Sounds Wild is a Center for Biological Diversity podcast focusing on endangered wildlife, the extinction crisis, and saving life on Earth. Hosted by Mike Stark and Vanessa Barchfield, Sounds Wild features interviews with experts at the Center and beyond about some of the most important issues of our time.
This summer the Trump administration’s project to build two parallel, 30-foot border walls through some of the most ecologically sensitive areas of the borderlands reached the tiny ghost town of Lochiel, in Arizona’s San Rafael Valley. Contractors arrived in late July and ripped apart three ancient cottonwood trees. Before the bulldozers could reach the last standing tree, activists climbed high into branches. In this episode we head into the field to explore how activists are reviving a protest tactic to protect what’s still standing.
9 Jul 2026
The Dark Truth Behind Exotic Pets
Every year the United States imports about 90 million live animals to sell as pets, everything from frogs and fish to spiders, birds, and lizards. And of those, about some 30% are taken directly out of the wild and shipped to the United States for sale. It goes the other way too: The United States is a major exporter of wildlife for the pet trade, especially wild turtles. In this episode cohost Mike Stark talks with Center scientist Dianne Dubois about her months-long investigation into how the wildlife pet trade is driving species declines around the world.
2 Jul 2026
Walling off the Wild
Southern Arizona's San Rafael Valley is one of the last remaining places where jaguars from northern Mexico can travel into their native range in United States. But that pathway is closing. The Trump administration is blasting through mountains and across grasslands to build a new border wall through this remote and wild landscape. In the newest episode of the Center for Biological Diversity's Sounds Wild podcast, cohost Vanessa Barchfield travels with Southwest Conservation Advocate Russ McSpadden to document the destruction and discuss what it means for the dream of restoring a breeding population of jaguars to their rightful home in southern Arizona.
25 Jun 2026
A Gentle Giant Under Fire
Florida manatees have had a rough go of it these past few years. Leaking septic systems, fertilizer runoff, and other pollution have choked off seagrass supplies, leaving manatees with less food to eat. In some cases they’re starving to death. Meanwhile, boat strikes and a burgeoning tourism industry are pushing them closer to the brink. In the newest episode of our Sounds Wild podcast, cohost Mike Stark travels to Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge to talk with the Center’s Elise Bennett about what the future holds for these gentle giants of the sea.
18 Jun 2026
Can Joshua Trees Survive Us?
Joshua trees have stood watch over the Mojave Desert for millions of years. But now they face existential threats as climate change, wildfires, and development propel them toward an uncertain future. In this episode Vanessa Barchfield and Conservation Director Brendan Cummings head to Joshua Tree National Park to explore what's happening on ground and why some populations may not survive — at least not without help.
11 Jun 2026
Florida Panthers at the Crossroads
Florida panthers, once widespread throughout the Southeast, are now one of America’s most endangered big cats. Federal officials released a recovery plan nearly 20 years ago but panthers have since lost more than 30,000 acres of habitat, mostly due to development. Meanwhile vehicle collisions remain a leading cause of death. In the newest episode of our Sounds Wild podcast, cohost Mike Stark travels into Florida panther country with Center senior Jason Totoui for an on-the-ground look at the challenges facing these iconic cats.
4 Dec 2025
Wolves’ Long Journey Home
A century ago, gray wolves roamed much of California, Oregon and Washington, playing a vital role in these wild landscapes. Urbanization, ranching and government extermination programs wiped them out. But wolves have been making an epic return on the West Coast. In the last 2025 episode of our Sounds Wild podcast, host Vanessa Barchfield talks with the Center’s Amaroq Weiss about how wolves made their comeback and what the future looks like for this iconic species.
27 Nov 2025
Fresh Hope for Pangolins
When it comes to wildlife trade, pangolins hold a dubious distinction: They’re the most trafficked mammal in the world, often sold for their meat or for medicinal purposes. But for these exceedingly cute animals — the only mammals with scales — the tide may finally be turning.
In the newest episode of our Sounds Wild podcast, host Mike Stark talks with Sarah Uhlemann, director of the Center’s International program, about what makes pangolins so unique and how their fate became so entangled with wildlife trade around the world, including in the United States.
20 Nov 2025
Cows in Our Midst
Cows don’t belong in rivers and streams, especially in the Southwest’s riparian areas that are home to endangered species like the Southwestern willow flycatcher and the northern Mexico garter snake. In the newest episode of our Sounds Wild podcast, host Vanessa Barchfield goes into the field with Chris Bugbee, one of the Center’s conservation advocates, to explore what happens when cows wander into places where they shouldn’t, and how hooves can change an ecosystem.
13 Nov 2025
The State of Our Birds
There are 3 billion fewer birds in North American than there were in 1970 – and now a new report says one in three bird species needs our help. In the newest episode of our Sounds Wild podcast, host Mike Stark talks with Jeff Walters of the American Ornithological Society about why things have gotten more difficult for our feathered friends, how we can help, and the deep, long-running connection between people and birds.
This episode features bird song recordings by the National Park Service, Sue Riffe and
6 Nov 2025
Can We Co-exist with Whales?
Whales may be the biggest animals on the planet but they’re also some of the most vulnerable. Although whaling is no longer the threat it once was, these giants of the sea are forced to contend with offshore drilling, industrial noise and fast-moving ships traveling through their home waters. In the newest episode of our Sounds Wild podcast, host Vanessa Barchfield talks with Kristen Monsell, litigation director of our Oceans program, about threats to whales and what it’ll take to secure them a future that’s truly safe.
30 Oct 2025
Species in the Waiting Room
The Endangered Species Act is one of the most powerful laws on Earth when it comes to saving species from extinction. But what happens when animals and plants who need help don’t get it in time? In the newest episode of our Sounds Wild podcast, host Mike Stark talks with Noah Greenwald, co-director of our Endangered Species program, about how the Act works, why it’s so hard for some species to get the protection they need, and what can be done.
23 Oct 2025
The Return of Jaguars
Jaguars once roamed the Americas from Argentina to Arizona. Hunting, government killing programs and conflicts with the livestock industry forced them out of much of their home territory a century ago. But in northern Argentina, they’re back — and the same could happen in the southwestern U.S. In the newest episode of our Sounds Wild podcast, host Vanessa Barchfield talks with Sebastián Di Martino, conservation director of Rewilding Argentina, about the return of jaguars in his country and what it would take to bring them back in the U.S. This episode features the song La Danza de los Jaguares from the band XIXA.
16 Oct 2025
The Fate of Red Wolves
Red wolves are the rarest canids on the planet – and at one point it looked like they might disappear forever. But their story is still being written and they’re now clawing their way back from the brink thanks to a renewed effort from conservationists, local tribes and government officials. In the newest episode of our Sounds Wild podcast, host Mike Stark talks with Will Harlan, our Southeast director, about the magic of red wolves, their future in North Carolina and the legacy of individual wolves like Airplane Ears and Blaze.
9 Oct 2025
Aloha from the epicenter of the extinction crisis
Few places on Earth tell the story of the extinction crisis like Hawaii. Dozens of birds, plants, insects and mollusks are already gone, and every day is a battle to save species that are barely holding on. On this episode of Sounds Wild, we talk with Maxx Phillips, the Center’s Hawaii director, about what’s been lost, the daring work to protect what remains and the deep cultural ties between endangered species and the Indigenous peoples who have lived on these islands for eons.
27 Sept 2025
How is extinction changing the world around us?
No one knows exactly how many plants and animals are vanishing from the world around us, but a rough estimate is that we lose one species every hour. Humans have never witnessed an extinction event like the one we’re living through right now – one that's wiping out wildlife all around us, from birds to bears, plants and insects. Tierra Curry lays out the extinction crisis, what’s been lost, how wildlife declines affect us in ways we don’t notice and what can be done.
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