Ed Stewart is the heroic director and cofounder of the 2200-acre GFAS-accredited Performing Animal Welfare Society in San Andreas, California. PAWS is home to elephants who have been rescued from circuses, tigers who have been rescued from abusive owners, a number of other animals — and a special bear named Ben. Ed and I bonded in 2012 during a cross-country FedEx flight with Ben, a 600-pound bear PETA had rescued from a roadside zoo in North Carolina. My conversation with Ed takes us through the stranger-than-fiction life of an exotic animal advocate and expert — and I hear for the first time that the makers of Tiger King interviewed Ed, but decided not to include his expert commentary in the reality show. As always, our talk is real and raw.