Our Wild World

Today we’ll be discussing how our USFish & Wildlife Service is involved in saving African and Asian Elephants, with special guests Deputy Chief of Law Enforcement Edward Grace ; The Chief of Near East. South Asia and Africa Division of International Conservation, Richard Ruggiero; and African Elephant Program Specialist Michelle Gadd. We will have an informative and frank conversation and dialogue about the November 14th, USFW Ivory Crush, the decimation to our wild world’s wildlife with focus on elephants, and how our USFW law enforcement works with the US and abroad to stop wildlife crime and international trafficking, particularly of our mega-fauna- elephants, rhino, tigers along with the less well known facts about just how insidious wildlife crime and trafficking has become globally. You will find image and video links on WildiZe Facebook page, #ivory on twitter, and visit http://www.fws.gov/endangered/

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has just announced a final ruling that classifies all chimpanzees, both wild and captive, as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). What we have finally realized is that our best efforts of the past were not enough and Chimpanzees are but a single example of this widespread problem, and hopes are that this will pave the way for other species both wild and captive. Dr. Stephen Ross has two decades of experience studying primate behavior, and is Director of the Lester E. Fisher Center for the Study and Conservation of Apes, Lincoln Park Zoo. His primary focus is measuring and improving the welfare of all chimpanzees by assessing housing and management of chimps in captivity and private ownership. Steve’s knowledge was essential in the design of Lincoln Park Zoo ape habitat, and culminated in 2009

We humans are not the only species with complex communications or awareness of self and others. Elephants are highly cognitive and communicate not only through and sounds that we can hear, but through sounds that we cannot hear and through gestures. Joyce Poole of ElephantVoices has been deciphering their language through documenting, recording and photographing their society and movements for more than thirty years. Individual elephants not only know each other’s voices but they also recognize ours. They know we’re here. And while we continue to use and abuse them in captivity for our amusement, we have barely evolved to provide them with proper sanctuary and security whilst in our custody, nor can we curb our appetites to stop the massive trade for their ivory and their young for our entertainment. Elephants have survived life on earth for eons, but are no longer safe in the wild. The only question that remains is: Will they survive us?

Every single day In South Africa two to three captive bred or tame lions are killed in canned hunts under the guise of conservation, research and education. With the launch of Blood Lions, a hard hitting documentary exposing the underbelly of the lucrative and growing industry of lion farming, its undercurrents of brutality, questionable ethics of a moral vacuum filled by greed and self-importance of those who derive pleasure in the taking of life. My guest, acclaimed environmental reporter and safari guide, Ian Michler, has been following the story of industrialized lion farming and canned hunts since 1999, and today shares discoveries from his journey: from cub petting, volunteer recruitment and lion walking, to the canned hunt all the way to the end of the lion, and further links to the booming lion bone trade. Timely, courageous and giving voice to the voiceless wild, Blood Lions is also deeply disturbing in what it says about us. www.bloodlions.org

Selling off wildlife to the highest bidders where in the end both wildlife and Zimbabwe losing the balance point between ‘if it pays it stays’ eco-tourism in living landscapes where whole communities benefit from live wildlife, and ‘if it pays it plays’ consumptive utilization model, where only a few benefit from killing or exporting it for profit and entertainment, While still calling it conservation. Right now, Zimbabwe is on the global hot seat. From the silent screams of wild caught baby elephants exported to Chinese zoos, to the global outrage from the killing of a lion named Cecil. My guest Johnny Rodrigues founder of Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, who first reported the capture of 24 wild caught baby elephants and the death of Cecil, we bring the focus back to the larger mission getting lost in sensational headlines: Global efforts by many to make a living out of living with live wildlife. http://www.zctfofficialsite.org

We are deeply manipulating the earth’s landscapes and removing wild places. Like no other time in human history, we must wholly delve into the impacts we have had on the biological world that gives us life. We have created an unsustainable model and 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, we are coming face to face with the unintended consequences of our version and definition of Sustainable Utilization. With this loss of respect and responsibility, we are playing deadly games with the lives and livelihoods and inhabitants of our last remaining wild places under a misguided onslaught of sustained abuse. We are and will be, the catalyst and future of change. The question is, will we be the one’s to embraces life, or, the ones who embrace only ourselves at the loss and cost and loss of all-else?

It may sound simple, but it is highly complex and fluid. A lifetime of experience and knowledge from Kenya, the African contintent and elsewhere, Danny understands the challenges, problems and needs of both wildlife and people. From KWS Sr. Warden to international consultant, he has been involved in every aspect of management- from flying to anti-poaching to community outreach. Danny is one of the few people today who knows the Greater Tsavo Ecosystem like the back of his hand; its life-threatening dangers, its beauty and potential, and the looming challenges facing wildlife today. Contempory wildlife security and solutions requires understandng politics, policies, and the realites on the ground- from immense pressures and threats facing ecosystems to the linked components of residents, wildlife, natural resources and tourism overlaid upon a modern landscape of increased human density to increased local and national development.

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.

The recent scandalous headlines out of Zimbabwe and 24 baby elephants are,by example, galvanizing the world toward a re-evaluating what wildlife management means. Will we leave behind post-neo-conservation-colonialism, long suffering despotism, politics of the stomach and killing wildlife for entertainment toward progressive,creative, multi-layered, multi-national approaches toward co-existence and economic independence from entrenched interests? We are on the threshold of securing the survival of wildlife rich bio-diverse landscapes across the last remaining footholds for viable wild free roaming populations of priceless and iconic species. Will one singular species out of millions diminish all life into profit margins, or will we be the paradigm shift: From politics of the stomach to an all-encompassing State of the Earth, and thereby the pivot point for the foreseeable future and life as we know it? Humanity evolves; it may as well be us, now, toward future we can live with.

Zimbabwe: Wildlife and mineral rich, home to one of the Seven Wonders of the World and World Heritage Site. My guest Nick Lynch an I discuss how, once a model of progressive management between Old and New Africa, Zimbabwe now daily symbolizes egregious cronyism and greed running rampant. The dubious murky dealings of 24 baby elephants taken from the wild for live-export to an ivory hungry China has roused national and international headlines of inept and failing wildlife policies management in favor of vested private interests and conflicting ideals. Opportunity knocks. Will Zimbabwe be the forerunner of catastrophe, or will it be a catalyst for reform, raising the bar of how we value life- of what, who and how we define ‘trade’ and ‘benefit’ of endemic, priceless and iconic wildlife and lead the way toward a new independence from looting a country’s coffers and citizens in favor of the peculiarly human penchant of commodifying nature- anything and everything can be had for a price.

In the brief time scale since humans have occupied Earth we’ve managed to from interrupt climate and tip the scales of species loss and extinctions. It is this ‘model’ of Western civilization, led by the technological society, and its rain forest felling, atmospheric carbonization, and oceanic acidifying temper, that has upturned the planet’s normal metabolism. It is said we have until 2020 to turn things around. The Paris conference on climate change next year must be the definitive statement on changing course. The question remains: Will the business mind of bigger is better prevail, or will the earth’s tired and poor and pullulating masses of seven billion and still counting, be able to convince the 1 percent that the earth has a fever, and that humanity, as a whole, needs heart surgery.

Big cats in captivity can be found everywhere. From Las Vegas to shopping malls, to roadside zoos, and even in backyards and basements. There is a captive wildlife crisis and Pat Craig of The Wild Animal Sanctuary spends his life changing this. Not bred for the bullet, but in horrific circumstances none-the-less, law and licensing doesn’t always guarantee proper or humane treatment of animals and the entire captive wildlife industry stands divided by ethical views. The most effective way to attain positive captive wildlife management is through an educated public and the subsequent social pressure they will apply. Pat educates us on the nuts and bolts of what rescue involves. How are rescued animals from diverse situations introduced to one another? How do you ensure their security? What happens behind the scenes for an animal coming from a life of horror into one with dignity? Education is knowledge... and this knowledge saves lives.

In a world inundated with captive bred African lions, why are we losing wild lions in Africa? With successful foreign bans against import of lion trophy and products, airline embargos, and bans of lions in circuses and performing entities - combined with the global push for USFW to list African Lions as endangered under the ESA, will we turn the tide for lions? Or will the illegal trade and pressure from moneyed private interests in S. Africa, the NRA, SCI and DSC to obfuscate collective data on real wild lion numbers and their decline? The African Lion's genetic diversity is collapsing; isolated populations reaching the tipping point toward extinction. The immensity of this catastrophe is simply unacceptable. To fail to use all the science, data and tools that we have at our fingertips to work out a global plan to protect African lions in Africa, would deal a disastrous blow in a long list of failures to keep natural populations of large predators alive in a human-centric world.

Throughout human history Lions have represented royalty and power and universally symbolize hope, courage and strength. Around the world Lions are heralded through art, literature to representations on flags to national emblems to sports. Like no other animal, Lions directly appeal to people spanning all ages regardless of culture, race, and national origin. My guest Pieter Kat of LionAid provides us an insight and perception into lions not only as an ancient species and how our evolution relates to them, but to their drastic population decline and our disastrous failures to protect them. Lions face entirely new sets of human related challenges, from habitat loss to this surge of industrialized captive utilization- the farming lions as a commodity for a burgeoning industry pandering to human entertainment not just recognizing their importance to us sociologically, also an apex predator and critical component of our wild world. www.lionaid.org

Through an intimate and enlightening conversation with Kevin Richardson, we learn why he is called The Lion Whisperer, but what makes Kevin exceptional is that he listens to what lions are telling us. Through his unique relationships with his lions, Kevin opens a window into the mind behind the mane. Our conversation is a unblemished view into Kevin’s own journey of passion for lions, and why he has dedicated his life to saving them and ending the industrialized farming of lions as nothing more than commodity, and exposing the dark underbelly of canned lion hunts. Manipulating nature and an iconic species for activity based “lion theme parks” by offering up-close interactions with captive hand-raised lions from cub petting to lion walking, can be treacherous for the naïve volunteer or visitor, and for the lions- a dangerous business model where nature bites back and the ultimate tragedy strikes: Death, for a person and for a lion.

Since this episode originally aired a year ago, traction from animal rights and welfare movements have certainly gained ground for exotic animals in captivity. However, in terms of large landscape-species survival plans, rights and welfare acts can create direct conflict to saving species in the wild: umbrella species and critical players in conserving large landscapes, biodiversity and ecosystems that depend upon them, where extinction of an entire species in the wild V's. an individual, would have devastating consequences. In Game Changer, by award winning environmental reporter Glen Martin, we look at this question as it applies to Africa’s megafauna, where the rising influence of the animal rights movement and animal welfare groups could paradoxically lead to their very elimination. Where our wild world's last great populations of wildlife may well be hostages in the battle between those who love them, and those who would save them.

Rewilding has long been a conservation term for connectivity and creating corridors for wildlife movement. In recent decades, it is the concept finding suitable existing habitats for species on the brink of extinction that may exist outside of where they currently live or are being extirpated. Today there is a new meaning. With Marc Bekoff, and his newest book, ‘Rewilding Our Hearts: Building Pathways of Compassion and Coexistence’. Rewilding in this sense brings us to an understanding if not to undo, at least find ways to fix what we’ve done, to transform and rehabilitate ourselves. A necessary primer and reminder for Compassion 101, not only for those who have forgotten, but a preparation for those yet to learn- how to embrace the concept of compassionate co-existence, to renew how we see ourselves, each other, and especially our wild world and all its magnificence. A pathway and to reimagine and redefine what we can believe is possible.

From Ferre Libanda we hear the voice of Namibia, one that resonates across all boundaries- the lack of elected leaders accountability and unwillingness to address the needs of diverse communities and resources in favor of the politics of the stomach, turning the progress of the past into a failure for the future through corruption, cronyism, elitism and selling out to the highest bidder, and the gap between rich and poor grows wider and deeper than ever before. From politics to conservation, young Namibians are caught in a tug-o-war between foreign puppet masters and the highest bidder. Generations of indigenous traditions, knowledge and education that favored empowerment and pride of self and benefits from their environment and wildlife is being torn asunder, falling by the wayside as Namibia crumbles under the force of market-place economics in a whole new version of a Viet-Nam war- as Asian and the West battle for Namibian resources

Responsible tourism holds a key role in the future of conserving the sensitive landscapes and endangered species we travel to experience. Jackie Magid, Director of The Bodhi Tree Foundation, is dedicated to mobilizing the travel community to engage in wildlife conservation and help communities and cultures around the globe toward preserving wildlife and habitats for future travelers to experience, while inspiring change in the areas they serve. TBTF’s groundbreaking campaign, S.A.F.E. is geared toward galvanizing the travel industry to raise awareness of the plight of Africa’s elephants by joining the traveller with working field organizations and projects around the world. Through partnerships between the travel industry, local destinations and hands on conservation projects, BodhiTree is pays it forward, bringing together adventure and experience, joining travelling and the traveler to make conservation happen.

Today, that’s the question, for we are wholly responsible for their losses. Elephants are in crisis. From the top down administrative initiatives and policy changes both nationally and internationally, to the many organizations devoted to raising awareness to projects on the ground, elephants are being given a lot of attention. Yet, they are still dying by the thousands. Today, now, all efforts to protect elephants require participation and partnerships between governments and people all over the world. This is not an African Problem but a Global Issue. My guest, Peter LaFontaine, with International Fund for Animal Welfare, and his colleagues were on Our Wild World about a year ago, and here we are again today, to bring it home: How critical all efforts are, and what you can do. We need elephants. And inexplicably, elephants need us as more than ever, for we will be deciding factor for their future