Bob Barker became a vegetarian in 1979 and began publicly promoting animal rights soon afterwords, something he continues to do into his late 80s. He credits his wife Dorothy Jo, who passed away in 1981, for making him more aware of the issues around animal rights... In 1985, Bob was named national spokesman for "Be Kind to Animals Week". On every episode of the Price is Right, he's signed off saying "Help control the pet population. Have your pets spayed or neutered?" (after he retired, Drew Carey continued to use this phrase advocating neutering). Barker also hosted the Miss USA/Universe Beauty Pageants, but stepped down in '87 after requesting the removal of fur prizes and was refused. Bob Barker's DJ&T Foundation (named after his wife) founded in 1994, has contributed millions of dollars for pet neutering programs and to animal rescue facilities all over the U.S. He's worked with PETA to stop the inhumane treatment of bears and other animals at Zoos. Bob also donated $1 million to Drury University in order to establish a professorship on animal rights, which led to a full undergraduate degree program. He's established endowment funds on animal rights law at eight law schools, including Harvard Law School. Just this month, Bob made his biggest contribution to the cause when he donated $5 million to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in order to purchase an anti-whaling ship, used to block illegal whaling in the Southern Ocean. The ship had its first confrontation with whalers on Tuesday, as it tried to stop a Japanese whaling mission near Antarctica. I heart Bob Barker. He's a personal inspiration.
LISTEN to this amazing CBC 'Q' interview with Bob about his efforts to stop Japanese Whaling for good: podcast.cbc.ca
