Wildlife Wire

Join Mark and Sam for the top four news stories of the week including:

Followed by an incredibly important conversation with Dan Flores, author, historian, and Project Coyote Ambassador. The history of humans and wildlife in North America is essential to understanding the institutions that govern wildlife management today.

A native of Louisiana, Dan Flores is a writer who presently lives in the Galisteo Valley outside Santa Fe, New Mexico, and is A. B. Hammond Professor Emeritus of the History of the American West at the University of Montana-Missoula.  He is the author of ten books, most recently the New York Times Bestseller, Coyote America: A Natural and Supernatural History (2016), and American Serengeti: The Last Big Animals of the Great Plains (2016).  Pulitzer-winning novelist Annie Proulx has written that “his work ranks with that of Thoreau, William Bartram, Aldo Leopold, John Muir, Peter Matthiessen.”

Dr. Flores’s essays on the environment, art, and culture of the West have appeared in newspapers like the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and the Chicago Tribune, and in magazines such as Texas Monthly, Orion, Wild West, Southwest Art, The Big Sky Journal, and High Country News. His work has been honored by the Western Writers of America, the Denver Public Library, the Western Heritage Center/National Cowboy Museum, the High Plains Book Awards, the Montana Book Awards, and the Oklahoma Book Awards, and by the Western History Association, the Montana Historical Society, and the Texas State Historical Association.

Join Mark and Sam for the top four news stories of the week including:

Then, Scott Wilson, Wild Horse Photojournalist and 2022 Sony World Photography Awards Winner joins the pod to discuss wild horses, how we "manage" them, sterilization solutions, and how you can get involved in wild horse solutions.

Join Mark and Sam for the top four wildlife news stories of the week, including:

Then, Renee Seacor, carnivore conservation director for Project Coyote, joins the pod to discuss the state of coyotes in 2025 legislative sessions across the United States.

Join Mark and Sam for the top four wildlife news stories of the week, including:

Then, Jad Davenport talks about his storied career, from local foxes to war zones, and photographing wolves and polar bears with Nat Geo.

Join Mark and Sam for the top four wildlife news stories of the week, including:

Then, Mandy Culbertson, communications director for Wildlife for All, joins the pod to discuss why the language we use when discussing wildlife "management" matters. Words matter document.

Frequently, wildlife managers sanitize language when discussing wild animals and during this episode we discuss frequently used words and what we should use instead to shift the narrative around wild animals.

Join Mark and Sam for the top three wildlife news stories of the week, including:

Then, Carter Niemeyer joins the pod for an eye opening conversation. From his early years as a paid government trapper to his leadership in Yellowstone wolf reintroduction, Carter Niemeyer reveals how the government kills wild animals for livestock producers and how he turned from a trapper - a killer - into a champion of wolves.

Carter's new book, "The Other Ten Wolves: A Yellowstone Backstory" is coming to brick and mortar and online bookstores soon!

Join Mark and Sam for the top 4 wildlife news stories of the week including:

Then, an interview with R. Brent Lyles, executive director of the Mountain Lion Foundation. Brent discusses the biggest threats facing mountain lions in America today and how we can work together to help the species thrive.

Join Mark and Sam for the top four wildlife news stories of the week, including:

Then, a fascinating discussion with Dr. Larry Taylor, a wildlife biologist, paleontologist, and talented wildlife photographer. During the week, Dr. Taylor is a biology professor, but when class is out, he spends more than 100 days annually photographing the wild animals of Yellowstone. Dr. Taylor discusses animal interactions that have left a lasting impression on him, and why biologists should consider individual animals and populations when making management decisions. 

Mark and Sam discuss the top four wildlife stories in the United States this week:

Then, Mark and Sam are joined by wildlife biologist Gary Skiba of the San Juan Citizens Alliance to discuss his career as an agency wildlife biologist (including bighorn sheep!) and the politics of becoming a Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commissioner. 

Join Mark and Sam for the top five wildlife news stories in the United States:

Then, an interview with Dr. Susan Kane Roning, psychologist and co-Chair of the Washington Sierra Club Wildlife Committee, on the psychology behind wildlife abuse.

Why does our culture permit wolf whacking? What is the impact to bystanders? How does the dark triad interface with wildlife cruelty? And how advocates can be "upstanders" in situations of wildlife abuse.