The Wolf Connection

Madeleine Nyman is the Project Manager for LIFE BOREALWOLF, which conveys information about wolves and their behaviour, promotes local interaction and provides tools for the prevention of adverse impact and losses caused by wolves.

Mari Lyly is a Special Planning Officer with the Finnish Wildlife Agency, which romotes sustainable game husbandry, supports the activity of game management associations, and sees to the implementation of wildlife and game policy.

We spoke at length about wolf management and research in Finland, the delicate relationship between humans and wolves in the region, and the challenges that are faced when trying to mitigate conflicts with wolves.

LIFE BOREALWOLF Website

Finnish Wildlife Agency Website

Cassi Camara is an Environmental Education Specialist for the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation. She works to bring conservation, stewardship and environmental education to younger generations both domestically and through her work with the European Union.

Cassi went into great detail discussing her environmental educational work in Virginia, bringing those insights to countries in Europe, how Europe and the U.S. differ in their coexistence strategies, and the current reintroduction in Colorado.

[email protected]

Wolves Across Borders

@thewolfconnectionpod

Cecilia Di Bernardi is a post doctorate at Grimsö Wildlife Research Station, Department of Ecology, SLU, with a research focus in Ecology and Management of large mammals. The majority of her work with wolf populations is conducted within Scandinavia (Sweden & Norway).

Cecilia spoke about her background beginning in Rome, Italy. Her main focus of study is wolf diets, identifying individual wolves, and monitoring pack sizes. The majority of her research can be done by collecting scat samples and finding DNA that way.

Cecilia Di Bernardi Research Page

Scandinavian Wolf Project

@ce.dibernardi

@c_dibernardi

@thewolfconnectionpod

Dr. Jeff Reed is a computational linguist who is based just beyond the northern border of Yellowstone National Park. Working in tandem with the Yellowstone Wolf Project, the Cry Wolf Project records wolf sounds 24 hours a day from up to 60 recorders. One of the many goals is to explore wolf communication, what it may mean, and how we can better understand what they are relaying to one another.

Dr. Reed went into great detail about how he is able to decipher wolf sounds from other species, how to read those harmonics and frequencies on a spectrogram, the many types of sounds they've found thus far, and how the data collected could help research and coexistence in the future.

Languages of Life (Cry Wolf Project)

@thelanguagesoflife

AI Powered Devices Track Howls to Save Wolves

A New Way to Help Save Yellowstone's Wolves

A Bioacoustics Study in Greater Yellowstone (Yellowstone Forever)

@thewolfconnectionpod

Kayla Fratt is the Co-Founder of K9 Conservationists, whose mission is to unite highly trained conservation detection dog teams with researchers to collect scientific data. They aim to provide mentorship, education, and foster collaboration among scientists, novice handlers, and local communities.

We spoke about the process of selecting dogs for this research, the types of projects Kayla and her team are working on, how their teams collect data, and what types of research they are helping to shed light on. 

@k9.conservationists

@girl.looking.under.rocks

K9 Conservationists Website

@thewolfconnectionpod

Kurt Holtzen has been a Conflict Mitigation Specialist for around 20 years. He has spent the last 4 years in Colorado helping create relationships to foster coexistence and promote good conflict mitigation methods as wolves were set to be reintroduced to the state.

Kurt went into great detail about the conflicts and situations he witnessed during the first 9 months of the wolf reintroduction, conversations he’s had with multiple groups of people, new techniques for conflict mitigation and how he hopes to help when the next group of wolves are introduced into the state.

@kurt_holtzen_wwcm

Western Wildlife Conflict Mitigation Website

@thewolfconnectionpod

Daniel Mallwitz has been the Head of Field Work for the County Board in Vastmanland, Sweden for about 10 years. He is in charge of monitoring and managing many of the large carnivores in his county, including wolves, bears, lynx and wolverine.

Daniel went into great detail about his work with wolves, building relationships within the communities of his county, and shared his experiences in the field.

@vilt.och.rovdjur

@thewolfconnectionpod

Sarah Hanafin has been volunteering with both Wolves of Maine and Wolf Hollow for almost a decade. She uses her Instagram platform to promote wolf education and conservation, while sharing her stories with wolves and wolfdogs from around the country.

Sarah spoke about her early years of volunteering, how her platform has been able to help wolves and people in their individual journeys, and her visit to Wolf Connection.

@wolfgirl_maine

Wolf Hollow Website

Wolves of Maine Website

@thewolfconnectionpod

@wolf_hollow_ma

Wendy Keefover has been the Senior Strategist for Carnivore Protection at The Humane Society of the United States for over 10 years. She has been a wildlife advocate and working to protect carnivores for over 30 years.

We talked about multiple topics with Wendy, including the numerous initiatives that The Humane Society is involved in, the motivations for killing carnivores, trophy hunting, issues surrounding predator control and the disconnect between institutions and citizens on wildlife.

The Humane Society of the United States

Writers on the Range - Wendy Keefover

@humanesociety

@thewolfconnectionpod

Jeremy SunderRaj has been a Science Technician with the Yellowstone Wolf, Elk and Cougar project for over 5 years. Prior to his work in Yellowstone, he spent three summers trapping and collaring wolves for the State of Montana.

Jeremy shared many stories about those summers in Montana, detailing his encounters with wolves, experiences working within Montana, and how influential this time was for his career trajectory.

@critter_chaser

Research Gate for Jeremy

@thewolfconnectionpod