Last month, we were fortunate enough to spend the afternoon with Casey Anderson, the host of America the Wild who has a thirst for all things wild. How wild exactly? Think getting bitten by vampire bats, searching for mountain lions and camping out on a remote island to study wolves! Often referred to as the “animal magnet” Casey is an acclaimed wildlife tracker who was in town to promote the fourth season of his programme and we’ve got to say, he totally lived up to his nickname.
We spoke to the Montana native at Sunway Lagoon’s Wildlife Park where he took a break from some of the wild things he’s met in exchange for a bunch of not-so-wild but equally captivating animals such as the small-toothed palm civet, Malaysian sun bear and the super adorable slow loris.
What has been the most rewarding experience for you throughout your career?
The most rewarding thing for me is always the same – walking down the street and a kid comes up to me and they say “we watch your show. Since I watched your show I started volunteering and I’m trying to help endangered turtles”. When I have those moments it’s why I do what I do.
In light of what happened to the late Steve Irwin, do you ever fear for your life when you’re out there?
I have a responsibility to be responsible. I remember exactly where I was and it hits home because we’re doing the same thing. It’s a reality check. That is a real risk that can happen but at the same time it’s a reality check that you need to remain responsible. When something bad like that happens – even if everything is an accident – I don’t get afraid, I try to avoid situations where I might be out of control because it’s important that I remain in control and respectful. Even if it might be really cool to get in there and be excited and up close but sometimes it’s not the right thing to do and I need to reel back and say, “I’ve got to do the right thing”.
So at that moment your instincts are really important.
They’re absolutely! That’s a great way of putting it – it’s instinct. You go in there instinctually and you take what you’ve learned in your lifetime and sometimes you feel like it’s not the right time. The best thing you can do is get out.
When you’re face-to-face with an animal, do you ever feel a deep connection with it?
Connection is an interesting way of putting it but you know, animals are animals and we have this way of communicating. My entire life, I’ve been around animals so I might not be really good at speaking to people but somehow I get body language and I think I project body language more as an animal than a human in someway and they see it. And maybe there’s a connection to why animals are calmer around me because I’m not out of place.
In your opinion, for a developing country like Malaysia what is the biggest challenge when it comes to conservation efforts?
The biggest challenge is always, people are a part of the ecosystem and often we have to put ourselves first to survive. Looking down the line, at the long term – what we’re going to hand over to our children and grandchildren – it’s a state of mind. I think people need to realise that we do need these wild places and wild things. And if they go away, we’re in trouble and our grandkids may not have a beautiful place like we do here to live and survive. It’s my job to paint that picture a little bit. If you don’t know about it, you can’t fault people for being ignorant about things they don’t know so it’s our mission to make sure that people know.
What’s your first memory of an animal?
That’s a great question , no one’s ever asked me that question before. Marvin the muskrat. A muskrat is like a beaver, an aquatic rodent that swims around and it all kind of ties together what we’ve just talked about. I’d see this muskrat and it would see me as a little kid and it’d go in the water and I was really curious and wanted to see it closer. So I would go and sit at the bank of the stream and be real patient and if I wiggled around he’d pop his head out of the water and go back under. After an amount of time, like a year or so, he would come up and he was equally as curious in me as I was in him and he’d sit there and look at me while I looked at him. And the reward of that moment – of trying to be patient – paid off. Maybe it was the very first lesson I learned with an animal and it’s one that I use everyday.
So you sat there for a year?
It was a year before he came out and gave me a complete show of who he was. So I’d go down and sit by the stream, regularly once or twice a week and take baby steps with him. Then he realised I wasn’t a threat at some point and then he started coming closer and finally he came out to look at me.
What continues to drive you to want to discover new animals – like sitting there for a year before getting anything in return?
There’s a humility in discovering new things. As humans we think we know everything, there’s no stone unturned. The more I go out there and learn new things, I see that there’s so much more to find. There’s something wonderful about the gift of the unknown.
Your job seems almost fearless. Is there anything that scares you?
What scares me the most is getting a real job! That would terrify me – going in and punching in a time clock or sitting in a cubicle. I’m so lucky and fortunate and blessed that I’ve done this my entire life. I don’t know if I could do anything else – I’m ruined!
Do you have another passion?
I used to play American football. I like to write and I love good food. When I came to Malaysia and it’s known for its fusion food, I was like ‘Yeah!’. Wild places and good food – you can’t beat that.
If you wrote an autobigraphy, what would it be called?
I would call it Bear with Me. Trust me, everyone’s bearing with me all the time but there’s also that other side to it. I guess I could also call it My Wild Life. I’m a wild guy but I’m semi-cultured – I like spending time in cities and good food and wine. I’m not a guy who’s afraid of concrete and interacting with people.
Do you have a favourite Malaysian animal?
The Malaysian sun bear at this point, is probably my favourite because …it’s a bear. The other part that I love is that it’s so elusive. Experts have said they don’t know anything about it and that makes me want to try to know more about it! If it’s out there, you can find it, you can see it and you can understand it.
Catch America the Wild every Sunday at 8.40pm on Nat Geo Wild (Astro Channel 550)
