00:01.80 David We're back with episode 96 of a life neurons podcast we're chatting with Lindsay Nicole a fellow tiktoker I don't know what the what are the kids say now is it ticktok and Tik Tocker okay I still feel worried about it myself. But you're really good at it. Um, so now we're gonna get into. 00:07.39 lindsay Um, Tick offers. Yeah, you got a write. 00:19.71 David Big cats and your experiences in Africa and at these different places but I wanted to start off really quick and I didn't see it on the we know we did it was on there. Ah Tiger King ah what what are your thoughts on that. 00:27.74 lindsay Ah I didn't watch all of it. So I can't speak from. You know what was actually presented I heard plenty. Um, so the places represented or shown in Tiger King aside from Carol Baskin Sanctuary which ah, which is a whole different thing. The other places are the reason why I went to school to you know work with big cats was to rescue from places like that. Um, when Tiger King first came out before I even I had. 00:54.33 David Um, okay. 01:05.50 lindsay You know, attempted to watch an episode and I just read what it was about I knew right away that it was going to have horrendous impacts on the big cat trade in the Us and it did unfortunately. Um yeah I think they went into it. 01:16.65 David Really. 01:22.85 lindsay Hoping to bring awareness to the big cat trade in some aspect and ended up focusing on the drama a little bit too much to where most of the audience watching it were not really paying attention to the message that was supposed to be there. There's been a huge increase In. Um, animals that need to be rescued from bobcats to tigers especially in the Midwest just because you know the the laws there are different. It is completely legal in a lot of places which is just terrible. And so sanctuaries right now are actually overflowing with cats because there's just not enough space. So One of my goals like a big goal of mine if I ever have the opportunity to do this would be to open my own sanctuary just Because. We are in desperate need of another one in the Us. Yeah. 02:19.78 David Ah, like a good one? Yeah boy. 02:22.10 archpodnet I yeah I I I'm gonna restart that so I live outside of Denver and there is the us fishing game repository for illegal animal trade down the road and we got to visit it because I'm in a museum program as well. And. The amount of big cat skins in that place was horrifying and one of those facts that always stuck with me was the the rangers there were like yeah there are more tiger skins in this building than there are live tigers in the wild. And kind of went through like most of the things that they that are from in that repository aren't people trying to smuggle them in they're trying to smuggle them out because of these um people that have big cats especially in like Texas and midwest ranches where they raise cats for people to shoot and it was just like. What and that has always I just can't get out of my head it was it was ah it was a room of death and it was just crazy to see all the animal products that they had and it was just it was so disheartening that. 03:19.74 David You Jesus how another. 03:23.79 lindsay Yeah, yeah. 03:31.13 lindsay Yeah, it's horrifying. 03:31.53 connor On on a lighter note have you guys seen ace ventura pet detective. Yeah well and we okay will in 1 scene. He's like a big conservationist. He like walks into this guy's like um, hunting like his room and he has all like the mounts. 03:37.10 David A long time ago. 03:37.87 lindsay I Have not. 03:50.85 connor Just like all these different animals and stuff like this and he just like it's just him freaking out and he's like are you Okay, he's like no this is a lovely room of death by by it's when nature calls. Yeah. 03:55.25 archpodnet Yeah, it's it's it did You did you say pet detective or when nature calls I think it's when nature calls. Yeah that that was the scene I was referencing and I was like no one got that but I saw it? Yeah anyways. 04:03.46 David Um, ah, but a long time. Um, that really bums me out because I do I mean all of that does ah but like. 04:10.92 lindsay Ah. 04:11.72 connor It's a lovely room of death. 04:20.48 David Even not remembering the ace ventera thing but the like Tiger King I thought would have made more awareness because I did see they passed some law that like was influenced by Tiger King that was like you can't with some kind of trading thing that was a positive law. Um. 04:33.26 lindsay I believe you're talking about the big cat public safety act we um I haven't been keeping up with it I know that it passed through the house of representatives I don't know which 1 comes for its senate or house of representatives. 04:38.27 David I think is that what it is okay. 04:46.65 David So it's not I has the reps I think yeah. 04:51.98 lindsay But yeah, Okay, so that act was going to make it illegal to have free contact unless you are you know you have the credentials to do so um and that was supposed to protect. The public from you know, being Attacked. That was the main you know public push but it was also to you know prevent this trade in a commercial aspect because so many of these cats that are being bred are just used for pay to pet. 05:28.69 David Right? Yeah, that's it's terrible like the doc and told guy like I see them post constant stuff with like chimpanzees on Instagram and it's like cute because they're putting you know a diaper on chimpanzee. It's objectively cute but then like no. 05:29.12 lindsay Facilities. 05:37.99 lindsay Um, yeah, yeah, yeah. 05:47.26 David Like you shouldn't be doing that and then the guy's like in ah a pond with like a tiger and I'm like I don't know that 1 guy just got his arm bit off at a zoo like ah yeah, that's a bummer. Um I have more on that but like we should be more positive here. 05:52.70 lindsay Um, yeah. 05:58.16 archpodnet But yeah, but but to the reputable places that you've worked at Lindsey like moving on so you you got to work at some really cool. So sorry this is this is us. Um. 06:00.88 lindsay Um, yeah. 06:05.80 David I. 06:09.93 lindsay A. 06:12.80 archpodnet You've got to work at some really cool places during your undergraduate experience and so starting off with the chint timidy I mess it up. Chint timmany wildlife center how did you get 1 I guess where is it and how did you end up um, working there. 06:17.75 lindsay Yeah, Chin timmany. 06:28.27 lindsay So that is a wildlife center right? outside of Corvalis which is where oregon state is so a ton of the zoology students were volunteers there. That's how I heard about it. Um I think my my counselor told me about it. Um. So they just rescue and rehabilitate injured wildlife. So you know for Oregon that was a lot of raccoons. There were a couple of a couple of bald eagles there some owls crows any of the you know birds from around there. Lots of birds. Um, which i. Wasn't really into at all because at that point I was only in school for big cats didn't care about anything else and birds kind of scared me. They still do a little bit I'm not a big bird person. Um. 07:11.81 David Share. 07:19.33 David It's for the birds. 07:20.19 archpodnet I 1 ah, one of my most favorable moments when I first met David and this this is related. We were talking about. We were reading the origin of species for class and I'll never forget I was I was bugging David in his office with like 3 other people and David just turned around his chair and goes. 07:20.87 connor Get out of here. 07:30.50 lindsay Awesome. 07:39.21 archpodnet There's a lot of pigeons. Be warned about the pigeons and just like turned around and for some reason that always just stuck with me and then yeah origin of species has a lot of pigeons in it I was like huh. Yeah. 07:47.27 David Well, he just it's like 400 pages of him just being like hm with like different iterations of breeding pigeons and then at the end he like think evolution might be a thing but I also love pigeons and anyway it it's it's worth the read. But sorry we we got in. 08:02.63 lindsay Yeah, no, yeah, yeah, yeah, um I had 1 experience there and again when I went to zoology I was essentially a blank slate I didn't know a lot. 08:06.56 David So you didn't like birds. Um, or you you didn't prefer birds. We'll say that. Okay. 08:22.30 lindsay About anything other than what the general public knows and so um, my supervisor told me that I needed to go feed the great blue heron and I didn't know what that was I was expecting you know a crow-sized bird. Um and she told me to go prepare the food and and. Go up to the room and you know go put the food in so it was a huge tub of sardines and I was like how big is this bird like if they need this one sardines and um I walk up to the room that the heron is being held in and there's this huge sign that says. Do not enter unless you put the goggles on and I was like what am I getting into right now and there's these like you know Lab Goggles so I put those on I'm like shaking with those goggles on in a huge tub of sardines and I walk in and this bird is just. Essentially suspended from this ledge that was like four feet in the air already and so this thing was just towering above me and I just threw the bowl in and I left I didn't even step foot in there I threw it in and I was like I'm not doing that again. Don't let me go in there again not doing it. 09:38.69 David Dude I I get it because one it's like the the terredactyl dome in Jurassic Park 3 and then 2 like birds freak me out because like the way like a chicken walks with like a pigeon in the city. It's like how a dinosaur would have walked. 09:42.45 lindsay Um. 09:52.63 David So like that is my biggest fear is going in just W reeing a fish into a bird thing like yeah, you're trembling because there's a dinosaur in there like. 09:55.31 lindsay Right? Yeah, like what do you mean? I need to put goggles on you know, like it's going to poke my eyes out come on you imagine Oh my god. 10:05.38 connor There like little pock marks on it from like people before getting like stabbed. Yeah so goodness. 10:12.53 David Was it was it probably for that or was it just like she didn't get fish in your eye. Okay. 10:13.76 lindsay I wouldn't have put them on. Yes, no, it was to make sure just in case, the bird tried to poke your eyes. 10:23.56 connor I will never look at a hair in the same because like I always think they're like majestic creatures out in the wild like you know, doing nice things but they're they're really eye murderers. So good to know. 10:32.13 lindsay Um, yeah I mean from a distance you know, just observe from a distance a distance. 10:37.77 David And you said it was the task was to feed the big blue heron. So I'm now going to use that as a figure speech when you got to do something. You do not want to do okay ah back to to cats? Um, so that was it Chim chimmanney. 10:38.40 archpodnet And. 10:45.59 lindsay Yeah nights. 10:57.36 lindsay Chin Timmany Yeah, close enough. 10:57.70 David Chit Chimmini Okay, okay, I'll let you continue from there because I forget what to ask. 11:01.56 archpodnet Okay, so all right? Um, so that was a that was like a spring gig going from January to June so like okay and then the following year you end up and. 11:10.54 lindsay Um, yeah. 11:21.30 archpodnet I Want to say Nambia but it's no mid Noibia Yes, excellent working at the Cheetah conservation fund So you finally you got the big cat experience so kind of along those those same lines. What was that process That's right before. That's your junior year rate. Okay. 11:24.43 lindsay Namibia. Yeah. 11:30.99 lindsay Yes. 11:36.67 lindsay Yes. 11:40.41 archpodnet So January to may how'd you end up there. 11:42.98 lindsay Um, my school offered an internship abroad and I you know signed up right when I saw it? Um, luckily I got accepted I I was a little nervous that it was going to be a really competitive Gig. But. Some reason nobody wanted to go there and so you know they accepted me right away I could not believe it. Um, so you know the task was just experience working with Cheetahs and you know dip your toes in ecology and just animal care in general it was. Incredible. It was definitely the most life changing experience that I've ever had I if I could be back there right now I would. 12:28.76 David So awesome. 12:29.68 connor Did you have to wear any special safety goggles with the cheetahs. 12:33.28 lindsay Not with achievers now. 12:39.29 David Um I. 12:39.32 archpodnet So what were you doing like what what kind of roles and responsibilities did you have at this was an internship or I guess class. Okay. 12:47.50 lindsay Yeah, yeah, I was an internship so I was living I was living there. You know on site as the lead carnivore intern. So I started off as just an intern but because I had that experience in South Africa when I was 18 I was. You know, fortunately, a little bit ahead of everybody else and so because I already had experience working with carnivores they put me in that lead position. So I was generally supervising meat prep which for cheetahs is a little bit more difficult because they don't have. Jaw strength to crush the bones and so you have to take the small bones out because they cannot swallow them. It could you know harm them and so that was the main thing with supervising meat prep was making sure that there were no small bones left I also got to sit in on some workups of nuchitahs that came in. Um, so you know just putting them under and measuring them making sure they're healthy making sure they don't have any illnesses going on or anything um and that was really cool to be a part of and to help my supervisors with um I also got to help release. A hyena that we had been rehabilitating um that was you know, definitely one of the highlights of my experience. There was just watching yeah watching the hyena just run back into the wild and disappear is just it was incredible. So but other than that it was um. 14:14.72 David That's a dream of mine. Yeah. 14:24.66 lindsay Like I said meat prep feeding the cheetahs making sure that they were solid. Um, you know, looking good every day. Um, yeah. 14:34.60 archpodnet So where are you getting the meat from because I imagine you guys don't have a Walmart that you can go dumpster diving for expired meat like Joe exotic like where how are you? How are you feeding all these all these large carnivores out there or. 14:40.90 lindsay Hey here. 14:47.80 lindsay So most of the meat came from local farms. It was the old and retired horses and Donkeys so they would come Um, you know intact and then we would have to. 14:57.78 David Okay. 15:06.50 lindsay Separate them which was a huge ordeal and took a lot of people especially for the horses. Um, luckily you know the the initial part of that I didn't have to do as an intern. There were people that were hired to do that because you know that's pretty. Traumatizing in a way but I was involved in in some aspects of it. Luckily I I have a solid stomach for that. So It wasn't really a big deal. 15:25.81 David Right. 15:36.40 archpodnet You So your cheetahs ran on literal horsepower. Ah. 15:39.36 David Oh my God Um, it's a rite of passage in anthropology to like dissect and rip apart an animal because you have to do it for some archeological class at some point of bio class and I actually got to take apart a. 15:40.47 lindsay Yeah, nice one that was a good one. 15:41.26 connor I. 15:59.19 David Say take apart. Ah D de fleshsh I would say a mountain lion which is pretty cool. Um, it smelled very bad. The baboon was the worst one I ever defleshed. But yeah, it's like sorry you said like taken apart the horse like it's just like literally makes me think. 16:01.70 lindsay Um, o Okay yeah. 16:15.26 lindsay Yeah, yeah. 16:17.60 archpodnet Yeah I had um I had immediate flashbacks to cutting up that bison with stone tools and there's just hey man if you want to cut up the next goat with Devin be my guest. 16:19.37 David Experimental archaeology. Yeah. 16:20.75 lindsay Um, yeah, oh my gosh. Do. 16:23.71 connor Oh god am I the only person who hasn't cut up like a huge animal I don't know man I saw you almost puke like 15 or so times and it almost got me. So. 16:29.89 David Ah. 16:36.10 archpodnet for for contexts to context Lindsy. We were like throwing this goat that we did experiment. It was dead. It was what we did like ballistics experiments and then cut it up with stone tools. But then we had a deflesh and throw it in a domestic colony and the people that we sent left it with put in a trash bag in an unventilated shaft and let it. Brought there for four days and I was stuck in a small room trying to I want to start gagging again. Man okay move it on. 16:57.34 lindsay Oh my God whole. 17:00.29 David Yeah, yeah, it's not great. He actually will actually throw up so you might want to turn your camera off Carlton um, it. 17:08.74 connor On that note I think we're going to end this segment before Carlton loses all his marbles. Um, this is episode 96 of a ruins podcast will be back. 17:15.10 lindsay Um. Um.