Member Profile: Deborah Rivel

August 2004

Deborah Rivel lives in New York City. But although her home is in the midst of urban commotion, Deborah’s broadcasting career has led her to focus on the natural world. Her production company specializes in creating environmental and wildlife documentary programs, featuring sensitive portraits of some of the world’s most appealing animals and the remarkable humans who care about them.

Creator of "Forgotten Apes"

IPPL members may recognize Deborah as the director of "Forgotten Apes," a one-hour documentary featuring the work of IPPL’s founder Shirley McGreal and several of IPPL’s sanctuary gibbons, including Beanie, Igor, and Arun Rangsi. "Forgotten Apes" introduces its audience to a number of apes who have been used in the entertainment business, the pet trade, and research-and shows what happens to them at the end of their sometimes brief "careers." Filmed at IPPL about ten years ago, this documentary was one of six wildlife programs that Deborah produced for public television in the US. Her series won seven Emmy Awards.

Deborah with her Bourke Parakeet, Zaza

She grew up in a quaint New Jersey town, founded by Quakers and surrounded by farmland, where her family, especially her mother, taught her to love and respect all animals. Unfortunately, Moorestown is located only 12 miles from Philadelphia and was destined to be consumed by urban sprawl.

"When I was six or seven years old," Deborah remembers, "we would see deer hunters walking though our back yard and we could ride horses in the fields just beyond our house. But within a few years all the land around us was developed. Suddenly, one year there were no more pheasants; suddenly, one year the stream full of frogs was gone. By the time I was a teenager, it had all changed. That was an alarming thing."

Deborah left New Jersey to take a variety of positions in the broadcasting industry, where for many years she found her professional interests in conflict with her personal ideals (she is a vegetarian and a "green" consumer). "At one point I was personally boycotting Japanese products, because of Japan’s position on whale hunting," she recalls. "But at the same time I was forced to accept huge advertising orders from a Japanese auto manufacturer for the radio station where I was the sales manager."

Founds "Wildsight Productions"

So in 1991, with the encouragement of her husband (Bob Goodale, who runs an Internet music company), she founded Wildsight Productions, using her industry contacts to get her company off the ground. At that time, there were relatively few public arenas for voicing a pro-animal perspective, but the Public Broadcasting Service was receptive to her ideas and liked the way she drew parallels between human and animal lives. "Growing up in a rural area, I’ve always felt that animals were just like me," Deborah says, "and I remember being shocked when I first found out that not everyone thinks that way. I want to create a sense of empathy for the challenges that animals face every day."

Ever the optimist, Deborah feels that people are essentially good at heart but that many of us just don’t know how to take action on matters of importance. As a result, a key component of her work is providing her audience with the information needed to make informed decisions, often by challenging common assumptions about the creatures with which we share the earth.

And Deborah also makes a point of offering her viewers opportunities for further action. She likes her films to highlight the activities of motivated people who, like Shirley, show how proactive and persistent work on behalf of animals can really be effective. And Deborah feels that the message is finally beginning to get out: people are starting to understand how dependent we are on the environment and how important it is to respect this relationship. "I have faith in people and in the world’s natural harmony," she says. "I think it’s important never to give up hope."

Encountering animals worldwide

Over the years she has had many opportunities to travel around the world, encountering animals for both business and pleasure. (In India she and her husband had fruit regularly robbed from their room by a mysterious thief-until they walked in one day on a monkey making his breakfast selection.) But she always returns to New York City, where she is currently investigating other ways to use technology-like the Internet-to promote an animal-friendly worldview.

One of Deborah’s favorite places is Central Park, where she has recently taken up birding. Once she suddenly found herself standing not ten feet away from Pale Male, a red-tailed hawk who, with his mate, has fledged numerous chicks from their nest overlooking Central Park and has become a cult figure to many NYC birders. "I love bird watching in Central Park," she says. "It’s a great way to feel connected to the natural world. It gives me a sense of peace and hope."