Culture and Coexistence into the Great Unknown
A twenty-year old activist blocked the access road to Yellowstone National Park’s Stephens Creek bison trap, preventing more of the last wild bison from being shipped to slaughter. As well, the Montana Supreme Court recently supported efforts to expand bison migratory habitat north of the park in the Gardiner Basin.
A documentary film, Bear Witness, chronicles the efforts of Canadian Coastal First Nations to protect grizzly bears from sport hunters on the British Columbian coast.
Politics, not sound wolf scientific research, has influenced the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s efforts toward removing gray wolves across the country from the protection of the Endangered Species Act. Jay Mallonee, researcher from Wolf & Wildlife Studies, has found that left alone, wolves regulate their own populations with highly sophisticated social interactions within the pack. Unfortunately, the hunting and ranching lobbies don’t support the theory we should learn to live with top predators as a necessity for ecosystem health.
Rob Stewart’s beautifully shot documentary “Sharkwater,” set in the Galapagos and Isla del Coco of the Pacific Ocean, refutes those who vilify the shark as a killer of humans, insisting they do not wish to eat us. He also films Sea Shepherd Captain Paul Watson’s attack on the Costa Rican shark fin poachers, which has led to international charges for the famous defender of the sea.
President Obama’s Department of the Interior announced the national delisting of all wolves except the Mexican wolf. Prominent conservationists argue this is wrong-headed because (1) the wolf isn’t really recovered, and (2) Existing state management is so bad that the “recovered” population will soon decline to nothing but a tiny token population.
Providing crossing infrastructure at key points along transportation corridors is known to improve safety, reconnect habitats and restore wildlife movement. Throughout Europe, Asia, Australia and North American, wildlife crossing structures have been implemented with demonstrable success.
Western environmental groups oppose the anti-scientific “political” Endangered Species delisting of gray wolves across the U.S. by Fish and Wildlife Service. Reduced wolf numbers will reduce positive ecological effects of these top predators and permit barbaric hunting methods.