Our Wild World

The core of survival has shifted from nature deciding our fate to us deciding the fate of of nature and ourselves. Where we are headed will be determined by our relationships- with each other, and with wildness. The needs of humans, and the earth are inextricably linked. The same technology that creates the solutions has caused us to be increasingly distracted. The answer is simple- co-existence or co-extinction. The question is, what will we choose

Join special guest, Dr. Kathleen Alexander PhD, DVM of CARACAL Biodiversity Center, Botswana and Associate Professor, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Conservation, Virginia Tech who has been selected as one of three, African regional experts by World Health Organization and the Convention on Biological Diversity secretariat to participate in a regional workshop in Mozambique to present to national health and biodiversity experts from various African countries on integrating health and biodiversity into policy and planning. The objective is to contribute to the implementation of the Convention on the Biological Diversity in the WHO African Region, by providing a forum to national health and environment/biodiversity experts from African Parties to the CBD on actions to be taken in their respective countries. LINKS: http://www.vt.edu, www.Facebook.com/caracalbotswana, www.caracal.info, www.blogspot.healthbotswana.com

Conservationist, filmmaker, adventure tour guide, and geologist, Philip Price is impassioned to save Asian Elephants by bringing attention to what is happening to both the elephants and the people of Sri Lanka. As people fled in exile during the 30 year civil war, much of the island’s northern territory was abandoned, benefitting the islands elephants who moved into the open new open range. Post-war, as people return to claim their ancestral lands, human-elephant conflict has escalated. In 1998 Philip was production assistant for the film, “Elephants of Paradise,” a project that funded and documented the capture and relocation of Sri Lanka’s elephants. As it turned out, relocating only served to intensify the problems. Now, through interactive filming and unique adventure tours, Philip is documenting this journey, providing impetus and greater awareness to save the Asian Elephants from extinction, one of the greatest ecological challenges of our time. brbr Journey to Saving Ganesh https://www.youtube.com/wat

What happens when you have an island, a protracted civil war, and a magnificent species on the brink of extinction? Scientist, geologist, adventure tour guide, and visionary filmmaker with a lifelong commitment to conservation and environmental issues, Philip Price founded GeoWandering.com and SavingGanesh.org to share his journey and invites us to participate in creative efforts to turn the tides for the elephants and people of Sri Lanka, and transform the future for the Asian Elephant. In 1998 Philip was involved in making the film, “Elephants of Paradise,” a project that documented and raised funds for the capture and translocation of the island’s elephants, in hopes of resolving the conflicts. What resulted from that unique opportunity propelled Philip on a mission that now finds him at the heart of helping the people and the elephants of Sri Lanka, and in doing so, highlights that each of has the ability to be a catalyst for change.

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.

We’re traveling around the world today to Thailand with my guest Peter Alexander. Peter and I became acquainted via Facebook, his point of view and perspective engaged me immediately. The Internet, the World Wide Web is an amazing place, and one we take for granted, almost as much as assume the Web of Life will always be there to support us. Our conversation today is an example of interconnectedness between people, countries, cultures and the huges shifts that we have seen over the past several decades around the world, and on the brink of the possibilities and challenges that we are facing now and the ramifications of our actions today upon near and far future

Working tirelessly to put wildlife conservation into perspective for the future, my guest today is Tony Fitzjohn, who’s approach to conservation is, to say the least - unique. After close to forty years of hands-on field experience and proven results, Tony and his teams from the George Adamson Wildlife Preservation Trust and WildlifeNOW are amongst the foremost authorities in African wildlife conservation today. Tony and his teams work to re-establish ecosystems and protect endangered species through developing partnerships- internationally and locally, educating future generations about conservation efforts and creating local sentiment towards conservation and preservation of their resources and wildlife. From the days of Born Free and Christian the Lion in Kenya, to revitalizing Tanzania’s distressed Mkomazi Game Reserve into the National Park it is today, its rhino sanctuary and wild dog breeding program, Tony has pretty much done and seen it all.

Ms. Searles is an expert in the handling and rehabilitation of injured wildlife and has appeared on numerous television and radio news programs. Accredited by the American Sanctuary Association, SWCC is presently home to numerous mammals, reptiles, and birds and is the only accredited holding facility for large predators in the State of Arizona. Equipped with an on-site hospital for treating injured and sick wildlife, SWCC has rescued, rehabilitated and released thousands of animals. Linda developed a program for raising orphaned coyote pups and bobcat kittens using foster parents. SWCC’s Nature Center schedules regular tours of the facility for school groups, community organizations, and the general public, and her staff and volunteers have developed a traveling education program to visit schools and community events to teach children and members of the community about wildlife and the environment.

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.

Are conserving wildlife and protecting animals the same thing? My guest today, 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. Glen, 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, “Game Changer” vividly demonstrates how 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.

Where wildlife, people, and livestock intersect a downturn in any one invariably affects the survival of the others. We know that humans and gorillas have much in common, and that human diseases such as TB and scabies do infect and kill gorillas. In 2002, Dr. Gladys Kelema-Zikusokoa founded Conservation Through Public Health (CTPH.org). CTPH is a grassroots NGO that promotes the connections between conservation and public health by improving primary health care to both people and animals in rural and urban areas in Uganda, with a vision toward reduced outbreaks and transmission of disease where people, wildlife and livestock intersect. With an innovative methodology focusing on the interdependence of wildlife and human health, CTPH utilizes a multi-disciplinary approach between governmental and non-governmental agencies, wildlife authorities and the communities themselves, whom also depend upon the health of their families, livestock and the gorillas.

We are dealing with an unprecedented spike in illegal wildlife trade, threatening to overturn decades of conservation gains. Wildlife overexploitation and crime is big business these days beyond the slippery slope and repercussions of impending extinctions. With my guest today, Will Gartshore of WWF we’ll gain in-depth understanding of the wide net involved in and stemming from illegal wildlife trafficking, and what the US government, our Congress, and the current Administration is doing about it. Will’s expertise is U.S. government relations and is World Wildlife Fund’s lead congressional liaison to overall issues of wildlife crime and trafficking. Will is actively involved in discussions around the US National Strategy on Combatting Wildlife Trafficking; the President’s Executive Order; and State Department activities among the security and intelligence communities on the illegal trade’s ties to transnational organized crime groups.

International wildlife crime, illegal ivory and elephant poaching have reached all time highs decimating elephant populations to an all time low. Using highly trained detection dogs, my guest Dr. Samuel Wasser, has developed DNA mapping methods from dung samplings that can determine both the geographic origins of poached African elephants and match that to major ivory seizures. Collaborating with the Interpol Working Group on Wildlife Crime, DNA testing provides investigators with a detailed map of where poaching is most prevalent while also matching the DNA fingerprint of ivory to individual elephants. These methods, combined with existing information on known criminal networks, enables law enforcement agencies to track and crack down on wildlife trafficking, further enhancing wildlife conservation management policies around the world while also adding pressure to implicated countries toward greater law enforcement actions within their borders.

We humans have a long history of doing violence to one another and of doing violence to other species, including our closest relatives, the Great Apes, as we continue to avert our gaze to the destruction around us. Arcus Foundation is a leading global foundation advancing the connectedness between social justice and conservation issues, and is built upon the cornerstones that regardless of race, gender, socio-economic class, gender identity or sexual orientation, we must honor the inherent dignity, value and worth of all human and non-human beings around the world. That we humans are able to develop a culture that fosters social activism that works to counter injustice, building a future that invests in both the individual and collective ability to empower creativity and leadership that develops an attitude of acceptance, appreciation and affirmation of all forms of diversity.

In December 2013 on our program “What Do Students, Sports and Tigers Have in Common?” we learned about Tigers4Tigers, a group of concerned students with an affinity for tigers and attending tiger mascot schools, came together and formed the National Tigers for Tigers Coalition. In January 2014, T4T took their passion and skills on the road- to India. Sharing experiences of a lifetime, trip leader, Sean Carnell and the students join us today discussing tiger conservation in the field: from the work of Tiger Trust’s operations in Ranthambore and Bandhavgarh National Parks, and the students’ insights gained through visits to historical sites and a 3-day cultural exchange and awareness program. T4T students have returned to the U.S., more motivated than ever and are determined to #saveourmascot.

What is the importance of our wildlife, especially predators, to our ecosystems? Healthy ecosystems means a healthy planet, which in the end, means healthy populations- people and wildlife, and ultimately the survival of all of us. With science, data, and expertise, new updates and recent findings, and also just plain commons sense and asking the right questions, we can begin to common ground between what may seem opposing camps. Over the past century a lot has changed, for the better, yet we still find ourselves losing wildlife in some places in ever increasing numbers, where in others we see successes. So, what’s the overall outlook? What are the changes that have been accomplished? What are those that yet require reform? What are our successes and how can we learn from both these and our failures?

One of the oldest conflicts is that between humans and carnivores and whether we are willing to share resources with them. As increased meat production on both public and private lands that historically provided prey in abundance for carnivores is turned to livestock ranching, we see increased conflicts and competition for the resources the land provides- for us and for wildlife. My guest today, Ron Thompson has been intimately involved with large carnivore conservation can tell you that killing all carnivores in an area simply increases livestock predation rates. Now, with Primero Conservation, Ron has turned his wildlife management skills and knowledge of carnivores to working with private landowners and ranchers in finding non-lethal methods reduce predation on domestic livestock- from reintroducing native prey to collaring and data on livestock predation- specifically for the animals being blamed for it-mountain lions and jaguars.

Coexisting with America’s Song Dog, with Camilla Fox and Robert Crabtree America’s Song Dog, the Trickster, of mythological status to Native Americans; Clever and intelligent, they are critical players in ecosystem health, yet they are the most persecuted. Today I welcome guest experts from Project Coyote: Camilla Fox, Founder and Executive Director and Dr. Robert Crabtree, Scientific Advisory Board member. We learn from Fox and Crabtree why our model of predator management in the form of “coyote killing contests’ and extreme exploitation is not, and will not work- particularly for our Wile E Coyote. We continue hot on the heels unveiling the barbaric practices of our USDA’s secretive killing agency ‘Wildlife Services’, using our tax dollars, on public and private land, to indiscriminately and overkill our wildlife, especially the carnivores - coyotes, wolves, bobcats, and other animals under the mantel of managing human-carnivore conflict toward agricultural and livestock interests.

Wildlife Services-a barbaric, wasteful and misnamed agency within the US Department of Agriculture, has been having their way for almost a century, our government’s secret war on wildlife has been killing millions of native predators and birds as well as maiming, poisoning, and brutalizing countless non-targeted and endangered species, along with quite a few pets and seriously injuring people. Brooks Fahy, the man behind Predator Defense and the landmark film, “EXPOSED”, brings three former federal agents and a Congressman who blow the whistle on the atrocities committed under the guise of problem animal control, and proving Wildlife Services for what it really is: A barbaric, unaccountable, government sanctioned, out-of-control wildlife killing machine funded on our dime, which apparently thinks they will continue getting away with it. But, we can tell Congress to defund Wildlife Services, and after this program, you will.

What are the links between the human-animal bond, animal cruelty, interpersonal violence; child and elder maltreatment and criminal behavior? With our guests Jim Pyle and Philip Tedeschi from the ColoradoLINK project. Helping to expand our understanding of the human-animal bond, we’ll be talking about these connections and why they matter for interpersonal relationships- people to people, and people to animal. 'The Link' utilizes a multidisciplinary approach across Colorado that develops and implements training and educational activities that assist in raising awareness of the significance of animal abuse and its correlations to human health and safety. Jim Pyle is ColoradoLINK Project Director and Prof. Philip Tedeschi is the Director of the Institute for Human-Animal Connection, Denver University, and a returning guest on Our Wild World.