Indycar racer Simona de Silvestro, exploring Catholicism and Panther Conservation

On today’s show World Footprints explores the plight of the endangered Panther, we chat with one of the rising IZOD Indycar stars Simona de Silvestro, and we also view Catholicism through the lens with Father Robert Barron. As a special bonus, we added some sound bytes and interviews from the DC Stop Modern Slavery walk to end human trafficking. Panthers once roamed the entire southeastern United States; from Florida to South Carolina and Louisiana. However, the panther was added to the Endangered Species List in 1967 and today the remaining population is isolated in South Florida. The Panther population has dramatically decreased but many efforts are being made to save this beautiful animal from extinction. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is at the forefront of the Panther conservation efforts and Park Ranger Sandy Mickey from the Florida Panther & Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuges joins us today to talk about some of these initiatives. Then, we enjoyed a chat with one of the IZOD Indycar series rising stars, Simona de Silvestro. Simona is one of a handful of female Indycar racers and she is one of the most prominent racecar drivers on the track. Simona hails from a country where auto racing is banned but she has made a name for herself as one of racing’s brightest young stars. She is the first woman in Atlantic Series history to have earned the most wins and pole positions, and the IZOD Indycar Rising Star Award. Finally, we will talk to Father Robert Barron, the Francis Cardinal George Professor of Faith and Culture at Mundelein Seminary and a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago, about his new PBS series Catholicism. This documentary illustrates the history and treasures of a global religion shared by more than one billion people around the world by exploring art, architecture, literature, music and all the riches of the Catholic tradition. Father Barron was joined on his two-year around the world journey by acclaimed filmmaker Mike Leonard, a veteran correspondent for NBC‘s Today show and producer. To learn more about the Florida Panther visit: http://www.fws.gov/floridapanther or http://www.floridapanther.org