Catherine Grady: Snow Leopards, Sheep Eyeballs, and Why Every Animal Just Wants to Be Loved

Catherine Grady spent five months in Mongolia this year — central grasslands, the Altai Mountains, and the snowy west — quietly setting camera traps for one of the most elusive predators on Earth: the snow leopard.

In this episode of Animals and Us, host Natalie Stockdale sits down with Catherine, a young American wildlife conservation biologist freshly arrived in Australia, for a beautifully grounded conversation about the lives of carnivores, the limitations of how science is taught, the quiet act of reframing “habitat” as “home”, and the universal truth she's seen across every species she's studied: everything just wants to be loved.

From acting student to wildlife biologist

Catherine pivoted 180° after two years of university — leaving acting to follow what made her feel “most alive”. Why that introspection is the foundation she now teaches young scientists.

Five months in Mongolia

From Khustai National Park to the Altai ice patches to setting traps for snow leopards in the snowy west — Catherine shares what it's like to live in a country where hospitality is automatic and strangers are fed at no cost.

The secret lives of snow leopards

The “ghost cat” is one of the most understudied predators on Earth. Catherine and her team want to challenge the assumption that snow leopards are isolated and antisocial — using satellite camera collars to capture the affection, play, and intelligence the public never sees.

Habitat is just a word — home changes everything

Why Catherine refuses to call an animal's place “habitat”. The single language shift that reframes how scientists treat the creatures and ecosystems they study — and the parallel she draws to Mongolian hospitality.

Everything just wants to be loved

Across grizzlies, wolves, freshwater fish and the shy cow she befriended in rural Mongolia, Catherine has seen one universal truth — and a Jane Goodall warning about apathy that every Gen Z conservationist should hear.

GUEST BIO

Catherine Grady is a wildlife conservation biologist from Seattle, Washington, recently arrived in Australia after almost five months of research in Mongolia. She has worked across the United States (including studying wolves at Yellowstone), Belize, and Mongolia — and her work centres on two equally-held values: wildlife and environmental conservation, and indigenous justice. Catherine is particularly drawn to carnivores, especially the misunderstood ones — wolves, snow leopards, and (next on her list) Australian dingoes.

Resources Mentioned

● Lucy Cooke — “Bitch: On the Female of the Species” (book) — https://www.basicbooks.com

● How to Train Your Dragon (2010 film) — referenced for the “everything we know about you guys is wrong” quote

● Jane Goodall — research approach and quote on apathy as the greatest danger to our future

● Joseph Campbell — “Follow your bliss and doors are open”

● Khustai National Park, Mongolia — https://www.hustai.mn

● Monkey Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, Belize — https://www.monkeybaybelize.com

● Xavier Rudd — “Follow the Sun” (Animals and Us theme music)

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Introduction

01:53 A Childhood Outside — Seattle and Salmon Recovery

04:07 Acting to Biology — A 180-Degree Pivot

09:42 Why Everything We Learn About Animals Should Be Questioned

17:48 Five Months in Mongolia

21:21 The Secret Lives of Snow Leopards

27:39 Universal Truths — From “Habitat” to “Home”

50:06 Advice for the Next Generation of Conservationists

CALL TO ACTION

If this conversation moved you, please follow Kintsugi Heroes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your preferred app, leave a rating or review, and share it with someone who loves animals as much as you do. To support our not-for-profit mission to share more stories like Catherine's, visit https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au and make a tax-deductible donation, or get in touch about partnering with us.

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Inspired by the Japanese art of kintsugi — repairing broken pottery with gold so the cracks become the most

beautiful part — we believe every life can be made more beautiful through what it has survived.

THEME MUSIC

Thanks to Xavier Rudd for permission to use “Follow the Sun” as the theme music for the Animals and Us series.

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