Christy Stewart and Glenn Turner
“Your love for animals made me have a deeper love for you.”
A married couple, Christy and Glenn, talk about all of the pets they have welcomed into their family. Christy had loved animals ever since she was little and wanted to have as many animals as she wanted when she grew up, and that’s what she did. The story starts out with an upbeat acoustic intro with the host providing context behind Christy’s love for animals. Christy and Glenn talked about the animals they had together, it felt like listening to a podcast. In the recording, their voices were very clear as they talked about different stories with their animals. One story was about how their son left his rat and cockatiel out to socialize with each other, but when he returned he came back to a headless bird. They also talked about a chihuahua they had named Nemo, and Glenn wasn’t the biggest fan of his. However, Glenn tolerated Nemo because he knew how much Christy loved him. The story closes out with outro music, which was different from the intro music with a more jazz vibe to it.
Stephen Quandt
“Every single night a huge group of dogs would come out of the forest.”
Stephen, an animal welfare worker, tells a story about helping the abandoned animals at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine in 2019. The recording starts with a gentle intro music, then the host introduces Stephen. Stephen talks about how he grew up and what got him into wanting to help animals. Then, the host sets the scene and talks briefly about Stephen traveling internationally to care for abandoned animals. The audio of the host and Stephen speaking were both clear and crisp. Stephen discusses that there was a nuclear disaster in Chernobyl in 1986 and the residents had to evacuate within an hour and unfortunately had to abandon their pets. These abandoned pets continued breeding for decades. Some residents returned and continued living in the area after the incident. Among them was an older man Stephen had given a magnet and a bottle opener to. The man was so grateful for Stephen and his efforts in caring for the animals in Chernobyl that he gave him his medal commemorating his valor for his service. Stephen didn’t want to take his medal, but took it as a sign of respect for the man, Stephen never got to learn his name and never saw him again. The story ends with a 30 second outro of gentle music similar to the intro.