Roger A. Caras (May 28, 1928-February 18, 2001) was an American wildlife photographer, writer, wildlife preservationist and television personality.
Known as the host of the annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, Caras was a veteran of network television programs including “Nightline,” “ABC News Tonight” and 20/20 before devoting himself to work as president of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and to becoming an author.
Born May 28, 1928, in the rural town of Methuen, Massachusetts, Caras was raised in a family that encouraged love of animals. His parents allowed him to foster a menagerie of pets and during the Depression he went to work at the age of 10 to help pay for his pets’ upkeep. He first job, working in the stables of a SPCA shelter, was his first experience with animal rescue in the shelter’s haven for abused horses. He completed his education at Boston’s Huntington Preparatory School and immediately enlisted in the U.S. Army near the end of World War II.
Caras returned to Boston after his tour of duty and then enrolled as a zoology major at Northwestern University. In 1950, he transferred to Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, but interrupted his education for military service again, this time in the Korean War from 1950 to 1952.
Career
Caras returned to civilian life as a West Coast resident, attending the University of Southern California where he earned a degree, not in zoology, but in cinema, and stepped from academic life to executive-level work in the motion picture industry. During 15 years in the film world, Caras held a number of assignments, including serving as press secretary for actress Joan Crawford, and a three-year assignment as an aide-de-camp to Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick on the science fiction epic A Space Odyssey. During his Hollywood years, Caras also launched his writing career, contributing articles on animal and environmental issues to such periodicals as “Audubon” and publishing his first book, “Antarctica: Land of Frozen Time,” in 1962.
In 1964, Caras made his broadcasting debut on the NBC-syndicated program The Today Show, spending nearly a decade as the program’s “house naturalist.” His skills in broadcasting, research, biology, and zoology led to his acceptance as one of the media’s best-regarded animal authorities. He was sought out by the Walt Disney conglomerate as a consultant on their Florida Animal Kingdom park.
Acting as a special correspondent, Caras reported from around the globe on a variety of animal and environmental issues that ranged from exposes on laboratory animals to the plight of the endangered Giant Panda in China and to investigation of the black market commerce in exotic animals and poaching.
Caras spent from 1975 to 1992 as a regularly featured reporter on “ABC News with Peter Jennings,” as well as contributing to “Nightline,” “20/20,” and “Good Morning America.” He also hosted radio programs, including “Pets and Wildlife” on CBS, “Report from the World of Animals” on NBC and the ABC series “The Living World.”
Caras earned countless awards for his work, from honorary degrees to an Emmy Award for his reporting. His books include “The Bond” and his last book, “Going for the Blue: Inside the World of Show Dogs and Dog Shows” that was published in time for the 2001 Westminster competition.
Caras’s tireless work with and on behalf of animals led to his 1991 election as the 14th president of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the oldest humane treatment of animals organization in the United States. During his tenure, the ASPCA expanded its care, protection and education programs, and adopted a number of internal practices to improve its work. Caras retired in 1999 and became president emeritus, acting as a consultant and public speaker for the organization.
Death and afterward
Caras made his home in Freeland, Baltimore County, Maryland, where he and his wife, Jill Langdon Barclay, maintained a farm that became home for a variety of animals. As of 2001, Caras was sharing his farm with 12 dogs, nine cats, five horses, two cows, a pair of alpacas and a llama. After his death, his wife, son Dr. Barclay Caras, and daughter, Pamela Caras, requested that people wishing to honor his memory donate memorial contributions to the ASPCA in his name.
Antarctica; land of frozen time. With special charts by A. Peter Ianuzzi. 1962
Dangerous to man; wild animals: a definitive study of their reputed dangers to man, by Roger A. Caras. 1964
Wings of gold: the story of United States naval aviation, by Roger A. Caras. 1965
Custer Wolf; biography of an American renegade, by Roger A. Caras. Illustrated by Charles Fracé. 1966
Last chance on earth; a requiem for wildlife, by Roger A. Caras. Illustrated by Charles Fracé. 1966
Loup blanc de Custer, roman [par] Roger Caras. [Traduit de l'américain par Yves Braínville.] 1967
North American mammals; fur-bearing animals of the United States and Canada, by Roger A. Caras. 1967
Sarang: the story of a Bengal tiger and of two children in search of a miracle, a novel, by Roger A. Caras. 1968
Monarch of Deadman Bay; the life and death of a Kodiak bear, by Roger A. Caras. 1969
Animal children, edited by Rober Caras. Foreword by Roger Tory Peterson. 1970
Panther! By Roger Caras. Illus. by Charles Fracé. 1970
Source of the thunder; the biography of a California condor, by Roger Caras. Illus. by Charles Fracé. Foreword by Roland C. Clement. 1970
Vanishing wildlife, edited by Roger Caras. Foreword by Roger Tory Peterson. 1970
Animal architecture. Edited by Roger Caras. Foreword by Roger Tory Peterson. 1971
Birds in flight. Edited by Roger Caras. Foreword by Roger Tory Peterson. 1971
Death as a way of life [by] Roger A. Caras. 1971
Animal courtships. Edited by Roger Caras. Foreword by Roger Tory Peterson. 1972
Boundary: land and sea. Edited by Roger Caras. Foreword by Roger Tory Peterson. 1972
Creatures of the night. Edited by Roger Caras. Foreword by Roger Tory Peterson. 1972
Last chance on earth; a requiem for wildlife, by Roger A. Caras. Illustrated by Charles Fracé. New pref. by the author. 1972
Protective coloration and mimicry; nature's camouflage. Edited by Roger Caras. Foreword by Roger Tory Peterson. 1972
Going to the zoo with Roger Caras, by Roger Caras. Illustrated by Cyrille R. Gentry. Foreword by William G. Conway. 1973
Wonderful world of mammals; adventuring with stamps, by Roger Caras. 1973
Bizarre animals / by Roger Caras ; foreword by Roger Tory Peterson. 1974
North American mammals : fur-bearing animals of the United States and Canada / by Roger A. Caras. 1974
Private lives of animals. Commentary by Roger Caras. Design and coordination by Massimo Vignelli and Gudrun Buettner. Assembled and edited by Milton Rugoff and Ann Guilfoyle. 1974
Venomous animals / by Roger Caras ; foreword by Roger Tory Peterson. 1974
Venomous animals of the world [by] Roger Caras. 1974
Dangerous to man : the definitive story of wildlife's reputed dangers / Roger A. Caras. 1975
Sockeye : the life of a Pacific salmon / by Roger Caras. 1975
Zoo in your room / Roger Caras ; ill. by Pamela Johnson. 1975
Roger Caras pet book / Roger A. Caras. 1976
Skunk for a day / Roger Caras ; pictures by Diane Paterson. 1976
Pet medicine : health care and first aid for all household pets / by Roger Caras ... [et al.] ; with ill. by Suzanne Clee ; designed by Barbara Bell Pitnof. 1977
Coyote for a day / Roger Caras ; illustrated by Diane Paterson. 1977
Monarch of Deadman Bay : the life and death of a Kodiak bear / by Roger Caras ; ill. by Charles Fracé. 1977
Panther! / by Roger Caras ; ill. by Charles Fracé. 1977
Source of the thunder : the biography of a California condor / by Roger Caras ; ill. by Charles Fracé ; foreword by Roland C. Clement. 1977
Dog owner's Bible / editor, Roger A. Caras ; special assistant editor, Donald L. Wall ... [et al.]. 1978
Custer Wolf : biography of an American renegade / by Roger A. Caras ; introd. by Gerald Durrell ; illustrated by Charles Fracé. 1979
Dogs : records, stars, feats, and facts / Roger Caras and Pamela C. Graham. 1979
Forest / Roger Caras ; ill. by Norman Arlott. 1979
Mysteries of nature, explained and unexplained / by Roger Caras. 1979
Yankee : the inside story of a champion bloodhound / Roger A. Caras. 1979
Amiable little beasts : investigating the lives of young animals / conceived and edited by Ann Guilfoyle ; text by Roger A. Caras and Steve Graham. 1980
Forest / Roger Caras ; ill. by Norman Arlott. 1980
Roger Caras dog book / photos. by Alton Anderson. 1980
Celebration of dogs / Roger Caras. 1982
Celebration of dogs / Roger Caras. 1984
Harper's illustrated handbook of cats / health care section by Robert W. Kirk ; edited by Roger Caras ; with photographs by Richard J. Katris and Nancy Katris. 1985
Harper's illustrated handbook of dogs / health care section by Robert W. Kirk ; edited by Roger Caras ; with photographs by John L. Ashby. 1985
Endless migrations / Roger Caras ; illustrations by Kimio Honda. 1985
Mara Simba : the African lion / Roger Caras. 1985
Celebration of cats / Roger A. Caras. 1986
Roger Caras' treasury of great cat stories. 1987
Roger Caras' treasury of great dog stories. 1987
Animals in their places : tales from the natural world / Roger A. Caras. 1987
Private lives of animals / commentary by Roger Caras. 1987
Cat is watching : a look at the way cats see us / Roger A. Caras. 1989
Animal families of the wild : animal stories / by Roger Caras ... [et al.] ; edited by William F. Russell ; with art by John Butler. 1990
Roger Caras' treasury of great horse stories. 1990
Custer wolf : biography of an American renegade / by Roger A. Caras ; illustrated by Charles Fracé. 1990
Monarch of Deadman Bay : the life and death of a Kodiak bear / by Roger A. Caras ; illustrations by Charles Fracé. 1990
Panther! / by Roger A. Caras ; illustrations by Charles Fracé. 1990
Forest / Roger Caras ; illustrations by Norman Arlott. 1991
Sarang : the story of a Bengal tiger and of two children in search of a miracle : a novel / by Roger A. Caras. 1991
Source of the thunder : the biography of a California condor / by Roger A. Caras ; illustrations by Charles Fracé ; foreword by Roland C. Clement. 1991
Cats at work / Rhonda Gray and Stephen T. Robinson ; commentary by Roger Caras ; commissioned photography by Guy Powers. 1991
Custer wolf [sound recording] / by Roger A. Caras. 1992
Dog is listening : the way some of our closest friends view us / Roger A. Caras. 1992
Roger Caras dog book / Roger Caras ; photographs by Alton Anderson. 1992
Roger Caras' treasury of classic nature tales. 1992
Cats of Thistle Hill : a mostly peaceable kingdom / Roger A. Caras ; photographs by Dave and Jennifer McMichael, additional photographs by Mimi Vang Olsen; back cover portrait of Roger Caras by Ian Hornak. 1994
World full of animals : the Roger Caras story / by Roger Caras. 1994
Field guide to venomous animals and poisonous plants, North America, north of Mexico / Steven Foster and Roger A. Caras. 1994
Most dangerous journey : the life of an African elephant / Roger A. Caras, with photographs by the author. 1995
Perfect harmony : the intertwining lives of animals and humans throughout history / Roger A. Caras. 1996 *Roger Caras dog book / Roger Caras ; principal photography by Alton Anderson. 1996
New Roger Caras treasury of great cat stories. 1997
Bond : people and their animals / essays by Roger Caras ; photographs by Shel Secunda. 1997
Cat is watching : a look at the way cats see us / Roger A. Cars. 1997
Dog is listening : the way some of our closest friends view us / Roger A. Caras. 1998
New Roger Caras treasury of great dog stories. 1999
New Roger Caras treasury of great horse stories. 1999
Roger Caras' treasury of great fishing stories. 1999
Going for the blue : inside the world of show dogs and dog shows / by Roger A. Caras. 2001
