The Origins Foundation Podcast

Robbie met Fiona Tande randomly in South Africa on what can only be described as a “crazy journey” tied to the Panyame Cheetah Conservation Project. During that connection Robbie and Fiona had a really solid conversation in the middle of the bush in which Fiona questioned Robbie about hunting. The result of that conversation was Fiona stating - "I had no idea hunters spoke or thought that way." Th...

Today’s Short Truths question is, “Are elephants in Africa doing okay?” And the answer is different than if they’re endangered or not - because it speaks to the practical nature of wildlife conservation, from the politics of it to the environment and so on. So how does this reconcile with the constant barrage of “save the elephants” messaging we see online and in the ether? Find out from Robbie in...

Evan Siembida is a knife maker out of Ohio that Robbie got to know through Instagram. Evan generously provided an incredible custom knife for the Blood Origins silent auction and joins the podcast today for a straight up nerd session about knife making. Stick around all the way to the end for Evan’s contact info if you’d like one of the knives we actually auctioned off in our silent auction at the...

Robbie travelled to India earlier this year to get an on-the ground perspective of human wildlife conflict in the very remotest and rural places in India. At the second location that they travelled to a subject matter expert, Dr. HS Pabla, joined Robbie and the team. Dr. Pabla was the Chief Wildlife Warden of Mardra Pradesh, an extremely prestigious position, and retired from the Indian Forest Ser...

Andrew and Katie Leventis are longtime podcast listeners who reached out to pitch their coffee company, a specialty blend for a specific project with Quail Covey Coffee. After listening to our episode about Hunters For Hope, Quail Covey Coffee reach out about doing a special limited run of coffee to raise money for that exact program, complete with a QR code so that donors could raise even more mo...

While searching the interweb for Rhino documentaries, Robbie came across a TED talk by a professor from the Uiversity of Arkansas Monticello called Elena Rubino talking about Rhinos. He was immediately intrigued as its not a place that one thinks discussions around Rhino Conservation and Trade come from. Robbie reached out, and it turns out the Elena did her Ph. D. work on the perceptions of Troph...

Robbie and Ashlee get into it in this Roundup episode - diving first into some good news about our ongoing Cheetah conservation project, expansion of hunting and fishing on National Wildlife Refuges, then transitioning into a fiery debate about the ecological importance of donuts and their role in black bear management. Robbie and Ashlee come at the issue from two completely different, yet congrue...

The Honorable Robert Borsak is a repeat guest on the Blood Origins podcast. He is a member of the upper house of the New South Wales Government in Australia and the leader of the Shooters, Fishers, and Farmers Party there. Robbie wanted to have a conversation with Robert on the heels of the Great Australian Pig Hunt, in which the data showcased how great a job hunters were doing both economically...

In this week’s roundup Robbie and Ashlee reunite to cover a more “doom and gloom” than usual Roundup. Aside from chaos at the federal level - including proposed land sales and huge cuts looming over key federal agencies for wildlife conservation at Interior - an update on DOGE initiatives affecting conservation and more from budget season. But it’s not ALL bad news! Tune in to get an update on our...

Shahid Zaman is the Secretary of Forests, Climate Change, and The Environment for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Province in Pakistan. Shahid has worked for the State Department in Gilgit-Baltistan, Punjab, and KP forging incredible successes in Forestry Conservation as well as wildlife conservation. It's rare to get a glimpse into Pakistan's wildlife conservation journey, and when Robbie got an opportun...

Willy Pabst is an outspoken German who fell under Africa's spell as a young man and decided he needed to make it a part of him. Over the intervening years, he found a property called Sango in the Save Valley in Zimbabwe.  He eventually purchased the property, which has formed one of the most important, iconic examples of hunter-led conservation in the world. Willy joins the Our Voice series to dis...

Ben “The Vegan Farmer” Hudson and Robbie were introduced to each other when Robbie was tagged into one of his posts where he noted "hunting is not conservation". Naturally, I was curious to this viewpoint and DM'ed Ben and invited Ben to the Blood Origins podcast. I love to have conversations with folks that have different points of view around hunting and have open, articulate and intelligent con...

At the same time that Robbie met Ralph and Vicki, he was introduced to RJ and Aubrey. RJ and Aubrey Cianciarulo are the son and daughter-in-law of Ralph and Vicki (if you haven’t listened to their episode, go listen to episode 556 which dropped earlier this week). As the ‘new faces’ coming in behind their stalwart parents to pick up the torch, Robbie talks to them about the state of the industry,...

Robbie and Ralph and Vicki have been in each others social circles for quite sometime, but it wasn't until the DSC Convention earlier this year that they connected and really got to chatting. It’s safe to say Ralph and Vicki Cianciarulo are part of the “old guard” of hunting. They started their first TV show, ‘Archer’s Choice’ in 1985 - almost 40 years ago - and join Robbie’s podcast today to talk...

Robbie was fortunate to cross paths with Paul during the initiation of our Panyame Cheetah Conservation project. When Robbie first met Paul - he noted that Paul's name was super familiar to him, and it turns out that Robbie had heard of Paul, and more specifically his PhD work. Paul Booyens, a Wildlife Reserve Manager, did his thesis on the rewilding of lions. Not rewilding of any lions, but rathe...

Salim Khan, a Pakistani native who has been hunting in the country for 53 of his 57 years of life, is an outfitter who has been involved in the hunting game for decades. He also has an interest in replicating wildlife management models from places like South Africa into Pakistan and reintroducing and rehabilitating native wildlife such as axis deer, black buck, nilgai, you name it. Robbie was intr...

Ryan Darby - who the average listener wouldn’t know from a bar of soap - sits down to explore with Robbie the intersection of mental health and hunting. Ryan Darby is the regional officer at The British Association for Shooting and Conservation.  In this incredibly brave interview, Ryan Darby opens up to say, “I am not okay” and in doing so hopefully gives hope and resiliency to others who may be...

 In this week’s roundup while Robbie is off galavanting again, Ashlee is joined by Fred Bird of the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation. And luckily, in addition to being CSF’s Senior Manager of Eastern States, Fred also serves as the host of CSF’s own Sportsmen’s Voice podcast - because when a catastrophic power and internet failure hits Ashlee’s office mid-recording, Fred is able to step in and...

In response to news of a BAN on “exotic animal skins” in London’s fashion week, Robbie is joined by Christy Plott Gilmore, a 4th-generation crocodile and alligator industry specialist whose family has owned a tannery for generations in Georgia. Christy invited Dr. Patrick Aust, the Director of the African Institute of Applied Herpetology and expert in innovative solutions to reptilian management t...

In response to news of a BAN on “exotic animal skins” in London’s fashion week, Robbie is joined by Christy Plott Gilmore, a 4th-generation crocodile and alligator industry specialist whose family has owned a tannery for generations in Georgia. Christy invited Dr. Patrick Aust, the Director of the African Institute of Applied Herpetology and expert in innovative solutions to reptilian management t...

Robbie and the Slots Boys are back with more South African shenanigans that we all love from their latest road trip. From the back of the trusty old rig traveling around South Africa, the boys cover the project they’re sending to the nines in honor of a friend, what they’re up to in Africa, and so much more. This trip the boys have had the highest of highs and the lowest of lows.  Do you have ques...

Sam “The Trapman” Gibson is a lifelong hunter and trapper out of New Zealand. After leaving a long career with the department of environmental conservation in 2020 due to being disparaged with how they were doing things, he started a project called Eastern Whio Link a hunter-led conservation project that looks to protect native birds (specifically kiwi) and whio (a rare native duck). He discussed...

In this follow-up episode to Part 1 (if you didn't listen to Part 1 - go back and listen to it) - Robbie wanted to talk to someone else that has been on the ground in this part of the world, to hear an eye-witness account of what is happening. Robbie is joined by Ed Stoddard, a journalist out of South Africa for the Daily Maverick, to follow up on Mike Labuschagne’s episode about Kasungu National...

There is big news coming out of the Zambian - Malawi Border this past week. A relocation of 263 elephants into Kasungu National Park has led to a human rights travesty. This travesty has now been picked up by a law firm in the United Kingdom that is about to file a class action lawsuit against IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) - arguably one of, if not the, largest NGO in the world. In...

Barry Cromhout is a total unknown to both Robbie and our listeners - but after listening to Robbie on Andy Stump’s Cleared Heart podcast describing his grandfather Leo Kroger and his gun - he realized he’d met Robbie’s grandfather in 1998 and is one of the only remaining people with one of his wooden business cards. After exchanging a photo, Robbie invited him on for this episode, where the two ex...