Episode 230: Saving Animals From War, Abuse, and the Streets

This week on Outdoor Journal Radio, Ang and Pete are joined by Canadian veterinarian, world traveller, author, and animal rescue volunteer Dr. Cliff Redford, better known as Dr. Cliff Worldwide Vet.

Dr. Cliff owns Wellington Veterinary Hospital in Markham, Ontario, but his work has taken him far beyond the clinic. From helping street dogs in Jamaica and Egypt, to volunteering in India, performing veterinary work in Panama, and assisting animals and refugees near the Ukraine war zone, his stories are unlike anything we’ve had on the podcast before.

The guys talk to Dr. Cliff about what it’s like performing surgery in remote places with limited resources, documenting animal rescue work around the world, the emotional toll of veterinary medicine, burnout in the vet industry, and why he continues to put himself in uncomfortable and sometimes dangerous situations to help animals.

He also shares stories from his upcoming book, Far and Wild: Adventures of the Worldwide Vet, including rescues, close calls, and the kind of moments you only find when you leave the safety of home and go where help is needed most.

Before the interview, the boys also talk Fish’n Canada store updates, classic TV vs. YouTube, leaky boat tricks, invasive species, browning lakes, and listener-submitted lure hacks.

If you love animals, outdoor adventure, conservation, travel stories, or just a wild conversation with someone living a seriously unique life, this episode is for you.

Subscribe for more fishing stories, outdoor news, conservation talk, and behind-the-scenes conversations from The Fish’n Canada Show and Outdoor Journal Radio.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:22

This episode of Outdoor Journal Radio is brought to you in part by the Invasive Species Center, protecting Canada's land and water from invasive species. Freedom Cruise Canada, rent the boat, own the memories. And JMB Cycle a Marine, your home for all things power sports, boats, and equipment.

SPEAKER_05 0:43

And now, another exciting episode in the adventures of Outdoor Journal Radio.

SPEAKER_01 0:54

Thank you, thank you, thank you. Welcome to the program. Another wonderful episode of Outdoor Journal Radio. The podcast is upon you. Joining us shortly, a very special guest. His name is Dr. Cliff Redford. No relation to Robert Redford, I don't believe.

SPEAKER_02 1:12

Of course, anybody who voted to Clifford, the big red dog.

SPEAKER_01 1:16

That's right. Is there any relationship? That's right. I mean, because his job might uh I don't know, but what I do know is that he is a Canadian veterinary and an owner of Wellington Veterinary Hospital in Markham, Ontario. Uh, but that's not really what he's known for. He is a world traveler um who volunteers to go around and rescue animals and perform surgery on them and and uh get them out of uh problems. And he and and he'll go to no lengths, by the way, uh to uh to any length uh to make sure that he's successful in his endeavors. Uh his latest uh trip took him into a war-torn part of um uh Ukraine. Ukraine. Crazy, crazy dealing with uh stuff like that. Uh great uh YouTube channel. It's called uh Dr. Cliff Worldwide Vet. If you really want to see what he does, that's where you need to go. And uh also has a book that is going to be out shortly. So we are curious and excited to have him on the program. Yeah, see what he's all about. Abbott First. Abbot. Abba first. What's happening at the store? Nikolai.

SPEAKER_02 2:31

The store fishing uh shop.fishingcanada.com. There you go. What's happening on the store today? Well, the store is is is where we got the new stuff. It should it's it's not there yet, but it should be there. Should be there. And and I know I said end of June. Yeah, but I did also say possibly early July. So we're just waiting. As far as I know, I got an update last week saying that's being made. It's being all embroidered and stitched. Uh yeah, it's not easy stitching all that stuff. Well, you know, they do, I'm sure they do it by hand, and it does take a look at the time. Tim Tim specifically, he's in there just by hand. Tim for sure. For sure. Thread by thread by thread. An embroidery thread. I think I know. I mean, I I do know they take a while to even get a couple, and it's a two-week turnaround, and that's when they're you know not brand new. Worth waiting for. But definitely worth waiting for. Um, beyond that, we have another t-shirt that's in the works in the same vein as the that's a bunch of bullshit. That's a bunch of bullshit. That's a bunch of bullshit. And Mr. Viola, would you like to start with the class? No. No? Okay, we'll do it next week. I have a mock teaser, so I yeah, but it's I'll bring the mock-up up in the next show.

SPEAKER_04 3:48

When we get our new stuff in, guys, uh Nick, maybe you can answer this. So does Tim, does the uh campus crew send us a couple of each, just make sure it's the final version is good, or are we just getting boxes of this stuff?

SPEAKER_02 4:01

I think for these new ones, I think we're just getting a box. Uh sometimes we'll do samples, but like because this isn't a brand new thing, we already have species hoodies, we already know what they're kind of gonna look like. Uh, we're not gonna go the sample route because I don't think we need to. Um with the rest of the hoodies, like when these things were first in their first ex you know, first iterations, we got the uh the samples because we had no idea what it was even gonna look like. We have an idea of what these are gonna look like, and they are very consistent over there at campus crew. They're wonderful people. I know that. And they're they do good work, okay, and they're true to their work. So I'm not too worried about it.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

All right, we'll keep an eye on it. We'll keep asking you. One day when I ask you, you can say yes, they're here, ready to go.

SPEAKER_02 4:46

Uh, you know what you need to be asking, I'll be wearing it.

SPEAKER_01 4:48

All right. Uh, season 40 is nicely underway on Global Television Network of the Fish in Canada show, of course. I'm talking about uh as well as Sportsman's Channel. WFN World Fishing Network in the U.S. I was talking to Roland the other day.

SPEAKER_06 5:04

Yeah, I heard that with a great buy.

SPEAKER_01 5:07

Still going, huh? He's working on I can't even believe this. He's working on season 51.

SPEAKER_04 5:14

Oh my god, good for him.

SPEAKER_01 5:16

I think and he sounds as enthusiastic as he did.

SPEAKER_05 5:21

Oh, that's awesome. When he started. Yeah, he's my friggin' hero.

SPEAKER_01 5:24

Unbelievable the fishing for sure. Unbelievable. Uh, anyways, global uh Saturday mornings, and also every Monday morning on you our YouTube channel. Yes, sir. Gets this CD episode as well. I'm curious, I wonder what the the the situation is there in terms of YouTube viewers versus television viewers. Has anybody ever done any work on that?

SPEAKER_04 5:46

Yeah, I don't know. I I've never heard we've always talked about that comparison, right? Because we live in the world of television and YouTube is kind of a sub-company, I guess you call it, whatever you want to call it. Um but I've never really seen the uh because it's it's almost like different numbering, right? Because when you get when you hit a million views on YouTube, you're you're a superhero and you're superhero, but we hit a million views on on our our show almost every time we air it, right? Like on TV. So it's kind of I don't know, it's hard to compare them all.

SPEAKER_01 6:17

I also I have to be honest with you. Uh I don't see we're in a unique uh position where we have a television brand that has transitioned to YouTube. In other words, the same product that's on TV gets shifted over to YouTube. I think that's relatively unusual in the entertainment world. So it's it's a hard one to really get your fingers on because uh the bulk of our audience, as you just noted, is definitely on television without question. But but the the curiosity in me says, why? Why could we not transition all of our television audience to YouTube?

SPEAKER_04 7:01

I guess if probably if you had to, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 7:03

Well, no, but but I wouldn't do it. For example, if I'm one of those uh audience members, I wouldn't do it.

SPEAKER_04 7:09

See you later. Talking to you and watching you for 40 years. See you later. Exactly. Yeah, I get you. So I know I see. And our YouTube channel also, just to let everybody know, that doesn't watch it much, it's not just the Fish in Canada show. No, it's obviously we add a lot more to it, right? So, but it does have our episodes as well. Not all of our episodes. How many years of episodes do we have, boys? What how many seasons are we missing?

SPEAKER_03 7:29

Uh we're missing most of the older stuff. Like anything pre like 2010, I would say, yeah. There's not a lot of old stuff.

SPEAKER_02 7:38

We do have, I think, the first season up on there. First episode. Or maybe the just the first episode.

SPEAKER_04 7:43

Is Joe not digitized the app older stuff?

SPEAKER_02 7:46

A lot of the old ODJ. Okay. On its own page. But I think Joe's digitized it. We just haven't published it. We have nothing.

SPEAKER_03 7:56

The thing with YouTube is you don't know, like you make too many wrong moves and it categorizes you as something else, and then you're right, you can hurt your channel that way. So it's a weird, like if we put up, let's say we started in the 80s and put everything up, YouTube might deem us to have bad quality of video, and it might say, okay, this channel is not being pushed because this is not 4K or something like that. So I don't know quite how it would affect our channel yet, but we've been it we've had people ask for it. People do want to see that older stuff. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:28

I wouldn't mind seeing that. That's what I love about television because once you have produced something that conforms to the broadcast platform, and I'm not saying that's easy, but I'm just saying once once you got that going, the only people you have to worry about is the audience, is the viewers. You don't have to try and second guess, okay, what's the algorithm gonna think of that? Like, that's what I love about TV. Produce good product that the viewers love and want they they come out and they watch it.

SPEAKER_04 8:58

It's nice and simple.

SPEAKER_01 9:00

It's simple. Yep. But this this this stuff, like, oh my god, there's so many things to worry about. That's true, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 9:05

But anyways, imagine that putting your best stuff from uh from years gone past and knocks your channel right down in ratings, like or there's the fact that they have to worry that it's going to do that. Stuff that half the audience would love to see it, but yet all of a sudden, boom, you know, wow.

SPEAKER_01 9:22

Anyways, uh, we love them all, big or small, digital analog, it don't matter. We do them all. There you go. Uh, listener feedback in response to Steve's video about how to get water out of a leaky boat, which by the way is fantastic. It's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 9:40

People love that video. I was surprised, like it blew up. It still is right now. People are loving it. Yeah, well, people are loving it and wondering why he's in a leaky boat and why doesn't he fix the leak and all kinds of stuff.

SPEAKER_04 9:55

Well, I'll tell you, I can explain the scenario and then maybe Anne's can talk about that. But we were at a uh at a lodge in northern Ontario, uh, and it's a they had a couple of um aluminum, small aluminum boats on the shore. And the lodge owner said to us, he said, guys, these boats they've had their better days. Leakers. Because what from the camp out to the lake that you're fishing has got this little channel that's really shallow, and as in northern Ontario always says, full of rock. Rock, rock, rock. And you're giving your clients these boats, no guide. Usually they go in by themselves, hunting and or fishing, and they're gonna hit the bottom, and then you know, it's gonna scrape the bottom around. And these things out rivets on them. The bottom, the aluminum boat's got rivets on them. So eventually they're gonna go. So by the time this guy had heard about it, he says, Okay, now you know I gotta fly two new boats in here, guys, but unfortunately you got the leaky ones for now. So that's the scenario where we were, what happened.

SPEAKER_01 10:47

So uh, so in response to that video, uh, David uh McKay via Facebook, David McKayla says, uh, tie your plug to the boat so you don't accidentally drop it in the water before you put it on your finger or after it comes off your finger. Don't ask me how I know.

SPEAKER_04 11:10

That's there's a good point. There's a really good point. So Steve put the most uh boat plugs have a uh lever on it and it's got a ring on it. But you can put your finger through it and you can just hold it and whatever like that. Obviously, David had done that, and all of a sudden, oh, we went in the lake or something. I'm assuming he went into the lake and he never had it, and then I don't know, he'd have to beach the boat because it would sink otherwise.

SPEAKER_01 11:33

But uh But but something from that video that you know we've learned a gazillion years ago, but something for especially novice boaters uh and anglers um is that if you do have a problem with a boat leaking or dropping a plug or noticing that you didn't put the plug in and you're now halfway out in the in the lake, if you keep moving forward with that boat, water is gonna go out, it's not gonna come in. And that's why Steve was demonstrating that is that if you want to get rid of water that's in the boat, put her in gear and have at it. Yeah. That water will run out of the boat. Eventually the boat will be completely dry, and you have an opportunity in in the event that you still have a plug, plug it into the boat, now you have a dry boat. This was not the case with Steve. I mean, you just had a leaky boat.

SPEAKER_04 12:25

So yeah, yeah, he got rid of the water, but then when we stopped to fish, it would fill right back up. We l we literally, Stevie literally dropped the walleye down by his feet, and there says, There's my live well. It was swimming around by his feet. So but it's a great trick. Check it out on either Instagram, Facebook, or is it YouTube too, D? It's on YouTube as well, yep. Okay, so check it out. You'll let it's a pretty entertaining little piece.

SPEAKER_01 12:51

Okay, how do they find something like that? For somebody watching this right now that is not familiar with that whole world, you just said, okay, check it out.

SPEAKER_03 12:59

It's on YouTube, it's on Instagram, it's uh how so people who are looking directly for this are going to have to go to our pages. So on Instagram, it's at Fish and Canada Official, uh, where the Fish and Canada show on YouTube. So you'd have to go to our page and you you'd find it there on our latest videos. Most people though who found this video just stumble across it. Like the way the algorithm works now, if it thinks you might like this, it's just gonna show it to you. Like as soon as you open up your app, it's gonna be sitting there. So that's how most of these people found this video.

unknown 13:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 13:29

So it but if you do go and check it out, like Dean was just saying, while you're there, give us a little love of some sort, you know, like a thumbs up, let us know you're there. Let us know you're there. I know. Uh thumbs up, or God forbid, why not subscribe? Then that way there. All of this wonderful stuff would be funneled and channeled off to you with while you're sleeping. You'll never miss us again. Exactly. That's what he's trying to say.

SPEAKER_04 13:54

Conservation corner brought to you by invasivecarp.ca nice job by the Invasive Species Center. Um, of course, the grass carp we're talking about again, as usual. I mean, there's lots of other stuff we could talk. Maybe we could talk about something else maybe coming up. Do we have have we gotten any contact with our people? Uh contact. Well, we need to maybe could we spread it out?

SPEAKER_01 14:18

It's funny, hey. When when I uh I do the the carp piece, it's okay. Now that he's got to do it, maybe we should do it.

SPEAKER_04 14:24

I just volunteered to do it. You were gonna do it.

SPEAKER_05 14:27

Right there, you gotta worry about not me or them or anybody. Right there, my friend. That's one of how many? Four. No, I mean invasive species that we have to worry about. Oh god, there's a new one, by the way. Uh Dean. See?

SPEAKER_04 14:40

This is what I brought up. Otherwise, you'd be just talking about this silly looking, ugly looking thing.

SPEAKER_01 14:44

You heard about the crayfish invasion that was.

SPEAKER_03 14:47

Yeah, we actually had an episode on that last year where they were he was warning about this. Um how it's happened because he was saying uh really that the it was uh who's he? I I th I remember this episode. Dr. Hammock. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_02 15:02

And he was talking about the crayfish.

SPEAKER_03 15:04

That the regulation on people bringing crayfish into their pond or to their uh aquariums is like very loose, and they're actually bred to reproduce without a mate. So they so it's a massive problem when they get out in the wild because they you only need the the one to get out, and now they can totally just like form a population on their own. So this is a new species, not the rusty no, not the rusty species.

SPEAKER_01 15:30

This is a new um, what's it called? I just read about it in uh in uh in a and but anyways, it it is a much greater threat than the rusty ever was or will be. Wow, and it's uh it's here. So uh we only bring that to your attention because this critter here, right there, he's as nasty as it's gonna get in terms of doing damage to our environment and where the fish live that we love to pursue and catch. So uh get yourself informed. Uh go to the invasive species center. Center. Right.

SPEAKER_05 16:07

And the URL is invasivecarp.ca. Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_01 16:10

Come on now.

SPEAKER_04 16:11

And that's not on my page. It's back here. You see that? It's in it's in there now, buddy. It's in my vault. You know my vault that never lets stuff out. Yeah, right. Matter of fact, it's just because it can't get out because he forgets all the time.

SPEAKER_01 16:23

Uh in the news, brought to you by JB, your outdoor superstore, J and B Cycle of Marine, Ontario's largest Princecraft Mercury, package boat dealer. Bar none. Not no contest. Just looking at that yesterday, actually.

SPEAKER_04 16:38

Yeah. The Princecraft uh packages uh that are available. Some nice stuff still.

SPEAKER_01 16:43

Beautiful and getting better all the time. Uh in the news. Uh, scientists say Browning lakes could reshape sport fishing. Browning lakes could reshape sport fishing. And it's a wonderful article. I wonder why there's talking about this now, though.

SPEAKER_04 17:00

There's we've had tea colored water.

SPEAKER_01 17:01

We've had tea colored water for 100 years, but but this is different, I think.

SPEAKER_03 17:06

Maybe lakes that were clear are turning tea colored, or it actually seems like the opposite to me. A lot of lakes are getting clearer. Exactly, with the zebra muzzles and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

SPEAKER_04 17:16

So I'm wondering what's going on.

SPEAKER_01 17:18

Well, apparently many lakes, uh, streams, and ponds in northeastern North America and northern Europe as well are becoming darker. A phenomenon known as freshwater browning. Um now there was a a sentence in here, Dean, that I found a little bit difficult. Okay. Maybe you can did you did you put this together?

SPEAKER_03 17:40

Yes, I I put these uh stories together.

SPEAKER_01 17:42

All right. There's one here, one of the bullet points says browner water reduces underwater visibility. Obviously, that's we know that. Making it more difficult for fish to find prey, avoid predators, and locate suitable habitat. Well, if a fish if it's more difficult to find prey, wouldn't it also you have to assume that it's easier to avoid predation?

SPEAKER_03 18:08

Yeah, well, I think it depends what's preying on you. Like for a minnow, it might be harder to avoid, you know, a northern pike if you can't see it. Right. Um and it's harder for the for a species that has poor eyesight or isn't adapted to this to find their own.

SPEAKER_05 18:23

I know exactly what Angela's saying. It's like opposite the opposite. Exactly. Exactly. I mean, it's either you can't suck and blow. Yeah. It's either harder or not harder.

SPEAKER_04 18:31

I think regardless. Their point, I and look, it's funny because I circled exactly what you're talking about, all that. Exactly. And I said, I think the point is it's more difficult for both sides for all sides. I guess from what they're used to as in clear water to it's now a little more difficult, probably. They're not making it impossible because as we've talked about on this show, uh Temiskaming, uh, that area. Oh my god. That that water is ridiculously can't see a foot off color. It's not brown like this, but it's clay and these smallmouth thrive in it, and the walleye thrive in it. You know, they see and and but they've had that their whole life. So I don't know what I mean. Yeah, um, but they but it shows it proved to me that these fish can see in that kind of stuff. So that and um and then tea color, how many tea color lakes have you and I fished in our lives? Oh my god. Hundreds upon hundreds, right? And as a rule, fishing's pretty good in those lakes, always good, as far as I'm concerned. Yeah, so they can they adapt quite well into all that stuff.

SPEAKER_01 19:25

So they're not saying that we disagree with this whole thing, Dean. Not don't don't take it personal. No, no. But but I I'm just wondering if it's if it's yes, I'm sure that there is a phenomenon called browning. But but I I think you know, we might be screaming the sky is falling a little bit too much.

SPEAKER_04 19:47

Maybe with the it's because they got lake trout and whitefish in there. I don't know. They perch, largemouth, smallmouth. Yeah, maybe I'm not too sure about that. Maybe the lake trout, because lake trout lakes are you know, they usually they're pristine and they're gin clear. Maybe it's something to do with that.

SPEAKER_03 20:00

It mostly has to do with eyesight, like it was saying, and especially the size of the eye or how they hunt. So northern pike and walleye would benefit from these environments because the walleye has a bigger eye and the pike feeds more based on vibration and movement. So species that are relying strictly on eyesight, but then are put into environments where the visibility isn't great, those ones are the ones that would struggle.

SPEAKER_04 20:22

One that got me uh uh was Brookshowed. Apparently they're saying it's not affected by it. Yeah, you're the perfect spring-fed leg, they need everything.

SPEAKER_01 20:31

Yeah, the whole thing is uh uh it's an interesting read. I think uh you need to go and check it out and evaluate it yourself uh rather than listen to a couple of old farts doing this.

SPEAKER_05 20:44

I've physic on a runner my whole life, Angelo.

SPEAKER_01 20:48

Everyone, uh uh all available on fishingcanada.com, the gateway, the portal to your next fishing adventure, awaits you. And this fine story will uh you can you can figure it out yourself, see what you think. Is it good, bad, and different? Regardless, it is happening, and the study um of 30 uh three Canadian lakes um confirmed some of these, I think, questionable findings. But regardless, somebody took the time.

SPEAKER_04 21:16

And if you know something about it, email us in PhotoFishing Canada.com, please.

SPEAKER_01 21:21

Fan question of the week from this is beautiful. Chasing cheeks via YouTube. Ah now you know what that means, right? Well, what I'm interpreting it as chasing cheeks.

SPEAKER_05 21:36

Right. That's what I'm thinking. Oh, okay. Oh, so you're thinking something else. Oh, but for sure I was thinking something else. Really? No, for me it was walleye cheeks right away. No, I'm a bit of a sick puppy. Yes, you are, my friend.

SPEAKER_01 21:47

But we have a doctor coming up a little bit uh later that can help sick puppies like yourself.

SPEAKER_05 21:51

Hey.

SPEAKER_01 21:52

I wonder if he can uh Dr. Cliff, I'm gonna as soon as he comes on, his first patient is gonna be you.

SPEAKER_05 22:00

Good luck with that cleft. Chasing cheeks via YouTube.

SPEAKER_01 22:04

So this is a contender. This is a contender. I love you. Chasing cheeks is a contender. Okay. Oh my. So all we have to determine now is whether the question is viable or not, correct? That's correct. All right. That is correct. Here we go. That is correct. He says he, she, whatever. Uh, good day, Team Fishing Canada. With the cost of lures today simply going in the wrong direction, uh, it is becoming ever harder to expand the tackle box with new gear, uh, colors, sizes, etc., and maybe more necessary to learn um or lean on some of the old hacks. I hope he wasn't referring to us. Um, anglers. Ah, boom, do you know used to trigger uh a finicky bite? I speak of the tweaks like Mr. Piser uses by grinding the lip on a crankbait, bending the nose down on a rappella to increase the wobble, or substituting a red trevel for the standard uh to mimic bleeding prey. I can never figure that one out. I got all hung up on that for a while. You did. Oh, remember? Remember?

SPEAKER_04 23:19

Oh my god, has it got red hooks? No, let's put red hooks on it.

SPEAKER_01 23:23

Yeah. Um bleeding prey. Uh with your uh collective experience, what are some of the hacks that you have come across to alter your presentations? I do realize that a lure manufacturer may not want us to know. And two, you fellas could probably make an entire episode on this topic alone. Uh, thanks for uh thank you for your time, gentlemen. Tight lines. Chasing cheeks.

SPEAKER_04 23:52

You you were the ultimate like he was not so much anymore, but the tackle tweaker, like the lure tweaker, you know, it was incredible. He could he couldn't take a lure out of the package for one for a certain time and just say, yeah, that's gonna be good.

SPEAKER_01 24:08

But you know what? I'm so happy I was able to get over that red hook thing. Because it was an effect, it was affecting my life. Oh, it was it was you were bad. You were definitely bad. But I don't do that anymore. Thank goodness.

SPEAKER_04 24:21

Now, one thing I do with speaking of red is sometimes I'll take a little magic marker and I'll put a some marker, some paint under the throat, make it look like the gills or the blood or something like that. If the plane, if they if the lure is really plain and it's not right, but that's very rare that I do that. I've done it, you know, a a handful of times only, sort of thing like that. So that red, it doesn't stop good fishing. And in fact, in the in the cold water period, this I've learned a lot in this extended bass season, in that month of April, the color red is fantastic for a bass, for a largemouth. It's like crazy good. And pike too. But uh I don't often read my baits out like that. Um something else. Um I'll tell you something that's not a lure uh coloring or whatever, but modification, but but this is more and I've learned this through live scope. Um when I'm throwing crankbaits, when I'm fishing crankbaits, your line size is huge in how deep your lure will go. If you want your lure to go to its maximum crankbait depth, let's say it's rated for eight feet or whatever, like that, try and run a 10-pound test at the most, fluorocarbon, eight or ten-pound test, and you'll get down to that pretty much to that depth. It's almost you know guaranteed within a little bit. But let's just say you have a bait that's got a perfect action and you only want and you're in seven feet of water, and you're running right down in that with that line size, and it digs into the bottom, and you can't do it, and it's running in the weeds. You're gonna have a 16-pound test, like your Zuri T7 we use, and all of a sudden that bait cannot get any further than a certain like uh five feet down or six feet down. So you experiment with line size on your crank base, and it's huge to get the right depth that you want to get. So that's a little trick that I I don't know, it's not a secret or anything, but it's a trick that really works well.

SPEAKER_01 26:07

So and you're right, we we we we have hundreds, if not thousands, of those things that we've experimented with throughout the years. And uh a lot of it we just talked about the red hook thing, a lot of it is instilling confidence in yourself. Yep. If you believe that uh putting that little red patch under the the hard bait's throat, if you will, is going to work better, you use the bait more effectively. Yeah, you put your heart and soul into it, and you and it works. So I kind of hate getting into this whole topic.

SPEAKER_04 26:44

Uh first of all, because we'd be here for a month. I'll tell you one, I just I just encountered and I didn't realize I never used to be this way. I was throwing a jig and a craw this weekend, and every time I lose a claw off that jig, I throw that, I take the plastic off and throw it away. Even though there's so many crayfish with one claw so out there like that, I couldn't do it. I could not throw that bait. I just psychologically it killed me. And I know it would work, but I just had to do that.

SPEAKER_01 27:08

So But there was a time when when that was I remember specifically, there was a time I used to cut them off. Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 27:17

He cut a crop and you had one claw and crawfish on there, and all of a sudden, thump that's MOD kill it, you know.

SPEAKER_01 27:22

So I mean, you know what? Do do your own thing, man. Uh I I don't mind uh folks experimenting. Like I said, if you experiment and something hits a home run for you, man, you're gonna fish it with so much more confidence and you're gonna get so many more fish. Just have at it. Have at it. Uh so I how do I do are we voting on it?

SPEAKER_02 27:43

I'd say that this is a winner.

SPEAKER_03 27:45

I liked it.

SPEAKER_02 27:46

He put in a lot of effort to this. There, that that was do you know what for chase in cheeks? Reach out to me um via Instagram or via I'm no longer the adjunct store manager. That was decided in the last podcast. So I get to make the call now.

SPEAKER_01 28:03

Oh, you get to make the call.

SPEAKER_02 28:04

I'm no longer adjunct. You made that very clear. So he wins, he gets the $50. I didn't even vote. That sucks. This isn't a democracy. So reach out. Let me know if you've uh, you know, you're you. We've discussed how take a screenshot if you signed in, or just prove that you're you, reach out to me. Um, and so that's good. But uh bonus code. I said I was gonna jump in and last time and just bonus code. So what do we want to do? That's when we can vote on.

SPEAKER_04 28:33

Oh no, that's what we vote on, see? Wow. What do we have? Uh what do we talk about? What are we talking about? Cheeks. I like cheeks.

SPEAKER_01 28:44

Oh, cheeks. I love cheeks. I'm cool with cheeks. I love cheeks.

SPEAKER_04 28:48

Spell that out properly for them. C-H-E-E-K-S. Okay. Cheeks. All cheaps. All caps. There we go. Cheeks.

SPEAKER_01 28:57

This episode is brought to you by Sale. Sale is proudly Canadian and stocked with over a hundred Canadian brands you know and love.

SPEAKER_04 29:04

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SPEAKER_01 29:11

Drop into one of 12 stores across Ontario and Quebec and talk to the real fishing specialist or gear up online anytime at Sale.ca. Sale, the ultimate destination for your outdoor adventures. All right, let's bring on our guest, uh, Dr. Cliff Redford, who we've talked about earlier on in the program, a Canadian veterinarian and owner of Wellington Veterinary Hospital in Markham. I did not know about that. There's a lot of things I didn't know about this whole subject matter today. I'm fascinated by. A few things. No, no, no, I will not go that far. I will not go that far. All right. He travels around the world volunteering with animal welfare, rescue, and adoption and wildlife conservation organizations, does all that good stuff that we all would aspire to do one day. Uh he's the creator of Dr. Cliff's Worldwide Vet YouTube channel, which is fascinating by the case if you haven't been there. Uh documenting his international veterinary and conservation work. Uh, a whole bunch of stuff. And if it's if that wasn't enough, the dude's writing a book or has just written a book that's about to be unleashed on the world called Adventures of the Worldwide Vet. Welcome to the program, Cliff. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 30:24

Thank you very much. The uh the actual title's Far and Wild. Uh, the other one is the subtitle, apparently. Oh, wow. Yes. Far and Wild Adventures of the Worldwide Vet. But yeah, it comes out in a couple of months.

SPEAKER_01 30:39

Nice. We've been talking about, I know there's a million things we've got to talk about, but this book writing always fascinates me because Peter and I have talked about writing a book for a hundred years, it seems, uh, about our uh outdoor journal television adventures that we've had throughout the years.

SPEAKER_04 30:55

A hundred years of fishing, right there. We got it. There's our title. That's I love that. Okay, write it down.

SPEAKER_01 31:03

Write this stuff down. Like you never write anything down.

SPEAKER_05 31:06

Yeah. It's recorded, Angelo.

SPEAKER_04 31:08

Come on. This is modern era here.

SPEAKER_01 31:10

All right. All right. Um, so first of all, I have to say that I've seen some of the video and some of the stuff that you've done out in the field, and I can't even start to imagine how difficult it must be. Um, I mean, it's one thing being a vet in a nice controlled environment like your operation in Markham, but when you're stuck out in the boonies, it'd be a perfect controlled environment too.

SPEAKER_04 31:36

It'd be sterile, it'd be everything is absolutely perfect, right? It's got to be a challenge, man.

SPEAKER_00 31:42

Yeah, yeah. It's very uh it's very difficult, uh, which I mean kind of makes it a lot of fun as well. And and boy, do I become a better veterinarian uh being able to overcome those challenges? And of course, I have a team with me. Sometimes my daughter comes with me, sometimes a few of my technicians, and then I work with these animal rescue groups around the world. But yeah, like the stories are endless. But I mean, for example, I did a spay neuter kind of surgical health clinic in uh the community of Bocas del Toro in Panama, um, primarily with cats and dogs. The the building, if you want to call it that, the structure was basically steel beams and a roof, no walls, no electricity, no running water. We're in the middle of the jungle, and there are howler monkeys bouncing off the roof, howling at us, kind of saying, You're doing it wrong, or what are you doing in our community? So uh it gets it gets pretty hairy out there, it gets pretty tricky. Um, but uh it's an adventure and and I love it.

SPEAKER_04 32:45

So something like that. Are you called in because it's out of control? The animals are just breeding, breeding, breeding, and they have to stop it, and there's no they don't know how to do it down there, or like what would they call you up for that?

SPEAKER_00 32:56

Yeah, there's different reasons. And I mean, I started my volunteer work a decade ago to Jamaica, and because I was posting on Instagram and on YouTube, people like rescue groups started to hear about this. Hey, there's this crazy Canadian vet who's willing to go anywhere. And so they would reach out to me. And sometimes, you know, I went to Cairo specifically, and while I worked with this one dog rescue for the entire 10 days, she asked me to come up because there was one dog that had been, you know, unfortunately tortured and injured and needed advanced surgery, and no one was was willing to do it. So it was like this one case. But in Bocas del Toro, for example, I was called by the the gentleman's name's Raul. He runs the turtle conservation group there. And I wish I could do his Spanish accent. It was so cool. Uh, he would say, Dr. Calif, the dogs are eating my turtles. And so he basically said the the street dogs are out of control, and a lot of them are pets. Um, they're just allowed to run free, and they weren't neutered or spayed, and they were digging up and eating the hawksbill turtle eggs. And the only way I could sort of help, I had done some work with turtles, but I wasn't a conservationist, is he would basically say, if there's less dogs, there's more turtles. So that's in that case, that's why I was asked to come down. Um, it was right when the pandemic was ending, so about five, four and a half years ago, um, when the world was opening up again and it was an opportunity to go to Central America. So uh my daughter and I jumped on a plane and and went for it. And so it's always situations like that, whether it's that or India where it's underserved, or I went to Ukraine during the war um to work with a military group. It's basically whenever I'm needed, I'm there. As long as they are welcoming me with open arms, I'm happy to go.

SPEAKER_01 34:59

The notion of uh documenting all of this, what where did that come from? And and and talk us through that to start up.

SPEAKER_00 35:06

Yeah, it was definitely part ego. I'm sure it was part of it. Um, my first trip to Jamaica uh was actually not only to volunteer, but to film to try and pitch a television show. I wanted to be uh I wanted to be after you know some good cool fishing show on uh on Canadian TV, maybe on a Saturday morning, right? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 35:29

We could have used you, by the way. We would have it could have worked out.

SPEAKER_00 35:31

We gotta we gotta talk about this afterwards. Yeah. Um, so I was filming, I actually brought some newly graduated film students from Toronto and basically said, I'm going for three weeks. I can't pay you anything other than beer, pizza, and a trip to Jamaica. And boy, everybody lined up and wanted to be a part of it. Um and so that's why I started documenting it to kind of make these sizzle reels and like b-roll stuff, proof of concept stuff. Um, and I got pretty close to getting a TV show. We got green lit a few times, and then stuff happens. Somebody, somebody, a new boss comes in and changes the plans, and you know, it just it just didn't work out. But I fell in love with the travel work, so I I kept going, and and now I just film it on my phone, and it's just really for social media and for inspiration purposes. It's fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 36:24

Uh because it's such an unlikely trade to you know get documented and on television, like when you think about it, right? I mean, but but when you really think about it, what great content.

SPEAKER_04 36:37

It's it's it's a feel-good, uh, a feel-good thing, too, right? Because when you see them doing this and saving these animals and helping the communities and all that stuff, it's so it's so perfect. Just great for filming, great for documenting.

SPEAKER_01 36:49

Great content. Yeah, I think it's outstanding. Whoever turned whoever turned you down.

SPEAKER_00 36:53

There were a lot of comments about why isn't this on TV already? Like this is a great idea. And my daughter steals the show. Um, she's so good on some of the on some of the episodes and and our documentary that we did. But uh, you know, you guys know how hard it can be to get on TV. It's oh my god, it's a tough slog. Oh, yeah. They can't get us off now. That's a nice problem to have.

SPEAKER_01 37:15

Yeah. Um, the traveling part is intriguing for us too, because uh uh Pete and I spent uh a decade traveling around the world uh doing funky, crazy things, a lot of it with wildlife, yeah, including holler monkeys.

SPEAKER_04 37:30

We know all we know all those noises they make. Oh my god, there's something else, those things.

SPEAKER_01 37:35

And uh and I I I would as you were talking, explaining the story about the um the trip to Jamaica and all that, it just conjured up all those images that I've got in my head from the years of of doing it. It's uh it's a fascinating world out there, and when you add animals to it, it just it's just incredible. And to be able to go out and do put your hands on hopefully, in most cases, solutions to problems and fixing them, it's got to be tremendously satisfying.

SPEAKER_00 38:05

Yeah, it really is. It's quite rewarding and and fulfilling, and it's a cliche, but it really teaches us how blessed we are, especially to be living in Canada and you know, the the modern comforts that we have. But the world is so big, but kind of small in the sense of when you get there, it's different languages, different food, different cultures, different religion. Everyone looks different. But but the people at least I'm working with, they all have the same fascination for animals, uh, and for conservation and the outdoors, that it just it automatically connects us. You know, I've I've I've made family they're like family friends now that I'll have for life. And it was it was our love for animals that brought us together.

SPEAKER_01 38:50

So uh the one story that sticks out in your mind above all others, we get asked this all the time as well. So I might as well put it on you too. What's that one moment, that one rescue, that one piece of video, that one something that stands out in your mind?

SPEAKER_00 39:09

Yeah, there's actually two. And the first one I'll go through real fast is when I was an idiot, I was in Harkiv, Ukraine, uh, right at the war zone. You know, there's bombs landing all the time. And when an alarm went off and the bombs landed, and then there were no more, and the alarm stopped, I went to the window and started recording with my phone, and then there's one more, and it landed really close. Now I got it on I got it on camera. So my my my TV friends joke and they're like, you'll do anything to get something on camera. Um so that that was a little uh that was a little scary. But the the best story was um the first trip I took to Ukraine, we were right at the border of Poland and Ukraine helping uh uh refugee or people escaping the war that were coming across into Poland and they had their animals, and their animals need to be vaccinated or else they wouldn't be allowed to continue. So that's how I helped. But we had a day off, and and so myself and another veterinarian from Australia who I hadn't known and were now best friends, Dr. Lachlan. We went for a hike and we stumbled across a deer that had its antlers wrapped a million times around this rope-like line, this rope fence kind of thing out in the middle of the field. And I had some wildlife experience. Dr. Lachlan didn't, but he was a little younger than me, so he's a little bit of a what they call a jackaroo, which is kind of like a fool, a little bit of an athletic fool sort of thing in Australia. And uh I was like, all right, what are we gonna do? Like, here's our chance, we got to rescue this. And he literally slaps me on the chest and says, easy, let's go tackle it. And that's what he did. He I grabbed the rope and I got this great video, because of course you got to put your camera down first. I got this great video of me pulling the rope closer and closer, and him leaping on this deer and grabbing it by the antlers and being slammed to the ground, um, but not letting go. And we eventually got this thing to the ground and got it to calm down, and it took us about 10 minutes to unwrap the antlers and then off it went. Um, but it it probably would have died in this in about an hour in this condition called capture or stress myopathy, where these these uh prey animals, like deer especially, um, they get so stressed out when they're contained that they sort of have a heart attack, basically. Um, so that was it was like everything came together to find us in this one spot because we were supposed to go hiking somewhere else. And it's kind of like you guys, you know, you might be fishing and you got this water hole that you're gonna do, or this turn of the river, and maybe there's someone there, or the conditions aren't right, or maybe you get lost. Who knows? Or you just eh, let's just see what's going on over there, and then you pull out like this record fish or see this amazing scene, and it's like the the nature gods directed you into that that that area. That's what seems like it happened with this deer.

SPEAKER_04 42:09

Right. That guy's nuts for tackling a deer like that because they're not, you know, they're a nasty little beast, and that thing he thinks you're gonna kill it, right? That thing is doing everything it can to survive.

SPEAKER_00 42:20

Yeah, I mean, they joke about us crazies in the great white north, us hosers, you know, playing hockey and throwing fists and whatnot. Aussies are Aussies are a whole breed. I mean, they're descendants of prisoners, like descendants of criminals. No kidding. They're a little crazy.

SPEAKER_04 42:38

You had to mention uh in your Cairo trip in Egypt that that uh animal that was tortured, the dog that was tortured. I looked at your videos, I saw this acid burns. If anybody wants to be careful watching this, but it is a reality. But my question to you then is how often do you come across tortured animals that you have to save? And where is is there a country that's worse than others for this? Does it go on more than we ever realize?

SPEAKER_00 43:02

Yeah, unfortunately, it happens often in my trips. Um, I would say Jamaica and Egypt are tied. Um there's a there's a large group of people in both countries that are completely in love with and want to take care of and respect animals, but there's a small but significant population for various reasons that feel that dogs are dirty or dogs are just sort of beasts and and are mongrels. And they will they will strike them with a machete or pour acid over their face and cause this, cause these injuries. On the flip side, though, to show you how wonderful people are, when we traveled to Hyderabad, India, and we went there twice, you know, it was a it's a very poor country, Canadian, you know, North American standards. The average person makes about 20 American dollars a day. Um Um, very, very, uh, very, very cheap. So a very, very poor country, but so much karma, and nobody had any negative feelings about bunnies and birds. And I mean, there's cows walking in the streets being cared for, and and these dogs. There are people that were basically homeless with barely enough money to buy food, and they were still sharing it with dogs that weren't their dogs, they were just street dogs. So, um, you know, there are some places where we do see a lot of trauma, but there's also places where um almost like the people don't have a reason to be that nice, but they're that nice and it's and it's heartwarming.

SPEAKER_01 44:43

Yeah, interesting. It's gotta be that's awesome. Yeah, it gotta be for sure. Um, the Canadian practice, your your uh operation in Markham, how long have you had that?

SPEAKER_00 44:53

Uh I bought it 26 years ago. It was January 1st, 2000, right on the Millennium Switch. I joked that I was hoping the bank uh was gonna lose our loan information when the computers switched over. They did not. Um that's the one thing they didn't they don't lose, right? Um but yeah, I I I graduated in '98 and within a year and a half I realized uh I had no business working for somebody else. Uh I have a bit of a problem with authority, uh, according to my ex-wife. Um, and uh so I so I bought this practice and and it's she's been my baby for uh almost 27 years.

SPEAKER_01 45:31

It's gotta be hard to run both, right? It's gotta be difficult to do what you love to do, which is travel around and save animals and run uh a real business, uh bricks and mortar and employees and all the rest of it. It's gotta be a difficult thing to do.

SPEAKER_00 45:44

Yeah, and I mean, look, my my clinic would be a lot more sort of financially successful if I didn't do all these trips. Um, and it's my business that pays for these trips for the most part. Um, and then I'm away and and the vets that I that work with me do a great job, but no one no one works like the boss. I mean, that's just a reality. But my team is incredible. And because I've owned the clinic for so long, and some of my team members have been with me for 15 years, which for for the vet industry is unheard of. Um, you know, the average like technician burnout is something like four years. They usually go uh uh they leave clinical practice in that amount of time. So I'll come back uh uh you know from a 10-day trip with no fires to put out, you know, no issues because they've learned to deal with it. So um it's like anything in life. You just you gotta have a good team around you, and and you can't do anything without them.

SPEAKER_01 46:39

So um when this um when this program was a radio show uh years ago on the on Rogers Sportsnet, um, I had a regular on the program. Her name was Dr. Marie Holloway. Oh, yeah, I remember her, yeah. And uh she was a a vet, um, had clinics in Western Canada, but her, much like you know, you you run that part of the business, but you also do the traveling and and all that, her thing was um dealing with stressed out vets. You just mentioned burnout after four years. Apparently, that's a big thing in your industry is being able to stay with it. It's gotta be, I mean, and I used to remember interviewing her at the beginning, but then she became a regular on the show and she'd have her own guests on the show. And um I was fascinated because it almost seems like it's more stressful working on animals than it is on humans for some bizarre reason.

SPEAKER_00 47:37

Yeah, the the the burnout rates, the leaving the industry rates, and unfortunately, even the suicide rates for veterinarians across North America is much, much higher than um MDs, than family doctors. And there's different reasons. Part of it, uh, and this is including the US, the salary to debt ratio is is not what people think. And and students are graduating with massive, massive uh veterinarian school debt. Um, and then running a business, you know, it's it's not as you know, it's not as profitable, et cetera, et cetera. But the issue is is veterinarians have to essentially, at least a general practitioner like mine, uh people are bringing their pets to me, and we got to do everything. We got to do surgery, we got to do radiology, we got to do ultrasounds, we got to do dermatology, behavior, general practice, everything, internal medicine, cancer treatments, everything. And sure, there are specialists to refer to, but the vast majority of time you don't, and it's usually a money thing. Um, if I can do a surgery really well for $4,000, which is still a lot of money, but that same surgery at a referral hospital is $12,000, people are gonna ask me to do it, right? So it becomes very demanding. And we are seeing patients from birth to grave, essentially, right? Which which is a blessing and something I I feel very honored to be able to be with these pets their entire lives, but it it takes a toll. Now, with that being said, I things like my volunteer travel, I do a lot of talks with students about avoiding burnout and and and staying positive and whatnot. It's my volunteer travel that does that. Um, it first of all, it teaches me so much and I have a lot of fun. And it is important to get away from your I was gonna say nine to five job, but that doesn't exist here. Get away from your from your regular job. But also when you're and I'm not recommending people go to a war zone, but when you go to a war zone and you almost get clipped by a Russian missile and you come back and someone's complaining because their appointment was 20 minutes late, they don't have the same power over you anymore when you've dealt with those other things, right? That's a good point. You know, it's it's just like relax, lady, you'll be fine. Um, so which I sometimes say to people like I am, I am I think one of the reasons I've done I've done well emotionally in this career and owned a business for so long is I'm I'm willing to politely but sternly put people in their place. Um and uh and and it and it works very, very well. So, but yeah, burnout's a really tough thing. And I think people need to find veterinarians need to remember why they were so excited to get into vet school um and really sort of key in on those on those wonderful cases. Even the ones where you have to say goodbye to a pet is still a gift you're able to give them because you're able to do it in a in a humane, smooth way. Um uh, you know, it's I'm blessed. I'm blessed to be a veterinarian, and and I hope other veterinarians uh uh feel the same way I do.

SPEAKER_01 51:02

I'm sure most of them do. I remember uh going back to uh Marie again, uh Dr. Hollowaychak, one of the things that uh we discussed on the show uh quite regularly was the fact that you guys are unlike normal MDs who have a an opportunity to dialogue with the patient and get the patient's precise words and and and you know as to what the problem is and how to deal with it, you guys don't have that. Right? And that and she was saying, I remember she was saying that's one of the mental stresses that a lot of um vets go through is uh is the fact that they can't really talk to the animal. And so a lot of the stuff that you do is based on your gut, it's based on what you you see. So um I I just think that's important to to bring out because you guys do you guys are are incredible at being able to diagnose without communication, without any direct dialogue.

SPEAKER_04 52:01

What are your symptoms and the dog stares at you? Exactly. Yeah, exactly, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 52:06

And and and first of all, people joke, you know, they'd say, Wouldn't it be nice if you could understand what they're saying? I think if I understood what the cat or dog were saying, sometimes I'd hear some pretty nasty things for sure, but that would be okay. Look, the problem with this industry sometimes is you'll ask a student why did you get into you know, uh, to become a veterinarian, and they'll talk about their love for animals and their love for science and medicine, and they didn't want to be a human doctor because they don't like people. Well, guess what? Every single animal, except for on my trips, every single animal is attached to a leash that's attached to a human, and we can't talk to those animals. So you have to have some really good communication skills and be able to not only talk to the client, but involve them as a team member in trying to figure out what's wrong with their pet. Um, sometimes they have no idea, and you have to be able to pull that data out from them. Other times they know what they're talking about, and and and you have to listen to them when they say there's something wrong, and this is what I think it is. So uh it's it's tricky. It's like being a pediatrician, though. Um, the babies just pee and poop and cry, and you got to figure out what's wrong. Well, it's pretty much the same with dogs, except instead of crying, they bark. Um so uh I I could be a good doctor though. Like you you stick me on a deserted island with you guys, and if you guys need help, I'm a good doctor.

SPEAKER_04 53:37

We'll catch the fish, we can eat the fish, and then if we get cut or anything, you can uh pull the hooks out of us and stuff, okay?

SPEAKER_00 53:43

That's right, that's right. Problem is I only know one way to check your temperatures.

SPEAKER_04 53:46

So Oh, Angelo, you're not gonna like that. Yeah, you're gonna eat it. I'm very healthy. I'm good, I'm good, Cliff. Don't worry, I feel good.

SPEAKER_01 53:54

What's uh next for Cliff? What's what's uh in the future? What's the one thing that you haven't done yet? Because obviously you've done a lot of stuff in your relatively short life so far. Um, what's that one thing that's sitting there and you're saying, Man, one day I'm gonna do that?

SPEAKER_00 54:12

Yeah, um a big thing for me is challenging myself and doing things where I'm not comfortable. I'm not I'm not good with heights, but I climbed out on a wing of a plane and jumped off and parachuted on my own, stuff like that. I am terrified because I'm 53 almost and I watched Jaws as a kid. I'm terrified of sharks, which means I need to go swimming and scuba diving and tag sharks.

SPEAKER_01 54:40

Um have I got the have I got the place for you? Yeah, where about oh yeah, in the in the Bahamas. Ah, beautiful, beautiful. Yeah, yeah. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 54:50

So that's that's that's on my bucket list for sure. Um, and you know, they're probably not gonna need any medical treatment. Um, I would just be happy to go down there and and be near them and maybe help with some research, help with some tagging. Um uh the bigger, the scarier for me, the better. Um, you know, what's the worst that could happen?

SPEAKER_04 55:13

He's a wild man. I like that.

SPEAKER_00 55:15

Good for you. Definitely a midlife crisis sort of situation, but that's all right.

SPEAKER_04 55:19

I'll take it. That's fine. I thought Ozzy uh kind of rubbed off on you, didn't he? He's got that little Aussie stuff going on there.

SPEAKER_00 55:25

He sure did. There's a great the the the chapter in the book. Uh how's that for a segue? The chapter in the book is literally titled Jackaroo, um, meaning uh know nothing white man is sort of what it means. Um so yeah, he he definitely uh let's just go tackle it, mate. That's all we gotta do.

SPEAKER_01 55:43

Let's just jump in. How long uh have you been working on the book before it came out?

SPEAKER_00 55:48

Yeah, so I mean it started journaling. I was journaling when I was in Jamaica and really never thought anything of it and just kept kept not only a video but a written log of everything that would happen uh that was happening. And as the TV idea started to disappear, I think it was my kids that said, you should start writing this stuff on a computer, you know, typing it out. You never know. Well, once I started doing it, it was it's like uh, I don't know, it's like uh a largemouth bass attached to the hook. They fight, right? Um I just would not let go of this idea. Um, so I started writing it. It took me about four years to complete it, and then it took me another year to find a publisher, and then it took me another two years for them to help me or get me to edit it, um, which was quite a painful but amazing process. So I'm super excited. Now I'm now I'm recording the uh the narration for the audiobook, like they're going all out. So uh I get to read my own words and relive these stories and sometimes get emotional as I'm reading it, which is kind of good for the audiobook. Um, it's been a wonderful, uh, wonderful experience. Excellent. Good for you.

SPEAKER_04 57:03

Good luck with that. That's sounds interesting.

SPEAKER_01 57:05

Listen, we could go on forever. Um, and uh and I'm sure we've not even scratched the surface of what you you'll bet you of what of who Cliff is, and that's the fascinating question. Uh, we will get back to that for sure. We'll get you back on the show and talk about some of the other stuff. I want to um let folks know how they can follow you, where they can find out about the videos, where they can buy the book. Give them this is that uh gratuitous free advertising moment.

SPEAKER_00 57:36

I love it, I love it. Yeah, I mean, uh if you're on Instagram, find me at Dr. Cliff Worldwide Vet. So DRCliff Worldwide Vet. Um, my website's drcliff.ca. Uh YouTube's YouTube.com slash drcliff. Um, but the big thing, the book, uh, if you just Google Dr. Cliff Vet and then Far and Wild, um, there's a pre-order link because it can be bought anywhere. Barnes and Noble, Indigo, Amazon comes out in two months and a bit. Um, yeah, I think everyone would love it. There's even some stories about fish in there. Oh, nice. Excellent.

SPEAKER_01 58:12

That's what we got to do. Next time we're on uh we get you on, we're gonna talk about fish. 100%.

SPEAKER_00 58:17

Yeah, yeah. I mean, uh, I had a cottage, my family had a little uh homemade cottage, uh, which has now fallen down because we're not architects, uh, just uh north of the Golden Highway, right? Like just near Huntsville. Nice and I spent uh my summers as a kid fishing and canoeing.

SPEAKER_04 58:34

Nice. We've done a lot of work on Fish Clip, but they don't often survive when we get a knife under them. I'm gonna tell you that right now. There's a there's a little difference, I think, from our work to your work.

SPEAKER_00 58:42

Well, everyone can stay tuned and they can learn about when I did CPR on a fish next time. That's perfect. That's what we need to do.

SPEAKER_01 58:49

All right, Cliff, thanks for joining us, my friend.

SPEAKER_00 58:51

Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01 58:53

Wow. Uh Dr. Cliff Redford, uh, veterinarian uh world traveler, explorer. Imagine the stories, like the full line of stories.

SPEAKER_04 59:03

That book is gonna be great.

SPEAKER_01 59:04

He's gonna sit around and read a table and have a beer to discussing some of that stuff with him. Yeah, for sure. Fantastic. Uh check them out. Sounds fascinating. Of course, uh, if you have an animal that needs uh gentle uh loving care. You're in the Markham area. In the Markham area. You can check out. You probably travel to them too. He doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_04 59:26

You can be GTA at Markham's not that far.

SPEAKER_01 59:29

Tough, tough um field to be in, though. Oh, yeah. I mean for sure.

SPEAKER_04 59:34

I mean a lot of patience, though. There's a lot of dogs and cats and everything else out there, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 59:39

For sure, for sure. Fascinating. All right. Uh, I think that are just about it on our end. Uh, did we uh miss anything, boys?

SPEAKER_03 59:48

Uh no, we did the bonus code earlier on. So if you skip to here because you're trying to find it, you are too late. You need to backtrack, but you go find it.

SPEAKER_04 59:58

Surprise! Oh no, you did.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:02

Uh that's um don't forget the contest's ongoing. Uh brought to you by JMB Cycle on fishingcanada.com, the gateway, the portal to your next fishing adventure. And uh, on behalf of the entire team, uh Nikki V over there, we got Dean Taylor here, we got Mr. Bowman there. I'm actually by all our banks for our kitchen. This episode of Outdoor Journal Radio has been brought to you in part by the Invasive Species Center, protecting Canada's land and water from invasive species. Freedom Cruise Canada, rent the boat, own the memories, and J and B cycle a marine, your home for all things power sports, boats, and equipment.