Defender Radio and The Switch

Thanksgiving has passed and we know what we’re thankful for: Living With Wildlife 2015 is finally here! This Friday, October 16, we’re bringing together some of the top experts on wildlife, conservation, and co-existence in Vancouver for our fifth annual conference.

I was lucky enough to catch time with two of our presenters prior to the event: the BC SPCA’s top scientist Dr. Sara Dubois, as well as Raincoast Conservation Foundation’s postdoctoral researcher Dr. Heather Bryan.

There are still a few seats available for this great event, so if you’re in the Vancouver area, make sure you register today at furbearerdefenders.com or by calling 604-435-1850.

Wolf week begins on October 12, and this year, the wolves could certainly use your help. Two massive culling programs are underway in western Canada, horrific traps remain legal, and many people still have a culturally-instilled fear of these keystone canids.

But these beautiful, family-oriented creatures play an integral role in our ecosystems, and there is much we can do to help them. To help discuss some of the ways we can get involved, as well as tell us more about a series of events taking place in BC, Alberta, and Ontario during wolf week, we were joined by Sadie Parr of Wolf Awareness Incorporated.

She’s travelled the world under the National Geographic Explorer banner; she’s created paintings that have defined movements for animal welfare; she’s designed Fabergé eggs that helped support anti-poaching efforts; and she’s coming to the 2015 Living With Wildlife conference in Vancouver.

Asher Jay is a designer, artist, writer, and activist who uses creative concepts and design to advance animal welfare, sustainable development, and humanitarian causes around the world. From laying in tent surrounded by lions to photographing the busy streets of New York City, her experiences have given her a unique perspective on all of these issues.

Asher joined Defender Radio recently to talk about her past, her passion and why she’s excited to be speaking at the 2015 Living With Wildlife conference on October 16.

We’re officially four weeks out from the election today and the excitement is getting… well, it’s pretty much the same as it was. But we’re excited here at The Fur-Bearers because MLA for Vancouver West-End Spencer Chandra Herbert recently sat down with our executive director Lesley Fox to talk about issues facing fur-bearing animals in BC.

As the official opposition’s critic to the Minister of the Environment, Chandra Herbert has his finger on the pulse of many subjects surrounding the environment and wildlife in British Columbia. And that made him the perfect person to join Defender Radio and talk about such issues, as well as the upcoming federal election, why the environment should be top of mind for every Canadian, and why we need to get up and do something about it.

International pop star Miley Cyrus visited the Great Bear Rainforest in BC with her brother to learn more about the controversial wolf cull and trophy hunting of grizzly bears. Her weekend sojourn was spent with advocates from the Kitasoo/Xais’Xai First Nation, scientists, and staffers from Pacific Wild.

Cyrus spoke to media extensively following her visit, noting that her previous passion to end the wolf cull for moral reasons now had science behind it.

When asked about the international attention being brought to the notorious cull and trophy hunts, Premier Christy Clark merely laughed away concern, and made a remark about Cyrus’s performance-based fashion choices.

Joining us to talk more about the visit of Cyrus, the surprising response of the Premier, and the science behind the #SaveBCWolves movement is Pacific Wild’s April Bencze.

We’re another week closer to the general election in Canada and the rhetoric is flying fast and furious. But despite the ongoing coverage of the election, subjects relating to the environment and particularly to wildlife has been somewhere between minimal and non-existent.

Does this mean that wildlife and the environment aren’t going to be campaign issues, or that the electorate doesn’t care? It’s quite the opposite, according to some new polling released last week by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).

The data was released in conjunction with IFAW’s election website, which helps voters identify their local candidates’ views on wildlife and the environment.

To share more with about this program and what Canadians had to say about wildlife and the 2015 election, we were joined by IFAW’s Sheryl Fink, Director of Canadian Wildlife Issues.

Millions of our homes – at least half of all those in Canada – are shared with a four-legged friend. As a nation we spend billions of dollars on our pets, and most of us consider our larger pets – dogs and cats – to be members of the family. Despite this, there are a lot of gaps in legislation protecting our pets, including how we train them.

One highly controversial method of dog training includes e-collars, more commonly known as shock collars. Though there is no existing legislation or even consensus among retailers and trainers, there is strong opposition to the use of shock collars from some heavy hitters – and this week we got to hear what they had to say.

The couple behind BanShockCollars.ca, Gwendy and Alfie Williams (new partners of the LUSH Charity Pot program), joined us to share their tale of discovery about these devices, as well as what they’ve done in recent years to try and advocate against the use of shock collars. We were also fortunate to hear from renowned trainer, behaviourist and best-selling author Jean Donaldson, who shared her views on the evolution of dog training and the modern use of aversive devices.

Animal lovers know how frustrating politics can be, particularly during an election campaign. Despite the fact that the majority of Canadians have companion animals in their homes, and that the humane treatment of animals and their habitats is a priority for many voters, these issues rarely make it onto the floor of the House of Commons.

And the folks at Animal Justice Canada Legislative Fund want to make that history.

Last week the organization launched Humane Voters Canada, a project that seeks to use election process to influence the legislature to improve the welfare and rights of non-human animals. To introduce us to this new project, how it will function, and how we can all play a role, Defender Radio was joined by Humane Voters Canada Director Jerry Simonelli.

Predator control is a nasty business. Millions of animals are killed each year around the country to protect livestock, ecosystems and, depending on who you listen to, children. The problem with this entire system of treating predators as the bad guy is that we’re missing the biggest and the baddest of them all: us.

In a peer-reviewed paper published in the journal Science, researchers from the Raincoast Conservation Foundation, University of Victoria (UVic), and the Hakai Institute pulled data from hundreds of studies worldwide to confirm that humans are dangerous “super-predators.”

To dive into how human actions are impacting fish populations, carnivore and herbivore relationships, and even changing the very course of evolution before our eyes, Defender Radio was fortunate to be joined by Raincoast science director and Hakai-Raincoast professor at UVic, Dr. Chris Darimont.

We’re taking you into the world of animal law on this episode, featuring two major cases in the United States whose outcomes could very well change wildlife policy across the country.

The WildEarth Guardians are celebrating a victory in appeals court from earlier this month, which allows their legal action against the notorious Wildlife Service program of the USDA to move forward. And in the eastern US, the Wildlife Alliance of Maine, along with two partner organizations, is pushing a federal judge to halt the state’s trapping season to protect the endangered Canada Lynx.

Both of these cases could play major roles in preventing the needless slaughter of millions of fur-bearers in the United States and even influence future policy in Canada and abroad.