Bridget134

Does anyone think you're mental? Or are you actually just really sane?

This is a good thing! Haha.

And for the record I am of the people who consider you very sane for turning your back on the vast amount of insanity that makes up most of the modern world and its societies.

Question: You didn't include in your intro bio your motivation(s) for going off-grid. Of course one can speculate on the various reasons that an adult who was born and raised in western society might have in bidding farewell to society, but what were/are your specific motivations for leaving and what are the goals you hope to achieve in doing so?

Hi! Thanks for doing this AMA. I had never heard of this series before seeing this post and I look forward very much indeed to watching it as it becomes available. As it is, though, I want to add that I can only watch the 30 second preview available at the PBS link you shared so that's all I know about y'all and your doings - which is a long way of saying, please excuse me if I ask you something that you have answered elsewhere or in the series itself!

So, I have tons of questions about you guys, and the show, and the spy animals themselves flitting around in my mind, but I'll limit myself.

My impression from the nature of your series is that you clearly feel that there is much that is worthwhile to know and learn about animals that can be found when they are in their natural habitats and, at the same time, unaware of being watched.

With this in mind - ie the importance you place on wildlife remaining undisturbed in their natural habitats - I wonder what you think of, and how you feel about, zoos and/or the private ownership of wildlife ala Joe Wild et al.?

Is there a such thing as a "good zoo"?

How would you rate the quality of life of a wild animal in captivity - ANY captivity, no matter the size of land or the level of mimicking the creature's actual native environment?

Some background: I worked at a no-kill animal sanctuary on a large estate in Texas many years ago - albeit it was mostly for domestic animals (cats and dogs) with a few wild stragglers. I vividly remember the opinion of the sanctuary's owner, which was: dogs and cats ought not be "allowed" to breed/or be bred anymore, full-stop. She was of the mind - and I think it was a conclusion that she came to feel after many many years of rescuing thousands of unwanted/abused/neglected animals - that humans are not worthy and/or capable of companion animal-ship. In fact, the cynical philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer said something along the lines of "life is so awful that it would be better for us (humans) to have never been born, and existed, at all" (I'm paraphrasing). This sentiment of Schopenhauer's I think summed up the way the sanctuary owner felt about domestic animals - their lives, generally, are so awful that it would be better for them to just not exist.

Do you have any thoughts you would care to share on your reaction(s) to the suggestion that all wild animals in captivity, and the vast majority of domestic "pets", have such poor quality of lives, due directly to human intervention in whatever form it may take, that we should allow them (or force them) to go extinct?

I realize, after writing this all out, that I'm most interested in ironically asking the creators of a TV series specifically about animals in the wild what their thoughts are on animals in captivity. But I do feel that because of the scope of your show based specifically in the wild you must have some affinity for, some feeling for the importance of, the quality of the lives that wild animals are free to live in their natural habitats and that, consequently, you would have feelings about animals' lives on the "other" side of the habitat coin.