This week we’re celebrating victories across North America.

We’ll hear from Sheryl Fink of the International Fund for Animal Welfare who will explain why the World Trade Organization upheld a European Union ban on the importation of Canadian seal products – and what that means for Canada and our seals.

Then we’ll be talking with Tara Zuardo of the Animal Welfare Institute in Washington, D.C., who will share her experiences protecting North Carolina’s red wolves from coyote hunters.

We're also thanking sponsors from two recent events - one in Calgary (Celebration of Wildlife:photographers Jason Bantle, John Marriott and Kerri Martin, along with Alberta Skydivers and White Lotus Jewellery) and one in Vancouver (Discover Dogs presents a Fur-Bearer Mingler: artists Adelle Airey, Vicki Lynn Rae, Tracey Tomtene, Jesse Toso and Rod Preston as well as thank Discover Dogs, the Vancouver Canadians, Just Beef and Nothing But, The Honest Kitchen and Zimt Artisan Chocolates).

For nearly 80 years, The Association for the Protection of Fur-Bearing Animals has tried to find ways to stop the use of fur and end trapping. While many of our traditional methods – letter-writing, campaigning, advertising and others – have worked well in many areas, our co-existence program has yielded the greatest results.

The concept of co-existence stems from understanding the wildlife in an ecosystem and finding steps that can help prevent conflict. This week, we’re hearing from two experts.

First up is Adrian Nelson, my colleague at APFA who is also our urban wildlife conflict manager. For the last several years, Adrian has headed up our Living With Wildlife beavers campaign to great success – and he’ll be sharing how the program works and what you can do to get involved.

Following Adrian will be Sara Dubois, Chief Scientific Officer at the BC SPCA who will discuss a recent study out of Africa illustrating that not only is co-existence better for the environment and animals, but better for the economy.

The Ontario spring bear hunt has begun. After a long battle, advocates have been unable to reverse the government’s vote-grabbing plan to open up the hunt, which was closed more than a decade ago. The reason the hunt was ended was simple:  bear cubs were being orphaned by the hundreds. But in a desperate bid to please northern voters, Minister of Natural Resources David Orazietti ignored his own department’s scientific reports and launched a pilot project of the hunt, which began on May 1.

In past episodes, we’ve learned why the original hunt was cancelled and what the possible repercussions could be if it was reinstated. Now we’re learning what is being done to prepare for those repercussions.

We’ll be hearing from Mike McIntosh of Bear With Us Sanctuary, where many bear cubs – if found in time – will go to be rehabilitated, raised and eventually released into the wild. We’ll then talk with Julie Woodyer from Zoocheck Canada, who is part of an initiative to encourage residents of Northern Ontario to report orphaned cubs so that they have a better chance of survival.

One year ago a small budget documentary was premiered at the HotDocs film festival in Toronto. The film followed the journey of a photographer – Jo-Anne McArthur – as she explored the exploitation of animals in modern society.

In the year that passed, The Ghosts in Our Machine has become a staple in the work of advocates everywhere. With harrowing – yet not gruesome - scenes inside factory farms and fur farms, Ghosts is a powerful yet palatable look into a world many try to ignore. 

To celebrate this one year landmark and the release of The Ghosts on DVD and the iTunes Store, Jo-Anne McArthur joined Defender Radio for a candid conversation.