Our Wild Lives

The inaugural meeting of the North American Wildlife Conference in February of 1936 brought together some of the most notable wildlife conservationists of the time. It was at this meeting 90 years ago that The Wildlife Society (TWS) and the National Wildlife Federation(NWF) were formed. In this episode of “Our Wild Lives,” TWS and NWF celebrate 90 years of work to conserve wildlife in North America. TWS CEO, Ed Arnett, is joined by NWF President and CEO, Collin O’Mara, to discuss the history ...

Ocelots can be feisty, and researchers Lindsay Martinez, Meghan Murphy and Haylee Pearce are well aware that they can scratch worse than the Tamaulipan thornscrub they live in. In this episode of “Our Wild Lives,” East Foundation researchers and field technicians take host Katie Rohrbach and associate editor Joshua Rapp Learn to El Sauz Ranch—one of the only footholds ocelots (Leopardus pardalis) have north of the Mexican border—to check trap lines. Murphy, Pearce and Martinez discuss t...

As a kid, Rae Wynn-Grant dreamed of traveling the world to tell stories about wildlife science. But the path to realizing this dream wasn’t always clear. In this episode of “Our Wild Lives,” Rae Wynn-Grant, large carnivore ecologist, author, podcast host and co-host of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom Protecting the Wild recounts the long days in the field, advanced college degrees and harsh rejections that led to her dream career as a nature show host. This episode spans tales from...

Since the first mass wildlife casualty events at commercial windfarms in the early 2000s, conservationists have raised concerns about the impacts of wind energy development. In this episode of “Our Wild Lives,” Misti Sporer, senior director of Environment and Permitting at Deriva Energy and Greg Forcey, senior principal scientist at Normandeau Associates, Inc. talk about their experiences working as wildlife biologists in wind energy projects. Together they share the advancement...

Plastic waste travels from your doorstep to the most remote places. In the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, currents concentrate vast amounts of marine debris along the shores of what should be a wildlife paradise. Within the protected waters of Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, plastic debris and derelict fishing nets threaten endangered Hawaiian Monk Seals (Neomonachus schauinslandi), seabirds, sea turtles and fragile coral reef systems. These islands have become the frontline...