Bearing Weight
Claim This Podcastby Weeping Elephant Project
Podcast Overview
<p>Elephants carry more than we ask them to. So do the people who care for them. <b>Bearing Weight</b> is a podcast about the untold stories of elephants and the veterinarians, caregivers, researchers, advocates, and sanctuary leaders around the world who have dedicated their lives to them.</p><p>These are honest, grounded conversations about what it really takes to put elephants first: the science, the sacrifice, the hard-won knowledge, and the quiet, daily work that rarely makes headlines. At a time when elephant welfare organizations often work in isolation, Bearing Weight is a space for their voices to gather — so their work can be found, understood, and supported.</p><p>Hosted by <b>David Ebert</b>, Founder, and <b>Danielle Carnahan</b>, Executive Director of the Weeping Elephant Project, this podcast invites you to slow down, listen closely, and sit with the realities we too often look past.</p><p><i>The stories are heavy, and they're worth carrying.</i></p>
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
3/17/2026
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Recent Episodes
July 6, 2026
The Fight to End Elephant Captivity in American Zoos — with Courtney Scott
<p>In 2008, Courtney walked into the Oregon Zoo while working on a film about animals and saw an elephant named Packy pacing back and forth in a steel-barred enclosure. He was 47 years old. He had been doing this every day of his life. In that moment, Courtney experienced what she calls satori — a sudden, full recognition of another being's experience. Not observation. Not sympathy. Understanding. She founded Free the Oregon Zoo Elephants that same year. She has not stopped since.</p><p></p><p>Today, as Elephant Consultant for In Defense of Animals, Courtney leads the annual 10 Worst Zoos for Elephants list and campaigns for captive elephants across the country, from Tulsa to LA to her home base in Portland. In this conversation, we talk about the fight she lost for Packy, the fight she's still waging for Billy and Tina, why breeding is the linchpin, and a new multi-organization coalition working to ban captive elephant breeding state by state. We also ask the question at the center of all of this: a two-year-old girl looked at Packy and said, "Mommy, that elephant is sad." When do the rest of us lose the ability to see what she saw?</p><hr /><p><b>About Courtney Scott & In Defense of Animals</b></p><p>Courtney Scott is a photographer, filmmaker, and the Elephant Consultant for In Defense of Animals, where she leads the annual 10 Worst Zoos for Elephants in North America campaign. She is the founder of Free the Oregon Zoo Elephants and the writer, director, and producer of the documentary From Suffering to Satori, which chronicles her personal journey from awareness to advocacy. </p><p>🎬 Watch From Suffering to Satori: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://vimeo.com/115723608/7f01e6add6" target="_blank">https://vimeo.com/115723608/7f01e6add6</a><br />🌐 <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.idausa.org/campaign/elephants" target="_blank">https://www.idausa.org/campaign/elephants</a><br />🌐 <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://freeoregonzooelephants.org" target="_blank">https://freeoregonzooelephants.org</a><br />📸 Instagram: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.instagram.com/f.o.z.e" target="_blank">https://www.instagram.com/f.o.z.e</a><br />🐘 Take action for elephants: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.idausa.org/campaign/elephants/take-action" target="_blank">https://www.idausa.org/campaign/elephants/take-action</a></p><hr /><p><b>About the Weeping Elephant Project</b></p><p>The Weeping Elephant Project is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness and affecting change for circus and zoo elephants in the United States. Bearing Weight is our effort to bring those voices together — because the work is stronger when it's shared.</p><p>Consider donating to support the work we're doing, and follow along with our work:</p><p>🌐 <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.weepingelephant.org" target="_blank">https://www.weepingelephant.org</a><br />📸 Instagram: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.instagram.com/weepingelephantproject" target="_blank">https://www.instagram.com/weepingelephantproject</a></p>
June 12, 2026
Jordan World Circus Ends Elephant Acts for 2026 — with Debbie Metzler, PETA
<p>For the first time in years, Jordan World Circus is touring without elephants.</p><p></p><p>In early 2026, the circus confirmed it would not use elephants for the rest of its tour. In this episode, Danielle and David sit down with Debbie Metzler of PETA to unpack how that decision came about, what it means for the elephants who had been on the road, and whether it will hold.</p><p></p><p>At the center of the story is Viola, the elephant PETA has called "the most desperate elephant in the world." Taken from her home as a baby more than five decades ago, she has spent her life with Carson & Barnes Circus and has tried to escape at least four times, including the viral 2024 walk through the streets of Butte, Montana. Debbie traces the campaign that tracked Jordan World to every stop, the leasing loophole that lets a circus with a revoked USDA license keep using elephants anyway, the economics that make the elephant rides worth more than the tickets, and the settlements that let repeat offenders wipe their records clean.</p><p></p><p>This is a real victory, and it is not the finish line. Viola and sixteen other elephants are still confined at the Endangered Ark Foundation in Oklahoma, where public bathing encounters and bullhooks continue. The conversation closes where every fight like this one does: with what it will take to get these elephants somewhere they can finally just be elephants, and what each of us can do to help them get there.</p><hr /><h4>About Debbie Metzler & PETA</h4><p>Debbie Metzler is the Managing Director of Captive Wildlife for PETA's Captive Animal Law Enforcement division, where she oversees campaigns and legal advocacy on behalf of wild animals used in circuses, roadside zoos, and other traveling attractions. PETA has campaigned against Jordan World Circus and its use of animals for more than thirty years.</p><p>You can urge Carson & Barnes Circus to end its animal acts and retire Viola and the other elephants to a reputable sanctuary, and sign up for PETA's news and action alerts to follow this campaign and others.</p><p>🌐 <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="http://peta.org" target="_blank">peta.org</a></p><p>✊ Take action for Viola: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://support.peta.org/page/1131/action/1" target="_blank">https://support.peta.org/page/1131/action/1</a></p><p>📸 Instagram: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.instagram.com/peta" target="_blank">@peta</a></p><hr /><h4>About the Weeping Elephant Project</h4><p>Weeping Elephant Project is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness and affecting change for circus and zoo elephants in the United States. Change is more accessible through collaboration. Bearing Weight is our effort to bring those voices together — because the work is stronger when it's shared.</p><p></p><p>Consider donating to support the work we're doing:</p><p>🌐 <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="http://weepingelephant.org" target="_blank">weepingelephant.org</a></p><p>📸 Instagram: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.instagram.com/weepingelephantproject" target="_blank">@weepingelephantproject</a></p>
May 15, 2026
Rewriting Centuries of Tradition — with Sangita Iyer
<p>Sangita Iyer didn't set out to make a film that would be nominated at the United Nations General Assembly. She set out to tell the truth about what was happening to elephants in the temples of Kerala — and the truth turned out to be something the world needed to see.</p><p></p><p>In this episode, Sangita takes us inside her decades of work documenting the plight of temple elephants in India — the suffering hidden behind centuries of tradition, the cultural and institutional forces that work to keep it that way, and what it has cost her personally to keep speaking anyway. We also explore the work of the Voice for Asian Elephants Society, from a robotic elephant project challenging the need for live animals in religious festivals, to securing corridor land that keeps wild elephants out of villages and out of captivity in the first place.</p><p></p><p>This is a conversation about what happens when you can't look away — and what you build when looking away is no longer an option.</p><hr /><h4>About Sangita Iyer & the Voice for Asian Elephants Society</h4><p>Sangita Iyer is a biologist, journalist, and filmmaker whose work has brought the plight of Asian elephants to a global audience. Her documentary Gods in Shackles received 13 international film festival awards and was nominated at the UN General Assembly. Sangita is also the recipient of the Nari Shakti Puraskar — India's highest civilian honor for women — awarded by the President of India for her work exposing the exploitation of elephants in the name of culture and religion. Dr. Jane Goodall has written the foreword to Sangita's book and endorsed the Voice for Asian Elephants Society, calling the work essential. Through VFAES, Sangita continues to fight for wild and captive Asian elephants through advocacy, education, and on-the-ground conservation projects.</p><p>🌐 <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="http://vfaes.org" target="_blank">vfaes.org</a> 🎬 <br />Watch Gods in Shackles: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="http://unchainedtv.com" target="_blank">unchainedtv.com</a> <br />📖 Gods in Shackles — the book: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="http://amazon.com" target="_blank">amazon.com</a></p><hr /><h4>About the Weeping Elephant Project</h4><p>Weeping Elephant Project is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness and affecting change for circus and zoo elephants in the United States. Bearing Weight is our effort to bring those voices together — because the work is stronger when it's shared.</p><p></p><p>Consider donating to support the work we're doing: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="http://weepingelephant.org" target="_blank">weepingelephant.org</a></p><p>🌐 <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="http://weepingelephant.org" target="_blank">weepingelephant.org</a> <br />📸 Instagram: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.instagram.com/weepingelephantproject" target="_blank">@weepingelephantproject</a></p>
8 total episodes available
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Frequently asked questions
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- What is Bearing Weight?
<p>Elephants carry more than we ask them to. So do the people who care for them. <b>Bearing Weight</b> is a podcast about the untold stories of elephants and the veterinarians, caregivers, researchers, advocates, and sanctuary leaders around the world who have dedicated their lives to them.</p><p>These are honest, grounded conversations about what it really takes to put elephants first: the science, the sacrifice, the hard-won knowledge, and the quiet, daily work that rarely makes headlines. At a time when elephant welfare organizations often work in isolation, Bearing Weight is a space for their voices to gather — so their work can be found, understood, and supported.</p><p>Hosted by <b>David Ebert</b>, Founder, and <b>Danielle Carnahan</b>, Executive Director of the Weeping Elephant Project, this podcast invites you to slow down, listen closely, and sit with the realities we too often look past.</p><p><i>The stories are heavy, and they're worth carrying.</i></p> - How often does this podcast release new episodes?
This podcast updates daily.
- Where can I listen to this podcast?
This podcast is available on 4 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
- Does this podcast accept guests?
Yes, this podcast regularly features guests.
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