Our Wild World

The saga of the Mexican Grey Wolf is about how politics interfere in the efforts of independent scientists to recover an endangered species. With my guest David Parsons, who formerly led the USFWS efforts to reintroduce the Mexican Grey Wolf to the American Southwest in 1990-to 99, we learn how difficult it is to reintroduce a species and save it from extinction when powerful vested interests who control legislators hijack the policy process down to even the scientific modeling results for how many wolves are needed to recover the species. The problem for these wolves is that all of the critical states for reintroduction reject accepting the number of wolves necessary for true recovery. But this lack of political tolerance for wolves in our government is not reflective of the general public and is a result of a subset of society that controls our decision-makers. As David explains, we have a huge political fight ahead to save this iconic animal that once roamed by the thousands.

Join us today with special guest, investigative journalist Julian Rademeyer as we discuss his book Killing For Profit, which reads like an international thriller, but is a terrifying true story of greed, corruption, and ruthless criminal enterprise centered around the illegal trafficking of rhino horn and wildlife. This is a compelling, meticulous and revelatory account of one the worlds most secretive trades aiding in the decimation of one of our world’s unique endangered species, the Rhino. Since publication, Mr. Rademeyer attended the CITES 2013 in Bangkok, reporting first hand the human folly and convoluted international conservation policies, politics, players and loopholes which undermine the global efforts to save the rhino from extinction.

A Wild Idea: It is easy to think that conservation is something going on in places so far away and exotic that it seems unimaginable that one person could have any significant impact on the greater outcome of a child, a community or even an entire species. This is an encore of our very first episode, the goal to help folks understand and learn about the big picture of what is involved in making conservation happen, and provide a platform to engage listeners to speak up about what is important to you, and how individuals can get involved in making a difference for your life and our future as a whole through a variety of conservation challenges such as climate change, poverty and disease, along with practical tips that you can implement at home in living with and enjoying the wildlife in your back yard. We want you to participate in Our Wild World. Since 2012 this podcast has provided expert outlooks of where we've been, and where we need to be, as we enter into this new year of 2021

Botswana Predator Conservation Trust is one of the longest running conservation research projects in Africa, and one of a handful of its caliber worldwide. Founded in 1989 as the Botswana Wild Dog Research Project, today it covers all the large carnivore species in Botswana. The goal of BPCT is to preserve Africa's large predators-African wild dog, cheetah, leopard, lion and spotted hyena-and their habitats by using scientific inquiry to better understand the behaviors and communication systems of these animals. Strengthening the links between conservation and environmental issues to decision-making processes - the Government of Botswana acknowledges that appropriate and necessary resource management must have accurate information about its natural resources, and has entrusted BPCT with the task of leading northern Botswana’s conservation and research initiatives on all large carnivores and their associated habitats.

With special guest Professor Emeritus Marc Bekoff, we will discuss that increasing our compassionate footprint will improve our overall relationship to animals and our earth, thus also improve conservation outcomes. As our species causes deep and enduring pain all over our amazing planet, there is growing evidence that we need to ask ourselves how other animals feel about the loss of their homes. Solid science now tells us they suffer as we do without a safe and peaceful place to live, thrive, and survive. Compassionate conservation is concerned with the humane treatment and welfare of animals within the framework of traditional conservation biology, finding a way through polarization between those interested in animal protection and those interested in conservation. Compassion for animals should be fundamental for conservation as poor conservation outcomes are often consistent with the mistreatment of animals.

With this rebroadcast from 2015, we see so many parallels, as so many is global crises converge. My guest, clinical social worker, Philip Tedeschi, Denver University, Institute for Human Animal Connection (IHAC) provides real-world situations for graduate students and continuing programs and presentations to the public, which offer solutions that provide for healthy avenues to recognize challenges, and grow the social skills for youth and adults to clearly understand the relationships and benefits between humans and non-human animals. and the significance of living systems and animals in human health and wellness, specific animal welfare and conservation activity, research, education.

Are conserving wildlife and protecting animals the same thing? Award winning environmental reporter, Glen Martin, guides us as this question applies to Africa's mega fauna. Conservation planning of large landscapes and species survival includes the cascades of biodiversity that depend upon them. Animal rights, animal activists, and animal welfare consider each individual life as critical, and that none should die because of us. Animal rights restrictions present a challenging paradox for making long-term species survival and large landscape conservation, workable. Through one-on-one conversations with legendary figures throughout Africa’s game management history in wildlife rich range states from E Africa to S.West Africa, Glen's book “Game Changer” originally aired here in 2014 vividly demonstrates even 6 years on, how our world's last great populations of wildlife are hostages in the battle between those who love them, those who kill them and those who want to save them.

We have deeply manipulated the earth’s landscapes and wild places like no other time in human history, and we are now wholly facing the impacts we've forced upon the biological world that gives us life. Our 'use' model has proven to be unsustainable yet we are still being duped by this veneer of ‘successes’, which has no realistic basis on the capacity of our resources, our earth to sustain life as we know it. Across Africa and the world, we have come face to face with the unintended consequences of our version and definition of Sustainable Utilization. Our loss of respect and responsibility for our environment have unleashed deadly consequences under an onslaught of sustained abuse. In this rebroadcast with Pieter Kat from 2015- it is evident, we are the catalysts of where will will be for the future. The question is, what will we do to get out of this mess?

The dangers of global wildlife trafficking have made global headlines. From an obscure wildlife wet market in Wuhan China, a frightening message jumped from the wild and right into a global pandemic crisis: COVID-19, a new zoonotic virus highly contagious to humans.My guest Dr. Peter Li specializes in Northeast Asian security, U.S.-China relations; China’s environmental governance and animal welfare politics of the People’s Republic of China. Dr Li’s decades of work highlight the direct relationship between income, social status and the importance of meat consumption to the Chinese consumer. China has become the world’s largest animal farming nation- from captive bred wildlife farms to large scale breeding of pork, beef and chicken. The message is clear: burgeoning human populations intersecting with wildlife in novel ways requires globally enforced environmental and wildlife protection laws. Nature has secrets, and we are not prepared to lift the lid on her zoonotic pandora’s box.

Today we’re discussing civil rights, however, probably not what first comes to your mind, considering these turbulent times. With my guest Steven Wise, the founder and president of The Nonhuman Rights Project, the only civil rights organization in the United States working gain legally recognized and fundamental rights for nonhuman animals in the courtroom. One by one, these cases of law of personhood are gaining a groundswell of movement, a paradigm shift of how we interact and perceive the other earthlings and non-humans we live amongst and with. The paradigm shift holds hope that eventually, we humans will shift our mindset to understand that earth is a person, with the full associated rights of law. We humans have given ‘personhood’ to corporations, which may be at the bottom of these entities breaking her apart for sheer economic gains. With these cases one by one, NhRP activism globally builds the human mindset that all life on earth has basic civil rights

Today we talk with John Platt and Tara Lohan, with the Revelator, a publication under the Center for Biological Diversity, and the column Extinction Countdown. John and Tara highlight what stories they’ll be paying attention to in 2020, a run-down of the 2019 Extinction Countdown and what we can learn from them for the years ahead and current events which wouldn’t be complete without discussing Australia bushfires, water and consequences of EPA rollbacks and upcoming election. An award-winning environmental journalist John is the editor of The Revelator, with his work appearing in Scientific American, Audubon, Motherboard, and numerous other magazines and publications. His “Extinction Countdown” column has run continuously since 2004 and has covered news and science related to more than 1,000 endangered species. Tara Lohan is deputy editor of The Revelator and has worked for more than a decade as a digital editor and environmental journalist focused on the intersections of energy

My guest is Chris Slappendel, founder of Wildlife Advocates Foundation and administrator of the Facebook page, I Am A Tiger Advocate, a leading warehouse of all things tiger, news and articles about tigers world-wide joins me. Chris visited 24 countries where tigers once lived or still live: Russia, Afghanistan, Iran, China, Kazakhstan, South Korea Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, India and Nepal where he was interviewed more than a 100 times by journalists for TV and radio programs, to raise awareness of the horrific conditions of tigers in captivity across the globe, the increasing illegal trade in tiger parts for Traditional Chinese Medicine, and to learn the challenges wild and captive tigers face- from the people who live with tigers, and the organizations working to protect them, and those who provide sanctuary for them. Today Chris tells us his story, his passion for tigers and what advocated can do for securing a future for them.

Many environmental protection products are buried within layers upon layers of various corporate stakeholders that are distanced from the end consumer, who often gets confused and misled by competing interests in a world mostly driven by soundbites and social media. One product jumps out above others: Glyphosate- an ingredient of Roundup, who’s maker is Monsanto, who’s parent company is Bayer. Through intense lobbying and social media, well-meaning NGOs disseminate damaging misinformation about glyphosate, one of the safest herbicides ever produced, instead creates a lucrative business for anti-environmentalism at the expense of our native species. Ted Williams, renowned fish and wildlife conservation journalist, returns today to dispel myths associated with the mass hysteria surrounding glyphosate, and widen our scope of knowledge debunking the cancer myth and why glyphosate is a critical tool for wetland and fisheries restoration managers.

Our Wild World often focuses upon the charismatic and iconic species, their roles within our ecosystems, and how we relate to them. Today, with my guest Bill Rulon Miller, herpetologist and naturalist educator, we’re going to discuss one of our perhaps less charismatic species- the rattlesnake. We’re going to highlight another outmoded and inhumane behavior, Rattlesnake killing contests. These roundups as well as the history of snake bounty hunting and extermination campaigns have impacted rattlesnake populations, and how these negative impacts are leading to states reforming and regulating these hunts. Snakes, particularly the rattlesnakes, like all wildlife up and down the food chain, have important roles in our ecosystems. The changing attitude that people have had towards rattlesnakes. How this influences rattlesnake both their conservation and effects toward changing these roundups from killing to education

Life and living are processes that happen on the local scale of our bodies to the global and universal scales of adaptability and evolution. Time is both temporary and eternal, an elegant, messy, orchestrated and chaotic complex combination of cosmic, geologic, earthly, cultural individual frames of reference, whereby the clock is simply a tool of human convenience and measurement. When we embrace responsibility, accountability and ownership as actionable matters, we can realize that we have all the time we need to do what needs doing while encouraging knowledge and growth and become that we wish to be. Here we are, on the brink of never before faced challenges, we can sit still, turn our backs or soar gladly into the unprecedented opportunities to heal ourselves, our earth and live in a state of mindfulness.

“Under the bright lights, elephants perform tricks for excited humans who never wonder what happens to these massive animals after the show ends. Earnest knows.” The only things captive born elephants may ever know are zoo paddocks and circus rings. What we do know is that elephants are complex intelligent, emotive and social beings, and we know they talk to each other. Have we considered what captive born elephants might learn from their wild-born captive friends? With my guest, Debbie McFee, author of Through the Eyes of Earnest, we travel on a journey of this consideration.. that of “Earnest”, the elephant in the book who represents every elephant, we are taken on a somber but hopeful tale from an elephant’s point of view, which asks us to consider why we continue to keep such intelligent social animals in captivity when we know now, how and why we must provide for and protect them in the wild.

In the eons of time immemorial, life has eked out an existence from the fundamental ingredients of Planet Earth and it’s unique essences, our nature, our wildlife and .. us. In the few short centuries of Modern Man, earth processes have shifted by orders of magnitude, and so have ours. Whether you agree or not as to humanity’s role in these shifts is almost moot, for the point is that things have changed. That’s life, right? Life is a series of societal, cultural and personal shifts, a constant state of transition with big mile marker posts along the way. Today is a medley of thoughts and questions about our role on earth, who we are vs. who we can be, along with some of the ridiculousness that we try to sell ourselves as solutions toward navigating the challenges we face today, and whether we really are positioning ourselves in the best possible fashions for survival?

How we treat and relate to animals in captivity has everything to do with how we will protect them in the wild. Ed Stewart has dedicated his life to providing sanctuary and protection to abused, abandoned and retired performing animals and efforts to enforce the best standards of care for all captive wildlife, to the preservation of wild species and their habitat, and promoting public education about captive wildlife issues. Ed is a multi-talented and skilled man who with humor and aplomb, has carried PAWS from it’s humble beginnings, to an international organization that is shifting our human mind-set and legislation that surrounds the landscape and very human and state of affairs of how and why we humans must reevaluate our relationships to animals and curb our appetitesfor keeping wildlife in captivity. I would like to greatly thank Ed and PAWS for opening my eyes to the critical issues discussed at the 30th Annual Conference.

In late 2014, approx. 33 young elephant calves were forcefully taken from the wild in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe. Zim is a signatory to CITES, and Zim Authorities stated that this capture complied with CITES regulations. A group of concerned Zimbabwean citizens state this was not the case, and in contravention under Zimbabwean National Law, The Prevention of Cruelty Act. Animal Welfare Inspectors were denied access to these animals at all stages of the capture, the holding area, and their transfer to China in July 2015. My guest Jane High navigates us through these facts and further, with regard to already ongoing future planned exports of more wild young elephants. With this this breach of National Law, it has become apparent that ZIMPARKS has dealt a itself a mortal blow against effectively defending itself against accusations from the national and international communities.

Despite the big win for elephants at CITES in August: No more trade in live elephants outside of Africa; a loophole the size of Zimbabwe and China opened due to the critical caveat the EU added as a condition to supporting the ruling - “unless in an emergency or exceptional case” – allowing for the most recent sale and shipment of 32 baby elephants from Zimbabwe to China, for lives in captivity in “inappropriate destinations” as entertainment in super-sized theme parks. Meanwhile, why did the CITES Secretary-General take a publicly partisan response to this violation? With my guest Adam Cruise, internationally renowned journalist and editor of Journal of African Elephants, along with host Eli Weiss, who have been reporting on this issue since 2011, we break down what’s still happening to elephants and how to light the fire of change. We may not be able to repatriate the Zim Eles, but we can ensure that the price of development doesn’t fall squarely on the backs of elephants.