WCS Wild Audio

Winner of the Conservation Prize at this year’s New York Wild Film Festival, Hamid Sardar’s documentary film Mongolia: Valley of the Bears highlights a clash between the traditions of a nomadic community in northern Mongolia and one dedicated ranger’s mission to conserve wildlife in the boreal “taiga.”

Reporting: Nat Moss
Guest: Hamid Sardar

In the second episode of our two-part series on the current avian influenza crisis, WCS Wild Audio’s Hannah Kaplan looks at the rise of this new, more deadly strain in domestic poultry farming. 

In places like Cambodia, such farms have become a breeding ground for the virus, and the last five years have seen a dramatic increase in rates of infection of wild birds that share the same habitats.  

Meanwhile, scientists continue to track the growing threat to mammals, with the recent transmission to dairy cows in the US causing new concerns of potential new spillover to wildlife and people.

Reporting: Hannah Kaplan
Guests: Dr Emily Denstedt and Robert Tizard

 WCS’s Global Health team has been closely watching the spread of avian influenza—first as it decimated populations of bird species around the world, and more recently when it jumped to mammals. In this two-part series, we look at the potentially devastating impacts of this growing wildlife pandemic and what is being done to slow its spread.

Reporter: Hannah Kaplan
Guests: Dr Christian Walzer, Dr Paulo Colchao

Film Archivist Leopold Krist has been steeped in a century’s worth of WCS history as he catalogues and digitizies historic archive films documenting conservation work globally, and across New York’s zoos and aquariums.  

Thanks to funding from the Leon Levy Foundation, which allowed WCS to create the Shelby White and Leon Levy WCS Archives Film Initiative, he is preserving footage of everything from studies of biomechanics of crabs, to the growth of the Bronx Zoo, to polar research expeditions. 

To see the full catalogue of films, launching in Spring 2024, visit https://library.wcs.org/ 

Reporting: Hannah Kaplan
Guest: Leopold Krist

The United Nations Development Programme, or UNDP, works in 170 countries and territories around the world to eradicate poverty and reduce inequality. Not surprisingly, that work aligns in a variety of ways with nature conservation. Leading the UNDP’s Nature Hub is Midori Paxton. WCS Wild Audio checked in with her to discuss the work of the hub and the implementation of its Nature Pledge.

Reporting: Nat Moss
Guest: Midori Paxton

WCS Wild Audio returns for its 4th season on March 6 with a conversation with Midori Paxton, who heads the Nature Hub for the United Nations Development Programme.

During our break, we were thrilled to receive the Audience Honor in both the Podcasts and the Conservation & Preservation categories, and the juried Gold Honor in the Conservation & Preservation category, of the Shorty Impact Awards, which recognize short form digital content for a better world.

As we look to the launch of a new season, check out these highlights from Season 3. You can hear all of our previous episodes at this site and, as always, thanks for listening!

Thanks for joining us for Season 3 of the WCS Wild Audio podcast. We'll be back in a couple weeks with Season 4, featuring all new stories from the Wildlife Conservation Society’s global conservation program, zoos and aquarium, and conservation partners. In the meantime, here are some highlights from our recent conversations with WCS staff and colleagues working across the planet to protect wildlife and wild places.

Many people think of the Amazon as this vast, highly intact tropical forest, but it is also the largest freshwater system in the world. It’s the most biologically diverse place on Earth. Home to hundreds of Indigenous Peoples and traditional cultures. And also, two important species of catfish. Those will be up for discussion at the upcoming Convention on Migratory Species meeting. This is a special episode of the WCS Wild Audio podcast. We'll be back soon with our 4th season.

Reporting: Dan Rosen, Hannah Kaplan
Guests: Mariana Montoya, Susan Lieberman

This week representatives from across the globe are gathering in Dubai for the 28th Conference of the Parties, or COP, of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The Wildlife Conservation Society will have representatives there focused on issues essential to addressing the climate crisis that range from preserving ecological integrity to the empowerment of Indigenous peoples. WCS President and CEO Monica Medina leads the delegation and spoke with Wild Audio for this report.

Reporting: Nat Moss
Guest: Monica Medina

This week word came of the sad passing of multi-talented illustrator Roger Kastel, whose painting for the cover of the paperback edition of Peter Benchley’s “Jaws” would go on to become the image for the movie poster—one of the most iconic images in film history. This summer WCS Wild Audio had a chance to sit down with Allison Maher Stern, the model for that painting. She discusses the process for developing that famous image, working with Kastel, and her growing involvement in the wildlife conservation field.

Reporting: Nat Moss
Guest: Allison Maher Stern