- Celebrating 2 Years!
- 1st Annual Silent Auction
- The Hidden Life of Wolves
As March passes, a reminder that the last day for trapping wolves and other wild canids in southern Alberta was February 28th, but for much of British Columbia and in northern and central Alberta it is the end of this month (March 31st), just weeks before wolf families head to the den and have their pups. With luck, many mating pairs will still be denning in a few weeks time and starting spring anew with what's left of their family from a winter of unregulated trapping and in some cases, hunting (there is no bag limit for trapping wolves in most of Alberta and British Columbia, so single trappers can sometimes wipe out entire wolf packs in a season).
Perhaps shockingly, in some parts of BC, wolves can actually be trapped year-round, even during denning season. And in both provinces, wolves can be hunted for much of the year (9.5 months in most jurisdictions). In fact, in Alberta, you don't even need a hunting license to shoot a wolf!
If the largely unregulated trapping of wolves and other furbearers concerns you, please visit our Trapped in the Past campaign page for details on how you can support us as we fight to change many of these archaic regulations.
Co-founder John E. Marriott spent nine days in February this year volunteering on the Southern Okanagan Cougar Project with biologists Siobhan Darlington and T.J. Gooliaf. John’s goal was to help the project find cougars to collar and take hair samples from, while also potentially gathering additional stills and footage to use for our EXPOSED cougar campaigns. Unfortunately, despite his best efforts, the project didn’t find any new cougars in the period John was there. John himself hiked an average of 14 kilometers a day in search of cats, but other than finding a cool bobcat cave while stumbling around in the dark, John struck out along with all of the other volunteers.
However, the trip wasn’t a total failure, as on the final day John picked up the tracks of a new male cougar near the town of Oliver, BC and the cougar crew was able to get a hair sample from the big cat by scouring the crusty snow around the tracks for ‘shed’ hairs. This will allow the Cougar Project team to do DNA analysis on the hair sample, helping determine who this big male cougar is and who he’s related to.
Click here for more information on the Southern Okanagan Cougar Project.
A great new study out of the University of British Columbia shows that protected areas, like our national and provincial parks, do safeguard species biodiversity. Cole Burton and Cheng Chen collected data from thousands of trail cameras set inside protected areas to study just how effective protected areas are at halting the loss of biodiversity. We already know that human disturbances, such as over-harvesting of crops, habitat destruction and invasive species, are the biggest drivers of this loss, with some studies estimating that the current species extinction rate is 1,000 times the normal background rate.
One of the most central solutions to biodiversity conservation is setting aside areas for nature. Spaces like national parks, community conservation areas and nature reserves are designed to be protected areas for biodiversity to thrive. The Convention on Biological Diversity — the first global biodiversity treaty — set a target of 17 per cent of total global land area to be protected by 2020.
While this goal was not quite met, the effectiveness of existing protected areas has also been questioned, especially for their success in protecting animals.
This study sheds some light on this key question and shows that existing protected areas do indeed safeguard biodiversity. For more information, you can read this article.
Join us as we celebrate our first 2 years and look ahead to the future!
The EXPOSED Wildlife Conservancy (EWC) is a culmination of co-founders John E. Marriott and Kim Odland’s efforts to create change in the wildlife conservation landscape, a process that began with a meeting over coffee in May 2014.
It continued in January 2016 when Marriott and Odland, with the help of Lance Andersen, launched the web series EXPOSED with John E. Marriott as a way to raise awareness about wildlife conservation issues in Canada and beyond, using images, video and storytelling as a means to engage the audience.
Then, this month two years ago, EXPOSED Wildlife Conservancy was born with the goal of expanding the conservancy's reach to help give our wildlife a voice and create meaningful change in the treatment of Canada’s apex predators.
Through your donations, words of support, and willingness to share our purpose with your networks, we have gotten here today because of you! It is for this reason that everyone at EXPOSED Wildlife Conservancy is forever grateful for your support! Thank you for making a difference for apex predators and for giving wildlife a voice.
We are looking forward to the years to come and have many exciting announcements coming soon!
Join us as we raise funds in support of Canada’s bears, cougars, and wolves! From May 21st to 29th, we will be hosting our very first virtual fundraising event that looks to bring nature into your home and bring you out into nature. Featuring beautiful art pieces ranging from photographs to paintings and once-in-a-lifetime experiences such as a photography tour/experience with EWC’s very own John E. Marriott, there has never been a better time to donate and support our wildlife!
It is our goal to raise $30,000 through our first Through (our) Wild Eyes Silent Auction. From developing human-wildlife coexistence management plans, spearheading the creation of carnivore conservation areas, and hosting educational conferences, webinars, and speaker series, we are seeking your help in creating meaningful and impactful change for apex predators.
If you have an item that you would like to donate to this auction, please email info@exposedwc.org.
Stay tuned for more information and details coming soon!
The Hidden Life of Wolves is a captivating and moving recount of Jim and Jamie Dutcher’s experience living with the Sawtooth Pack on the edge of the Idaho Sawtooth Wilderness. Through a combination of photographs, scientific facts, and storytelling, the Dutcher’s capture the true essence of wolves. This book is a must-read for those looking to learn more about the true nature of wolves!
