Speaker 1: Hey, this is Pet Life Radio. Let's talk pets.
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Speaker 3: Arden Moore.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Old Behave show on Pet Life Radio.
I'm your host, Arden Moore. Hey, what do you do
after a successful careers of veterinary neurologist? You become an
advocate for wildlife. You become a master storyteller to inspire
our youngest generation. Guess what You're about to meet a
remarkable human being who just may inspire you as well.
Please Welcome to our show, Doctor Rick Lecouteur. We're going
to find out what is the story behind his latest book.
It is called Nasty Names Are Hurtful. An Australian white
Ibis responds to name calling in the city, curious as
maybe an ibis. We're going to find out. So, everybody
you know the drill, Sit, stay, We'll be right back.
Speaker 2: Time for a pause for very ones. Actually sit and stay,
all behave, We'll be right back.
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Speaker 2: Let's talk pets on Petlifradio dot com. All behaviors back
with more tail wagging Ways to achieve harmony of the
household with your pets. Now back to your fetching host,
America's pet ed You, Jiner arden More.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the old Behave show on pet Life Radio.
I'm your host Ardenmore. I've been looking forward to having
this special guest on our show. He is doctor Rick Lacouteur.
He has a lot of things after his name, and
he's been a veterinary neurologist. That just hurts my brain
saying it. He is a major wildlife advocate. He loves
kids and he wants our next generation to know how
to care for the animals in wildlife on our planet.
And he has a French name, and he's in Australia,
doctor Rick Coutur. So glad you're on our show.
Speaker 3: Yeah, thank you, Auden. I'm actually Australian, but I'm actually
speaking to you today from my home in California, so
oh where I'm still in the town where the University
of California at Davis is.
Speaker 1: Located, big, big veterinary school.
Speaker 3: Yes, and I retired as a prof emeritus. I am
now from there in twenty fifteen.
Speaker 1: Well, that's one of the best veterinary schools in the
United States, and I lived in Oceanside for fifteen years,
so I love California. You know there's a lot we
can dive in, but I want to get right to it.
You right, books, But your audience lately has been for kids. Correct.
Speaker 3: Correct. Yes. After retirement from a career as a neurologist,
as you said, and a neurosurgeon and doing research into
brain tumors in both humans and animals, and being an
enthusiastic teacher, one might say I loved teaching. I retired
because it was time and spent more time with my
grandchildren and read to them. And I wanted them to
become advocates for the environment and biodiversity and wildlife, and
so I looked for books to read to them. And
I could find lots of whimsical and fantastical books for
seven and eight year olds, but nothing that really captured
the true aspects of or the authentic aspects realistic aspects
of the environment and the animals on our planet. So
I looked and looked. I found a few, but I
decided I'd write my own books for them. I've since retirement,
I've been very active in a wildlife expedition company and
have taken up photography as a major pastime, and so
I put all these things together and produced books for
my grandkids. And from there some people saw them in
my daughter's homes and said can I have one? And
so from there it's ballooned. And now I consider myself
and aspiring children's picture book author and illustrator.
Speaker 1: I would beg to differ. You are an illustrator and
an author for children. I mean, let's just go through
some titles I believe you have put out on Amazon
dot com. You can find them everyone, and they're all
with the twenty twenty four Did you write three books
in twenty twenty four?
Speaker 3: I did.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, you have strong typing fingers. So let
me just go through it. Okay. One of them, everyone
is about a It's called Norman Wants to Fly. And
this is tell us who Norman is.
Speaker 3: Norman's a flightless cormorant. There are many species of cormorant
seabirds in the world, and only one is flightless, and
that is the flightless cormorant of the Galapagus Islands. Oh,
and he evolved and his wings became smaller and smaller,
and his feet became bigger. And bigger because he swims
for his meals and he didn't need to fly, and
because there are no predators in the Galapagos other than
those introduced by people. He thrived there and he lost
the ability to fly. And this is a book about
a young flightless cormorant who sees other birds flying and
wants to do the same. And the message of the
book for the kids is that he discovers that he's
a great swimmer. Everybody tells him so, and he's happy
with who he is, which.
Speaker 1: Is very very important. I mean, I'm five foot one
and a half with a very toll phone voice, but
I know I don't think I would have a career
in the w NBA. Do you think so?
Speaker 3: I think, having looked at many things that you've done
out and I think you could do whatever you set
your mind to. So I'm not going to enter into
that discussion.
Speaker 1: But the point for the kids is focus on your attributes,
not the wannabes.
Speaker 3: Correct be yourself and yeah, I like, celebrate, celebrate in
who you are and what you are, and don't try
to be somebody else. Be yourself and you'll find that's
more than enough in this life.
Speaker 1: Well, then we go to book number two in this year,
and this one is about a curious penguin. Everybody. Of course,
the penguin's name is Johnny, and it is called Penguin
pen Pals. There's your alliteration. A charming story of diversity,
except and friendship. So tell everybody a little bit about Johnny.
Speaker 3: Well, you know, penguins are very popular in kids' books,
and it was actually a Penguin book that I was
reading to my grandchildren that said I really need to
add to the children's literature that they're exposed to, because
I was reading a book about a penguin who lived
in a house, drove a car, went to school, and
when I got to the page where the penguin was
eating pizza, I finally realized that this, while a whimsy,
was great and kids need humor and whimsy in their lives.
But I couldn't find the balance to that in any
Penguin book other than ones that had photographs and weren't
really much fun, although they contained the information. So I'm
aiming for that middle ground between the whimsy and the actual,
and so it's an authentic approach. And all of my
illustration are taken from are derived from photographs that I've taken,
and of course they don't look like photographs. They look
like regular children's book illustrations, but they're all actual habitats
and animals. And so in this penguin book, it's a
story about three penguins who become pen pals and decide
through their communications that they must all be identical because
they're all black and white. They swim in the ocean,
they eat krill, and they have the same predators that
chase them, like seals, and so on.
Speaker 1: Where are they located? You said they're pen pals, these penguins,
So what bodies of water are they based?
Speaker 3: They're located in the antarctica, at the very bottom of
the world, where most of the penguins are. That's their habitat,
and so the book depicts them in their natural habitat.
And so they all decide to meet one day, and
they get together and they think the others haven't arrived
because they all look a little bit different, and they're
all expecting to look the same. So they start to
walk away and one yells out the other's names, and
they all turn around. They're slightly different.
Speaker 1: This is really powerful.
Speaker 3: One is an adeli, one is a chin strap and
one is a gentoo, three species of penguins, And so
they are looking at one another and one of them says,
we're different. We can't be friends anymore. Oh no, And
they start to walk away from one another, and then
one says, wait, we already are friends. They turn around
and they walk off arm in arm or flipper and
flipper into the distance.
Speaker 1: And they didn't celebrate with pizza, right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly, No, celebrate with a little krill meal. And
so the message is obvious in that one for the
kids that different different species of birds, just as people
who are very different in different way ways should be
tolerant and get on well together. And it's actually what's
inside that counts. And so that's the message with that one,
and the kids learn a little bit about penguins and antarctica.
I have fact sections in the back of my books
for the readers, the parents, and the carers and the
teachers to read so that they can answer the questions.
And I encourage the parents to read these books with
their kids. Yes, and if they don't know the answer
to the kids questioned, to demonstrate to the kid how
you can look at the back of the book and
find out an answer. There's always an answer, Arden, as
you well know from your background, and it's just a
matter of are you too lazy to look for it?
And these days it's so easy to find answers. So
that's all about penguins. I think it's a unique Penguin
book in the sense that it's authentic in its habitat
and its depiction of these animals.
Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, we're speaking with doctor Rick la Couteur. You
got to get that French in there. He's from Australia,
but he's talking to us from California. So he's a glober.
He likes to get around. He has done amazing things
in his life. He loves kids. He's got great How
many grandkids do you have?
Speaker 3: I have four, two daughters, each with a boy and
a girl, so it's a matching. It's a very symmetrical situation,
and I love them. I've learned so much about life
from being with those children. I can't tell you they've
taught me so so much.
Speaker 1: Well, we're going to dive in a little bit about
his contribution to our globe, to our next generation after
we take this quick break, So sid stay, we'll be right.
Speaker 3: Back, time for a walk on the red carpet.
Speaker 2: Of course, all behave. We'll be backing up lash right
after these messages we were for and we're damn proud
of it. Chance our four legs and our tail and
we go to the bathroom outside.
Speaker 1: Well, we may not be too proud of that. Let's
sniff around, Ben, mark your spot right here.
Speaker 2: Pet Life Radio, Let's talk pets, Let's talk past, Let's
done Pets Talk Radio, Headline Radio, Petlight Radio dot Com.
Speaker 4: Hi, this is Lily Tomlin and I invite you to
listen to the Old Behave Show with Arden Moore on
pet Life Radio.
Speaker 2: We're back from the lot. Just check the paper and
we had our record showing at the box, the letterbox
that is now back to Oh Behave.
Speaker 1: Here's Arden, Welcome back to the Old Behave Show on
pet Life Radio. I'm your host, Arden Moore. I gotta
say We've been on the air since O seven and
this has been one of the most charming, delightful, amazing
guests I've ever had. And he is doctor Rick Coutour
and he does a lot. I mean check him out, man.
He was a veterinary neurologist that just makes my brain hurt.
He's been a champion since his kid days in Australia
for wildlife. He's an amazing photographer and he is an
amazing writer, and he has decided I'm going to focus
on our next youngest generation and get them inspired with
you say a little bit of whimsy in the story
and some facts. So your latest book just out, the
third book he's written, Everybody in twenty twenty four. I
love this title because I think it's important. Nasty names
are hurtful. Subtitle An Australian White ibis responds to name
calling in the city. And this is about an ibis
named Henny. Is that correct, Doctor Rick?
Speaker 3: That's correct. In my third book, I realized that my
major protagonists in the first two books had both been males,
and so I'm going to correct that balance with the
next book because my major protagonist will be another female.
And so, yeah, this ibis in this book is is
Penny a female?
Speaker 1: So tell us about her situation.
Speaker 3: Well, first of all, I'd like to say, don't be
scared off by the fact that it's an Australian bird.
It's just happens to live in Australia. But it could
be a bird anywhere, and the ibis, of course, was
worshiped in ancient Egypt. They used to walk around the
streets and if you look in the pyramids and the
tombs there are hieroglyphs of ibis on the walls. A
very revered bird. And it was actually in Australia long
before any people came. The Aboriginals arrived there and they
worshiped the ibis.
Speaker 1: Also, why do you think that is? What is it
about the ibis?
Speaker 3: It's a very regal looking bird. It stands up straight,
it's got this huge long beak, and it's I think
the word I would use to describe if you'd take
time to watch them. It's an elegant bird.
Speaker 1: I lived in South Florida for many years and going
to the Everglades and seeing the ibis, they're very majestic.
Speaker 3: I think that's another great word for them. And so
when people came to Australia that look a little bit
like you and me, they dried up the wetlands and
they introduced agriculture, and the ibis almost went extinct except
for the zoos. And so the zoo's had a few pairs.
Long stories short, they escaped from the zoo in Sydney, Australia,
and no one could find them.
Speaker 1: Were they in the IBIS Witness Protection program?
Speaker 3: Well, almost the equivalent to the IBIS Witness Protection Program.
Very closely you'll see the similarities. So what happened was
they couldn't find them, and some months or years I
think later, they discovered them in a city park and
they had reproduced like nobody's business. They made the environment
their own. They are truly environmental refugees. That's my favorite
term for them. And so they've thrived in the parks
in the big cities all over Australia and from there.
It's really interesting because people started to resent them because
they would always be present, harassing people at picnics, and well.
Speaker 1: Did you call them picnic pirates?
Speaker 3: I was going to say, And Australians developed all these
derogatory names for them, picnic pirates. Bin chicken are bin
in Australia is a trash can here, so bin chickens,
dumpster divers, they had horror there are dozens of names,
and the kids would chase them and throw rocks at them,
and they were much maligned and derided in the society. However,
they don't deserve that. No. Plus the viners they're resilient
and so they they would not eat trash if humans
didn't provide them with the trash to eat. So there
is an instruction up at the end of the book
that helps kids what can you do for the ibis?
And one of the things is put the lid on
the trash can number two, don't throw a liter and
so on. So the message there's a message there too.
But this bird is truly magnificent. Just to tell you
one thing arden about this bird. It has a beak
or a bill that's four or five inches long, and
in the end of that beak there's a little sensory organ,
a little vibratory organ that can sense a beetle or
a worm four or five inches under the ground. And
really the bird thrusts its beak into the ground and
it will hit the beetle every time. And so this
is a magnificent animal. And it's a story about resilience,
and underlying that there's a message about name calling because
Penny the Ibis talks to her parents about all the
nasty people are calling her, and they just reinforced the
fact that she's a magnificent bird. She should be happy
with who she is. And so it's a it's a
little instruction manual for kids who might be called names
at school or for those who call the names, and
maybe it's a cautionary tale for them, because don't call
somebody names until you know all about them, and when
you do know all about them, you probably won't call
them names.
Speaker 1: Can we clone you?
Speaker 3: I want to come and help you with your podcast now?
Speaker 1: Seriously, doctor Rick. I know you have four grandchildren, and
I know you've done a lot in venary medicine. But
where do you get this inspiration? What were your parents
like or where? I know you grew up in Australia,
So where did you become this ambassador to wildlife?
Speaker 3: You know, it's really interesting. I was brought up on
a farm almost as far west of Sydney as the Outbouk,
so very remote. It was twelve miles to the nearest
town and the countryside was just filled with Australian native animals,
particularly birds. I mean any single day I would see
twenty different species of parrot just on our farm alone.
And so I had that upbringing, and always in the
back of my mind was how magnificent mother Nature is
absolutely I wanted to become a vet from a very
early age because I wanted to deal with animals. And
I must say my parents encouraged me to be curious,
always encouraging me to read. There wasn't we didn't have
a TV, we barely had a radio, so encouraging me
to read and providing me with stories and material to read,
and so it just grew from there. But it's not
until I retired from being a neurologist and a neurosurgeon
that I actually I mean, I've always loved animals, but
that I actually realized that I wanted to do something
to make sure my grandchildren had a planet to live in.
I give a lecture to anybody who will listen, and
it's called will your grandchildren see a lion in the wild?
And the truth is that kids being born today are
very likely not to be able to see a lion
in the wild. That's how serious our situation is. And
so I don't want to scare kids with tales of
bushfires and floods and hurricanes and climate change, but rather
have them appreciate what's around them and then develop their
own thoughts about the environment based on how magnificent nature is.
There are several studies from Europe that show that kids
that are exposed through their fae formative years to authentic
wildlife and conservation stories actually go on as adults to
practice those goals. And so we've got to get the
little ones. We've got to get the little ones to understand.
Speaker 1: I know your books are on Amazon, certainly, but how
do people get in touch with you? Doctor Rick?
Speaker 3: I have a website. I'm hoping you can add to
the notes because my name is so difficult to spell,
but it's called It's Rick Lakuda dot com, r I
C K L E c O U t eur dot
com and so it's a tough one to spell. If
I had my time again, I would have had a
different name, but unfortunately I had no saying it, no
saying it at all.
Speaker 1: So hey, my name's Arden. I come from a family
of Deb Karen, Kevin, Bob Bill. Really, so you never know,
but you take what you get. And everybody again, please,
you got kids, you got grandkids, Please go and check
out doctor Rick's books. He's got more in the pipeline.
I am betting, but this is a man on a mission.
To help all of us, all species on our planet.
And I have to say it's been quite an honor
to have you on our show, doctor Rick.
Speaker 3: It's been an honor to be here, ad and thank
you so so much. I love the work you're doing
and for our little creatures on this planet, and you
deserve a lot of recognition for that.
Speaker 1: Well. I also need to recognize my producer is he
is not a doctor. He is Mark Winter. He's the
executive producer of Pet Life Radio. We are the largest
pet radio network on the planet and we've been on
the air with this show, obhave since two thousand and seven.
No one knew what a podcast was, so I hope
you'll juse in. Go to ardenmore dot com and please
check out four Legged life dot com. I do a
lot in the world, including helping people learn how to
save pets through Pet First Aid with the help of
my shelter Lums, pet Safety catch Casey pet Safe to
dot ConA. It is called pet Furstade for you, I
have a newsletter, art and more. Just check it all out.
But until next time, this is your flea free host
Ard and Moore delivering just two words to all you
two three, four legged out there.
Speaker 2: Oh behave coast to coast and around the world. It's
all behaved with Art and more. Find out why cats
and dogs do the things they do and get the
latest buzz from Wagging Tongues and tails and rent ten
tinsel Town. From famous pet experts and best selling authors
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behave with America's pet entertainer Art More, every week on
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