do appreciate your time.
Speaker 2 (49:51):
It's so nice to your employee.
Speaker 1 (49:53):
That's your face and yeah, back at you, back at you.
And I think it's very very fitting that you did
this interview from a.
Speaker 2 (50:02):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (50:08):
Hey, guys, thanks for listening to another episode Six Degrees
with Kevin Bacon, and if you want to learn more
about the Best Friends Animal Society and all that incredible
work that they are up to, head to their website
Bestfriends dot org. That's best Friends dot org. You can
find all the links in our show notes, and if
(50:30):
you like it, you're here. Make sure you subscribe to
the show and tune in to the rest of our episodes.
You can find six Degrees with Kevin Bacon on iHeartRadio,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. See you
next time.
Speaker 3 (50:47):
If you are inspired by today's episode, please join us
in supporting SixDegrees dot org by texting the word Bacon
to seven zero seven zero seven zero.
Speaker 2 (50:56):
Your gift empowers us to continue to produce programs that
highlight the incredible work of everyday heroes, while also enabling
us to provide essential resources to those that need it
the most. Once again, text b a c O N
to seven zero seven zero seven zero or visit six
degrees dot org to learn more.
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