Lieutenant Kathy Ponting is a legend among game wardens of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (formerly the California Department of Fish and Game). A second-generation warden, Kathy rose to the rank of lieutenant and oversaw the elite Special Operations Unit. Unlike uniformed wardens assigned to patrol work, the wardens in SOU were plain clothes investigators and worked as a cohesive unit on long-term or highly complex investigations usually involving illegal commercialization of wildlife or egregious take of wildlife. Wardens in SOU were known to work insanely long and unpredictable hours and had a reputation for being extremely tenacious and dedicated to the mission. Positions in SOU were not easy to come by and not every warden was a good fit. Join Ed for his conversation with Kathy about her team's effort to save the California abalone population from decimation.

This is your rare opportunity to hear from a real life confidential informant who worked for the US Fish and Wildlife Service. It's exceedingly rare to get an inside seat to the world of "CI's" but confidential informant "Pete Paxton" breaks the silence to give you a brief look behind the curtain. Recruited as an informant by Special Agent Newcomer, Paxton worked for the US Fish and Wildlife Service for a number of years and went on to provide information on other cases to NOAA National Marine Fisheries Law Enforcement. His work in animal cruelty investigations is legendary and his work on wildlife crimes led to changes in California fishing laws and practices. He is the co-author of the book entitled "Rescue Dogs: Where They Come From, Why They Act the Way They Do, and How to Love Them Well," which is available on Amazon or wherever books are sold. He is also a founder and director of the non-profit organization SEED - Strategies for Ethical and Environmental Development (https://www.ethicalstrategies.org/)

Plant crimes resurface this week but, this time, in the form of American ginseng! A native plant found throughout the Appalachian Mountains, including the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and under heavy pressure from unscrupulous commercial collectors. Join Ed and former special agent Tom Chisdock as they discuss the threats to the species, the illegal trade, and Tom's great work exposing a ginseng trafficker who also sold opioids straight from the same store that served tourists coming and going from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Join Ed in a conversation with Nkateko Mzimba and Collet Ngobeni, two rangers from the Black Mambas Anti-Poaching Unit based at the Olifants West Nature Reserve in South Africa. The Black Mambas patrol a 25,000 acre reserve inside the greater Kruger ecosystem that is home to elephants, rhinos, lions, buffalo, and all of the species native to the Southern African bush. Listen as the rangers describe their duties and some of their adventures and close calls protecting the important wildlife that is often under threat from commercial poachers and wildlife traffickers..

Join Ed for a wide-ranging conversation with Craig Spencer, founder of Trans-Frontier Africa and the Black Mambas Anti-Poaching Unit in South Africa. This week, we talk about rhino poaching, the rhino horn trade, elephant poaching, the all female anti-poaching unit known as the Black Mambas, and the challenges that go with securing a large, open nature reserve that adjoins Kruger National Park on one side and local communities on the other.

Join Ed and former Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Police Officer Todd Vandivert for the premiere episode of Season 2. Todd will tell us about his long-term undercover operation known as Operation Cody, which exposed widespread trafficking in wildlife species native to the state of Washington.

Nature's Secret Service host Ed Newcomer appears on the podcast Zone 7 with Sheryl McCollum to discuss two cases from his career, including one he's never talked about before in a public forum.

Former wildlife officer / game warden with the State of California, Savannah Morgan joins Ed to discuss her team's investigation of a South Korean national who masterminded a plant poaching and trafficking operation in Southern California. Ed adds his perspective as a US Fish and Wildlife Service special agent serving overseas at the right time and place to help capture and extradite the notorious trafficker.