This instalment of Animal Voices presents two interviews you won’t want to miss. First, Ashley Maier tells us how her work with victims of gendered violence led her to realize that a mindset of entitlement underlies most injustices: “Me and those like me are better and more important than others.  Our feelings, wants, needs, desires, and very lives are worth more than ‘theirs.’” A book, a blog, a movement, Connect the Dots aims to break open the cultural norms that protect and foster this mindset and help people see the indisputable links between human, animal, and environmental well-being. Watch for funds and a conference run by this exciting project in the near future.

In our second interview, Jason Lutterman tells us about the No-Otter Zone, an area of ocean off California where the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service scoops up and removes any sea otters who stray inside the boundaries. This strange tale begins with a well-meaning but failed attempt to relocate sea otters in 1987 and continues to the present day, where fishermen (fearing the otters’ voracious appetite for shellfish) are lobbying hard to keep the No-Otter Zone. Jason explains why Friends of the Sea Otter believe the zone should be abolished — and also gives us a delightful glimpse of the otters’ day-to-day lives.

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