Red Dust in Your Veins: Dr Rick Fenney on Veterinary Life, Loss, and Belonging in the Outback

Red Dust in Your Veins: Dr Rick Fenney on Veterinary Life, Loss, and Belonging in the Outback

Rick Fenney recounts how a reluctant choice to study veterinary science in 1966 led to a life of adventure across Australia's most remote regions. After failing second-year vet school in Brisbane, he was driven to complete his degree and repay a government cadetship. As a young government vet in the Kimberley and Pilbara, he improvised surgeries in hospital mortuaries and treated everything from cattle to circus animals. His encounter with Red Dog, a free-spirited kelpie who belonged to everyone and no one, became the catalyst for writing a four-book memoir series that preserves the story of outback life and his own journey. Now in his seventies, Rick continues building businesses, promoting his books, and preparing the definitive Red Dog account for publication. Dr Rick Fenney is a Western Australian veterinarian, author, and businessman who has spent over 50 years in remote Australia. He is best known for his deep connection to Red Dog, a legendary red kelpie of the Pilbara, and has written a four-book memoir series linking his life stages to the red dogs who shaped him. He runs multiple vet clinics, pastoral stations, and an aquarium across Western Australia. In this Animals & Us conversation with Natalie Stockdale, Dr shares the story behind the moments below. 🎙️ IN THIS CONVERSATION: • Failing at something important early in life-like Rick's second-year vet school-can be the most formative success, teaching resilience and maturity that propels later achievement. • Rural veterinarians and farmers understand animal welfare better than urban advocates because they treat animals as animals and respect their essential nature rather than humanising them. • Writing with strict principles of truth,… 🕒 CHAPTERS: 00:00 Introduction: Margie and the Red Dog Legacy 00:01:26 Albany Childhood: Fishing, Freedom, and First Red Dog 00:05:10 The Accidental Vet: How a Chance Interview Changed Everything 00:08:27 Vet School in Queensland: Failure, Maturity, and Horse Manure 00:12:29 Derby to Port Hedland: Early Career Loss and Improvisation 00:23:36 The Chimpanzee: A Daughter Saved, A Monkey Treated 00:28:01 Red Dog Enters the Picture: The Wanderer Arrives 00:36:34 The Weight of Euthanasia: Responsibility, Guilt, Legacy 00:40:51 The Four-Book Structure: Life Eras and Red Dogs Aligned 00:51:15 Creative Tension: Building Multiple Businesses and Staying Alive 01:00:07 Brain-to-Brain: Telepathy, Animals, and Intuitive Communication 01:14:06 The Desert Vet: Television, Public Life, and Ongoing Work 🎧 If this story moved you, follow Kintsugi Heroes in your podcast app so you never miss an episode. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ABOUT KINTSUGI HEROES ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Welcome. We're glad you found your way here. Kintsugi Heroes was created from a simple belief: every person has a story worth sharing, and sometimes the story we need to hear arrives exactly when we need it most. Our name comes from the Japanese art of Kintsugi, where broken pottery is repaired with gold. Rather than hiding the cracks, they are honoured as part of the object's history. We believe people are much the same. The experiences that challenge us, break us, shape us, and help us grow are often the very things that connect us to one another. This channel is home to honest conversations about resilience, hope, grief, recovery, courage, love, and what it means to keep moving forward when life doesn't go to plan. Here you'll find six podcast series, each sharing stories through a different lens: • Kintsugi Heroes, hosted by John Milham • Animals & Us, hosted by Natalie Stockdale • Grit Diaries: From Grit to Grace, hosted by Simone Allan and Maryan Bova • From There to Here, hosted by Emma Bellamy-Dodd • Golden Threads: Stories of Disability & Resilience Every story shared here is offered with the hope that it helps someone feel a little less alone. A little more understood. A little more connected. Whether you're navigating a difficult season, supporting someone you love, or simply looking for meaningful conversations, you're welcome here. New episodes are released every week. If you'd like to help us continue sharing these stories and keeping them freely available to everyone, you can support our work here: https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au/donate#donate Thank you for being part of this community. We help people tell the stories they need to share so others can discover the story they need to hear. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ CONNECT WITH US ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🌐 https://kintsugiheroes.com.au ▶️ https://www.youtube.com/@kintsugiheroes 📘 https://www.facebook.com/kintsugiheroes 📸 https://www.instagram.com/kintsugi.heroes 💼 https://www.linkedin.com/company/kintsugi-heroes #AnimalsUs #KintsugiHeroes #AnimalsAndUs #RickFenney #TheDesertVet #PilbaraStories #VetLife #veterinary #outbackaustralia #rurallife #animalwelfare #memoir #reddog #westernaustralia #humananimalbond

Catherine Grady: Snow Leopards, Sheep Eyeballs, and Why Every Animal Just Wants to Be Loved

Catherine Grady spent five months in Mongolia this year — central grasslands, the Altai Mountains, and the snowy west — quietly setting camera traps for one of the most elusive predators on Earth: the snow leopard. In this episode of Animals and Us, host Natalie Stockdale sits down with Catherine, a young American wildlife conservation biologist freshly arrived in Australia, for a beautifully grounded conversation about the lives of carnivores, the limitations of how science is taught, the quiet act of reframing “habitat” as “home”, and the universal truth she's seen across every species she's studied: everything just wants to be loved. From acting student to wildlife biologist Catherine pivoted 180° after two years of university — leaving acting to follow what made her feel “most alive”. Why that introspection is the foundation she now teaches young scientists. Five months in Mongolia From Khustai National Park to the Altai ice patches to setting traps for snow leopards in the snowy west — Catherine shares what it's like to live in a country where hospitality is automatic and strangers are fed at no cost. The secret lives of snow leopards The “ghost cat” is one of the most understudied predators on Earth. Catherine and her team want to challenge the assumption that snow leopards are isolated and antisocial — using satellite camera collars to capture the affection, play, and intelligence the public never sees. Habitat is just a word — home changes everything Why Catherine refuses to call an animal's place “habitat”. The single language shift that reframes how scientists treat the creatures and ecosystems they study — and the parallel she draws to Mongolian hospitality. Everything just wants to be loved Across grizzlies, wolves, freshwater fish and the shy cow she befriended in rural Mongolia, Catherine has seen one universal truth — and a Jane Goodall warning about apathy that every Gen Z conservationist should hear. GUEST BIO Catherine Grady is a wildlife conservation biologist from Seattle, Washington, recently arrived in Australia after almost five months of research in Mongolia. She has worked across the United States (including studying wolves at Yellowstone), Belize, and Mongolia — and her work centres on two equally-held values: wildlife and environmental conservation, and indigenous justice. Catherine is particularly drawn to carnivores, especially the misunderstood ones — wolves, snow leopards, and (next on her list) Australian dingoes. Resources Mentioned ● Lucy Cooke — “Bitch: On the Female of the Species” (book) — https://www.basicbooks.com ● How to Train Your Dragon (2010 film) — referenced for the “everything we know about you guys is wrong” quote ● Jane Goodall — research approach and quote on apathy as the greatest danger to our future ● Joseph Campbell — “Follow your bliss and doors are open” ● Khustai National Park, Mongolia — https://www.hustai.mn ● Monkey Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, Belize — https://www.monkeybaybelize.com ● Xavier Rudd — “Follow the Sun” (Animals and Us theme music) TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Introduction 01:53 A Childhood Outside — Seattle and Salmon Recovery 04:07 Acting to Biology — A 180-Degree Pivot 09:42 Why Everything We Learn About Animals Should Be Questioned 17:48 Five Months in Mongolia 21:21 The Secret Lives of Snow Leopards 27:39 Universal Truths — From “Habitat” to “Home” 50:06 Advice for the Next Generation of Conservationists CALL TO ACTION If this conversation moved you, please follow Kintsugi Heroes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your preferred app, leave a rating or review, and share it with someone who loves animals as much as you do. To support our not-for-profit mission to share more stories like Catherine's, visit https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au [https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au] and make a tax-deductible donation, or get in touch about partnering with us. THE KINTSUGI CONNECTION Watch every episode on YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/@kintsugiheroes [https://www.youtube.com/@kintsugiheroes] If this story resonated, explore more from Animals and Us — honest conversations about the creatures we share this planet with, and what they have to teach us. ABOUT KINTSUGI HEROES Kintsugi Heroes is a not-for-profit storytelling platform sharing real stories of resilience, disability and transformation. Inspired by the Japanese art of kintsugi — repairing broken pottery with gold so the cracks become the most beautiful part — we believe every life can be made more beautiful through what it has survived. THEME MUSIC Thanks to Xavier Rudd for permission to use “Follow the Sun” as the theme music for the Animals and Us series. PARTNER / DONATE / CONNECT Partner with us — https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au [https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au] Donate — donations over $2 are tax-deductible. https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au [https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au] Web — https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au [https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au] YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/@kintsugiheroes [https://www.youtube.com/@kintsugiheroes] Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/kintsugi.heroes [ https://www.instagram.com/kintsugi.heroes]

Megan Hensley: The Donkey Farrier Teaching the World to Listen Before They Lead

Episode Summary Megan Hensley grew up outside Sacramento with animals as her closest companions — the kids at school didn't get her, but the animals always did. After dropping out of high school at 15, a stint in the US Army, conservation work that brought her to Australia, and a chance apprenticeship with a compassionate farrier, Megan found her calling: the care and welfare of donkeys. Nearly 20 years on, she is one of the most respected donkey farriers in the United States, founder of the Donkey Hooves and Health Academy with over a thousand students worldwide, and a tireless voice for an animal that has been misunderstood, misused, and underserved for far too long. This conversation is about donkeys — but it is also about trust, patience, and what happens when you meet another being exactly where they are. Episode Pillars ● The Rebel Who Found Her Calling: From dropping out of school at 15 to the US Army to conservation work in the Australian outback — how Megan's winding path led her to a 20-year career as a donkey farrier. ● Donkeys Are Not Stubborn — They Are Discerning: The biggest misconception about donkeys, why they end up mistreated and mislabelled, and what it actually means to earn a donkey's trust. ● The Care Bear Stare and the Science Behind It: How Megan uses loving intention — and heart-centred energy backed by HeartMath research — to reach animals that no one else can get near. ● Romulus: Six Months to Liberty: The story of a mule so traumatised by a previous farrier experience that he trembled and broke into a sweat at the sight of tools — and how patience over six months changed everything. ● The Donkey Hooves and Health Academy: How COVID forced Megan online and led to a global school teaching donkey owners to trim their own animals' hooves — stress free, halter free, and with their hearts on. The Kintsugi Connection To see the visual story of Megan's journey and explore more episodes of resilience, visit our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@kintsugiheroes/videos If Megan's story moved you, explore these related Hero conversations: ● Love animals and their power to heal? Listen to Ron King's story of building Oscar's Place, the donkey rescue at the heart of this episode. ● Drawn to stories of purpose found through unconventional paths? Explore how our other Animals and Us guests have found meaning through their relationships with animals. About Kintsugi Heroes: An Australian not-for-profit (DGR endorsed) dedicated to strengthening mental wellbeing through the power of storytelling. Partner with Us: https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au/partners/ Donate (tax-deductible): https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au/donate/#donate Website: https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kintsugi-heroes/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kintsugi.heroes/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Kintsugi-Heroes-100084850387170/

The Healing Power of Bees: 50 Years of Beekeeping with Russell Zabel | Animals & Us | Episode 25

Episode Summary What can a tiny insect teach us about resilience, community, and the art of slowing down? When Russell Zabel first caught a swarm of bees in a chaff bag in the late 1960s, he didn’t realise it would spark a 50-year journey of discovery. In this episode of Animals & Us, Natalie Stockdale sits down with Russell to explore the fascinating world of Australian native bees. From the adrenaline of the first sting to the meditative peace of a thriving hive, Russell shares how these extraordinary creatures have shaped his life and why they are vital to our own wellbeing and the planet's future. Episode Pillars 1. The Chaff Bag Beginning: A look back at the 1960s encounter that turned a curiosity into a lifelong passion. 2. Native vs. Honeybees: Understanding the unique beauty of Australia’s stingless bees and their role in our ecosystem. 3. The Hive as a Teacher: Lessons in persistence, cooperation, and how nature provides a blueprint for human recovery. 4. Gardening for Good: Practical, actionable steps to transform your backyard into a sanctuary for pollinators. Topics Covered Keywords: Native Bees Australia, Beekeeping for Beginners, Stingless Bees, Pollinator Gardens, Mental Health and Nature, Biodiversity, Environmental Resilience, Sustainable Gardening, Lockyer Valley, Nature Therapy, Bee Conservation, Insect Behaviour, Recovery through Nature. ⏱️ Timestamps 1. 00:00 – Welcome to Animals & Us: Meet Russell Zabel. 2. 02:15 – The 1960s: Catching the first swarm in a chaff bag. 3. 08:40 – Why Australian Native Bees are the "unsung heroes" of the garden. 4. 14:20 – Getting stung: The reality of a life with bees. 5. 22:10 – How to set up your first hive and what to avoid. 6. 30:05 – The Kintsugi moment: Finding peace in the "white noise" of the hive. 7. 34:37 – Where to find Russell and his transition to retirement. 💡 The "Gold" Quote "If you’ve got livestock, you’ve also got dead stock—it's the same with bees. Proper management and care is how we keep the cycle of life going." — Russell Zabel 📚 Resources Mentioned 1. Website: Zabel.com.au [https://www.zabel.com.au/] – For native bee products and education. 🤝 Guest Social Handshake Connect with Russell and follow his work in the bee community: 1. Website: www.zabel.com.au [https://www.zabel.com.au/] The Kintsugi Connection To see the visual story of Russell’s hives and explore more episodes of resilience, visit our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@kintsugiheroes/videos [https://www.youtube.com/@kintsugiheroes/videos] About Kintsugi Heroes Kintsugi Heroes is an Australian not-for-profit (DGR endorsed) dedicated to strengthening mental wellbeing through the power of storytelling. We believe that lived experience is a gift to be shared, not a scar to be hidden. Partner with Us Align your organisation with resilience and social responsibility. Help us amplify voices that inspire change. https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au/partners/ [https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au/partners/] 🛡️ Call to Heroism Your tax-deductible contribution helps us reach over 6 million Australians via community radio. Every dollar ensures these stories of repair continue to be told. Donate here to fuel a hero's story. [https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au/donate/#donate] Connect With Us 1. Website: https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au [https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au/] 2. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kintsugi-heroes/ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/kintsugi-heroes/] 3. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kintsugi.heroes/ [https://www.instagram.com/kintsugi.heroes/]

A voice for the whales with Nan Hauser • Animals and Us E24

Nan Hauser grew up in Pennsylvania and Bermuda, surrounded by animals and inspired by her nature-loving grandmother. With a background in nursing and midwifery, Nan applies science and compassion from human healthcare to whale research, combining accurate methodology, emergency care, and a passion for helping both people and animals. A whale researcher in the Cook Islands and Bermuda, Nan investigates whale songs, migration, and genetics. Her curiosity fuels scientific publications and conservation efforts, aiming to be a dedicated voice for whales. Nan is President and Director of the Centre for Cetacean Research & Conservation and Director and Principal Investigator of Cook Islands Whale Research, based in Rarotonga, Cook Islands. She researches whale and dolphin identity, population abundance, acoustics, genetics, behaviour, migration, and navigation, using satellite tagging to track long-distance movements. As an Adjunct Professor at Auckland University of Technology, she has taught internationally for numerous conservation and research organisations. A registered nurse, Nan also practices and teaches medicine locally and educates schools about whale conservation and ocean protection. Nan serves on the Executive Committee of the South Pacific Whale Research Consortium and was instrumental in creating the Cook Islands’ 2 million km² whale sanctuary and establishing a Whale Research & Education Centre. For over three decades, Hauser has led humpback whale field research focused on population ecology, migration, and conservation management. She founded the Cook Islands Whale Research Project in 1998, producing the first baseline data on whale abundance, site fidelity, and reproduction. Her research directly informed sanctuary creation and the development of Marae Moana, a vast marine park declared in 2017. Combining photo-identification, satellite telemetry, and acoustics, her work revealed complex migratory patterns linking Oceania and Antarctica, supported new Important Marine Mammal Areas, and gained global recognition through major media features and awards. Link www.whaleresearch.org [https://www.whaleresearch.org/] ***** We hope that you enjoyed this episode of Animals & Us (Kintsugi Heroes). Please take care: if you have been triggered by listening to this episode we recommend you get in contact with someone who can help keep you safe and give you the support you need. This may be Lifeline, AA, a friend, a counsellor, or some other support group. If you’d like to share your story on Kintsugi Heroes, please get in touch by contacting us via the website here - https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au/contact We hope you continue enjoying the heroes stories! Warmly, The Kintsugi Heroes team YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@kintsugiheroes/featured] || Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100084850387170] || Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/kintsugi.heroes/] || LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/kintsugi-heroes/?viewAsMember=true] || Website [https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au/] Theme Song: "Follow the Sun" by Xavier Rudd