Fake Doctors, Real Friends with Zach and DonaldOn this week's episode, we learn about what goes into running a horse and burro rescue. Rancher Clare Staples talks about her passion for saving wild horses, the obstacles these creatures face, and how she's able to keep track of dozens of horses.
Hi, guys, there he is Donald. You'll be very happy to know that I don't have my sound effects machine, so any sound effects drops that the audience likes, I will be doing live.
This is the best day ever. Oh my god, what just happened? People? Everyone? Today is the best day ever.
Because I don't have the sound effects machine.
Yes, but none of that, none of that.
I love you, ship, sound listen. I'm gonna do them live. I just want the audience hear. What you're trying to get into a day is soon. What you're trying to.
Do, that's the only one that you can do that's actually gonna sound authentic.
Everyone else you don't sound like Meal tech.
Forever Wu Tang forever? What Wo tang forever?
It doesn't work. I miss I missed you too. This has been a crazy, crazy, crazy summer. Holy Ship.
Yes, it's very bizarre time in our town because nobody can work.
Yeah, and it's hot as balls outside.
Yes, nobody can work and it's hot as balls outside.
This is what I imagine hell is like, hot and workless, hot and workless.
Well, that just shows that you love your work too, because a lot of people would imagine hell would be hot and work full. You know what I mean?
Well, not if you love what you do.
Yeah, you love what you do.
I'm one of the very few people in the world that gets to do what he's always wanted to do.
Yes, that's probably true, Donald, You're one of an elite group of people that actually gets to do what they love to do. Joel and Daniel too.
I don't know how they feel about this job.
Okay, no, but Donald's right. Daniel might be like, I will kill them one day.
If anybody got to hear what you're trying to get into a day shune.
One more fucking time.
I have to listen to their voices even after the show.
Was Yeah, because Daniel has to edit the show, so for all we know, he's up late, and I'd be like, oh.
Soon soon, Donald, if you don't get your mic right.
Yes, if he reads that ad wrong, one more fucking time, I'll blow. Yeah. Daniel will be in a visa being like.
You got to show me off.
Daniel, is that your dream? To be a well paid DJ in a viza on drugs?
It was for a little bit. It was for a little bit.
I'm not gonna lie though, I do love this job and I love having a real home life. Being gone every weekend and not having like friends to hang out with during the week is tough.
So what money DJ in man? That's for damn sure.
Hell no, I wish.
But he's not talking. I will never reached and he could, of course if he tried. I don't know, but he never. He never reached the he never reached the private jet DJ status.
I assume not not quite now. It was a long road and there are many choices I may have changed along the way. However, I'm very proud of that time in my life and I'm happy where I am now. So no regrets.
You know I met and I hung out with the dj Z.
Do you know him?
No, Anton, I do know Anton. Anton is paid. Yes, he's he thinks. So if I made a song like Clarity, then yes.
I say, you are a piece.
He's so talented. Is he super talented? I don't. I don't listen to that music. So is he super good? He must be, because rules he is super talented. He's an amazing musician, like he was a classically trade pianist.
So didn't watch McCalla write that song? Though he didn't write that song, didn't Hillary Duff husband wrote that.
Song the lyrics or the music the lyrics, Yeah, yeah, for sure it is.
It is his song.
I can't remember the name of the singer, but she's also very talented. But I mean he wrote the music part of it. So that's the part that I give him those most credit for. He also works with, I mean, a bunch of talented writers. He's brought up so many people. I got nothing but respect for that.
Oh that's nice to hear. He was a very he's a very nice guy. I just met him a few times and he's, uh, he's super nice. I just I also happened to see his house, so I was like, damn anton.
Man's question, do you have a movie theater?
He just had one of those like I'm a rich DJ. Holy shit houses?
Yeah, Like did he have a tennis court?
I didn't like survey the grounds. Donald. I was just there for a cocktail party and it was like a wow house and I was like, Wow, this is one of those I don't know his music.
Yeah, bake grass are real grass?
Is that how you determine wealth?
I'm just saying some people determine wealth whether they have a swing in a cement that's Casey.
You got to tell that story.
Now.
You can't leave the audience curious about that.
My wife told us that when she was growing up.
Are you going to tell this wright or do I need to take over?
I'm going to tell her wrong. You need to take over, dude.
I need to take over Donald's wife's story just because Donald's too high to remembory.
No, it's so long ago.
She was talking about how in Waco, Texas, and this was many years.
Ago, well Marlin, Texas.
Marlin, Texas, that her grandmother had a really nice house for very little money. And she and this is Casey said this without any trying to joke at all. She was like, y'all, she got this house for thirty thousand dollars and this house was nice, y'all. I mean it had a swing set in the seaman.
Hell. Yeah.
She wasn't trying to be funny. She was like, that was one of the nice features of the house was that the swing set was.
Imbedded into the dirt.
It wasn't one of those ones where when you swing hard it comes up.
No no, no, no, there's no chance of the swing.
This fucker was in.
It was locked up in that. But dude was joking, He's going off to ods.
But Donald, do you remember Casey wasn't joking. She wasn't trying to be funny. She was like being earnest. She was like, y'all it was nice, like the swing set was in the semen.
Yeah, she was bragging y'all. Oh no, it was a nice house.
Should we talk about going to te Swift because we had a great mandate.
Listen that Te Swift? Cody was hate.
Yeah, well, Cody, Cody, Cody's Cody's not a fan. We don't listen. Need to listen to Cody. Cody's Cody's all in on beyond.
We should listen to Cody because he gets you into shape and everything like that.
But no, but I mean he's not a te Swift fan, and Donald and I are. And we had a really nice date. We had a great night.
I mean, hanging out with the people that we hung out made it even more special though. Getting again, Yeah, get to see getting to see bree.
Uh and Lupin and Young Sarah and Sarah Paulson. It's quite the crew.
Oh my gosh, wait a minute. I have like three friends who've met Lapita and they said, she literally stole their breath. She's the most beautiful woman. Oh my god.
Donald and I were like, we're like, you know, I know Sarah Paulson, we know Elizabeth Banks, you know I've met Brie Larson. We were we were in the Costa Egos shout out to cost Egos for letting us watch in the box. But anyway, Donald and I were like, you know, we know these these those gals. And then we saw and Amy Adams was there and I know her. And then but then Donald and I both saw Lupina and Young. We both just stopped in our tracks and we're like, our jaws dropped. She's so pretty, dude, and they're all beautiful. I just meant we hadn't met her before. In our start, in our Star sightings.
We were surrounded by nothing but beautiful women.
Other than Darren Chris, and other than Darren Chris, we were the only guys that funny.
And freaking like Ashley Tisdale came up in there, like when we had a crew.
And there was that famous TikTok girl's sister. I don't know TikTok dancers, but.
Remember her, the one that was on Dancing with the stars.
There was a reality show about her family, the Damelio. Yeahmilio's the older sister. Donald and I may have been the only two straight men not accompanying a child there in the all of Sofi Stadium. That is how I felt, as well, Oh do you go? I did? It was great, wasn't it? Dude? It was so incredible.
Just the fact that she can go for three and a half hours like that is mind blowing to me. I was just standing there dancing and singing, sure, but like she is performing, singing, bantering for three and a half hours. That conditioning is unparalleled. She is such an impressive performer.
Man, she fucked up traffic in Hollywood. Man, I was all gonna say, how about that?
Look, it was cool. The first night. I was like, oh, man, Taylor is in town. This is dope.
Zach's taking me and we had a great time. I sang, I did all of that stuff. But for the next six days, traffic in Los Angeles was shit.
Donald was all because of Taylor.
Sweet I only I were loving the show. But I looked at him like, because we were starting to time out, we knew how long the show was, and I was like, I want you to look at all these people, seventy thousand people. I'm like, all these people are going to try and leave the same time, right, So, Donald, we're gonna miss some final tailor.
Tracks, right, we missed all of that shit. We was like, that's wrap.
We love Taylor, but we don't love two hours of traffic tailor.
Now. No, no, no, no. I can't sit in the parking lot for two no.
I would have lost my mind. I would have lost my mind. I saw the line for Uber and I was like, there's no way it could not be caught dead. And that least when and were like these big stars like Lupida and Sarah Paulsen, they were disappearing for like an hour and you're like, where'd they go? And they would come back. They had gotten on the merch line. They had been on the line for merch. I was like Donald, I was like, Donald, do you need to go? The cool thing to do would be for you to come home with one of those sweatshirts for Casey And he's like, oh, hell no.
The only way I'm getting one of them things with Casey is if, like if Lupita's like, would you like a sweatshirt?
You were hoping that Lapita was going to be like I was free.
Lars, and I was like, Brie, did you get anything from me?
You were hoping that Lupite and Young was going to be like Donald, I googled your wife's sizes and here's That's.
How good this freaking party was. That it wasn't just a concert. It was a party, like we were hanging out with some really awesome people who really liked Taylor Swept.
That was the other thing.
It was amazing that that all of these people really really we weren't there just because it was the Casamigo Suite, like that's the perk.
That was one of the perks.
Everybody who was there was a genuine Taylor Swift fan and knew all the lyrics.
And we didn't know. We didn't know Donald and I knew a fraction of the songs because I think, I well, I really I like Taylor a lot. But my I was my favorite album is Folklore because she made an album with the National So it was like, wow, that's that's the most Taylor kind of music that can be. I love a lot of the pop hits, don't get me wrong, but for me, that's the album that that I responded to most. So there were so many songs that were played, but I didn't I didn't even know.
Oh that shit was there's maybe like three songs, four songs of the Whole Night that I was like, oh, I don't know this one.
I didn't know the era when she came out like in the Princess dress, like that kind of music over speak now. Yeah, yeah, I don't know the song.
No.
Uh, that is an album I'm honestly least familiar with. I believe that is her third album.
And the country something the Princess sparks.
Oh that's what dear John mean, that's means, Yeah, I don't know that ship.
Yeah, but we like nineteen eighty nine and we like, what's the reputation that.
Oh that shit, what's the one where what's the one where she has.
The midnight hat over her face? But that was that was red.
Yeah, I know that. Yeah, I know all that.
The dancers were incredible.
Let's keep it one hundred, all right, let's be on Taylor ain't no dancer. Let's be one hundred about it all.
She's a great for me, It's donald.
But I'm telling you right now, none of the all y'all be cracking me up with the These motherfuckers can dance.
They ass off and then not pay attention to the fact about that there's a Beyonce out there.
Come on, man, come on, buddy, there's a Come on buddy. Let's keep it one hundred. Taylor is a great performer and she has a great strut that she does. I'm gonna keep it one hundred with y'all. That strut is powerful. But when it comes to dancing, there's not a lot at the show. There was not a lot of.
Em Instagram comments right now. I know, first of all, guys, it's Donald unders don't do it, and it's an underscore in seven f because he was so high he typed it.
Ronald No, I was drunk that night.
Oh drunk. I I was talking about not Taylor, And I'm not comparing it to Beyonce or Lady Gaga anyway. I thought the dancers that were hired were very good, and the show is just so pretty, the stage production and the lighting and uh, it's it was, like I described her to someone as like a halftime show that went for three and a half hours.
Yes, you know what the best part of it was is when the stage is empty and it's just her by herself on the stage, and you'll see how big the stage and how she's commanding that big.
Of a stage.
It also helps that you have a giant freaking jumbo tron up above. But when you look down and you see just her in this big, giant tea of a stage, Holy cow, it's like, Wow, you you buy yourself out there, and you're doing.
It right now.
I know, and every and and seventy thousand people are singing your lyrics back to you. What a feeling. That's crazy. I'm gonna go see Coldplay at the Rose Ball on September thirty. That'll be fun because you know that's my jam. They're so fun live.
They got any new music, I'm sure they do.
I'm I'm going to see all my favorites I just got.
Also, one of last thing. She opened the motherfucker up with freaking the song that's popping right now, the summer shit, it's the Summer Jamo. So that should make me want to do the snake like you freaking back, like straight off, dude, straight up.
I also want to get a shout out. I want to give a shout out to my very good friend, one of the nicest people I've ever met in my life. His name is Preston Boyd and he is currently playing Javert in the tour of Lame Is Rob which is currently in Los Angeles. And if you're listening to this and you're gonna be in Los Angeles in the next few weeks, I'm telling you go see it. He just is extraordinary. I hope you're gonna go, Donald, I really want to. You should bring Wilder. She'll love it. It's so well done.
It's it's it's le mis I don't know, I know it's I know it's singing throughout the whole thing. So I'm hoping that'll that'll be intriguing to her.
But you can give her the basics of the story. You could talk her, explain it to her.
Yeah, that'll be Yeah, that'll be interesting.
Anyway, it's a great production, and I'm so proud of my friend because he's really great in it. So I wanted to say, if you're in LA in the next couple of weeks, go see it at the Pantages, which is to beautiful theater.
I can't And also, yeah, before we move on, shout out to Rachel zales Man, Yo, thanks for hooking up the Cosamigo's suite.
That was really awesome. So shout out to her. Man.
We've known her for a really long time and she's always been really nice to us, So shout out.
Yes. And Rachel, I believe, is the head of publicity for Casa Ego, So she was the reason we not that George Clooney doesn't love Donald and I places, but I.
Mean, but he I mean, I'm sure he listens to the podcast.
Well, I know that George loves the podcast. George, I don't think George was in charge of the guest list.
But I'm sure that's part of the reason.
I don't know, man with Donald in our minds, she went to George.
He's in town, and I think Donald and Zach, after listening to the podcast, would love to be.
Yeah, that's in our mind. That's how it happened that George Clooney listens to the podcast, and he was like, Rachel, come in my office please. I know we have limited room in the suite and Lupita's already contacted me, but are there two seats for Zach and Donald? And she's like, aren't they straight. Yeah, are they going to bring children? No, No, they're going to go on a date together.
That's exactly what happened. Yeah, here's what happened. I need the sweep for them, Yes, I need this to be a purpose.
He had to call Lupita and say, sorry, you only get a plus one.
Right, because originally she had the whole thing.
Lupita had like plus five, and George had to call her and calm that shit down. I'm sorry, Amy Adams, no children alone, all right? So Donald's going to count us in before he does, I want to say, you know, we're not allowed to talk about scrubs, as you guys know. So Donald and I are looking for cool opportunities to invite really interesting people on the show. Sometimes they'll be famous people, actors or creative types or other fame for other reasons, Like Cody was an interesting to us. And I've been fortunate enough to meet through Krista Miller, who has a very good friend named Claire Staples, who when I met Claire and heard her story and went to her ranch in Malibu, I was just blown away by what she has dedicated her life to. And I said to Donald and Joelle and Daniel. I really want to have this woman on because I've just become obsessed with this woman's Instagram account. She has dedicated her life to rescuing wild horses, and she will explain to us the whole situation why the Bureau of Land Management rounds up these horses, what they do to them, and how she has dedicated her entire life and formed this charity that rehabilitates and rescues these beautiful animals. And I've just been so moved by it. I've been obsessively watching her videos. She has an Instagram account, which we will send you to. I turned my mom onto it, and literally, right before I got on the podcast, my mom is like saying, I can't stop watching these videos. I'm like crying because they're so beautiful.
You just go down a rabbit hole, you know what I mean.
You think like you know, you don't, you don't think about stuff like that, and then all of a sudden, it's you because you recommended it and I watched it.
It was like, wait a second, well, let me go down more of this. Don't realize the feelings that these animals have and the long lasting bonds and friendship that they create. And it's really it's really interesting.
Yeah, and she's gonna tell us all about it. I just want to give the instagram a shout out right off the bat, because if you love animals, this is just the most beautiful Instagram account. You see how she rehabilitates these horses, and you follow their stories, and people are so invested in their stories because Claire is such a good storyteller. The account handle on Instagram is sky Dog Sanctuary and join uh the four of us in in uh in following them, and you will just fall in love. And by the way, she'll go on to tell you all about it. But the charity covers that she raises money for these animals. It's also donkeys as well, and and and and other you know, other equine you know, zebras and the rescued from circuses and anything. She'll tell us all about it. But I want you to know that she it's her, it's a lot of it is her money. She's she they're a wealthy couple, and the charity helps raise money for food and vet bills, et cetera. But she and her husband are the ones who bought this nine thousand acre ranch in Bend Oregon and are spending their own money to to rescue examimals. So it's just really really inspiring.
Donald counts and six seven eight stories.
Sure, we made about a bunch of thousand stories natural.
So sweet.
All right, Daniel, please let in Claire Staples. Here she comes.
Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Claire Staple. There, she is, there, she is.
Hi, Claire.
Hello, can you hear me?
We can sound?
Are you good to see you?
Welcome to the program, Claire Staples. I am so excited that you made this happen, that you're here with us.
It's kind of a dream come true moment for me to be on your podcast, to be speaking to you.
We are very happy to make your dreams come true.
That's what we do here one how we do it, Claire. First, I want you to meet the legendary Donald Faison. Hello, Donald, And that's a Joel and Dan, our partners in this endeavor.
Hey, guys, I just.
Want to tell the audience I had the distance incredible experience. Christa Miller said to me, I want to take you to my friend's ranch in Malibu. She rescues wild horses, And I said, well, I love animals. That sounds really interesting. And I went and I saw this ranch, which is relatively small to what Claire has going on in Bend, Oregon, which is nine thousand acres. And Claire started to tell me the story of why and what's going on with the Bureau of Land Management and wild horses, and I was just blown away and the more she talked and she was so captivating. I then followed her on Instagram and Claire I was just telling the audience that my mom, literally right before I got in this podcast, text me, I can't stop watching Claire's videos. There's so moving. She's like, I'm crying watching these videos. So you've already got my mom, and I hooked. Will you please just start at the very beginning, because I imagine most people like myself know nothing about what's going on first and foremost, why is the Bureau of Land Management rounding up these horses and how do they do it?
Okay, but before we start, sorry, I'm sorry. I had no idea that this was happening. I thought this had I thought horses were already bred in captivity. I didn't know that there were still wild horses out there.
Okay, So.
Just to know, just the history of it all. This land was once filled with horses like.
Zebra in Africa, you know what I mean, herds and herds of horses.
No, and it's absolutely true. There used to be like between two to five million wild horses all across the Western States. And it is true when white man came from the east to the west on the railroads that were now built, actually they would give shotguns to the passengers riding because as they went along they would shoot buffalo or the wild horses just for entertainment, you know, because they were bored on this cross country trip. That and then I don't know if you guys know the film The Misfits with James Deen and Marilyn Monroe. It's an extraordinary film, but basically James Den plays a mustanger back in the probably the fifties or sixties, and these cowboys used to go out and round up hundreds of wild horses and use them for a chicken feed and pet food. And over that time the numbers diminished and diminished, and eventually it got down to about twenty seven thousand wild horses in the Western States, which from the millions there were, was practically extinct. Yep, and this amazing woman in Nevada happened. She was working as a secretary in Reno and followed a slaughter truck that had blood pouring out of it all the way to a slaughter house, saw these wild horses being unloaded to be slaughtered. And from that day in nineteen seventy one, well, in nineteen seventy one, she actually got legislation passed. But she started this amazing grassroots organization where she had kids right to the president and ask him to protect America's wild horses. And Richard Nixon actually brought in a bill to protect the wild horses and wild Boroughs of America and.
Just paused there because I had to google this. Our wild boroughs means wild donkey. Yes see, I did my homework.
You did.
Yeah. So this amazing piece of legislation came in obstensively to protect them and increase their numbers. And since then it's really been a battle between advocates for the wild horses, the cattle ranchers, and extracted mining companies because our public lands where these wild horses live are also used to mine uranium and plutonium and oil and gas and coal, and so these so the government's intent is really just to clear the public lands and wild horses because they don't make any money off them, and they do the cattle lobbyists have enormous pull and sway in Congress. But you know, it is funny because we always used to talk about the BLM rounding up these horses, and then Black Lives Matter came along, and then.
Wait, what does Black Lives Matter have to do with the wild horses? You've already lost me.
Why are they out there rounding up all world horses? It was a very confusing pivot that the organization made. So I try and say the longer version as you just did. Bureau of Land Management.
Okay, but Claire, why so just to go slowly because there's a lot to digest. Yeah, is the cattle lobby at the heart of why they are rounding up these horses?
A lot of the yes, they have just historically in a state like Wyoming for example. You know, you don't have to watch Yellowstone and these these cattle barons back in the day had so much power and they really treated public lands as a free grazing asset for their cows that they would turn out onto public lands. They would fatten them up and then bring them into slaughter and make a lot of money from it. But these days a lot of the people that own these massive cattle ranches are really doing it as a tax break. They're massive conglomerations like the Koch brothers in Hilton and these they get so many tax breaks from running this kind of scam where the tax payers are paying to not only round up the wild horses in favor of cows and sheep, but also because they're the people that are electing the people in these states. So the cattle lobbyists, you know, put money into their campaigns and get them elected and change. They keep rounding up the horses and skeep goating them as being the most detrimental thing to public lands, when really cows and sheep out number horses fifty to one sometimes on public lands.
They're just saying that the horses are grazing too much? Are you fucking kidding me?
Now?
And the percentages are tiny. Clear, I look this up and you'll know if this is accurate not. But I was just again trying to be a good interviewer, because Donald and I are going teaching ourselves to be really good interviewers. It looks, you know, the percentages of horses to livestock is minuscule, minuscule. How do they get away with blaming the loss of whatever I'm assuming is the feed to the horses if the number of cattle outnumber the horses by so much of a percentage.
Yeah, and I know this is going to come as a huge shocker to you, but the government lies. What The BLM are an agency, government agency under the Department of the Interior, and they saw of make up a whole bunch of reasons for why the horses have to keep being rounded up. But really it comes back to the same reason the buffalo went extinct, or you know, the Native American Indians were put on reservations. It's no different to the wild West that it used to be. It's a land grab. It's let's get rid of everything that's inconvenient and not making us money. And that's their primary purpose they think for being. And it's just it's been an amazing thing in the last few years because there because of social media, there are now so many groups photographers that go out and photograph these wild horses, which are so beautiful, and I think most of the American public would rather see, you know, herds of picturesque horses that all have names now and you know, are very well known. And then and then the BLM comes and rounds up, you know, three thousand of them at a time, and it's heartbreaking for a lot of people. But there just doesn't seem to be anything that we can do. They have the law on their sides, and it happening.
It's so crazy, man, because it seems like horses, mustangs, all of that. It seems so American, you know what I mean. It seems it's like it's like apple Pie almost the horse, you know what I mean, Cowboys, all of that stuff. And it's really interesting that the government's trying to round them.
Up and take us into chapter two of the story just to just to go through it all. So then when they do talk us through the round up, they round up these wild horses using all using helicopters. I believe you're gonna tell us about it, and then they put them in these sort of holding pens that, as you can imagine, are not ideal conditions at all. So tell us about that part of it.
Yeah, So they announce a round up, they ask for public comment, they ignore them all and then they come during a certain you know, they'll say, okay, this round up is going to take two weeks, and helicopters come and push all these round horses, all these wild horses into a trap which kind of has just burlap on either side, and they use a judas horse, which is really interesting that it's.
Called judas horse. What's that.
So they hold on to a tame horse who's trained to run into the trap, and when he starts running alongside the other horses, they all follow him in, which is why he's so I know he's a judas he's betrayed all his Yeah, he turns on them. So that's always interesting. But I mean, the roundups are horrific and brutal. A lot of the horses die or are a shot at the trap site for having any kind of impediment, like if they've can't see out of one eye, or they have you know, a broken knee, puffed up me. It's things they've been living out in the world and they were just chased by helicopter and managed to survive that, and then sadly they shoot them at the trap site for if they think they're unadoptable, and they're then taken to short term holding facilities which are all over the Western States, in every state, and they're kept there. Some are adopted out, but most tend to go to these long term holding facilities, which is yet another way for ranchers and cowboys to make money off these wild horses, because they get paid millions to have wild horses on their land or stockpile them or keep them in pens until they die. So it's a pretty sad life from the day.
Wait, I'm so confused.
Why are they paid millions to house horses but not millions to take care of the horses. So you don't have to take care of the horse. All you have to do is house the horse.
Yeah, how's the horse? And you get paid a certain amount a day. And it really is a black hole that horses disappear into and there's very little way of finding out where they went or so.
They could be turned into they could be slaughtered and turned into food.
Yeah, talk about the slaughter piece, Claire, Because Claire was telling me that the government has a program where they say you can adopt one of the horses and they'll actually pay you one thousand dollars to take on one of these animals. Yeah, but then they discovered that there's a loophole where people are quote unquote adopting them and then selling them for slaughter for meat in Mexico. Do I have that right?
Yeah, Mexico and Canada. So yeah, that's exactly what happens. People come and they might take four or eight or twelve or sixteen, because you can adopt them in groups of four, so they get their entire family to each adopt four, bring them to their place, and then as soon as they get the title for the horse, and it means they own them, they take them to the local auction livestock auction and sell them from meat money, which is the price per pound that they're selling out at that time, and then they're shipped to either Mexico or Canada because Americas shut down horslaughter plants a long time ago, just because Americans decided we don't eat horses, their companion animals. They have helped us found this country and pull a plow and go into war with and we don't.
Eat and we don't want them here anymore.
Apparently, Yeah, I now clear explain to me the loophole how does if we have outlawed slaughter. But the loophole is that you can sell it to someone in Mexico who can.
Slaughter it and you still get paid.
You get one thousand dollars per horse to take it.
Yes, they pay you to take care of it too, Am I correct?
No, they're adopt it. Yeah, exactly, you can adopt I mean, correct me if I'm wrong. Clear, you can literally take a thousand dollars per horse to adopt it and then turn around and sell it to slaughter in Mexico.
Yeah, so you sell it to a kill buyer. You sell it at a livestock auction, but it's usually going to be a kill buyer that buys up these large numbers of unhandled wild horses because there's not much other use for them, and then they will ship them in huge semi trucks across the border to Mexico where they are killed in the most horrifying way. So we won't even talk about that. It's too horrible to even think about it.
Okay. Now, when we come back, we're gonna do a quick break. That's all the bad news. When we come back after this break, we're gonna tell you what this angel of a human being sent from the heavens above, has dedicated her life to doing to save the animals. Will be right.
Back and we're back.
We're black with Claire Staples Claire one of the videos. So I want you to tell us all about the foundation you founded. I sent listeners to it already. You have to follow her on Instagram Skydog Sanctuary. Do I have that right?
Yes? Correct, you will.
You will be like my mom and I or wait, it's my mom and me Krista your friend christ By the way, you know this one thing about Christa is if you don't say the right me and I version, she corrects you.
But there is no eye version, is what she said to us originally.
No, there is. You just have to say. The trick she taught me is you you take out the name, so I would. I would say you have to join me in watching Skydog Sanctuary Instagram. So then I add my mom and I go, you have to join my mom and me? Right, you wouldn't say you have to join I. I think I got that right.
I don't want to get in trouble.
Chris has been lecturing me on that for twenty three years. But I think I finally.
Got since I've known her, Yeah, every time.
Because every she is shameless. If you don't say the right version, she corrects you and it's wrong. Since we're here, I always say it wrong. But now we're for in front of her friend Claire. We got to get it right. Join my mom and me in watching Skydog Sanctuary videos. The way you Claire is such a good story. Tell her you know every single one of these horses names, tell us about the foundation. And there was a viral video that I recommend. There's a there's an account called the Dodo, which I think focuses on on animal stories and.
You have a few. You have a few stories.
Yeah, the Dodo is a big fan of Claire. But talk about I just watched it and tears came to my eyes. This is kind of like a beautiful distillation of what Claire does. And tell the story of the of the mustang that was that you photographed, that was photographed jumping out of one of these pens and trying to escape, and then Claire was able to reunite him with one of his man Please don't give it away, Okay, sorry spoiler, but Claire tell the story, please, because this this is the kind of thing that Claire does, and it's detective work, and it's it's just amazing.
Please the fact that you were able to and also last thing, the fact that you were able to put two and two together.
Look, I look at horses. Them things all look alike. I'm gonna keep it one hundred.
I love. I think they're beautiful.
They don't all look alike.
Donald, I mean, yeah, some are darker than others. But like you put a white horse in front of me, I'm gonna be like silver. You know what I mean.
All Right, Claire, Please tell the story of this beautiful mustang.
That was just such an extraordinary thing for us, because actually, someone that does a lot of techie stuff sent to me a screenshot of us trending at number seven on YouTube or something like that that day, and I was just mind blown because I think I'm living in this little world of horse people. And then the fact that it had gone so viral, and that was a horse named Phoenix who it really just started with a photograph. I follow some of the advocacy groups and I saw this photograph of this distinctive horse jumping a seven foot panel after he'd been chased by helicopter, pushed in and his family was sort of looking up as he went over the fence, and I just thought, because it was my local corrals, which is like two hours away, I thought, I'm just going to go there and see if that horse survived, you know, is he there? And there he was with another horse that was in that video. It was his kind of lieutenant in the band. And I saw his mayor and then I inquired about him, and they told me that he was going to be released into the wild and he you know, because of his genetics and stuff. Anyway, months and months went by, and I used to go to the crowds and every time I would see him and tell him he's going to go out and be free again. And then one day, yeah, they was lying, Yeah, it's a common thread. But anyway, he was still there like a year later, and I asked about him because his friend had now gone and they'd sent his friend to Germany to a Mustang event and he was now available for adoption. So I adopted him because I was like, that horse wanted to be free more than any horse I've seen, Like he jumped like higher than any horse I've ever seen. So I was like, let's give him back his freedom. But I could never find his mayor. And it was I think a year and a half later. I always look on the internet adoptions and there she was. And I literally was like wait, and I was looking at the pictures of her and looking at her and looking at the pictures, I was like, it's her. How long?
How long were you looking at? Like that's the question? Like it was, it's definitely not split. You had to freaking pay attention to things that you had to find again.
I was like, Okay, she has orange ears even though she's white, and orange knees, and she has this mark on her shoulder and her tail is like this. I mean, it really was like zooming in all the pictures, going I think that's her. And then when we brought her home and reunited her with Phoenix, we called her ghost.
Ghosts yeahs because she was like a ghost.
Yeah.
Not only was she not only is she a white horse with which reminds you of like a ghost with a sheetoverer and everything like that.
She's literally a ghost.
After you adopted Phoenix, it's impossible to find ghosts.
Literally. I thought she was disappeared. Yeah, gone, yeah.
Because I looked for her at the corals and never found her there, so I was like, where the heck has she been, you know, suddenly to appear on the internet adoption so long afterwards, and their reunion was really beautiful. All of the families that we've reunited, it's been one of our most popular things. Even though it's a small fraction of what we do, it is something that has touched people's hearts. They think really.
Deeply because this is something I didn't know, Claire until I spoke to you, But these these are these families stay together in the wild.
That's what I was about to say. I was going to say, Can you talk about how to talk about that? How horses are like the bond is forever?
Yeah, a male horse will have a group of mayors and then their children and they continue to hang together as a family, right.
Well, they actually the males kick out the young cults, the boys at about two years old, because they don't want them competing with them within their family, which kind of it's good because it creates diversity. And then the young phillies will be stolen by other young stallions. So there's kind of a stallion in his mayor and they might be having children, but then those children go out and have their own family. But yeah, the bonds they form out there and they have their own little societies, and it's really we have we rescued one family. That's four generations of like a grandmother, her daughter, her daughter, her son, and they had stayed together. If a stallion stole one, they would all go with him. And it's just very cool to watch and be around them. They're such deep, deeply thinking and profoundly sentient beings, you know. And that's why the whole slaughter pipeline, I think is really hard to watch because you know, they know, you know, they know they're in a bad place. They've lost their freedom, their family and now their lives, and it's it's just a horrible it's a horrible underbelly that so. And I really do appreciate you having me on because there are so many you think everyone knows I know all.
I love animals, did I love animals? Horses? I had no idea about this, And that's.
Why I had no idea that the dopamine levels and horses was so high. Man Like, that's the we feel love on such levels because of the dopamine that we have in our body, right like that.
I love that.
And when you know, we don't ever look at other animals as unique and as special as that's because they don't have communication, or we don't look at them as intelligent and stuff like that. But to hear that these the bond is not it's a I don't know, man, There's something special about staying together, you know what I mean.
We make movies about that shit. All of the best movies in the world are how we stay together as a family. Nothing could break the family apart. Yeah, And to know that horses like this, it's really it's really, it's really like mind blowing. It's also inspiring, Like, you know.
What Claire's creating is a really special sanctuary where all these animals that have been separated in the most brutal way can be brought together there.
Let's take a break.
We'll be right back after these fine words. And I also want to segue into there's the animal reunification, the family reunification thing, which is so beautiful. But also a lot of the stories on your Instagram I noticed are how you and your team are rehabilitating these injured horses because obviously a lot of them come in really messed up, and some of them are blind, some of them have cancer, every every issue you can imagine a wild horse who's been in captivity in poor conditions might have. So talk about that, how you how you and the and the vets decide how much you can do when when when when when is an animal beyond your ability to help it and needs to be put down? Can you talk about that.
Well also, and also talk about how like the you know, the illnesses and stuff like that, a normal rancher would just put down that animal right away and not give the animal a chance, and how.
Saving them yep, and I do appreciate it. Is one thing we've worked really hard to establish a relationship with our local crows that round up these horses, because they do shoot a lot of horses for having small things which really aren't death sentence. And we have really appreciated the fact that they've now let us come and take special needs horses or seniors that might be euthanized. And we've just had such success with that, and I think it's really informed a lot of people because often euthanasia is the first place that let's go to or people go to and thinking that this horse has this or that, and a lot of the rehabs we've done have been kind of groundbreaking in showing other people. We took on this donkey Waldo and his hooves which are kind of supposed to like that they had grown all the way around, so he was kind of walking on his knuckles. And even when the vet's first one, they were like, Claire, I mean, this is you know, this is not what we expected. But we did a lot of research and we showed it to them. To be to be fair to that vet, he called a lot of people that were experts. They did these like two surgeries on his legs and got his feet and now he runs around. This donkey Waldo is so popular and it's he has now used that as a sort of test study and a case and it written a paper on it for other people to do the same on horses or donkeys that have the same issue. So those things are really meaningful to us because it's meant that we've actually done things, and they can be costly and it takes a lot of rehabbing, a lot of kind of personal care from the staff getting them back to normal, but then to see them live, these wonderful lives and blind horses, you know, be able to get around. And we've sometimes had a pen of blind horses all start running and they're running in between the trees, and you think, how is that possible that they you know, but they learn it in their mind. They mental map the whole thing, and they know where their water is.
And they saw that video. I got tears in my eyes. You guys got to look for that video on her Instagram and it's a pen of a large pen of blind horses and they're all together and they're they're running so fast and Claire is narrating. She goes, you'd think that they would be in danger, but they have literally memorized every tree, everything that they could run into. It's so beautiful.
Yeah, it was very cool. So we do a lot of that. But also, you know, I think it's also with what Donald was saying about the families and the bonds they have, that was such an inconvenient truth for the BLM, because they want to portray these animals as livestock. They have a tag number. They are only useful as a tool to be used by people and to then rewrite that story and show through, you know, amazing evidence that these animals do have these bonds and family malise and love for each other. That's palpable and easy to see. It's been a very thing that the BLM really fought against. But now they've kind of put off their hands and go find that they have families, you know, and then other sanctuaries and other rescues have reunited families, which is the coolest thing because I think, you know, then we can recognize these animals as you know, who are we as men to say we're the only ones that love our children or we're the only ones that have deep bonds. And so it's it's cool that's been I've been really proud of that.
And it's very spooky because all of these horses have I mean, it's it's it's it's it's analogous to the Holocaust with the numbers on on on people's wrists that all of these horses when you watch the videos have government what the brands brand government brands And Claire was trying to explain to me when their hair grows out, you can't really read the brand, but she was saying, and they're kind of tricky to read anyway, what is that? It denotes where they were captured, right, and yeah it don't.
It says you asked that the property of the US government, and then it gives them the year that they estimate they were born, and then where they were rounded up and attack number to identify them.
Branded this or this is shaved into this branded.
Yeah, it's branded. But when you watch the videos you'll see that because their hairs grow around a bit, it's a little hard to even decipher.
You ever been branded?
No, personally, No, I have not.
They do it in college fraternities. Sometimes that shit gets infected.
Man. That shit does not look good. Man. I know a couple of people that have been branded. They got that horseshoe on their arm. That ship don't look good. Bro, that shit hurts too well.
I think we should do I was a real friend, I would be like I was infected for weeks. Donald, would would you be open to a fake doctor's real friends? Brand?
In opposite world?
Danel you. I think I'm good, but I appreciate it. I'll be there to supervised.
I can hold somebody want to pay me that you want to pay me that money, I'll get that ship.
So I'm not going to pay you for a fake doctor's real friends. Was it was a volunteer project.
No, no, no.
As a representative my heart, I'm gonna say we do not condone Brandon.
Yeah.
No.
On that show Yellowstone, they brand the life as people that are going to stay there for life. They give them the why on their chest, and well, I love it.
I think you can imagine that Claire might like Yellowstone as she's dedicated her life to ranching.
Yeah, I want to be Beth Bears, Beth Beth Bears, Beth Dutton. I don't think Beth Beth Bears is the sweetest woman in the world and very supportive of our calls and sponsors a horse. Beth Dutton on Yellowstone is a very she's She's a character.
I've never watched the show.
But Donald doesn't. But Donald doesn't watch most things that don't have Star Wars, Marvel.
Well he Harrison Wards and yellow Stone.
That's so that's a prequel. You might want to watch that prequal Yeah, you can pretend it's Hen Solo.
I could pretend to Town Solo or Indiana Jones. Yes, I'd prefer not to. I would prefer to pretend that there are some black ranchers.
There are yellow Ye who plays them? Who they get to play the black manches?
Donald Richards doesn't then and Richards is he.
Well, will you please google? I never thought, I asked, when you play Google the black actors who play the ranchers. Donald wants to be mad at them forgetting a role he could have gotten.
That I could have gotten with Harrison Flord on Yellowstone.
Oh my gosh, Claire, tell us a little bit about as Joel looks that up the charity aspects. I was explaining the audience that you do fundraise for individual causes for surgeries and stuff and and and but but but you and your husband pay for the majority of this. As I understand, you've you've built this nine thousand acre sanctuary, right, tell talk a little bit about how people can give and and and what they're actually giving. Four.
Yeah, I mean it all came about I had a sort of epiphany at age fifty. I sort of looked around and looked at my life, and I'd spent that that part of my life believing in the things that people tell you will make you happy. You know, if you get to this weight, or you have this car, or you live in this place, or you have that boyfriend, and having had all those things, realizing that it wasn't as a happiness that was sustainable it, you know, it was very fleeting, and then you want another thing or another person or another place, and just kind of realizing that, you know, and also I'm in recovery, so getting back into sobriety and realizing that I really truly wanted to be of service and horses had been my deepest love and passion, you know, in my childhood and throughout my life. They'd kind of come back in and I just thought, you know, if I can take that passion I have and turn it into a life worth living, Like a purpose driven life is a book I read at the time, and I was like, that's really the key to happiness for human beings, being of service, having a purpose. So it really just shifted. I was like, Okay, how do I do this? And I had some horses at the time, but I thought there are so many need and so many wild horses that I'm reading about the plight to wild horses and how many were in the slaughter pipeline. I just kind of went to my husband and went, We're going to need a bigger ranch, and the famous ruds, we're going to need a bigger ranch.
This is nine thousand acres. That's not a small ranch.
And if I have understood what nine thousand acres look like, I might have had some paws.
But I was about to say, like you have to did you have to tear down tree? Like there's you did?
Like I don't know what a nine thousand acre ranch would look like either, but that's.
A lot of maintenance. I do. I do know that. And then you have like two landscaping right, just got to be outrageous. And then you have all of the horse a tack and field that you have to purchase and stuff like that, like hey.
And now, and all of them, the special needs horses, a lot of them they need, they need incredible amount of vet help.
Like you could be I don't care if you're rich. You gotta have some type of support coming in. You can't sustain this type of lifestyle like this is like buying kids times you know you need.
Shoot, I don't know any horses you got. It's a lot of money. Though. It was my point. Let's take a break.
We'll be right back after these fine words. How many do you have on the property.
We have three hundred equines. Two hundred and thirty of them are horses wild horses, and the rest are mules or donkeys BLM donkeys. And we have two z brands as well, two babys and some zonkeys, which has a cross between a zebraander donkey.
I love a sonkey, I love a zonkee.
So yeah.
My husband was amazing in helping me set up the whole thing, and I said to him, if you help me set this up, I promise after year three I will be fully self supporting through my own contributions, which is a thing that we say in AA And I kind of got there in eighteen months because I just I'm one of these people that when I put my heart and soul and energy into something, I want to be the best that I can be. And it just kept growing, and especially actually during the pandemic, I realized that our social media was really becoming this place where people were coming to watch these videos of these horses who ironically were being released to being wild and free when we were all trapped in our houses and living in fear and we didn't want to watch the news. So people were saying you know, I was getting these emails from people saying, you know, we watch I watched this with the kids in my class in the morning, you know, school teachers or in nursing homes, and we watch your video in the morning. We talk about the horses, and it is just sometimes we watch it ten times on a loop to be in nature and to be around these horses, and we cry and we laugh with joy. And I sundly realized, Wow, this is something the people that are on the journey with us there. It's a way that they can emote, you know, kind of like a good movie. You know, you want to feel all those things. And I think they get so attached to the horses, and when we lose one, for example, they'll still cry about it, you know. If I mention the name and it's it's been a beautiful journey for that. And I sundly realized I had a responsibility, not just I wasn't just helping horses. We were kind of helping people get through and me myself, it was like good for my mental health. So the videos got longer and the stories got longer, and it just sort of became more of a thing and grew beyond my wilder streets.
And so when you fundraise on the Instagram or or your other channels, often is it for a specific horse like this horse needs this surgery if you want to contribute, is that the idea.
Often we only have a fundraise when a horse is coming to us, and we are so incredibly well supported. I mean, I'm so thankful that people it's really their way of showing their love for the horses you know, that inspire them and that they love and care for and they our supporters have been incredible. So we tend to fund raised one a horse comes. We rarely have to. We have a vet fund where we have a platform called Patreon. Patreon where people go on and you can be on different tiers, and that's where a lot of our funds come for for our vet fund, our hay fund, fencing fund. So that's just things that are generally going on. But yeah, our vet Belts are massive, you know, because we take a lot of horses.
You can horses be adopted from you guys.
We have tried very hard to focus on the horses that we take, being ambassadors for the amount of horses that are in need, so people will because of us. You know, I've helped so many people pull horses out of the slaughter pipeline for them to rescue or from the BLM coals. I'll help them go there and do their paperwork and you know, tell them what they need to do. So we haven't adopted out up until. Like, what we've done a lot is work with other rescues that do have adoption arms that are great, and we've helped them save ten or twenty horses out of the source of pipe and I think we've rescued about two hundred and fifty additional horses that then got adopted out through other rescues. It's just I think I'm not a very good foster.
I'm not you know, film you feel all the time.
What's amazing about Claire is that she knows every single one of these horses names by sight. And she told me that sometimes she'll get it wrong and on the Instagram videos and people will start correcting her. That's not Snow, that's that's Cedar.
Yes, totally, and it's extraordinary because I'm like, that's a sorrel, which is a red horse like in the distance with a blaze how on. But I think they take it very seriously, and they're like, you know, that's not Jalapino. That's so he's like here has one white sock on his back left, and I'm going, what.
But it is amazing that you know that you can that you know the names of all those horses.
Yeah, I can't remember the names of any people. But yeah, Wh'll say, I don't know why. I guess because of all of the stuff we go through at the beginning when we take them in, you know, and I named most of them, which is really fun.
I can bond with them when they come in too.
When you brought when you brought Phoenix home, just you know how scared Phoenix was and how you coaxed them into come on in.
It's all right, don't worry. But it's all right, baby, it's all right.
And finally this, you know, the horse is now healthy and and has grown, you know, the muscles are back on its back, you know. And that was then just in time for that beautify, just in time for Shorty to show up.
Shorty to show up. Then Shorty named Ghost shows up and he's.
Like, like, look at me, I've been working out, baby, Let's go for a walk.
So sweet, Well, Claire tell anyone who's listening if they want to contribute or first of all, I'm telling you to go to sky Dog Sanctuary the Instagram account. You can also put that into YouTube. You'll see. That's where I saw the Dodo videos, which are very moving. But Claire, for those that are that want to contribute to the Patreon when you tell them where to go to do that.
Yeah, So our Patreon is just patreon dot com stroke Skydog Sanctuary. We have a YouTube channel. We also have a website that actually is Skydog ranch dot org and you can donate through that. You can donate through any of our social media platforms, or join us on Patreon where you see a lot of behind the scenes videos and I show a lot on there, and I talk much more openly on Patreon to everyone, and I mean, they're keep their amazing.
You went in for a second. I think you meant backslash. Is that what we say, guys, it would be it would be patreon dot com backslash Skydog.
Sanctuary, I said, stroke, I did.
That's very English of you. We don't say that here.
We do say that here, but it means something else.
Donald, Please be don't be inappropriate in front.
Of I wasn't being inappropriate.
We managed to get through the whole episode with stroking.
Your ego without stroking your ego trying in front of I wasn't making different.
I swear like a sailor, and I was laughing. I watched the last podcast you did, I Think, and you were talking about below Deck, and I was laughing because I think my entire management skills for managing my crew, because I have a chief stew who's my equal manager, and then the equine staff, and then the guys who are kind of the debt team. And I was like, I'm always telling them, you just have to watch Below Deck. You'll understand why.
I don't know. I don't know if you want to educate your staff to go watch Below Deck because they all get they can hand up with each other encourage.
Well, they're on a ranch in the middle of no I know.
I'm sure they're all honking up with each other. Anyway.
Do you think they're all on farmers dot com Farmers.
That would be a good by the way, we should make a below Deck style reality show, but about Claire's staff, it.
Would be I don't know, I'd.
Sandy, Yeah, you would, you are Sandy. You're a badass woman, Captain Sandy.
But you can literally like if you do work as a ranch and you could literally be like, I can go on farmers only dot com because I've always wondered, I've always wondered, what are the qualifications.
I know it says farmers.
Qualifications are you're down to get up at four in the morning and milk cows as a wife.
That is it.
Joella is not going to be on farmers only dot com.
Be hooking up on farmers only dot com. I hear it's a good hookup place.
You've heard through the gravevine in Los Angeles that farmers only it is a good hookups.
But you know, if I ever lose my husband for other reason, for some reason, I would go there because they are going to have skills to they'll know what to do.
But also clear will you will you please help me explain to Donald that it's about choosing the lifestyle of being in bumble fuck and getting up early and working.
Yeah, it is a lifestyle.
A typical female or male who's trying to meet someone on there who's not in that lifestyle Farmer's only. Yeah, we're also taught, Okay, let's say you're a nice Jewish gallon.
No, let's say you're on j date and you're not Jewish. Get the fuck off, right, that's what you're saying.
No, I didn't say that. I think you're allowed to not be Jewish on JD. I don't know the rules, Daniel.
Good. But Farmers only strictly for farmers can you.
Be non Jewish on JAD eight? Or do they check your foreskin? Can you donald Farmers only? You wouldn't want to match with someone and be like, Hey, I really am crazy about you. But the whole milking cows in the morning thing. I live in Manhattan, Oh.
My god, it's too funny to imagine. I might have to go on there just to find out what's going on. Should die?
I don't know, Claire, you should just do a little recon for us and come back. Well, all right, Dane, go ahead, it's going on.
I'm thrilled to report that on jay D eight, individuals do not have to be Jewish in order.
To join Dale.
You could join and on Farmers only. It isn't just for farmers, it's for anyone interested in living a more rural lifestyle.
Well, let me tell you something you're gonna fall in love with someone who's gonna be like you're you're down to milk those cows at five thirty?
Right?
Like what now, that's my am I supposed to end up at five thirty if I was up till two am watching Below Deck men.
Well, maybe that's what below Deck down Under is all about. Maybe they Yeah, I don't know what they're doing on them.
They're in Australia. Claire's trying to make sexual innuendo. Donald Donald has a bad impression influenced.
Let's take a break.
We'll be right back after these fine words.
This segment of Fake Doctor's Real Friends is brought to you by T Mobile. When you need great coverage, especially when enjoying your favorite podcast, check out t Mobile.
Okay, today, Joel pulled a couple of fan letters that she's gonna read to us now.
So we get a ton of letters that are not asking us for anything.
They don't want, they don't want to try to be on the show.
Letter Joelle sharing some love, and I was like, how do we honor these people who are just sending us in these such lovely thoughts? So here we go. Our first letter comes from Matt mulvaney. It's from the UK.
He says, Hey, not Mick mulvaney, right, not mickt.
Okay.
So this is actually a question, but it's a fun question.
I have a question that I've been wondering for a while. This is the question. I'm listening.
All right, looks like at the beginning, like you're looking at your Farmer's only account.
How did you know?
Ahead? Oh my god, Donald Donald's looking down like he's signing him for farmers Own. All right, go ahead, you ill? Sorry?
Okay.
So the beginning of the series, JD has the apartment, but when Carla and Turk move in, it's JD that has to move out.
Why, well, no, JD and Turk didn't. JD and Turk have the apartment right now? JD has the apartment, but you did.
Why Why don't y'all move out and find a new place? Why do you evictim JD?
They don't. JD decides to move out. He's living with them for the longest.
Yeah, but why can't they get their own place? JD's got a nice apartment.
Yo, That I don't know.
JD decided to move out on his own, man, that I do not understand.
All right, Well, you don't have an answer for you, but.
We because it's good for storytelling.
Whenever the answer is donald and I didn't come up with it, so there you go. Go ahead, Joelle.
All right, so our next question comes from Mary Chandler. Mary says, Hey, Joelle, I just want to say thanks. I've been listening to the podcast since the very beginning. I was religiously tuning in every day a new episode dropped. But then in December twenty twenty one, my dad passed away from COVID, and I struggled a lot. The podcast is so funny and silly and happy, so I didn't listen for a while because I didn't feel like I.
Could be happy.
I'm doing better now, and this summer I've been frantically trying to catch up with all the episodes. I'm on seven oh four right now. I quit my bar industry job in order to help out my mom since my dad passed away, so suddenly I left behind coworkers that were like family, and I missed them a lot. Listening to the four of you helps fill a little of that void. I just wanted to say that I appreciate the friendship you for have.
It's been healing for me.
It's incredible that you all met and care about each other. It really comes through in the show. I could go on and on, but I'm trying to be as brief as possible. Thank you again.
Cheers Mary, Mary.
That's so sweet.
Mary.
I love you, Mary. It's exactly. I love you, Mary. I love you Mary. I love you.
Yeah.
I think Mary, I love you. I think if you asked the four of us what we would make us feel, the warmest in our hearts would be what Mary's saying. The idea that we could make you laugh when you're feeling sad, The idea that we could bring a giggle to your day or your car ride or whatever it is, is all we all really want to do.
That's all we want to do. He's not lying.
When I'm loud and when I'm making all of this noise and all of that stuff. It's really for you, guys, I swear all my life for real, I really do want you, guys to enjoy your day and be happy and feel the energy that you know, feel the energy that we're sending through the airwaves. However you describe your podcast, whether it's radio or not, you know what I mean. We understand the responsibility that we have and you know it's really important to us that you enjoy your time with us.
Yeah. We want to create an hour or so of hopefully some laughs and some hopefully occasionally some thoughtfulness like our guests today, and that's all we want to do. And it brings us so much joy to hear feedback like that. So thank you so much from the bottom of our hearts. Thanks T Mobile. Did you know that at T Mobile new inexisting customers always get the same great device deals with go five G plus plans? It's true? So why wait? Go check out t mobile dot com slash go see why Now back to the show, All right, Claire Staples, You're an incredible human being. You are inspiration and I love that. I am so moved also that this part of this spark came out of your recovery and wanting to be of service to our country and humanity. And I just think you're an extraordinary person. You know, when they do those CNN Extraordinary people things.
I think we should be abmitting.
This is our version. You're our first You're our first candidate for it's way more fun. Yeah, By the way Donald that we should do that. We should have extraordinary people like Claire on and then we'll do our CNN version of Extraordinary Person of the Year. Yes, I love it, but you're the first guest. You're no offense, no offense to, no offense to Cody. But uh, you did.
Great by most Americans, Cody.
But yeah, Cody, we we love you, but you're not a candidate for Special Human.
Of the Year. And it's only because you don't like Taylor Swift.
Yes, that's one of the main reasons that you can everyone well, believe it or not, Cody, Cody's.
I didn't like Taylor Swift for six days.
So if you know this, uh, Clara, but the haters are gonna hate, hate, hate, hate.
Hate, tell it. I told us that, and it was I always forget what the haters are going to do.
And I know they're gonna mind.
Yeah, they're gonna hate.
Shake it off and everybody, everybody, We're gonna end on that note. If the haters hate, shake it up.
Five six stories that show we made about a bunch of talks and nurses in Canada who love me.
I said, here's the stories that all should know.
So gather round you here, our gather round you here, our scotty
My show is, and no
