I am an outdoorsman, podcaster and speaker. I talk and write about the natural environment, biodiversity, conservation, hunting and fishing, rewilding and more. I am particularly interested in wildlife and human-wildlife interactions. I enjoy reading scientific papers on those subjects as much as being outdoors weathering the elements and getting first-hand experiences.
The EU Review of Wolf Protection Status
Tommy's OutdoorsConservation and ScienceNewsletterThe human-wildlife conflict with wolves has been brewing on the ground in the EU for some time. On the one hand, it has been fueled by a remarkable recovery of wolves across the continent, and on the other, by politicians trying to hijack it for their political gains. In September 2023 the European Commission invited “local communities, scientists and all interested parties” to submit the latest data in order to review the conservation status of wolves and decide whether to downgrade the conservation status of the species. Predictably this has sparked a lot of debate with clear demarcation lines between factions. To deal with this topic I decided to change the format of the podcast and in this episode, you will hear from not one but five experts in their fields. I felt the subject is so complex that to present it in the most comprehensive and objective way we need to hear all the relevant voices. By listening to this episode you will hear opinions on this topic from a wildlife biologist, Professor John Linnell, a goat breeder, Bruno Lecomte, a social scientist, Professor Erica von Essen, an environmentalist, the Head of EU Policy at BirdLife International, Ariel Brunner and, last but not least, the Secretary General of the European Federation for Hunting and Conservation, Dr David Scallan. Special thanks to hunting journalist and blogger Denis Plat for his help in ensuring that opinions from rural France were voiced. Cover photo courtesy of Alick Simmons. While making this episode I recorded many hours of material and understandably not all of it made it into the episode. If you would be interested in listening to the individual interviews with the guests in this podcast, please register your interest by clicking here. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the individual participants and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any organisation. The participants are expressing their personal opinions and perspectives. The EU Review of Wolf Protection StatusThe European Commission is deliberating on lowering the protection status of wolves in the EU. It seems like this decision has been taken after the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen’s pony was killed by wolves. Is this really the reason for what many have dubbed “a new European wolf hunt”? To unpack this issue I talked to environmentalists, farmers, top-tier scientists and last but not least, hunters. Further reading on the subject of this week’s episode: |
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Tommy's Outdoors: Conservation and Science
I am an outdoorsman, podcaster and speaker. I talk and write about the natural environment, biodiversity, conservation, hunting and fishing, rewilding and more. I am particularly interested in wildlife and human-wildlife interactions. I enjoy reading scientific papers on those subjects as much as being outdoors weathering the elements and getting first-hand experiences.
Conservation and Science If you work in conservation, no matter how remotely (for example, you are an IT person), take this survey: CONLAB survey Every now and then an opportunity comes up to talk to scientists about aspects of conservation that we are aware of but that sit in the background, rarely discussed. And when they are discussed, it's usually only in passing. What I'm talking about here is the labour of all the people whose work is required for conservation to happen. Whether rangers...
Conservation and Science This issue of the newsletter is a day late. Not least because I wouldn't miss the local St. Patrick's Day parade, but also because it felt rather rude to send a very Scottish issue of the newsletter on St. Patrick's Day. And very Scottish it is! Today, I have two podcast episodes in which we discuss nature restoration and rewilding in Scotland. The first is also a book recommendation, and both the episode and the book cover the same topic: the story of the first legal...
Conservation and Science This week's episode topic was a long time coming. It seems like the grey and red squirrel situation was an obvious one for my show that should have been covered long ago, and perhaps a few times already. But that wasn't the case. In fairness, many years ago, I was contacted by two ladies working on red squirrel conservation in Ireland and we exchanged a few emails with the view to recording a podcast. I don't remember exactly why it fell apart at the time, and the...