July 13, 2026 • 37 mins
The crew checks in from SeaWorld San Diego for a special edition of Whats New Pod.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's up, everybody, and welcome to a special edition of
a What's Dow pod?
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Come to you live from SeaWorld.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Yea, I have Julianne, I have Tyler, I have Randy,
and we're coming to you live from outside the Shark Encounter.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Inside the park right now.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
I always say, this is like our fifth time recording
a podcast as SeaWorld, and they're always so good to us,
and I just want to put out there just like
you know, if you don't live in the area and
you want to, let's say, travel across the country, just
coming to San Diego is worth.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
It to also go to SeaWorld.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Like last night we went to go see a baseball
game and that I mean park is like one of
the best parks I've ever been to.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Beautiful.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
I've said it once, We'll said it again. Pecko Park,
top five park in the country.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
I mean, if you're not a fan of the team,
or let's just say your team's in town and San
Diego and you want to make a weekend of it,
you can go to the ballpark, go to a game,
and then and you can also hit up Sea World.
And it's also just it's located in like they called
the gas Lamp District and just downtown San Diego super walkable,
so much fun.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
One of the best cities that you can go to.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
When I put into like the list of places I
would do radio, I've always said it would be San Francisco,
Los Angeles, New York, San Diego.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
I always tell people when they want to come to
California and like, you have to find time to go
to San Diego.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
I tell you because people are like, oh, like I
want to go to La I want to go San Francisco.
Speaker 5 (01:26):
I'm go to San Diego first.
Speaker 6 (01:29):
I went to Old Town San Diego last night and
walked around.
Speaker 7 (01:32):
Yeah, it's so historic down there.
Speaker 6 (01:34):
There was even a I didn't get to go there,
but there's a haunted house I've done.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
I've done. I did a ghost tour once.
Speaker 6 (01:41):
Yeah, it's like a like a jury or a courthouse.
There you go, it's a courthouse. And then I guess
like whenever whoever, whoever would be found guilty, they would
hang them there and all their tombstones are out and
the guy at the front desk and I checked in
last night, said that if you were to take pictures
of the tombstones, you could see little ores.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Of Like just so, there are bars in old town
San Diego that are older than the state of California. Oh,
they're older than San Diego itself, because this has been
around for so long. It's next to Mexico. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
I love San Diego.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
I always tell people, and speaking of being next to Mexico,
you're gonna get the best Mexican food in San Diego.
Speaker 8 (02:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
There's a bunch of breweries too that you can stop by,
super fun.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Also you can hit up TJ for one.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Yeah, absolutely, you knew.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
I was trying to talk to Nacho last night when
we're at dinner, I'm like, maybe we should hit TJ
Sunday morning, But we forgot our passport.
Speaker 7 (02:29):
Do you need them to drive in? We were talking
about that.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Yeah, do you need a passport?
Speaker 3 (02:32):
I think they changed it so you get a passport card.
So if you get your passport, I know it's because
I'm literally doing this right now. You get a passport
card for thirty dollars and with that card you can
go international on boat or car. Yeah, you can't fly, Yeah, it.
Speaker 4 (02:43):
Used to be you could used to be able to
just cross the border with you driver's license.
Speaker 5 (02:46):
Your normal idea. I think like maybe ten years ago
they change are like you have to.
Speaker 7 (02:49):
Have your friends a minute.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
San Diego is a gateway to a lot of fun things. Yea,
there's a lot of things you can do. Yeah, you're
you're only you're literally just a couple of hours away
from my life, if that's what you're trying to do.
But San Diego has it all and SeaWorld is definitely
like the Crown Jewel.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Today is a great day to be here because today
we're going to go to a concert and they have
this whole concerence series that's going on. I'm sure you've
probably seen it on TikTok super viral. Well what what
are some of the groups that we've seen? I mean
the ying As Wentz really like kind of set it off, dude.
Speaker 4 (03:17):
Like we walked in, the first thing I saw was
Soldier Boy and Paul Wall and I was like, yeah, I.
Speaker 9 (03:23):
Will be here. What apple Bees the late night. Also,
what we love about SeaWorld is the food.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Like every time we come here, we usually come during
the the food festival, but today that you can buy
the all you can eat.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Food passes and that's what we're enjoying.
Speaker 5 (03:48):
Today.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Now, the first thing that we did see when we
got here was behind the scenes tour, which not everybody
can get. It's about saving animals. Now they have this
whole rescue operation and behind the scenes at SeaWorld that
I think they don't give themselves enough flowers on.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Like anytime you see in the news.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
There's a seal stuck somewhere, or there's a dolphin stuck somewhere,
who do you think people are calling. Are they calling
their local police or firefighters? No, they're calling SeaWorld. SeaWorld
have all the facilities set up to take care of
animals like.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
This, and the whole behind the whole park.
Speaker 7 (04:24):
They have doctors, rehabilitation centers.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Yeah, everything, And I don't think they get enough credit
for that.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
And it's all in their own dime too.
Speaker 6 (04:32):
And they said they have an eighty three percent return
rate to the ocean.
Speaker 10 (04:35):
Yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker 11 (04:36):
I did not know that.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Yeah, and they're all through the coastline too.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
They're bringing in animals from Oregon, Washington, all the way
from Alaska, which, by the way, I asked the question,
how do turtles get here from Washington, Oregon?
Speaker 5 (04:48):
He did ask that question.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
She shared our guide shared a really cool organization called
Turtles Fly to which is like the funniest, coolest thing
every turtles get to fly in.
Speaker 4 (04:56):
Pj's Yeah, she's in the San Diego She's like, oh yeah,
we hit up people who have like private tress, like hey,
can you like bring a turtle down?
Speaker 5 (05:03):
So I'm just thinking like, oh, yeah, I have a
turtle in the back.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
She shared story. She shared a story that she picked
up a turtle one so I'm like a gold plated
interior jet and She's like, who does this jet belong?
And there's just a turtle in the box. So super cool.
What they do here is really awesome.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
So yeah, they do so much rescue work.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
People just need to google it and find out everything
that they do. And uh, I think we're gonna get
our day started here and have our first interview. All right,
state your name and what you do here at SeaWorld.
Speaker 12 (05:31):
My name's Tory Jones. I'm gonna querus here at SeaWorld
San Diego. I've been here for about three years now
and right now I am not working directly with the
sharks and shark Ing Counter, but the sharks out at
the front of the park in Explorer's reef.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Now, I heard a fun fact that sharks have been
around longer than the rings of Saturn.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Is that true or not true?
Speaker 12 (05:48):
I don't know entirely about the rings of Saturn, but
I do know that they're older than trees. I mean,
they're they've been here longer than anything. When the planet
was covered in water, the sharks were there.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Aren't there some sharks that can live to be like
hundreds of years old?
Speaker 12 (06:01):
Yeah? So the Greenland shark is a species that I mean,
they're estimated about two hundred and fifty years but there's
been some records about five hundred years old.
Speaker 10 (06:09):
Wow.
Speaker 12 (06:10):
Yeah, so they lived a real long time in really
cold water.
Speaker 10 (06:13):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
I heard like alligators can live I don't know, pretty long.
Speaker 12 (06:17):
Yeah, time to have long lifespans in general, I had
no idea about the sharks.
Speaker 10 (06:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Yeahs as someone who works with sharks, do you have
like a favorite shark?
Speaker 12 (06:26):
My favorite shark is a shark that we don't have here.
It's the great Hammerhead. It's the first shark I ever
got to see in the water. So I've always kind
of been mesmerized by them. Also, they're just so weird looking.
I just love them so much. But my favorite shark
here would definitely be our zebra sharks or Australian leopard sharks.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Now wait a minute, you said see a hammerhead in
the water.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
How did that happen?
Speaker 12 (06:46):
So my family is avid scuba divers. We've all been
scuba diving for years. I started at eleven years old,
and my first dive that I ever got to go
do with my grandma. We did off the coast of Florida,
I believe, and I was so young. But we're in
the water and my grandma like grab my hand and
I look over and there's this massive hammer head And
at the time, I didn't know it was a great hammerhead.
It was smaller.
Speaker 5 (07:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 12 (07:05):
So we're like, oh, maybe juvenile, but they're like, oh
my god, that's like the coolest shark you can see
on one of these dives that we're really really excited.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
So then did that just make you fall in love
and want to work?
Speaker 12 (07:16):
Just my grandparents' influence in general like really inspired me.
I mean I've been a water baby forever, and seeing
the videos of my grandparents travel all over the world
and die with the sharks and do all these crazy things,
I was like, man, that's that's what I want to
do for the rest of my life, Like that's so cool.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
That should people be afraid of sharks.
Speaker 12 (07:34):
I think a healthy respect is do. They are very
powerful animals, and I mean when we're swimming, we're in
their environment, Like you need that healthy respect. However, I
don't think they're ever targeting us. It's most of the
time mistaken identity. We're not really a prey item for them,
but they do want to come over and check us out.
They just don't have hands like humans do, so they're
going to use their mouths. But I just think sharks
(07:56):
are so important to the planet that it would be
not fair to them to kind of cast them out.
Because of the media that we've consumed over the years,
like Jaws and all the scary shark movies, it's just
they're not represented correctly. But they're so important. They're the
apex predator, so they're taking care of all of the
levels below them. They're taking care of all those sick
fish they eat them get them off the reefs. So
(08:17):
if there's no sharks, there's no reefs. If there's no
no reefs, there's no oceans, and no oceans no planet,
so they do. They do contribute pretty heavily to the ecosystem.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Now in the Sea World Sharking Counter, we saw some
big sharks in there.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Yeah, what's the biggest one in there.
Speaker 12 (08:32):
Our largest shark is our lemon shark in there. She's
quite a big girl. I don't know her exact weight,
but when weigh HER's probably close to three hundred pounds. Yeah,
she's a really big girl. But she I mean, she's
a really good eater. She come over and eat, but
I mean here in the water, she doesn't really care
about you.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
How do you eed them? Just throw it in there.
Speaker 12 (08:48):
So we have long tongs that we have a specific
diet for each shark, so we want to make sure
they're getting the fish that we have prepped for them.
So we do long tongs and we wait for them
to come over and we'll swim it in front of them,
make it really interesting for them. We play with them
so they're nice and stimulated and excited to eat. And
then we also have other species like fish and some
bottom dwellers in there, so we do broadcast fews as well.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Yeah, that's what we do with Tyler, just in case
he doesn't.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Take off like a chicken sandwich on the long stick,
can just make it interesting for him.
Speaker 5 (09:16):
So do you have a question.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
So you said each shark has a specific diet, right,
So which shark gets which fish and like what fish
do they eat.
Speaker 12 (09:23):
It's kind of depending on like the day. We like
to switch it up for them, give them some variety.
Almost it depends on the size of the fish. Like
our blue runner and our bonita fish are a little
bit bigger than say the herring and stuff that we feed,
So it depends on the shark. And each shark does
have individual taste, so they're all kind of picky eaters.
So there's some fish that they just don't want. So
(09:44):
there's days where we have a whole bucket of blue
runner and none of the sharks want blue runner. They
only want the bonita or it just depends on the day.
But we we try to make it as versatile. Sometimes
they get salmon. So yeah, just really depends on the day.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
So here's a question, speaking of fish and sharks. The
fish that live with the sharks, they never have to
worry about being like meals for the sharks. They together.
Speaker 12 (10:06):
Yeah, most of the sharks know where the food is
coming up at this point in their lives. They've been
here a really long time. They know they're gonna get fed,
so I mean they're not going to expend all that
energy to go catch those fish. Sometimes it does happen.
Sometimes a fish will swim into a shark or sharks
just irritated that day. We do have some yellow tail
in there that are really really big fish.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
So good, Yeah, I get it.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
There's some.
Speaker 12 (10:28):
But they they'll come and even divers they come and
they bump into us, and they like really run into us.
And I can see why it would be annoying why
a shark might want to take a little bite. Yeah,
it does happen. Sometimes it's not their main food item.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Okay, one last question, uh, personally for you, why should
people come to SeaWorld?
Speaker 12 (10:46):
I think SeaWorld is a great place to learn about
animals that you might never get to encounter in your
day to day life. Like I grew up in Las Vegas, Nevada.
It's completely landlocked. There's no oceans. If I didn't have
my grandparents and learn from them, I probably know nothing
about the oceans. And so I think the world is
a great place to go and learn and get interactions
with these animals, and it really instills a care and
a passion about them in younger generations, which we really
(11:08):
really need right now, because, like I said, with the
shark movies and everything, Yeah, older generations are genuinely scared
and it's just so deeply in our brains that it's
just not something we can erase. But we can teach
new generations the difference and teach them how to respect
the oceans and everything like that. And I think SeaWorld,
all the different areas, the mammals, the fish, the birds, everything,
(11:29):
it all contributes to that. It's conservation is the number one.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Awesome All nice, awesome, Thank you so much.
Speaker 12 (11:34):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Next up state your name and what you do here.
Speaker 8 (11:38):
At SeaWorld, Jackie Plaza, and I'm the vice president of
sales and Marketing.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Oh nice, Okay, So you know everything that's happening as SeaWorld,
like all the events, and we're really into the events
that happen here. I mean, the concert lineup is amazing. Also,
we love the food fairs that you have and the festivals.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Yeah, and that's one.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Of our favorite parts as well, and of course the
park and the rides.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
But what's going on lately here?
Speaker 8 (12:04):
Well, you're here on the right day. We have forty
yes from the Bay area. It's the first time that
he's performing here at SeaWorld, So he could not be
more excited by the way he was. You know, we
track our reserve seating and he was one of the
top people selling part is selling. Oh nice, It's pretty
incredible to see we had that lineup. He's just one
of many in the lineup. So so you know, we
(12:26):
started out with Yin Yang twins, but we have after forty,
We've got Jordan's Sparks, We've got Soldier Boy, so you
have a shanty.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
Genuine.
Speaker 8 (12:37):
Genuine has been here three times. He gets his crowd
with all of the audience. So it's been so fun
because the women go nuts for We're literally like hugging him.
Speaker 11 (12:47):
He said happy birthday one year. He's just like incredible. Yeah,
the women love.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Genuine personally, so excited because the bay is what.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
In the building born and raised in there.
Speaker 10 (13:00):
Listening to.
Speaker 11 (13:03):
That, I'm a big step Curry fan. Yeah, I definitely
love the bag.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Well, okay, so on top of the concerts.
Speaker 8 (13:11):
What else, Oh, we have so much So actually next
week this is pretty incredible. We've never done it before,
but we are hosting a viewing party for the World
Cup semi finals on Tuesday and then again on Sunday
for the finals. And guess where we're doing it orchest
stadium watch party with whales, so on the big screen,
so we're going to be showing the game or starting
(13:32):
the match, and then the whales are going to be
swimming around. And I heard a rumor that back in
the day they used to love watching the Super Bowl.
They a few of them are actually part of this
research study. They play where they play pong against one another,
so they're able to use their mouths and their heads
in order to move like a cursor around and they
can play against each other. So I am hopeful that
(13:53):
when a goal is scored and everyone goes gol.
Speaker 11 (13:56):
The whales are going to be jumping up everywhere. So
that's one big thing.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
I think some people here in this circle are gonna
be back next weekend.
Speaker 5 (14:07):
Yeah, we might be.
Speaker 11 (14:11):
In if you guys want to come. We have the
nice pros a pair of reserve seats for you.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Personally, What is your favorite part of the park.
Speaker 11 (14:19):
Oh, my god, just the animals and our team.
Speaker 8 (14:21):
You know, some of our team has worked with our
animals for like thirty years. You know, some of the
animal care team have met each other, their husbands and
wives together here, their kids work here.
Speaker 11 (14:31):
It's just so incredible to see the bond between them.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Yeah, so I love you know.
Speaker 11 (14:36):
I love Shark Attraction. I love you know. We have
nighttime shows now for the first.
Speaker 8 (14:39):
Time back, you know, in a really really long time,
first time Dolphin night show Dolphins Touch the Sky Night
does something with animal presentations where it just makes it
really dreamy and really cool, and it's a whole different
way to see these animals who have such like magic
to them.
Speaker 11 (14:55):
The same thing with Orca. We have an Orca nighttime show.
Speaker 8 (14:58):
Those were two new ones that start this summer, so
that's every single night here.
Speaker 11 (15:02):
They're included with park admission. I love them.
Speaker 10 (15:05):
So then I say.
Speaker 8 (15:05):
A cap it off with the Ocean of Dreams. That's
our drone show. So for many years we did fireworks.
This year we have launched our drone show.
Speaker 11 (15:15):
And people love it.
Speaker 8 (15:16):
It's a story about ocean conservation and it shows orcas
and jellyfish and just everything in the sky and it
makes you gives you. It's like the perfect way at
the end of the day. Yeah, like you just feel
like tingly.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Well, those drone shows are just so over the top.
Speaker 11 (15:30):
Now, oh my godther cool.
Speaker 8 (15:32):
Yeah really this has like a soundtrack to it and
a voiceover and it takes you feels like you're on
like another planet.
Speaker 11 (15:37):
All yeah, so yeah, now I dream cool.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
I do have another question, okay, and I want to
ask everybody that comes by, for you personally, why should
people come to see World.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Oh it's I know you already listed a lot.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Of reasons why, but for you, your one number one reason.
Speaker 8 (15:52):
I would say, like the nostalgia of it. You know,
I lived in LA for probably about twenty five years,
and I came down and moved down to San Diego
for this job, and I was blown away to see how.
Speaker 11 (16:02):
You just feel care free and young.
Speaker 8 (16:04):
And there's like some sort of like weird thing that
occurs when you get here where you're just like you're
a kid again. And I don't think you can find
that very often in life. So it's less of something
to see and more just the ambiance, Like it's really
fun to bounce around with like your sister or your
friend or your kid. Like you know, and just have
a good day. Like it's truly like it takes all
the stress away.
Speaker 12 (16:24):
You have fun.
Speaker 8 (16:26):
You see animals, I mean these are animals you can't
see anywhere else, like when you guys have a chance,
go check out with our cold weather penguins, like the
only other place to see them is Antarctica.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Yeah, he has a penguin tattoo.
Speaker 11 (16:38):
Do you really?
Speaker 10 (16:39):
Oh?
Speaker 12 (16:39):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
So he's excited for the penguins.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
But oh man, well, thank you so much for something,
Thank you for having It's such a good time every time.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
We come by.
Speaker 11 (16:49):
Awesome. You can you see something real quick in the mic?
Is she allowed to say something in the mic?
Speaker 2 (16:53):
You want to see something?
Speaker 1 (16:57):
All right, well, we'll do this quickly then, Julian Kim
more quick, sit.
Speaker 10 (17:02):
Down, Ran, Once it's on the table, He's usually very good.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Okay, cool, Yeah, all right, here we go. Stay your
name and what you do here? SeaWorld?
Speaker 10 (17:11):
Yeah I know. First introduction was the alliator. So who's
this guy?
Speaker 13 (17:14):
My name is Jojo help me here over here is Elsa.
We work for a company called Conservation Ambassadors. We're actually
here doing a North America and Wildlife program in mission
Bay Theater here at seeriald Tan Diego Nice and our company,
Conservation Ambassadors, has actually worked with SeaWorld for the last
thirty years. And so what we do is we take
him rescued wildlife, either animals that are illegal pats and
(17:36):
compiscated by fish and wildlife, or animals that were injured
to the point where they can't be released back onto
the wild and then mostly do educational.
Speaker 10 (17:43):
Programs in schools with them.
Speaker 13 (17:45):
But every once in a while we're down here on
contracts like this and kind of give a face to
a lot of the rescued wildlife that SeaWorld takes care
of as well, because they have one of the most
amazing rescue wildlife programs on the planet here at SeaWorld.
And but there's are usually any ump backround to the
and while ours were able to be in new settings
and for presentations like this, so we come out and
(18:06):
we kind of give a face to that rescue program.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
Now, you instantly drew a crowd because you just busted
out a six foot alligator and his name's Spike.
Speaker 10 (18:15):
I heard yep.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Now, I just want to let everybody know I got
really close to Spike. I was probably within a half
a foot of spike. You can pet him if you
and I will pet him.
Speaker 10 (18:24):
You guys.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
They bring this up on the show all the time
on the Woody Show, that I would be afraid of
a three foot alligator if I saw one in a wild,
and I said I wouldn't.
Speaker 13 (18:34):
Alliators in general a pretty mild manner. They'll usually flee
from people. The only alligator ever had come at me
like I would look like lunch was a twelve foot
alliator that was used to people. And so that's one
of the biggest things, is a lot of these instances
where people are attacked by alliators or stuff like that.
A lot of times there are allius that people have
been feeding in the wild, they tossing them hot toms
(18:54):
and stuff, and they start to see people as a
food source, and that creates an encroachment closer to peace people,
and that's when.
Speaker 10 (19:00):
A lot of those problems arise.
Speaker 13 (19:02):
Now that being said, I've worked with both alliators and crocodiles,
and there's a bit of a personality difference between the two. Yeah,
the crocodiles, he got a little bit more edge there.
I had a foot and a half one crocodile that
would come out and just trying to detect my boot
every time I went in.
Speaker 10 (19:16):
Wow.
Speaker 13 (19:17):
While Spike, he's very easy to get along with outside
of his pond, so he only hasped in his territory,
in his own pond, and that creates a bit of
separation from work and home life, and so he actually
a bit more like a real alliator in his enclosure.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
In Louisiana has crocodiles or alligators.
Speaker 10 (19:35):
So they actually have both.
Speaker 13 (19:36):
So the Everglades has has the American crocodile, which is
a Class one endangered species, which was brought back from
thought to be extinction, and they found a few of
them in a backwater cooling pond of a nuclear power
plant and are now there's about the yeah, a little bit.
Speaker 10 (19:53):
Yeah, most things down there in the Bayou. Dude.
Speaker 13 (19:57):
No, it's the reason I do bring it up because
I hear there's a low rate of people being attacked
in Louisiana when it comes to alligators and crocodiles, and
that's mostly due to to coexisting with him for so long.
It's not usually the locals that end up in a
lot of these circumstances. Maybe there's something in the water
in Florida.
Speaker 10 (20:15):
Where Yeah, because.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Of the the numbers between Louisiana and Florida. I was
just trying to fagure out, you know. Yeah, that's why
I asked. Crocodiles or alligators.
Speaker 13 (20:25):
Nobody's getting attacked by crocodiles here in the US. They're
so highly endangered. You're lucky enough to even see one.
Speaker 10 (20:31):
Oh okay, yes, but no.
Speaker 13 (20:33):
And to be honest, it's one of those sensationalized things.
It's like a shark attach same thing. It happens once
in a year and then all of a sudden, it's
a big deal. Now in the recent years things have
changed a little bit. But just with with knowledge and
and and knowing the animals themselves and people being responsible,
it really wouldn't happen very often. And like you said,
this guy's sitting here on a table, he's a sunbathing.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
And we're surrounded by like hundreds of people. Yeah.
Speaker 13 (21:00):
Yeah, And that's kind of the kind of part of
it is he's very, very used to people. Now, if
he was set free into the wild, he would actually
be more likely to attack somebody because he doesn't fear people.
He's so very used to him, and that he would
come right up to people and be like, where's my lunch,
And that's why he's with us at our center. And
he was actually found during a drug raid in Los
Angeles about thirty four years ago.
Speaker 10 (21:21):
Really, yeah, so he was found.
Speaker 13 (21:22):
During a drug rade and he was complicated and centaur center.
He was about three and a half feet along at
the time when he came to us and we feed
him up.
Speaker 10 (21:29):
Towe.
Speaker 13 (21:29):
He's nice, a vat and happy, but only grows about
an inch to an inch and a half a year.
Speaker 10 (21:32):
So wow. Yeah, that's so.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
There are no gators that are native to California, right,
all came in from other parts.
Speaker 13 (21:38):
Right, So yeah, they're one of the most common illegal
pats to get confiscated by fishing wildlife. A lot of
people go to other states like Nevada or Texas and
buy an alliator try and smuggle it into California, and
that's we have very very strict exotic wildlife laws.
Speaker 10 (21:52):
Which is good.
Speaker 13 (21:52):
It protects the animals themselves and also our agriculture which
is which is a big deal. But yeah, so these
guys are one of the more common ones. We have
another alliator in our program. His name is Chubbs.
Speaker 10 (22:03):
He was found in a frat house. I don't know.
I don't know how.
Speaker 13 (22:06):
I don't know how he pledged, but he was part
of a frat house and.
Speaker 10 (22:12):
Not allowed to disclose. There's a lot of.
Speaker 5 (22:17):
There's only one college out there that is named after
the gators.
Speaker 10 (22:19):
So this was northern California.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
I'm always fascinated by how gators are found on like
the West Coast. Like there's a at the Llet Zoo.
There's one right at the entrance. I was found in
like someone's lake in the backyard or something so crazy.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
I mean, alligators are cool, but I'm like, why would
you want one?
Speaker 10 (22:36):
As Yeah, it makes no sense. It's personally.
Speaker 13 (22:40):
After hearing all these stories, I think a lot of
it stems from something having something different than what everybody else.
Has to be exotic, has to be interesting, it has
to be something new. That's why people get monkeys and
alliators and all these other things and it never works
out the way they think.
Speaker 10 (22:53):
But it's not. They're not Disney Channel animals. You know, they're.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Wizards a parent, So when people come to Sea World,
how do they see alligators?
Speaker 13 (23:04):
Okay, so we're a contractor, so we're down here different
times of the year for different stuff. Some years we'd
here a lot, other years not as much. Like this year,
we've been here pretty consistently. We were doing for their
seven Ce's festival, we were doing in Animals of the
World program taking people on our journey around the world
through learning about different animals from different continents. That was
a really fun one for the summer. Considering it as
a two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of America, we decided
(23:26):
to go North American Wildlife and celebrate some of the
animals that we have living here in the United States
that we feel tend to get overlooked.
Speaker 10 (23:34):
And it is kind of one of those things.
Speaker 13 (23:35):
Now, the Alliator not so much, but for instance, our
other guests, you want to go grab it real quick.
Speaker 10 (23:39):
We can bring them out at the same time. We have.
Speaker 13 (23:41):
This next guest is one that I think is often underappreciated,
has a bit of a reputation for being one of
the uglier animals on this planet.
Speaker 7 (23:50):
Is it named Tyler?
Speaker 10 (23:54):
She is an amazing creature.
Speaker 4 (23:58):
Yeah, we were just talking about this.
Speaker 10 (24:02):
That's awesome.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
This is one of my favorite animals.
Speaker 13 (24:05):
Yeah, yeah, So you can bring her around to them
Elsa and just uh, I'll stay with the gator. So
that's Billy. She's about a three and a half year
old in Virginia. Possum and they're they're they're amazing creatures.
This is North America's only marsupial. So these guys are
pouched animals like the kangaroos and koalas, but because they're
(24:25):
tree climbers, their pouch is actually a little bit different
because in sideways like a sweatshirt pocket with a hole
in the middle, so that the babies are nice to
save his mom's climbing up down the trees. But her
being three and a half, she's actually kind of a
senior citizen.
Speaker 10 (24:36):
They only live about three or four years.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Wow.
Speaker 10 (24:38):
Yeah, but in three to four years they can have
over fifty babies. Possums. Yeah, possums are pretty awesome.
Speaker 13 (24:44):
She's got more teeth than any of the land mammal
in North America.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
Wow.
Speaker 10 (24:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
Where can you find possums in America? I know, I
grew up in northern California.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
I would visit the canals area like Sacramento a grandmother
that lived, and it's full of possums. But even in
this Francisco b area would have possums everywhere.
Speaker 13 (25:02):
Yeah, so raccoons seem to have taken over the Bay
Area a little bit.
Speaker 10 (25:05):
They have a good stronghold on it.
Speaker 13 (25:07):
You will still find the possums in the Bay Area,
just not quite as frequently.
Speaker 10 (25:10):
For instance, I grew.
Speaker 13 (25:11):
Up in Auburn, So yeah, that's that's where where our
half of the facility is. So we're based in really
in we Mark, California, right near Sacramento, and we're such
high altitude we don't get as many apossums either.
Speaker 10 (25:24):
They're out there, but you don't don't see them as much.
Speaker 13 (25:26):
But the possums were originally an East Coast animal, So
they're originally an East Coast animal that was spread all
around the United States here, and they're a great depression
to breed and be used as.
Speaker 10 (25:35):
A food source.
Speaker 13 (25:37):
Really, yes, they bring very fast in her three to
four yeared fan, like I said, she can have over
fifty babies. They're omnivorous animals, so they can eat any
kind of foods and so they were kind of a
perfect animal to bring along to the West Coast and
then feed people. Now they just release them into the
wild and let them breed, and then people would hunt
them but they have now seamlessly moved into the western
(25:57):
half of the United States and they're actually one of
the least impact full.
Speaker 10 (26:00):
Invasive species on the planet. Wow. Yeah, that's pretty amazing.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
Always break for possums, Yes, I always break for possums.
Speaker 10 (26:08):
Yeah, I love those bumper stickers too. But it's just
a real cool animal.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
Now a question. I don't know the legality behind owning
a possum as a pets, but is it the closest
wild animal that could be domesticated to be a pet.
Speaker 10 (26:21):
So every native species here in the United States.
Speaker 13 (26:24):
Is not legal to own as a pet without permitting
and stuff like that. Now, there are other states where
like permits are easy to get.
Speaker 10 (26:31):
That's all.
Speaker 13 (26:31):
Like when you see people that have raccoons and skunks
and stuff like that aspets. Certain states have very lax
permitting laws. You can apply for those permits very easily
and get that animal. It's not something i'd ever recommend.
I love her a lot, I wouldn't have her living
in my house though. You know she's she's she's a
pretty like alert animal. She she wants to kind of
mosey and eat her food, and so we set up
(26:52):
her enclosure where she can feel like an actual apossum.
But you guys just pet her. You know, you guys,
she's we got are so used to people that you
guys were able to pet her, right, And so that
that takes work, though, that takes a little bit of effort,
a little bit of training and what we call conditioning.
So getting it able to act like these two takes
a little bit of training. Now, if you remember what
I said, like about Spike, how he acts like a
(27:13):
real alligator in his territory.
Speaker 10 (27:15):
So let's say a person gets an alligator is a pet,
they have.
Speaker 13 (27:18):
Him in an enclosure in their home, then he's gonna
think that's his home and he's gonna act like a
real alligator at that point, and that causes problems. I
wouldn't want him living in my home. But like, once
he's out and about, he does pretty good. He's gonna
want to wiggle here a little bit. I'm actually gonna
throw him right back, all right, do you guys want
to feel real quick? All right, well, there's your excitement
(27:45):
for you. I gotta say, even with my bark joke,
he didn't flinch. Yeah, thank you, okay, thank you.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
I touched the gainer.
Speaker 4 (27:56):
He's like, oh, yeah, I got a couple of friends.
If you I'm like, all right, cool, we got like
you know, a little like birders.
Speaker 10 (28:03):
Will get bigger. Yeah, he'll grow his entire life.
Speaker 13 (28:05):
So the girl based on how much food you're getting,
how warm the environment is. Yeah, So we keep them
nicely healthy and proportional. That's the biggest thing. What you're
looking for is to keep their proportions correct. When they're
malnourished or misfed, they they kind of get weird shaped.
Speaker 10 (28:20):
And that's a big indicator for natural a little weird
shape I have.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
I have a bearded dragon, definitely not an alligator, but
for dragons, have been told that the bigger that when
when you get a bigger tank, they grow bigger. Is
that kind of the case for for gators as well.
Gators always just continue to grow, regardless of how big
of any closure they are.
Speaker 10 (28:40):
Yeah, So it's it's it's something that's been.
Speaker 13 (28:43):
A slightly slight fallacy a little okay, the especially with
the like the beardies and stuff.
Speaker 10 (28:49):
Beardies almost have a top size that they get to.
Speaker 13 (28:51):
They will continue to grow most of life, but they
usually end up at a pretty typical range you know,
I haven't seen a five foot beer the dragon that's
living out in the grasslands of Australia. But it's one
of those things that people started to say that if
you keep them in a smaller tank, you give them
less food, they'll stay smaller. And it's really that less
(29:11):
food side that is really the bigger indicator of it.
Speaker 10 (29:14):
Also, sunlight is a huge thing.
Speaker 13 (29:17):
It's a huge part of the alligator's lives, so or
for the reptiles lives, So for them, it's it's a
lot of varying factors.
Speaker 10 (29:26):
I've seen alliators kept.
Speaker 13 (29:28):
In terrible conditions that are massive so small enclosures way
too big for them, and they still manage to grow.
So it's one of those things that the kind of
got skewed a little bit. I've seen it happen with
some fish. So some fish, it's kind of like tank
size actually does make it very a little bit. But
as far as the reptiles go, not so much. So
(29:48):
do they have alligators, Yeah, they'll have at least like
twenty eggs right around there, and a lot of them
will hatch, and about one in every twelve survives.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
I do have to ask one question before we leave
and I asked everybody you personally, why should people come
to SeaWorld?
Speaker 10 (30:05):
Why should people come to Seworld? Will won.
Speaker 13 (30:07):
Every dollar that you spend here at SeaWorld adds up
to supporting a company that has rescued over forty three
thousand animals since opening their gates. I work with their
vetsaff here, I work with their rescue team. They do
some of the most amazing work on the planet. Not
to mention the passion that it spreads about wildlife. When
you see you know, the dolphins here, or the whales here,
(30:28):
the sea lions, or even the jellyfish, which is an
awesome new exhibit, you create a personal connection with those animals.
And I don't feel people care about stuff that they
don't have a personal connection with.
Speaker 10 (30:42):
That's why we do our job.
Speaker 13 (30:43):
That's why we're out in schools letting kids meet an alligator.
And that same philosophy is why you should want to
come to SeaWorld.
Speaker 10 (30:51):
Not to mention the fact that it's fun.
Speaker 13 (30:53):
You got rides, you got concerts, you got all sorts
of really cool stuff going on, and this one's a
it's a small park.
Speaker 10 (30:59):
It's fun.
Speaker 13 (31:00):
It's like it's it's like I've done work at sea
especially Searel San Diego. This is this feels family to
me because I grew up and down in this area.
Speaker 10 (31:08):
We've worked with them for a very long time.
Speaker 13 (31:10):
And you come to Sea World, especially if you're a
pass holder, you get to know everybody here. You'll you'll
recognize people, and that's a really kind of cool thing
for me. But yeah, just spread that passion about wildlife.
That is what they've been best at, and that's what
they'll continue to be best at, is getting people to
care about, especially about marine wildlife.
Speaker 4 (31:27):
Awesome, all right, I do have one more question. So
if someone wants to get into your line of work,
how do they do it?
Speaker 5 (31:34):
Like, what do you go to school for?
Speaker 10 (31:35):
So you're as I know the answer.
Speaker 13 (31:38):
So so first of all, I know the answer, but
I'm the wrong person. So my mom and dad started
our half of our wildlife as he center. Oh ok, yeah,
so I grew up working with animals. I'm basically a
NEPO baby.
Speaker 10 (31:51):
So yeah, it's it's what.
Speaker 13 (31:54):
I gotta be self aware, but not I'm I enjoy
my job, worked hard at it, but I grew up
doing it. I had the advantage of literally working with
animals my entire life. My parents went to a school
called more Park College that has the eatom program, which
is a hands on training zoo, and literally you stop
that zoo for two years and you can get their
job almost anywhere in the field.
Speaker 10 (32:14):
Now that's a direct route. That's like the trade school route.
Speaker 13 (32:17):
The other ways you can go is behavioral sciences, any
of the like studying animal behavior, even human behavior, plus
animal handling experience, whether it's with dogs and cats, cattle,
anything like that just can get you in the door.
And most people have to work their way up most
of the time you get a job like for instance,
also worked here at Sea World before I has stole
(32:39):
her from the company. She was a zoological assistant and
so she was mostly making like like doing the fish house,
which is preparing the fish for all the animals in
the park. And that's an early morning shift getting up
and making the fish for for everybody else, well, not
making the fish, but thaw on the fish and getting
it all set up. And that's cool part. That's a
(32:59):
big part of the facilities here. And she happened to
want to volunteer for us when I was doing a
summer contract and.
Speaker 10 (33:07):
That volunteer work that she did is what got her
her job.
Speaker 13 (33:10):
So a lot of times our companies like mine will
will hire volunteers that have worked for us, or you
can take that volunteer experience and apply it to anywhere else.
And that's the bigges thing. Just show commitment and keep applying.
It's there's not that many jobs in our field, so
keep applying. I know people that have waited their entire
lives to work with animals and and they end up
(33:32):
doing it in retirement, and so you know, there's there's
there's lots of different ways to do it, but the
more part college the EEDOM program is the most direct
path and that's for most of the animal trainers. So
that's for people that work directly with the animals. That's
where they went.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Cool. All right, yeah, thanks man, yes so much, thank
you so much.
Speaker 10 (33:50):
Thank you, see you later. Aliator.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
All right, well, I think we're gonna lose Tyler and
he's gonna start work with animals.
Speaker 4 (34:02):
It's so funny because I told myself, if I didn't
love doing media, and if I didn't love doing radio, honestly,
I think working out a zoom probably would have ended
up being where I'm at.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
Keep from crawling to that carrier with the gator.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
Dude.
Speaker 4 (34:14):
It was cool and it was like eyeballing me and everything,
and I'm just like, this is kind of wild.
Speaker 10 (34:19):
You know.
Speaker 6 (34:19):
It was great because people were walking by and not
knowing if that gator was brilliant.
Speaker 4 (34:25):
I'm watching so like Joel's right behind me. There's this
chick that's just like, oh my god. She's like, no,
it's not real.
Speaker 6 (34:32):
And then it's real little kids like trying to like
creep up with the lady that was standing by a
stick guard everybody.
Speaker 7 (34:40):
So I was I was ready to pounce on.
Speaker 4 (34:41):
That's the other thing. I'm looking at the corner of
my I'm like, Okay, there's a lot of kids here.
Speaker 3 (34:48):
Take a second to recognize and give the possum the
respected Yeah, possums are dope always, you know what.
Speaker 6 (34:57):
So when I was a little growing up, we would
leave our cat food outside in the front yard by
the front door. One night, I walked outside, not thinking anything.
I just opened up the front door and I jumped
back so far it was a freaking family of possums.
I got so scared, and I never.
Speaker 7 (35:14):
Ever in my life thought I would touch a possum.
Speaker 10 (35:17):
Look and I did. Well.
Speaker 3 (35:17):
My mom still leaves cat food out in front of
her house and she gets skunks, raccoons. Yeah, possums. I'm
a skunk actually sprayed her porch like a couple of
weeks ago.
Speaker 7 (35:28):
Don't don't possum's hiss when they get scared.
Speaker 5 (35:33):
Look if someone's coming up with me, I'm probably hissing too.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
I used to live next to San Francisco State and
they would crawl under my house. Possum, skunks, raccoons, all
kinds of stuff.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
We have a deer that run by now.
Speaker 3 (35:45):
Skunks are interesting because skunks will lunge at you. They'll
like stump their little paws at you to be yell,
bro back off or it's gonna get gross.
Speaker 6 (35:52):
My brother's down from Massachusetts and he's here visiting the
SeaWorld Park with us, and he his ring camera off
on his phone, and on his camera you see a
little family of skunks going underneath and he's like they
were on their back rolling around. You see the mama
and there was at least six little babies behind them.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
All yeah, we want to be outside, Well, we're going
to go enjoy the parks and more.
Speaker 2 (36:17):
I'm looking at our schedule.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
I think we're going to meet a penguin today.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
We're going to meet a paying My life is complete?
Speaker 7 (36:24):
And then what else I want you to waddle up
to it?
Speaker 4 (36:27):
I don't look there might there. There's gonna be a
World Cup game going on. When we meet this penguins.
I'm gonna be showing it some soccer a little bit,
introduce him to a little to my life.
Speaker 3 (36:35):
And then after that we got the forty concert Shamu
light up the nights, and then the Drone Spectacular the Dream.
Speaker 7 (36:42):
I want to at least go on wine.
Speaker 3 (36:44):
By the way, the coasters here are absolutely kick ass.
I went on almost all them last time, and this
place knows how to have fun.
Speaker 7 (36:52):
I'm excited for it all right.
Speaker 4 (36:53):
Sea World somehow got better as I got to become
an adult than what was.
Speaker 3 (36:57):
A kid, which, by the way, no one talks about.
Speaker 10 (36:59):
Zither.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
The aerial tram that's in the back of the podcast
is really fun to get a nice look over the bay.
You can see obviously the whole park.
Speaker 2 (37:07):
Yeah, it's super cool. We're gonna go enjoy SeaWorld.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
You should to check out the new Shark encounter and
enjoy the food we already did.
Speaker 2 (37:16):
We're gonna do it again.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
Actually yeah, it's a special addition of whatsoo Pod Live
from SeaWorld.
Speaker 2 (37:23):
We'll see you next week.
What's up, everybody, and welcome to a special edition of
a What's Dow pod?
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Come to you live from SeaWorld.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Yea, I have Julianne, I have Tyler, I have Randy,
and we're coming to you live from outside the Shark Encounter.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Inside the park right now.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
I always say, this is like our fifth time recording
a podcast as SeaWorld, and they're always so good to us,
and I just want to put out there just like
you know, if you don't live in the area and
you want to, let's say, travel across the country, just
coming to San Diego is worth.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
It to also go to SeaWorld.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Like last night we went to go see a baseball
game and that I mean park is like one of
the best parks I've ever been to.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Beautiful.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
I've said it once, We'll said it again. Pecko Park,
top five park in the country.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
I mean, if you're not a fan of the team,
or let's just say your team's in town and San
Diego and you want to make a weekend of it,
you can go to the ballpark, go to a game,
and then and you can also hit up Sea World.
And it's also just it's located in like they called
the gas Lamp District and just downtown San Diego super walkable,
so much fun.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
One of the best cities that you can go to.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
When I put into like the list of places I
would do radio, I've always said it would be San Francisco,
Los Angeles, New York, San Diego.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
I always tell people when they want to come to
California and like, you have to find time to go
to San Diego.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
I tell you because people are like, oh, like I
want to go to La I want to go San Francisco.
Speaker 5 (01:26):
I'm go to San Diego first.
Speaker 6 (01:29):
I went to Old Town San Diego last night and
walked around.
Speaker 7 (01:32):
Yeah, it's so historic down there.
Speaker 6 (01:34):
There was even a I didn't get to go there,
but there's a haunted house I've done.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
I've done. I did a ghost tour once.
Speaker 6 (01:41):
Yeah, it's like a like a jury or a courthouse.
There you go, it's a courthouse. And then I guess
like whenever whoever, whoever would be found guilty, they would
hang them there and all their tombstones are out and
the guy at the front desk and I checked in
last night, said that if you were to take pictures
of the tombstones, you could see little ores.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Of Like just so, there are bars in old town
San Diego that are older than the state of California. Oh,
they're older than San Diego itself, because this has been
around for so long. It's next to Mexico. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
I love San Diego.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
I always tell people, and speaking of being next to Mexico,
you're gonna get the best Mexican food in San Diego.
Speaker 8 (02:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
There's a bunch of breweries too that you can stop by,
super fun.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Also you can hit up TJ for one.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Yeah, absolutely, you knew.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
I was trying to talk to Nacho last night when
we're at dinner, I'm like, maybe we should hit TJ
Sunday morning, But we forgot our passport.
Speaker 7 (02:29):
Do you need them to drive in? We were talking
about that.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Yeah, do you need a passport?
Speaker 3 (02:32):
I think they changed it so you get a passport card.
So if you get your passport, I know it's because
I'm literally doing this right now. You get a passport
card for thirty dollars and with that card you can
go international on boat or car. Yeah, you can't fly, Yeah, it.
Speaker 4 (02:43):
Used to be you could used to be able to
just cross the border with you driver's license.
Speaker 5 (02:46):
Your normal idea. I think like maybe ten years ago
they change are like you have to.
Speaker 7 (02:49):
Have your friends a minute.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
San Diego is a gateway to a lot of fun things. Yea,
there's a lot of things you can do. Yeah, you're
you're only you're literally just a couple of hours away
from my life, if that's what you're trying to do.
But San Diego has it all and SeaWorld is definitely
like the Crown Jewel.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Today is a great day to be here because today
we're going to go to a concert and they have
this whole concerence series that's going on. I'm sure you've
probably seen it on TikTok super viral. Well what what
are some of the groups that we've seen? I mean
the ying As Wentz really like kind of set it off, dude.
Speaker 4 (03:17):
Like we walked in, the first thing I saw was
Soldier Boy and Paul Wall and I was like, yeah, I.
Speaker 9 (03:23):
Will be here. What apple Bees the late night. Also,
what we love about SeaWorld is the food.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Like every time we come here, we usually come during
the the food festival, but today that you can buy
the all you can eat.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Food passes and that's what we're enjoying.
Speaker 5 (03:48):
Today.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Now, the first thing that we did see when we
got here was behind the scenes tour, which not everybody
can get. It's about saving animals. Now they have this
whole rescue operation and behind the scenes at SeaWorld that
I think they don't give themselves enough flowers on.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Like anytime you see in the news.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
There's a seal stuck somewhere, or there's a dolphin stuck somewhere,
who do you think people are calling. Are they calling
their local police or firefighters? No, they're calling SeaWorld. SeaWorld
have all the facilities set up to take care of
animals like.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
This, and the whole behind the whole park.
Speaker 7 (04:24):
They have doctors, rehabilitation centers.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Yeah, everything, And I don't think they get enough credit
for that.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
And it's all in their own dime too.
Speaker 6 (04:32):
And they said they have an eighty three percent return
rate to the ocean.
Speaker 10 (04:35):
Yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker 11 (04:36):
I did not know that.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Yeah, and they're all through the coastline too.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
They're bringing in animals from Oregon, Washington, all the way
from Alaska, which, by the way, I asked the question,
how do turtles get here from Washington, Oregon?
Speaker 5 (04:48):
He did ask that question.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
She shared our guide shared a really cool organization called
Turtles Fly to which is like the funniest, coolest thing
every turtles get to fly in.
Speaker 4 (04:56):
Pj's Yeah, she's in the San Diego She's like, oh yeah,
we hit up people who have like private tress, like hey,
can you like bring a turtle down?
Speaker 5 (05:03):
So I'm just thinking like, oh, yeah, I have a
turtle in the back.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
She shared story. She shared a story that she picked
up a turtle one so I'm like a gold plated
interior jet and She's like, who does this jet belong?
And there's just a turtle in the box. So super cool.
What they do here is really awesome.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
So yeah, they do so much rescue work.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
People just need to google it and find out everything
that they do. And uh, I think we're gonna get
our day started here and have our first interview. All right,
state your name and what you do here at SeaWorld.
Speaker 12 (05:31):
My name's Tory Jones. I'm gonna querus here at SeaWorld
San Diego. I've been here for about three years now
and right now I am not working directly with the
sharks and shark Ing Counter, but the sharks out at
the front of the park in Explorer's reef.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Now, I heard a fun fact that sharks have been
around longer than the rings of Saturn.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Is that true or not true?
Speaker 12 (05:48):
I don't know entirely about the rings of Saturn, but
I do know that they're older than trees. I mean,
they're they've been here longer than anything. When the planet
was covered in water, the sharks were there.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Aren't there some sharks that can live to be like
hundreds of years old?
Speaker 12 (06:01):
Yeah? So the Greenland shark is a species that I mean,
they're estimated about two hundred and fifty years but there's
been some records about five hundred years old.
Speaker 10 (06:09):
Wow.
Speaker 12 (06:10):
Yeah, so they lived a real long time in really
cold water.
Speaker 10 (06:13):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
I heard like alligators can live I don't know, pretty long.
Speaker 12 (06:17):
Yeah, time to have long lifespans in general, I had
no idea about the sharks.
Speaker 10 (06:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Yeahs as someone who works with sharks, do you have
like a favorite shark?
Speaker 12 (06:26):
My favorite shark is a shark that we don't have here.
It's the great Hammerhead. It's the first shark I ever
got to see in the water. So I've always kind
of been mesmerized by them. Also, they're just so weird looking.
I just love them so much. But my favorite shark
here would definitely be our zebra sharks or Australian leopard sharks.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Now wait a minute, you said see a hammerhead in
the water.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
How did that happen?
Speaker 12 (06:46):
So my family is avid scuba divers. We've all been
scuba diving for years. I started at eleven years old,
and my first dive that I ever got to go
do with my grandma. We did off the coast of Florida,
I believe, and I was so young. But we're in
the water and my grandma like grab my hand and
I look over and there's this massive hammer head And
at the time, I didn't know it was a great hammerhead.
It was smaller.
Speaker 5 (07:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 12 (07:05):
So we're like, oh, maybe juvenile, but they're like, oh
my god, that's like the coolest shark you can see
on one of these dives that we're really really excited.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
So then did that just make you fall in love
and want to work?
Speaker 12 (07:16):
Just my grandparents' influence in general like really inspired me.
I mean I've been a water baby forever, and seeing
the videos of my grandparents travel all over the world
and die with the sharks and do all these crazy things,
I was like, man, that's that's what I want to
do for the rest of my life, Like that's so cool.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
That should people be afraid of sharks.
Speaker 12 (07:34):
I think a healthy respect is do. They are very
powerful animals, and I mean when we're swimming, we're in
their environment, Like you need that healthy respect. However, I
don't think they're ever targeting us. It's most of the
time mistaken identity. We're not really a prey item for them,
but they do want to come over and check us out.
They just don't have hands like humans do, so they're
going to use their mouths. But I just think sharks
(07:56):
are so important to the planet that it would be
not fair to them to kind of cast them out.
Because of the media that we've consumed over the years,
like Jaws and all the scary shark movies, it's just
they're not represented correctly. But they're so important. They're the
apex predator, so they're taking care of all of the
levels below them. They're taking care of all those sick
fish they eat them get them off the reefs. So
(08:17):
if there's no sharks, there's no reefs. If there's no
no reefs, there's no oceans, and no oceans no planet,
so they do. They do contribute pretty heavily to the ecosystem.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Now in the Sea World Sharking Counter, we saw some
big sharks in there.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Yeah, what's the biggest one in there.
Speaker 12 (08:32):
Our largest shark is our lemon shark in there. She's
quite a big girl. I don't know her exact weight,
but when weigh HER's probably close to three hundred pounds. Yeah,
she's a really big girl. But she I mean, she's
a really good eater. She come over and eat, but
I mean here in the water, she doesn't really care
about you.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
How do you eed them? Just throw it in there.
Speaker 12 (08:48):
So we have long tongs that we have a specific
diet for each shark, so we want to make sure
they're getting the fish that we have prepped for them.
So we do long tongs and we wait for them
to come over and we'll swim it in front of them,
make it really interesting for them. We play with them
so they're nice and stimulated and excited to eat. And
then we also have other species like fish and some
bottom dwellers in there, so we do broadcast fews as well.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Yeah, that's what we do with Tyler, just in case
he doesn't.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Take off like a chicken sandwich on the long stick,
can just make it interesting for him.
Speaker 5 (09:16):
So do you have a question.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
So you said each shark has a specific diet, right,
So which shark gets which fish and like what fish
do they eat.
Speaker 12 (09:23):
It's kind of depending on like the day. We like
to switch it up for them, give them some variety.
Almost it depends on the size of the fish. Like
our blue runner and our bonita fish are a little
bit bigger than say the herring and stuff that we feed,
So it depends on the shark. And each shark does
have individual taste, so they're all kind of picky eaters.
So there's some fish that they just don't want. So
(09:44):
there's days where we have a whole bucket of blue
runner and none of the sharks want blue runner. They
only want the bonita or it just depends on the day.
But we we try to make it as versatile. Sometimes
they get salmon. So yeah, just really depends on the day.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
So here's a question, speaking of fish and sharks. The
fish that live with the sharks, they never have to
worry about being like meals for the sharks. They together.
Speaker 12 (10:06):
Yeah, most of the sharks know where the food is
coming up at this point in their lives. They've been
here a really long time. They know they're gonna get fed,
so I mean they're not going to expend all that
energy to go catch those fish. Sometimes it does happen.
Sometimes a fish will swim into a shark or sharks
just irritated that day. We do have some yellow tail
in there that are really really big fish.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
So good, Yeah, I get it.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
There's some.
Speaker 12 (10:28):
But they they'll come and even divers they come and
they bump into us, and they like really run into us.
And I can see why it would be annoying why
a shark might want to take a little bite. Yeah,
it does happen. Sometimes it's not their main food item.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Okay, one last question, uh, personally for you, why should
people come to SeaWorld?
Speaker 12 (10:46):
I think SeaWorld is a great place to learn about
animals that you might never get to encounter in your
day to day life. Like I grew up in Las Vegas, Nevada.
It's completely landlocked. There's no oceans. If I didn't have
my grandparents and learn from them, I probably know nothing
about the oceans. And so I think the world is
a great place to go and learn and get interactions
with these animals, and it really instills a care and
a passion about them in younger generations, which we really
(11:08):
really need right now, because, like I said, with the
shark movies and everything, Yeah, older generations are genuinely scared
and it's just so deeply in our brains that it's
just not something we can erase. But we can teach
new generations the difference and teach them how to respect
the oceans and everything like that. And I think SeaWorld,
all the different areas, the mammals, the fish, the birds, everything,
(11:29):
it all contributes to that. It's conservation is the number one.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Awesome All nice, awesome, Thank you so much.
Speaker 12 (11:34):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Next up state your name and what you do here.
Speaker 8 (11:38):
At SeaWorld, Jackie Plaza, and I'm the vice president of
sales and Marketing.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Oh nice, Okay, So you know everything that's happening as SeaWorld,
like all the events, and we're really into the events
that happen here. I mean, the concert lineup is amazing. Also,
we love the food fairs that you have and the festivals.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Yeah, and that's one.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Of our favorite parts as well, and of course the
park and the rides.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
But what's going on lately here?
Speaker 8 (12:04):
Well, you're here on the right day. We have forty
yes from the Bay area. It's the first time that
he's performing here at SeaWorld, So he could not be
more excited by the way he was. You know, we
track our reserve seating and he was one of the
top people selling part is selling. Oh nice, It's pretty
incredible to see we had that lineup. He's just one
of many in the lineup. So so you know, we
(12:26):
started out with Yin Yang twins, but we have after forty,
We've got Jordan's Sparks, We've got Soldier Boy, so you
have a shanty.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
Genuine.
Speaker 8 (12:37):
Genuine has been here three times. He gets his crowd
with all of the audience. So it's been so fun
because the women go nuts for We're literally like hugging him.
Speaker 11 (12:47):
He said happy birthday one year. He's just like incredible. Yeah,
the women love.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Genuine personally, so excited because the bay is what.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
In the building born and raised in there.
Speaker 10 (13:00):
Listening to.
Speaker 11 (13:03):
That, I'm a big step Curry fan. Yeah, I definitely
love the bag.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Well, okay, so on top of the concerts.
Speaker 8 (13:11):
What else, Oh, we have so much So actually next
week this is pretty incredible. We've never done it before,
but we are hosting a viewing party for the World
Cup semi finals on Tuesday and then again on Sunday
for the finals. And guess where we're doing it orchest
stadium watch party with whales, so on the big screen,
so we're going to be showing the game or starting
(13:32):
the match, and then the whales are going to be
swimming around. And I heard a rumor that back in
the day they used to love watching the Super Bowl.
They a few of them are actually part of this
research study. They play where they play pong against one another,
so they're able to use their mouths and their heads
in order to move like a cursor around and they
can play against each other. So I am hopeful that
(13:53):
when a goal is scored and everyone goes gol.
Speaker 11 (13:56):
The whales are going to be jumping up everywhere. So
that's one big thing.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
I think some people here in this circle are gonna
be back next weekend.
Speaker 5 (14:07):
Yeah, we might be.
Speaker 11 (14:11):
In if you guys want to come. We have the
nice pros a pair of reserve seats for you.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Personally, What is your favorite part of the park.
Speaker 11 (14:19):
Oh, my god, just the animals and our team.
Speaker 8 (14:21):
You know, some of our team has worked with our
animals for like thirty years. You know, some of the
animal care team have met each other, their husbands and
wives together here, their kids work here.
Speaker 11 (14:31):
It's just so incredible to see the bond between them.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Yeah, so I love you know.
Speaker 11 (14:36):
I love Shark Attraction. I love you know. We have
nighttime shows now for the first.
Speaker 8 (14:39):
Time back, you know, in a really really long time,
first time Dolphin night show Dolphins Touch the Sky Night
does something with animal presentations where it just makes it
really dreamy and really cool, and it's a whole different
way to see these animals who have such like magic
to them.
Speaker 11 (14:55):
The same thing with Orca. We have an Orca nighttime show.
Speaker 8 (14:58):
Those were two new ones that start this summer, so
that's every single night here.
Speaker 11 (15:02):
They're included with park admission. I love them.
Speaker 10 (15:05):
So then I say.
Speaker 8 (15:05):
A cap it off with the Ocean of Dreams. That's
our drone show. So for many years we did fireworks.
This year we have launched our drone show.
Speaker 11 (15:15):
And people love it.
Speaker 8 (15:16):
It's a story about ocean conservation and it shows orcas
and jellyfish and just everything in the sky and it
makes you gives you. It's like the perfect way at
the end of the day. Yeah, like you just feel
like tingly.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Well, those drone shows are just so over the top.
Speaker 11 (15:30):
Now, oh my godther cool.
Speaker 8 (15:32):
Yeah really this has like a soundtrack to it and
a voiceover and it takes you feels like you're on
like another planet.
Speaker 11 (15:37):
All yeah, so yeah, now I dream cool.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
I do have another question, okay, and I want to
ask everybody that comes by, for you personally, why should
people come to see World.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Oh it's I know you already listed a lot.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Of reasons why, but for you, your one number one reason.
Speaker 8 (15:52):
I would say, like the nostalgia of it. You know,
I lived in LA for probably about twenty five years,
and I came down and moved down to San Diego
for this job, and I was blown away to see how.
Speaker 11 (16:02):
You just feel care free and young.
Speaker 8 (16:04):
And there's like some sort of like weird thing that
occurs when you get here where you're just like you're
a kid again. And I don't think you can find
that very often in life. So it's less of something
to see and more just the ambiance, Like it's really
fun to bounce around with like your sister or your
friend or your kid. Like you know, and just have
a good day. Like it's truly like it takes all
the stress away.
Speaker 12 (16:24):
You have fun.
Speaker 8 (16:26):
You see animals, I mean these are animals you can't
see anywhere else, like when you guys have a chance,
go check out with our cold weather penguins, like the
only other place to see them is Antarctica.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Yeah, he has a penguin tattoo.
Speaker 11 (16:38):
Do you really?
Speaker 10 (16:39):
Oh?
Speaker 12 (16:39):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
So he's excited for the penguins.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
But oh man, well, thank you so much for something,
Thank you for having It's such a good time every time.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
We come by.
Speaker 11 (16:49):
Awesome. You can you see something real quick in the mic?
Is she allowed to say something in the mic?
Speaker 2 (16:53):
You want to see something?
Speaker 1 (16:57):
All right, well, we'll do this quickly then, Julian Kim
more quick, sit.
Speaker 10 (17:02):
Down, Ran, Once it's on the table, He's usually very good.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Okay, cool, Yeah, all right, here we go. Stay your
name and what you do here? SeaWorld?
Speaker 10 (17:11):
Yeah I know. First introduction was the alliator. So who's
this guy?
Speaker 13 (17:14):
My name is Jojo help me here over here is Elsa.
We work for a company called Conservation Ambassadors. We're actually
here doing a North America and Wildlife program in mission
Bay Theater here at seeriald Tan Diego Nice and our company,
Conservation Ambassadors, has actually worked with SeaWorld for the last
thirty years. And so what we do is we take
him rescued wildlife, either animals that are illegal pats and
(17:36):
compiscated by fish and wildlife, or animals that were injured
to the point where they can't be released back onto
the wild and then mostly do educational.
Speaker 10 (17:43):
Programs in schools with them.
Speaker 13 (17:45):
But every once in a while we're down here on
contracts like this and kind of give a face to
a lot of the rescued wildlife that SeaWorld takes care
of as well, because they have one of the most
amazing rescue wildlife programs on the planet here at SeaWorld.
And but there's are usually any ump backround to the
and while ours were able to be in new settings
and for presentations like this, so we come out and
(18:06):
we kind of give a face to that rescue program.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
Now, you instantly drew a crowd because you just busted
out a six foot alligator and his name's Spike.
Speaker 10 (18:15):
I heard yep.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Now, I just want to let everybody know I got
really close to Spike. I was probably within a half
a foot of spike. You can pet him if you
and I will pet him.
Speaker 10 (18:24):
You guys.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
They bring this up on the show all the time
on the Woody Show, that I would be afraid of
a three foot alligator if I saw one in a wild,
and I said I wouldn't.
Speaker 13 (18:34):
Alliators in general a pretty mild manner. They'll usually flee
from people. The only alligator ever had come at me
like I would look like lunch was a twelve foot
alliator that was used to people. And so that's one
of the biggest things, is a lot of these instances
where people are attacked by alliators or stuff like that.
A lot of times there are allius that people have
been feeding in the wild, they tossing them hot toms
(18:54):
and stuff, and they start to see people as a
food source, and that creates an encroachment closer to peace people,
and that's when.
Speaker 10 (19:00):
A lot of those problems arise.
Speaker 13 (19:02):
Now that being said, I've worked with both alliators and crocodiles,
and there's a bit of a personality difference between the two. Yeah,
the crocodiles, he got a little bit more edge there.
I had a foot and a half one crocodile that
would come out and just trying to detect my boot
every time I went in.
Speaker 10 (19:16):
Wow.
Speaker 13 (19:17):
While Spike, he's very easy to get along with outside
of his pond, so he only hasped in his territory,
in his own pond, and that creates a bit of
separation from work and home life, and so he actually
a bit more like a real alliator in his enclosure.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
In Louisiana has crocodiles or alligators.
Speaker 10 (19:35):
So they actually have both.
Speaker 13 (19:36):
So the Everglades has has the American crocodile, which is
a Class one endangered species, which was brought back from
thought to be extinction, and they found a few of
them in a backwater cooling pond of a nuclear power
plant and are now there's about the yeah, a little bit.
Speaker 10 (19:53):
Yeah, most things down there in the Bayou. Dude.
Speaker 13 (19:57):
No, it's the reason I do bring it up because
I hear there's a low rate of people being attacked
in Louisiana when it comes to alligators and crocodiles, and
that's mostly due to to coexisting with him for so long.
It's not usually the locals that end up in a
lot of these circumstances. Maybe there's something in the water
in Florida.
Speaker 10 (20:15):
Where Yeah, because.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Of the the numbers between Louisiana and Florida. I was
just trying to fagure out, you know. Yeah, that's why
I asked. Crocodiles or alligators.
Speaker 13 (20:25):
Nobody's getting attacked by crocodiles here in the US. They're
so highly endangered. You're lucky enough to even see one.
Speaker 10 (20:31):
Oh okay, yes, but no.
Speaker 13 (20:33):
And to be honest, it's one of those sensationalized things.
It's like a shark attach same thing. It happens once
in a year and then all of a sudden, it's
a big deal. Now in the recent years things have
changed a little bit. But just with with knowledge and
and and knowing the animals themselves and people being responsible,
it really wouldn't happen very often. And like you said,
this guy's sitting here on a table, he's a sunbathing.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
And we're surrounded by like hundreds of people. Yeah.
Speaker 13 (21:00):
Yeah, And that's kind of the kind of part of
it is he's very, very used to people. Now, if
he was set free into the wild, he would actually
be more likely to attack somebody because he doesn't fear people.
He's so very used to him, and that he would
come right up to people and be like, where's my lunch,
And that's why he's with us at our center. And
he was actually found during a drug raid in Los
Angeles about thirty four years ago.
Speaker 10 (21:21):
Really, yeah, so he was found.
Speaker 13 (21:22):
During a drug rade and he was complicated and centaur center.
He was about three and a half feet along at
the time when he came to us and we feed
him up.
Speaker 10 (21:29):
Towe.
Speaker 13 (21:29):
He's nice, a vat and happy, but only grows about
an inch to an inch and a half a year.
Speaker 10 (21:32):
So wow. Yeah, that's so.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
There are no gators that are native to California, right,
all came in from other parts.
Speaker 13 (21:38):
Right, So yeah, they're one of the most common illegal
pats to get confiscated by fishing wildlife. A lot of
people go to other states like Nevada or Texas and
buy an alliator try and smuggle it into California, and
that's we have very very strict exotic wildlife laws.
Speaker 10 (21:52):
Which is good.
Speaker 13 (21:52):
It protects the animals themselves and also our agriculture which
is which is a big deal. But yeah, so these
guys are one of the more common ones. We have
another alliator in our program. His name is Chubbs.
Speaker 10 (22:03):
He was found in a frat house. I don't know.
I don't know how.
Speaker 13 (22:06):
I don't know how he pledged, but he was part
of a frat house and.
Speaker 10 (22:12):
Not allowed to disclose. There's a lot of.
Speaker 5 (22:17):
There's only one college out there that is named after
the gators.
Speaker 10 (22:19):
So this was northern California.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
I'm always fascinated by how gators are found on like
the West Coast. Like there's a at the Llet Zoo.
There's one right at the entrance. I was found in
like someone's lake in the backyard or something so crazy.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
I mean, alligators are cool, but I'm like, why would
you want one?
Speaker 10 (22:36):
As Yeah, it makes no sense. It's personally.
Speaker 13 (22:40):
After hearing all these stories, I think a lot of
it stems from something having something different than what everybody else.
Has to be exotic, has to be interesting, it has
to be something new. That's why people get monkeys and
alliators and all these other things and it never works
out the way they think.
Speaker 10 (22:53):
But it's not. They're not Disney Channel animals. You know, they're.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Wizards a parent, So when people come to Sea World,
how do they see alligators?
Speaker 13 (23:04):
Okay, so we're a contractor, so we're down here different
times of the year for different stuff. Some years we'd
here a lot, other years not as much. Like this year,
we've been here pretty consistently. We were doing for their
seven Ce's festival, we were doing in Animals of the
World program taking people on our journey around the world
through learning about different animals from different continents. That was
a really fun one for the summer. Considering it as
a two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of America, we decided
(23:26):
to go North American Wildlife and celebrate some of the
animals that we have living here in the United States
that we feel tend to get overlooked.
Speaker 10 (23:34):
And it is kind of one of those things.
Speaker 13 (23:35):
Now, the Alliator not so much, but for instance, our
other guests, you want to go grab it real quick.
Speaker 10 (23:39):
We can bring them out at the same time. We have.
Speaker 13 (23:41):
This next guest is one that I think is often underappreciated,
has a bit of a reputation for being one of
the uglier animals on this planet.
Speaker 7 (23:50):
Is it named Tyler?
Speaker 10 (23:54):
She is an amazing creature.
Speaker 4 (23:58):
Yeah, we were just talking about this.
Speaker 10 (24:02):
That's awesome.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
This is one of my favorite animals.
Speaker 13 (24:05):
Yeah, yeah, So you can bring her around to them
Elsa and just uh, I'll stay with the gator. So
that's Billy. She's about a three and a half year
old in Virginia. Possum and they're they're they're amazing creatures.
This is North America's only marsupial. So these guys are
pouched animals like the kangaroos and koalas, but because they're
(24:25):
tree climbers, their pouch is actually a little bit different
because in sideways like a sweatshirt pocket with a hole
in the middle, so that the babies are nice to
save his mom's climbing up down the trees. But her
being three and a half, she's actually kind of a
senior citizen.
Speaker 10 (24:36):
They only live about three or four years.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Wow.
Speaker 10 (24:38):
Yeah, but in three to four years they can have
over fifty babies. Possums. Yeah, possums are pretty awesome.
Speaker 13 (24:44):
She's got more teeth than any of the land mammal
in North America.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
Wow.
Speaker 10 (24:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
Where can you find possums in America? I know, I
grew up in northern California.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
I would visit the canals area like Sacramento a grandmother
that lived, and it's full of possums. But even in
this Francisco b area would have possums everywhere.
Speaker 13 (25:02):
Yeah, so raccoons seem to have taken over the Bay
Area a little bit.
Speaker 10 (25:05):
They have a good stronghold on it.
Speaker 13 (25:07):
You will still find the possums in the Bay Area,
just not quite as frequently.
Speaker 10 (25:10):
For instance, I grew.
Speaker 13 (25:11):
Up in Auburn, So yeah, that's that's where where our
half of the facility is. So we're based in really
in we Mark, California, right near Sacramento, and we're such
high altitude we don't get as many apossums either.
Speaker 10 (25:24):
They're out there, but you don't don't see them as much.
Speaker 13 (25:26):
But the possums were originally an East Coast animal, So
they're originally an East Coast animal that was spread all
around the United States here, and they're a great depression
to breed and be used as.
Speaker 10 (25:35):
A food source.
Speaker 13 (25:37):
Really, yes, they bring very fast in her three to
four yeared fan, like I said, she can have over
fifty babies. They're omnivorous animals, so they can eat any
kind of foods and so they were kind of a
perfect animal to bring along to the West Coast and
then feed people. Now they just release them into the
wild and let them breed, and then people would hunt
them but they have now seamlessly moved into the western
(25:57):
half of the United States and they're actually one of
the least impact full.
Speaker 10 (26:00):
Invasive species on the planet. Wow. Yeah, that's pretty amazing.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
Always break for possums, Yes, I always break for possums.
Speaker 10 (26:08):
Yeah, I love those bumper stickers too. But it's just
a real cool animal.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
Now a question. I don't know the legality behind owning
a possum as a pets, but is it the closest
wild animal that could be domesticated to be a pet.
Speaker 10 (26:21):
So every native species here in the United States.
Speaker 13 (26:24):
Is not legal to own as a pet without permitting
and stuff like that. Now, there are other states where
like permits are easy to get.
Speaker 10 (26:31):
That's all.
Speaker 13 (26:31):
Like when you see people that have raccoons and skunks
and stuff like that aspets. Certain states have very lax
permitting laws. You can apply for those permits very easily
and get that animal. It's not something i'd ever recommend.
I love her a lot, I wouldn't have her living
in my house though. You know she's she's she's a
pretty like alert animal. She she wants to kind of
mosey and eat her food, and so we set up
(26:52):
her enclosure where she can feel like an actual apossum.
But you guys just pet her. You know, you guys,
she's we got are so used to people that you
guys were able to pet her, right, And so that
that takes work, though, that takes a little bit of effort,
a little bit of training and what we call conditioning.
So getting it able to act like these two takes
a little bit of training. Now, if you remember what
I said, like about Spike, how he acts like a
(27:13):
real alligator in his territory.
Speaker 10 (27:15):
So let's say a person gets an alligator is a pet,
they have.
Speaker 13 (27:18):
Him in an enclosure in their home, then he's gonna
think that's his home and he's gonna act like a
real alligator at that point, and that causes problems. I
wouldn't want him living in my home. But like, once
he's out and about, he does pretty good. He's gonna
want to wiggle here a little bit. I'm actually gonna
throw him right back, all right, do you guys want
to feel real quick? All right, well, there's your excitement
(27:45):
for you. I gotta say, even with my bark joke,
he didn't flinch. Yeah, thank you, okay, thank you.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
I touched the gainer.
Speaker 4 (27:56):
He's like, oh, yeah, I got a couple of friends.
If you I'm like, all right, cool, we got like
you know, a little like birders.
Speaker 10 (28:03):
Will get bigger. Yeah, he'll grow his entire life.
Speaker 13 (28:05):
So the girl based on how much food you're getting,
how warm the environment is. Yeah, So we keep them
nicely healthy and proportional. That's the biggest thing. What you're
looking for is to keep their proportions correct. When they're
malnourished or misfed, they they kind of get weird shaped.
Speaker 10 (28:20):
And that's a big indicator for natural a little weird
shape I have.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
I have a bearded dragon, definitely not an alligator, but
for dragons, have been told that the bigger that when
when you get a bigger tank, they grow bigger. Is
that kind of the case for for gators as well.
Gators always just continue to grow, regardless of how big
of any closure they are.
Speaker 10 (28:40):
Yeah, So it's it's it's something that's been.
Speaker 13 (28:43):
A slightly slight fallacy a little okay, the especially with
the like the beardies and stuff.
Speaker 10 (28:49):
Beardies almost have a top size that they get to.
Speaker 13 (28:51):
They will continue to grow most of life, but they
usually end up at a pretty typical range you know,
I haven't seen a five foot beer the dragon that's
living out in the grasslands of Australia. But it's one
of those things that people started to say that if
you keep them in a smaller tank, you give them
less food, they'll stay smaller. And it's really that less
(29:11):
food side that is really the bigger indicator of it.
Speaker 10 (29:14):
Also, sunlight is a huge thing.
Speaker 13 (29:17):
It's a huge part of the alligator's lives, so or
for the reptiles lives, So for them, it's it's a
lot of varying factors.
Speaker 10 (29:26):
I've seen alliators kept.
Speaker 13 (29:28):
In terrible conditions that are massive so small enclosures way
too big for them, and they still manage to grow.
So it's one of those things that the kind of
got skewed a little bit. I've seen it happen with
some fish. So some fish, it's kind of like tank
size actually does make it very a little bit. But
as far as the reptiles go, not so much. So
(29:48):
do they have alligators, Yeah, they'll have at least like
twenty eggs right around there, and a lot of them
will hatch, and about one in every twelve survives.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
I do have to ask one question before we leave
and I asked everybody you personally, why should people come
to SeaWorld?
Speaker 10 (30:05):
Why should people come to Seworld? Will won.
Speaker 13 (30:07):
Every dollar that you spend here at SeaWorld adds up
to supporting a company that has rescued over forty three
thousand animals since opening their gates. I work with their
vetsaff here, I work with their rescue team. They do
some of the most amazing work on the planet. Not
to mention the passion that it spreads about wildlife. When
you see you know, the dolphins here, or the whales here,
(30:28):
the sea lions, or even the jellyfish, which is an
awesome new exhibit, you create a personal connection with those animals.
And I don't feel people care about stuff that they
don't have a personal connection with.
Speaker 10 (30:42):
That's why we do our job.
Speaker 13 (30:43):
That's why we're out in schools letting kids meet an alligator.
And that same philosophy is why you should want to
come to SeaWorld.
Speaker 10 (30:51):
Not to mention the fact that it's fun.
Speaker 13 (30:53):
You got rides, you got concerts, you got all sorts
of really cool stuff going on, and this one's a
it's a small park.
Speaker 10 (30:59):
It's fun.
Speaker 13 (31:00):
It's like it's it's like I've done work at sea
especially Searel San Diego. This is this feels family to
me because I grew up and down in this area.
Speaker 10 (31:08):
We've worked with them for a very long time.
Speaker 13 (31:10):
And you come to Sea World, especially if you're a
pass holder, you get to know everybody here. You'll you'll
recognize people, and that's a really kind of cool thing
for me. But yeah, just spread that passion about wildlife.
That is what they've been best at, and that's what
they'll continue to be best at, is getting people to
care about, especially about marine wildlife.
Speaker 4 (31:27):
Awesome, all right, I do have one more question. So
if someone wants to get into your line of work,
how do they do it?
Speaker 5 (31:34):
Like, what do you go to school for?
Speaker 10 (31:35):
So you're as I know the answer.
Speaker 13 (31:38):
So so first of all, I know the answer, but
I'm the wrong person. So my mom and dad started
our half of our wildlife as he center. Oh ok, yeah,
so I grew up working with animals. I'm basically a
NEPO baby.
Speaker 10 (31:51):
So yeah, it's it's what.
Speaker 13 (31:54):
I gotta be self aware, but not I'm I enjoy
my job, worked hard at it, but I grew up
doing it. I had the advantage of literally working with
animals my entire life. My parents went to a school
called more Park College that has the eatom program, which
is a hands on training zoo, and literally you stop
that zoo for two years and you can get their
job almost anywhere in the field.
Speaker 10 (32:14):
Now that's a direct route. That's like the trade school route.
Speaker 13 (32:17):
The other ways you can go is behavioral sciences, any
of the like studying animal behavior, even human behavior, plus
animal handling experience, whether it's with dogs and cats, cattle,
anything like that just can get you in the door.
And most people have to work their way up most
of the time you get a job like for instance,
also worked here at Sea World before I has stole
(32:39):
her from the company. She was a zoological assistant and
so she was mostly making like like doing the fish house,
which is preparing the fish for all the animals in
the park. And that's an early morning shift getting up
and making the fish for for everybody else, well, not
making the fish, but thaw on the fish and getting
it all set up. And that's cool part. That's a
(32:59):
big part of the facilities here. And she happened to
want to volunteer for us when I was doing a
summer contract and.
Speaker 10 (33:07):
That volunteer work that she did is what got her
her job.
Speaker 13 (33:10):
So a lot of times our companies like mine will
will hire volunteers that have worked for us, or you
can take that volunteer experience and apply it to anywhere else.
And that's the bigges thing. Just show commitment and keep applying.
It's there's not that many jobs in our field, so
keep applying. I know people that have waited their entire
lives to work with animals and and they end up
(33:32):
doing it in retirement, and so you know, there's there's
there's lots of different ways to do it, but the
more part college the EEDOM program is the most direct
path and that's for most of the animal trainers. So
that's for people that work directly with the animals. That's
where they went.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Cool. All right, yeah, thanks man, yes so much, thank
you so much.
Speaker 10 (33:50):
Thank you, see you later. Aliator.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
All right, well, I think we're gonna lose Tyler and
he's gonna start work with animals.
Speaker 4 (34:02):
It's so funny because I told myself, if I didn't
love doing media, and if I didn't love doing radio, honestly,
I think working out a zoom probably would have ended
up being where I'm at.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
Keep from crawling to that carrier with the gator.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
Dude.
Speaker 4 (34:14):
It was cool and it was like eyeballing me and everything,
and I'm just like, this is kind of wild.
Speaker 10 (34:19):
You know.
Speaker 6 (34:19):
It was great because people were walking by and not
knowing if that gator was brilliant.
Speaker 4 (34:25):
I'm watching so like Joel's right behind me. There's this
chick that's just like, oh my god. She's like, no,
it's not real.
Speaker 6 (34:32):
And then it's real little kids like trying to like
creep up with the lady that was standing by a
stick guard everybody.
Speaker 7 (34:40):
So I was I was ready to pounce on.
Speaker 4 (34:41):
That's the other thing. I'm looking at the corner of
my I'm like, Okay, there's a lot of kids here.
Speaker 3 (34:48):
Take a second to recognize and give the possum the
respected Yeah, possums are dope always, you know what.
Speaker 6 (34:57):
So when I was a little growing up, we would
leave our cat food outside in the front yard by
the front door. One night, I walked outside, not thinking anything.
I just opened up the front door and I jumped
back so far it was a freaking family of possums.
I got so scared, and I never.
Speaker 7 (35:14):
Ever in my life thought I would touch a possum.
Speaker 10 (35:17):
Look and I did. Well.
Speaker 3 (35:17):
My mom still leaves cat food out in front of
her house and she gets skunks, raccoons. Yeah, possums. I'm
a skunk actually sprayed her porch like a couple of
weeks ago.
Speaker 7 (35:28):
Don't don't possum's hiss when they get scared.
Speaker 5 (35:33):
Look if someone's coming up with me, I'm probably hissing too.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
I used to live next to San Francisco State and
they would crawl under my house. Possum, skunks, raccoons, all
kinds of stuff.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
We have a deer that run by now.
Speaker 3 (35:45):
Skunks are interesting because skunks will lunge at you. They'll
like stump their little paws at you to be yell,
bro back off or it's gonna get gross.
Speaker 6 (35:52):
My brother's down from Massachusetts and he's here visiting the
SeaWorld Park with us, and he his ring camera off
on his phone, and on his camera you see a
little family of skunks going underneath and he's like they
were on their back rolling around. You see the mama
and there was at least six little babies behind them.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
All yeah, we want to be outside, Well, we're going
to go enjoy the parks and more.
Speaker 2 (36:17):
I'm looking at our schedule.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
I think we're going to meet a penguin today.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
We're going to meet a paying My life is complete?
Speaker 7 (36:24):
And then what else I want you to waddle up
to it?
Speaker 4 (36:27):
I don't look there might there. There's gonna be a
World Cup game going on. When we meet this penguins.
I'm gonna be showing it some soccer a little bit,
introduce him to a little to my life.
Speaker 3 (36:35):
And then after that we got the forty concert Shamu
light up the nights, and then the Drone Spectacular the Dream.
Speaker 7 (36:42):
I want to at least go on wine.
Speaker 3 (36:44):
By the way, the coasters here are absolutely kick ass.
I went on almost all them last time, and this
place knows how to have fun.
Speaker 7 (36:52):
I'm excited for it all right.
Speaker 4 (36:53):
Sea World somehow got better as I got to become
an adult than what was.
Speaker 3 (36:57):
A kid, which, by the way, no one talks about.
Speaker 10 (36:59):
Zither.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
The aerial tram that's in the back of the podcast
is really fun to get a nice look over the bay.
You can see obviously the whole park.
Speaker 2 (37:07):
Yeah, it's super cool. We're gonna go enjoy SeaWorld.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
You should to check out the new Shark encounter and
enjoy the food we already did.
Speaker 2 (37:16):
We're gonna do it again.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
Actually yeah, it's a special addition of whatsoo Pod Live
from SeaWorld.
Speaker 2 (37:23):
We'll see you next week.
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