Return to Transcripts main page

Live From...

Interview With Alan Rabinowitz

Aired November 26, 2003 - 14:51   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALAN RABINOWITZ, WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY AT BRONX ZOO: What I realized is there was nothing I wanted to do more in life than be with animals and try to help them, because what I realized as I got older was that animals were like me. They were like me, the stutterer who couldn't talk.

Here with these living beings just wanting to be left alone and live their life. And people were cruel to them. People killed them. People misunderstood them and I felt, You know what? If I can come to get my voice again within humankind, then I could use the voice for the animals.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Here's a break from all the talk of turkey and travel. Something you can quite literally sink your teeth into. An insider's look at the world of jaguars. A new National Geographic special set to air on your local PBS station tonight, check your local listing, might be around 8:00 p.m.

The man behind the project is Alan Rabinowitz. He will join us now and talk were the documentary and about his life work. Good to have you with us, Dr. Rabinowitz.

RABINOWITZ: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: First of all, let's try to explain that clip we saw just at the top there. Your passion for animals goes back to a very difficult childhood and just absolutely paralyzing stuttering. I'm curious how that led to you feeling you had almost a kindred spirit with wildlife.

RABINOWITZ: Well, when I was a child I had a very severe stutter to where I couldn't speak at all to human beings. The only thing I could speak to fluently, the only thing I could express my feelings and ideas to were animals.

So from my earliest childhood there was a bond created between myself and my animals, which were little pets like hamsters and gerbils. It was the only thing I could tell my dreams to.

O'BRIEN: Interesting. So from hamsters to gerbils to championing jaguars, there's obviously a lot in between that we don't have time to tell the full story about. You have spent your life work trying to protect these animals and others creating no less than a half dozen wildlife sanctuaries all around the world. I'll tell you what.

Before we talk about the beauty of these animals and what drives you, let's take a listen to a clip and this shows some of these jaguars in action.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Deadly as they are on land, jaguars also have the skill to pull a meal from the water.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: All right and what we're going to see as we continue talking here is a very successful fishing effort on the part of a jaguar. What is it about these animals in particular that you find so compelling?

RABINOWITZ: The jaguars -- of all the large cats they're the third largest cat in the world. And of all the large cats they're the least known. They're the most mysterious.

People -- we know about jaguars. Everybody has heard of jaguars. And yet, while they're going towards extinction we know almost nothing about them. That's what drove me to try to follow them and to study them.

O'BRIEN: And they in particular need a lot of turf, a wide range, as it is called, don't they, and their habitat is shrinking?

RABINOWITZ: That's right. In the last 100 years their habitat has shrunk about by 50 percent. And unless we can save what remain, they won't be around in the future.

O'BRIEN: All right. Well, it appears from the film they have no trouble finding mates. Let's take a look at this next clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Jaguars are excellent swimmers and won't hesitate to cross waterways especially if there's a potential mate on the opposite bank.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: All right. So he's kind of a lady's man there, if you will.

Wonderful photography here. How was the team able to capture such stunning images including a jaguar from underwater? You got to wonder what the photographer was anything at that moment.

RABINOWITZ: The photographers that carried out this natural history footage are the best natural history photographers relating to jaguar that I know of. I know them all personally. It took two years to film this kind of film, and it's the best footage I know of of real jaguar behavior.

O'BRIEN: All right. And finally let's get to the last clip and I want to button this up with a personal note about this. We got to take a look. We would be remiss if we didn't show the jaguar cub here. Let's listen briefly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Often less than 16 inches long at birth, the cubs are born blind. Their eyes open within two weeks. And they set off to explore the world outside the den.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: All right. And as we look at those cute pictures we want to bring up a serious subject.

Through the course of filming this documentary, you received some terribly sad news you were diagnosed with leukemia with no real known cure. What you're talking about managing the disease right now. So the clock is ticking for you quite literally on your effort to save these animals. How has that changed the way you do your work? Is there a sense of urgency that wasn't there?

RABINOWITZ: Yes, absolutely. It's been kind of ray shock to me to all of a sudden learn two years ago this month that I had leukemia. But it did inspire a new sense of urgency. And I'm more determined now than ever to live my life saving these cats and doing what I can for them for as long as I can do it in the field.

O'BRIEN: And does that change your future plans? Does that change anything about what you're going to be doing with your work or are you just going to press on as long as you can?

RABINOWITZ: Well, it doesn't -- I'm doing everything that I did before, but I'm doing it even faster. I have no more dreams of growing old. I have no more thoughts about having a house by the lake.

Now I work harder. I work longer hours. I don't know how much longer my working career will be, so I'm pulling out all stops to make sure that things get done and I do for the jaguars what I can do.

O'BRIEN: We wish you well in that effort. Dr. Alan Rabinowitz, director of science and exploration for the program of Wildlife Conservation Society at the Bronx Zoo and star of a show tonight on PBS, National Geographic special, once again 8:00 p.m. Check your local listings.

Thanks very much for being with us. And we wish you a happy Thanksgiving, sir.

RABINOWITZ: Thank you. It's a pleasure.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired November 26, 2003 - 14:51   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALAN RABINOWITZ, WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY AT BRONX ZOO: What I realized is there was nothing I wanted to do more in life than be with animals and try to help them, because what I realized as I got older was that animals were like me. They were like me, the stutterer who couldn't talk.

Here with these living beings just wanting to be left alone and live their life. And people were cruel to them. People killed them. People misunderstood them and I felt, You know what? If I can come to get my voice again within humankind, then I could use the voice for the animals.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Here's a break from all the talk of turkey and travel. Something you can quite literally sink your teeth into. An insider's look at the world of jaguars. A new National Geographic special set to air on your local PBS station tonight, check your local listing, might be around 8:00 p.m.

The man behind the project is Alan Rabinowitz. He will join us now and talk were the documentary and about his life work. Good to have you with us, Dr. Rabinowitz.

RABINOWITZ: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: First of all, let's try to explain that clip we saw just at the top there. Your passion for animals goes back to a very difficult childhood and just absolutely paralyzing stuttering. I'm curious how that led to you feeling you had almost a kindred spirit with wildlife.

RABINOWITZ: Well, when I was a child I had a very severe stutter to where I couldn't speak at all to human beings. The only thing I could speak to fluently, the only thing I could express my feelings and ideas to were animals.

So from my earliest childhood there was a bond created between myself and my animals, which were little pets like hamsters and gerbils. It was the only thing I could tell my dreams to.

O'BRIEN: Interesting. So from hamsters to gerbils to championing jaguars, there's obviously a lot in between that we don't have time to tell the full story about. You have spent your life work trying to protect these animals and others creating no less than a half dozen wildlife sanctuaries all around the world. I'll tell you what.

Before we talk about the beauty of these animals and what drives you, let's take a listen to a clip and this shows some of these jaguars in action.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Deadly as they are on land, jaguars also have the skill to pull a meal from the water.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: All right and what we're going to see as we continue talking here is a very successful fishing effort on the part of a jaguar. What is it about these animals in particular that you find so compelling?

RABINOWITZ: The jaguars -- of all the large cats they're the third largest cat in the world. And of all the large cats they're the least known. They're the most mysterious.

People -- we know about jaguars. Everybody has heard of jaguars. And yet, while they're going towards extinction we know almost nothing about them. That's what drove me to try to follow them and to study them.

O'BRIEN: And they in particular need a lot of turf, a wide range, as it is called, don't they, and their habitat is shrinking?

RABINOWITZ: That's right. In the last 100 years their habitat has shrunk about by 50 percent. And unless we can save what remain, they won't be around in the future.

O'BRIEN: All right. Well, it appears from the film they have no trouble finding mates. Let's take a look at this next clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Jaguars are excellent swimmers and won't hesitate to cross waterways especially if there's a potential mate on the opposite bank.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: All right. So he's kind of a lady's man there, if you will.

Wonderful photography here. How was the team able to capture such stunning images including a jaguar from underwater? You got to wonder what the photographer was anything at that moment.

RABINOWITZ: The photographers that carried out this natural history footage are the best natural history photographers relating to jaguar that I know of. I know them all personally. It took two years to film this kind of film, and it's the best footage I know of of real jaguar behavior.

O'BRIEN: All right. And finally let's get to the last clip and I want to button this up with a personal note about this. We got to take a look. We would be remiss if we didn't show the jaguar cub here. Let's listen briefly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Often less than 16 inches long at birth, the cubs are born blind. Their eyes open within two weeks. And they set off to explore the world outside the den.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: All right. And as we look at those cute pictures we want to bring up a serious subject.

Through the course of filming this documentary, you received some terribly sad news you were diagnosed with leukemia with no real known cure. What you're talking about managing the disease right now. So the clock is ticking for you quite literally on your effort to save these animals. How has that changed the way you do your work? Is there a sense of urgency that wasn't there?

RABINOWITZ: Yes, absolutely. It's been kind of ray shock to me to all of a sudden learn two years ago this month that I had leukemia. But it did inspire a new sense of urgency. And I'm more determined now than ever to live my life saving these cats and doing what I can for them for as long as I can do it in the field.

O'BRIEN: And does that change your future plans? Does that change anything about what you're going to be doing with your work or are you just going to press on as long as you can?

RABINOWITZ: Well, it doesn't -- I'm doing everything that I did before, but I'm doing it even faster. I have no more dreams of growing old. I have no more thoughts about having a house by the lake.

Now I work harder. I work longer hours. I don't know how much longer my working career will be, so I'm pulling out all stops to make sure that things get done and I do for the jaguars what I can do.

O'BRIEN: We wish you well in that effort. Dr. Alan Rabinowitz, director of science and exploration for the program of Wildlife Conservation Society at the Bronx Zoo and star of a show tonight on PBS, National Geographic special, once again 8:00 p.m. Check your local listings.

Thanks very much for being with us. And we wish you a happy Thanksgiving, sir.

RABINOWITZ: Thank you. It's a pleasure.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com