While Robbie was in Zululand starting to film a docu-series on rhinos, sustainable use of rhinos and all of the controversy around the trade in rhino horns, the team was fortunate enough to witness a couple of Rhino dehornings. The vet that performed the dehornings was Mike Toft, a wildlife veterinarian out of Kwazulu, Natel. A 30-year vet (no pun intended) of the wildlife veterinarian game, he has seen it all when it comes to rhino conservation. Robbie and Mike got together right after a recent dehorning by Mike of two rhinos that he’d darted from a helicopter less than an hour before the recording began. Mike recalls dehorning over 4,000 rhinos, and has arguably dehorned more rhino horns than anybody else in the world. Apologies for any shaking you hear in the background because Robbie and Mike recorded the podcast in Mike's vehicle as they were traveling between two dehornings.

Big News - We’re growing and our name has changed! Blood Origins is officially The Origins Foundation.  Tune in to hear why.

Cullen Kelly is one of the brothers now in charge of Garry Kelly Safaris. Garry Kelly Safaris (or GKS) is one of the oldest safari companies in South Africa, and Garry Kelly, Cullen’s Dad, is one of the original stalwart professional hunters in South Africa (he was involved in the very first Rhino hunt with Ian Player in Zululand). Robbie and Cullen connected on the banks of the Mkuze River, as Robbie and The Origins Foundation team were working on a Rhino documentary. Mkuze Falls is a private, community held conservancy, that has the big five and is a poster child for what wildlife conservation can be like in South Africa. These critical private reserves do amazing things for wildlife conservation, rhinos, lions and more, and the wildlife and communities owning it are all benefitting from it.

John Luyt is one of the professional hunters that works in the APNR - the Associated Private Nature Reserves of the Kruger National Park. These reserves were setup to incorporate into Kruger National Park and allow for more movement of wildlife. With the dropping of fences, Kruger's burgeoning elephant population has spilled into the APNR, where legal, highly regulated hunting of elephants occurs. The hunting of elephants in this area has gone through significant upheaval since 2021, when Humane Society International put a court interdict in place stopping export of elephant trophies. Today, we get a huge step forward towards returning to pre-2021. John brings Robbie breaking news out of the Limpopo Province of South Africa that now, for the first time in quite some time, international hunters may now hunt nonexportable elephants in the Limpopo Province, along with a history of why this is such a significant clawback of ground after several battles in and out of court.

Tune in to the weekly Roundup as Ashlee and Robbie discuss the latest news in the hunting and fishing arena over the past couple of weeks, including their weekend at Dallas Safari Club's Summer Expo, the Budget Reconciliation Act, a new bill introduced in the Senate aimed to increase North American duck populations, Reauthorization of the Sportfish Restoration Boating and Trust Fund, the Grizzly Bear State Management Act, the controversy surrounding Jay Cutler hunting sables in Africa, and more! 

Tarquin Millington-Drake is a UK-based photographer and founder of a communications hub around grouse shooting and moorlands. He and some other former podcast guests have teamed up to build this communications highway around the benefits of shooting - just like The Origins Foundation is doing worldwide! The communication message is simple - Why do moorlands matter? This discussion is a fascinating deep dive into a type of hunting in a place you might not know much about.

Robbie in releasing The Last Wild Islands was connected to Michie. Michie is Zambia's Sweetheart" Zulu on Phoenix FM where she is an extremely popular radio host. Michie and Robbie connect for a short interview about the Last Wild Islands which broadens Michie’s ideas around hunting specifically in Zambia.

Grouse hunting on moors is likely one of the most heated hunting topics in the United Kingdom. Every year the industry comes under attack, and they have to stand up and fight to highlight the benefits that come from Grouse shooting on moors. In Part 1 of a series on "Fighting for the Moorlands", Robbie connects with two key individuals in the "Why Moorlands Matter" movement - Emily Graham and Ian Coghill (or commonly referred to as Coggers). If you have ever been interested in learning more about the fight against hunting in the United Kingdom, have heard about grouse shooting, or may have just heard about moors, this is the podcast to learn more about all of those subjects.

We’re back for PART II of our miniseries covering the historic cheetah relocation that The Origins Foundation has undertaken from South Africa to Mozambique. Wildlife veterinarian, Andy Fraser, joins Robbie on the ground once again to discuss the difficulty of the sheer size of the project relocating the first 12 cheetahs. This podcast will bring you on the ground with them as they discuss the challenges and rewards of such an ambitious conservation project. From the epic photo of napping on a pile of cheetah’s during an exhausting 50 hour trip, to 10 hours of driving in each direction - this is a no-holds-barred discussion. Be warned, this podcast was recorded at 11:30pm at night waiting for a plane to arrive from Zimbabwe to put the last 4 cheetahs onto!

You have no doubt heard about the historic cheetah relocation that The Origins Foundation has undertaken from South Africa to Mozambique. This is the first of a series covering that project. We’re relocating 18 cheetahs and in this episode, Robbie chats with returning guest and wildlife veterinarian Andy Fraser and his partner, Maria, while driving back from capturing 11 cheetahs over the course of 56 hours and recap that incredible experience for you at home. This podcast will step you through the experience as Andy, Robbie, and Maria are driving back to Rooiberg after a 56 hour marathon where if something was going to go wrong, it did.

It's not often that Robbie is able to geek out around the thing that he spent half his life studying - that is wetlands. If you didn't know, Robbie has his Ph.D in Wetland Ecology and has been fascinated with all things wetlands since he was 16 years old. Today, Robbie is joined by James Green, head of waterfowl and wetlands at BASC, the British Association for Shooting and Conservation, to talk about the state of the water fowling and duck hunting world in England. Coming from a large hunting family, one that is quite well known in the shooting and hunting industry in the United Kingdom, James is perfectly suited to advocate for wetlands and waterfowling in his position at BASC.

It's not often that Robbie is able to geek out around the thing that he spent half his life studying - that is wetlands. If you didn't know, Robbie has his Ph.D in Wetland Ecology and has been fascinated with all things wetlands since he was 16 years old. Today, Robbie is joined by James Green, head of waterfowl and wetlands at BASC, the British Association for Shooting and Conservation, to talk about the state of the water fowling and duck hunting world in England. Coming from a large hunting family, one that is quite well known in the shooting and hunting industry in the United Kingdom, James is perfectly suited to advocate for wetlands and waterfowling in his position at BASC.

Leland Brown is a PhD student who has worked for some time on the idea of lead-free ammunition. Leland and Robbie cover the start of the lead-free controversy, addressing myths about lead-free ammunition (from efficacy, ballistics, terminal efficient, etc) and sets the tone for Leland’s PhD research. There is always significant controversy when one starts talking about lead free ammunition - specifically as it pertains to reducing hunting opportunities and it always comes down to availability and efficacy. Robbie and Leland talk about it all.

Robbie sits down with some of the board members of the newly birthed North American Pronghorn Foundation, one of the newest nonprofits in the conservation space! America is the bastion of species-specific foundations like this that dive deep into the conservation of one or another much loved and iconic species from Ducks Unlimited to NWTF to all the deer foundations and beyond - but with 14 states with pronghorn populations and only two with positive increases in those populations - this group couldn’t have come at a more important time. 

Cinematographer, storyteller and director Daniel Workman has worked on his project, BEARDOGS, for ten full years. Following a bear hunter in Appalachia, the place where he has his roots, has been an incredibly meaningful project for him. Daniel dives into the raw, the real, the harsh and the meaningful in this episode of Blood Origins with Robbie! Support the documentary here: https://seedandspark.com/fund/beardogs#story

Therese Marie “T” Becker is a Belgian hunter currently residing in Southeast France. She’s a businesswoman, business coach, and avid hunter (who is amazingly articulate for a non-native English speaker) and shows time and again during the show a deep understanding of the issues surrounding hunting in a European context. So spend an hour with Robbie and Therese as they run down the rabbit hole together. 

Chris Comer, the Director of Conservation for Safari Club International Foundation (SCIF), joins Robbie on today’s podcast to discuss driving the conservation program landscape forward for SCIF, especially SCIF’s important niche of carnivore surveys and population estimates. From Texas mountain lions to leopards in Botswana and beyond. It's exciting to see SCIF, and the direction of Dr. Comer, Dr. Davidson and others really starting to look at where the research gaps are currently in the carnivore space across the world and start plugging them to enhance and improve sustainable use.

Now that Robbie is back from traveling and Ashlee is over another bout of COVID, they got together to bring us all the news fit to print about hunting around the world including a surprise Sunday hunting season in Connecticut - before they even allowed black bear hunting?! An update on the Cheetah project we’ve been pursuing in Africa (complete with Robbie checking on the cheetahs mid-podcast), TX adds public hunting land, the Australian hunting coalition expansion, and much more!

Robbie and Paul first met each other almost 3 years ago when Robbie attended his first Zimbabwe Professional Guides Association meeting in Victoria Falls. At that meeting Robbie was introduced to Paul's extensive knowledge about all things history, anthropology, and natural sciences. Paul is an absolute wealth of knowledge. Paul Hubbard lives in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe and is a guide, anthropologist, archaeologist, and general “knower of all things” as it relates to the history of hunting and hunting culture in Zimbabwe. Today, he and Robbie cover history from Stone Age to Iron Age hunters in Southern Africa in the first of what will be a long running series of podcasts we have here at Blood Origins!

Robbie met Fiona Tande randomly in South Africa on what can only be described as a “crazy journey” tied to the Panyame Cheetah Conservation Project. During that connection Robbie and Fiona had a really solid conversation in the middle of the bush in which Fiona questioned Robbie about hunting. The result of that conversation was Fiona stating - "I had no idea hunters spoke or thought that way." That led to Robbie and Fiona connecting later, on this podcast. As you will see in this podcast - it quickly gets turned on its head with Fiona inquistively questioning Robbie about all things hunting - and will serve as an exceptional educational podcast to others about how to talk and answer someone who is not familiar with hunting, about hunting. Listen to the whole thing as you may be surprised at the outcome ...

Today’s Short Truths question is, “Are elephants in Africa doing okay?” And the answer is different than if they’re endangered or not - because it speaks to the practical nature of wildlife conservation, from the politics of it to the environment and so on. So how does this reconcile with the constant barrage of “save the elephants” messaging we see online and in the ether? Find out from Robbie in this Short Truths episode.

Evan Siembida is a knife maker out of Ohio that Robbie got to know through Instagram. Evan generously provided an incredible custom knife for the Blood Origins silent auction and joins the podcast today for a straight up nerd session about knife making. Stick around all the way to the end for Evan’s contact info if you’d like one of the knives we actually auctioned off in our silent auction at the exclusive ConservationONE event this past spring! He has built 6 of the knives, 1 was auctioned and 5 are still available!!! First come first served!

Robbie travelled to India earlier this year to get an on-the ground perspective of human wildlife conflict in the very remotest and rural places in India. At the second location that they travelled to a subject matter expert, Dr. HS Pabla, joined Robbie and the team. Dr. Pabla was the Chief Wildlife Warden of Mardra Pradesh, an extremely prestigious position, and retired from the Indian Forest Service in 2012. So when Robbie got the opportunity to sit down with Dr Pabla, he took it. This podcast was filmed and recorded in a very small hotel room in a remote hotel in rural India. The discussion with Dr. Pabla unravels the Wildlife Protection Act of India and how the country has made moves in recent years toward a more sensible model of conservation, driven by unprecedented wildlife conflicts between the citizens of the country and wildlife; from herbivores destroying crops to tigers and leopards prowling cities and towns and eating citizens.  It's truly an eye opening podcast from an area of the world that most people know very little about.

Andrew and Katie Leventis are longtime podcast listeners who reached out to pitch their coffee company, a specialty blend for a specific project with Quail Covey Coffee. After listening to our episode about Hunters For Hope, Quail Covey Coffee reach out about doing a special limited run of coffee to raise money for that exact program, complete with a QR code so that donors could raise even more money for the program. The heart of the hunting community around the world truly amazes me - hunters from South Carolina with a small coffee company wanting to raise funds for a Hunters for the Hungry program in Christ Church, New Zealand. It's absolutely incredible and makes all of our hearts sing. Listen to the podcast, then buy some coffee (it's really really good), then buy some for your friends, and when it arrives click the QR Code and send some funds to Hunters for Hope Program!

While searching the interweb for Rhino documentaries, Robbie came across a TED talk by a professor from the Uiversity of Arkansas Monticello called Elena Rubino talking about Rhinos. He was immediately intrigued as its not a place that one thinks discussions around Rhino Conservation and Trade come from. Robbie reached out, and it turns out the Elena did her Ph.D. work on the perceptions of Trophy Hunting, and naturally that was something he wanted to learn about. Robbie is joined today by Dr. Elena Rubino, a professor at the University of Arkansas-Monticello, to talk about a survey she undertook to understand perceptions around trophy hunting. As you will find out the research is fascinating and really provides some science to what society thinks about hunting writ large.