Defender Radio: The Podcast For Wildlife Advocates And Animal Lovers

Ninety-one percent of people in British Columbia oppose the trophy hunting of grizzly bears, from all demographics and geographic regions. Economic studies have shown that grizzly bear viewing is the future of ecotourism in British Columbia, significantly outperforming the guided hunts. And First Nations people – on whose traditional land many of the hunts take place – are condemning a government that ignores their wishes. But still, the hunt goes on. And those who lobby for this bloody activity have a new opponent to facedown: LUSH Cosmetics. The ethical business that has supported many social and environmental causes around the world – including The Fur-Bearers’ #MakeFurHistory campaign – have entered the ring with plans for a knockout punch. Trophy, a documentary presented by LUSH with the vision of their in-house director Inder Nirwan, looks at the issue of grizzly bear trophy hunting across North America, and asks the ultimate question: can we truly justify killing these animals for sport? On this week’s

The status of wolves is a contentious subject these days. Between myths and fact, depredation and trophic cascades, it seems that every opinion is equally right, and wrong. It only follows that when it comes to making policy about wolves, that paradox would follow. A perfect example of this comes from Ontario, where the newly-identified Algonquin Wolf was given threatened status over summer. The genetically unique subspecies of wolf already received protection in Algonquin Provincial Park – but due to the Algonquin wolf’s status, a review of additional protections was in order. On the table for review was a plan to prohibit trapping and hunting in various management units of all wolves, including the not-threatened grey wolf, and coyotes, which can be so morphologically like the Algonquin wolf, only DNA can differentiate the species. Ultimately, no one was really happy with the government’s decision, including the researcher who spoke with Defender Radio. Hannah Barron, Director of Wildlife Conservation Campa

It seems that much of society has lost its grip on what words like facts or theories actually mean, and how they should and shouldn’t be used. It becomes particularly concerning, however, when these words get used incorrectly in popular media or in discussions about policy affecting wildlife and the environment. Even amongst advocates we see misuse of scientific terms, or arguments that aren’t as strong as they could be due to an inability to properly engage the scientific community. Fortunately, education is always possible, and that’s why Defender Radio connected with Biologist and doctoral candidate Kyle Artelle to review the bear (get it?) facts of the scientific method.

Though it has been a rough week for animal advocates, I’m very pleased to be starting this new season with a message of hope. On Wednesday, October 5, Bill C-246 - the Modernizing Animal Protections Act – was defeated in the federal House of Commons. The private members bill, which was put forward by Toronto-area MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, would have updated the criminal code as it relates to bestiality and animal cruelty, banned the importation of shark fins, prohibited the importation and sale of dog and cat fur, and require all fur products to be labelled. Most animal advocates – and many MPs – saw this as a common sense update to outdated laws. Despite widespread support, the bill was stopped at its second reading – the second phase of a private members’ bill. Parliamentarians voted down the forward progress of the legislation by a margin of 198 to 84, with a number of Liberals and all but one Conservative member saying nay. Though his bill was defeated, Nathaniel Erskine-Smith remains hopeful that Canad

The word science is often used as a shield when discussing wildlife policies, particularly management of predators in relation to depredation. Whether it’s governments, lobbyists for hunters and trappers, or even some wildlife protection advocates, the word can get flung around so much you’d think there’s an endless well of studies on the subject. But there’s a surprisingly small amount of reliable research available – and much of what has been published in journals has significant flaws. That means that, to paraphrase the title of the study we’re discussing today, wildlife management becomes a shot in the dark. Dr. Adrian Treves of the Carnivore Coexistence Lab, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, along with his coauthors, published a study earlier this month in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment that looks at the existing science on this subject. Titled Predator Management Should Not Be a Shot in the Dark, Treves and his team reviewed the maj

When it comes to skunks, most of us have one of two images in our head. The first is the stinky animal we avoid at all costs. The other… well, the other is a little unrealistic. The striped predators are surprisingly charming, playful, and loving animals – from a distance. And as a common fur-bearer in urban areas, they can often end up getting into trouble. Fortunately, there are wildlife rehabilitators like the Wildlife Rescue Association in Burnaby, British Columbia, who are always ready to leap into action to help critters that find themselves injured due to human activity. And to tell us more about skunks – and some of the issues they face this time of year – we were joined by Janelle Vandeerbeek of the WRA.

Woodland caribou aren’t doing too well in Alberta. Two herds specifically, those in the Little Smoky and A La Peche ranges, are at risk of extirpation, or local extinction. Under federal endangered species legislation, Alberta is required to take action. Sadly, this has put wolves in the crosshairs of poor policy and planning. Recently, a proposal that would lengthen the campaign of wolf killing in an unscientific attempt to prevent losses to the herds, as well as ignore critical changes to habitat through resource exploitation, was fought by a group of wildlife advocates, headed by Wolf Awareness Inc. To discuss the natural history of Alberta’s wolves, the potentially disastrous proposal being considered by the province, and what wolf lovers around the world can do to stop it, Defender Radio was joined by Sadie Parr, executive director of Wolf Awareness Inc.

The provincial park is home to the Eastern wolf – now often referred to as Algonquin Wolves. These wolves are considered a threatened species and, within the park and a buffer zone, receive protections from hunting and trapping. Given the difficulty in identifying an Algonquin wolf from a coyote or a mix of the two, these protections extend to the similar looking canids. But studies are showing that as soon as the wolves leave these protective enclaves, be it chasing prey or searching for new territories, they quickly become victims of hunters and trappers. Can select areas of protection truly help restore the Algonquin wolf’s population to healthy levels, or will connected buffers and larger areas of land be necessary? To talk about the situation facing the Algonquin wolf – as well as Ontario’s coyotes, Defender Radio was joined by Hannah Barron, Director of Wildlife Conservation Campaigns for Earthroots.

Across BC’s vast landscape is over 14 million hectares of protected lands and provincial parks. Tourists from around the world flock to these beautiful, picturesque destinations, bringing hundreds of millions of dollars to the economy. And there are only seven people to protect it all. The Wilderness Committee, a BC-based NGO recently sent out a press release that outlined the dire straights of the BC Parks ranger program, noting that there are fewer park rangers than there are critically endangered spotted owls left in the province. To discuss what this means, what the consequences truly are, and how the public can help rescue the rangers, Defender Radio was joined by Gwen Barlee of The Wilderness Committee.

As many as 30 Vancouver Island Marmots are presumed dead after their embedded transmitters failed to activate following their hibernation this spring. The Vancouver-area media picked up on this story and made it national news – after all, people in the area have loved them for years. But for the rest of Canada, the coverage of 30 missing rodents left us scratching our heads. What are Vancouver Island Marmots? Why are people so interested in them? What makes them different from other marmots all across the country? And what difference would it make if they lived on Vancouver Island or not? To get answers to these questions and many more, Defender Radio was joined by Adam Taylor, Executive Director of The Marmot Recovery Foundation.

From Stubby, the highly decorated canine soldier in World War One, to Pete the Pup, who tagged along with the Little Rascals, pit bull like dogs were once a loyal friend and family pet. But due to media sensationalism, reactionary politics, and crippling bias, they are being outlawed and ostracized. Recently, communities within Quebec and La Belle Province itself have proposed numerous actions they say will protect citizens from dangerous dogs – but most of these actions are simply breed specific legislation. Defender Radio was today joined by two special guests – Anita Kapuscinska of the Montreal SPCA to speak about legislation in Quebec, and Dr. Karen Overall, a veterinary specialist and researcher, to discuss myths and facts about dogs and pit bull-like dogs around the world.

We began to tentatively celebrate when earlier this month the Auditor General of British Columbia revealed there would be an investigation into the trophy hunting of grizzly bears. The exact notification, found on the AG website, read the investigation would be to, “determine if the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations are effectively managing the grizzly bear population in BC.” The announcement is a result of the AG’s office seeing a peer-reviewed study conducted by our friends at Raincoast Conservation Foundation on the matter of uncertainty in the wildlife policy as it existed in 2013. With support from the Victoria Environmental Law Centre and the David Suzuki Foundation, the study got the attention it deserves – and now we await the results of the investigation. But what, exactly, did that study say? What is uncertainty in the science of ecology, and how does it – or should it – influence wildlife management policy? To answer these questions and walk

When the words ‘animal sentience’ and ‘Alberta’ popped up in The Fur-Bearers’ news feeds, we had an office full of cartoonish double-takes. It was revealed last week that the NDP government in the bluest province of the nation is looking to improve their animal welfare standards – and among the changes, there’s indications that they may incorporate laws that recognize non-human animals as sentient beings. This is a move that Quebec made last year, and other governments around the world have considered or implemented. But Alberta is also the largest livestock producer, and is home to one of the largest annual rodeos in the world. They’re recognized as Canada’s old west, oil-centric, Conservative stronghold. What could animal sentience in Alberta possibly look like? To find out, Defender Radio connected with Animal Justice executive director and legal expert Camille Labchuk.

It’s been a bad few weeks for zoo animals in North America. Harambe, a silverback gorilla in the Cincinnatti Zoo, was shot to death after a young child found his way into the large primate’s enclosure. Rebel, a gray wolf at a Wisconsin Zoo, was killed so he could be tested for rabies after a child was bitten on the fingers through a fence while in a restricted area. And at a small petting zoo set up for children in Ontario, animals were left without shelter or water on a sweltering summer day. As the harsh reality of life in a zoo has started settling upon the North American pop media psyche, familiar questions have started arising: do animals belong in zoos? Aren’t zoos helping conserve endangered species? How else will children learn about animals? We don’t have the answers to all of these questions – only more questions, really. But to help us ask them of ourselves, and to explain what we can do to improve the lives of animals in zoos, Defender Radio was joined by children’s book author and head of non-pro

We know that grizzly bears love fish. We know that grizzly bears can come into conflict with people and infrastructure. And now, thanks to researchers at Raincoast Conservation Foundation, we know how those two facts are tied together. Earlier this month, Raincoast published their study, Ecology of conflict: Marine food supply affects human-wildlife interactions on land, in the journal Scientific Reports. By examining over three decades of conflict-killed grizzly reports, the researchers determined that food availability was the greatest cause of conflict – and that other factors such as hunting or population changes played a much less significant role. To discuss this study, what it means for policy decisions in the future, and why understanding how important ecological studies are to wildlife management, Defender Radio spoke with the lead author of the study Kyle Artelle, who is a biologist for Raincoast and a Hakai PhD scholar at Simon Fraser University.

Cull is a four-letter word – and that double-meaning is finally becoming more clear. For years, governments and consumptive wildlife users have argued that culls are necessary – be it for protecting game species, land, or to encourage a specific type of behaviour from hunters and trappers. But science, advocates, and, it seems, even government reports, indicate that these culls are so ineffective that in some cases their effect is a complete 180 from the intended result. This week, Defender Radio connected with two people who have interesting things to say about culls. First, we’ll hear from Dr. Adrian Treves of the Carnivore Coexistence Lab in the University of Wisconsin-Madison, whose recent study has revealed that, in his test area, a cull initiated to reduce poaching of wolves actually increased the illegal hunting. We’ll also hear from Krista Roessingh of Pacific Wild, one of the groups responsible for a court action against the British Columbia government’s culling of wolves to allegedly protect endange

Do compassion and city politics go together? Can we really expect local politicians to do what’s right for the animals, and still balance their duties to their constituents, who the see every day? If you’re Valerie Burke, you find a way. The City Councillor from Markham has successfully advocated for wildlife in her constituency – including supporting an initiative launched by The Fur-Bearers last year to asking fast food franchises to change the dome lids on beverage containers that have proven disastrous for animals like skunks. To introduce The Fur-Bearers to the City of Markham and her wildlife advocacy as a politician, Councillor Burke recently joined Defender Radio.

The wildfires in Fort McMurray this week have destroyed homes and ways of life. And as residents fled as part of mandatory evacuations, the question lingers for everyone watching: will life ever be the same again? There is little that many of us can do to help those who have lost everything, but donate to organizations like the Red Cross or the Canadian Disaster Animal Response Team when able, and offer a consoling hug to someone in need. We can also look around our own homes at times like these, and see the many things that make our lives special – including our pets. Having plans in place for when emergency strikes is an important step for preventing tragic loss – and today we connected with two different individuals to talk about such plans. First we’ll hear from Donna Wackerbaur, a member of the Canadian Disaster Animal Response Team, who has seen firsthand the intensity of the aftermath from wildfires, and understands the need for preparation. We’ll also hear from Louise Liebenberg, a predator friendly r

In February a private members bill was introduced to the House of Commons by a rookie Liberal MP. Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, member for Beaches – East York, stood up and read, for the record, the title of his first bill: C-246. That bill passed first reading without much fanfare, but now, the Modernizing Animal Protections Act is being hotly debated across the country. From hard right conservatives who are looking for a fight to farmers with legitimate concerns, a range of criticisms has arisen about C-246, how its language on closing criminal code loopholes could impact legitimate and legal animal use, and whether or not there is even a need for such legislation. The Fur-Bearers are proud to have consulted on the fur-related portions of the bill, and were joined on Defender Radio by its author, Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, to discuss the three main components of the legislation, the far-fetched criticisms created by some conservative members, and how supporters can help protect animals by making C-246 law.

There are nearly 200 volunteer-run animal rescue organizations in British Columbia. The majority of them do not receive government funding, have little to no full-time staff, and have countless animals depending on them. But there’s hope for them all. Paws for Hope was founded five years ago in BC with a dream of creating “more sustainable animal welfare and purposeful companion animal protection” in the province. From providing infrastructure grants to helping street-involved persons or low-income families afford veterinary care, and running educational campaigns about pets to hosting compassion fatigue workshops, Paws for Hope is keeping busy. Kathy Powelson, the executive director of Paws for Hope, joined Defender Radio to explain the background of this organization, the current campaigns, and where they hope to go in the future.