What is Episode 90 all about?
Where is the one place in Europe that you most want to see? Possibly you routinely daydream about visiting Paris to take in the sights and indulge in some incredible French cuisine. Maybe you’re a downhill skier and dream of one day hitting the Alps. Or, perhaps, your goal is to see the open Scottish Highlands with its rolling hills and deep history. Keeping your dream European vacation in mind, tell me – where do large carnivores fit into this stunning image? It might be difficult to picture creatures like wolves, bears, and lynx as parts of the European wildlife narrative, but let me tell you, they are there and today we are going to meet a man that’s dedicated his career to finding a way to coexist with these predators.
To take us on a journey through coexistence and the evolving philosophy of conservation, in this episode we’re sitting down with John Linnell, PhD, Senior Researcher Scientist and Professor at the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research. John grew up in the era of Jacques Cousteau and dreamed of one day living an adventurous life out in nature. For his PhD, John left Ireland to study Norway’s roe deer, and in doing so, came to admire the large carnivores that preyed upon the species. John then shifted his work to resolving human-predator conflict and helping communities to coexist with the carnivores around them. John is so knowledgeable about what he does that he’s a member of the IUCN SSC Human-Wildlife Conflict & Coexistence Specialist Group and the IUCN Large Carnivore Initiative for Europe Specialist Group. Aka, John knows what he’s talking about.
John and I have one of the most philosophical conversations I’ve had yet on the show. We explore large carnivores’ history across the European continent using the lynx as a model species, what the term coexistence means to him, where the Rewilding Europe initiative fits into carnivore restoration, and what conservation actually means in 2022.
Alright, friends. Without further adieu, here is my conversation with John.
Listen to this episode.
Watch this episode on YouTube.
John in the Field
Links & Resources
John’s Profiles
Resources
- IUCN SSC Human-Wildlife Conflict & Coexistence Specialist Group
- IUCN Large Carnivore Initiative for Europe
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