Wildlife Wire

Ep. 13, Conservation ethics in wildlife management with Dr. Fred Koontz

Join Mark and Sam for the weekly top wildlife news stories including: 
Sharktopus
Lauren Boebert wants to delist wolves federally
Point Reyes public access
Turtle leaps to safety from eagles nest
Then, an interview with Dr. Fred Koontz an ethological zoologist on ethical considerations in wildlife management.
Dr. Koontz has a long, diverse, wildlife career at the Wildlife Conservation Society, Wildlife Trust (now “EcoHealth Alliance”), Teatown, Woodland Park Zoo, and Washington Fish & Wildlife Commission. Fred has held adjunct appointments at Columbia University, New York University, and University of Washington.

Ep. 12, How we manage salmon & why it matters for endangered orcas with Emma Helverson

Join Mark and Sam for the top four wildlife news stories of the week, including:
DOGE is at it again- firing Fish and Wildlife employees
Colorado wolf killed in Wyoming
First wolf predation in Pitkin County CO
How do seals know when to surface?
Then, an interview with Emma Helverson, executive director of Wild Fish Conservancy, discussing the intertwined destinies of endangered southern resident orcas and wild salmon.

Ep. 11, Human impacts on wildlife in North America with Dan Flores

Join Mark and Sam for the top four news stories of the week including:
"Furbearer" policies in Colorado
Washington Governor rescinds appointment of leading scientist to wildlife commission
Central Park coyote in parking garage
Trump increases logging in National Forests
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.

Episode 10, Wild horses with Scott Wilson

Join Mark and Sam for the top four news stories of the week including:
River otters can be trapped for damage in Wyoming
Wally the beaver saved by advocates
Travel to the Savannah Wildlife Refuge
Wolf pups could be on the way in Colorado
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.

Episode 9, State of the coyote with Renee Seacor

Join Mark and Sam for the top four wildlife news stories of the week, including:
Nutria nuggets?
Super pods of dolphins
UK beaver reintroductions
11 raptors poached in Beaver County, UT
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.

Episode 8: Wolves and war with Nat Geo photographer Jad Davenport

Join Mark and Sam for the top four wildlife news stories of the week, including:
Mysterious illness is sickening Florida Panthers
Wildlife crossings for red wolves
DOGE goes after the NPS
Then, Jad Davenport talks about his storied career, from local foxes to war zones, and photographing wolves and polar bears with Nat Geo.

Episode 7: Wildlife management language with Mandy Culbertson of Wildlife for All

Join Mark and Sam for the top four wildlife news stories of the week, including:
Buffalo Restoration with the Tanka Fund
Former Wyoming Game and Fish director nominated by Trump to serve as the director of USFWS
Maybe dogs didn't need us at all to domesticate themselves
Snow fox: enjoy 17 seconds of pure bliss with a gorgeous video of red fox in winter
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.

Episode 6, "Preventative" lethal control and Northern Rockies wolves with Carter Niemeyer

Join Mark and Sam for the top three wildlife news stories of the week, including:
Is otter trapping in Wyoming's future?
Avian flu is spreading, affecting wild birds the most
Two right whales make a baffling trip along the US Gulf Coast
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!

Episode 5, Challenges facing mountain lions in America and how you can help with Brent Lyles

Join Mark and Sam for the top 4 wildlife news stories of the week including:
Which is worse for wildlife, wind farms or off-shore drilling?
Montana considers increased wolf killing
Saudi Syndrome and the future of hunting in Colorado
Mountain lion tracking dog stranded overnight; saved by Search and Rescue
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.

Episode 4, Animal interactions with wildlife photographer and biologist Dr. Larry Taylor

Join Mark and Sam for the top four wildlife news stories of the week, including:
Bobcats in Indiana will be trapped for the first time in over 50 years
Deer in Montana's Flathead County infected with CWD
Mountain lions are being hazed with hounds in Colorado
New pine marten research underway in Wisconsin 
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.