The Living With Wildlife 2014 conference was a resounding success! Nearly 100 guests and speakers arrived at the Holiday Inn Carlton in Toronto on October 17 for a day of seminars, education and networking.

Topics of the day covered everything from animal laws to rehabilitation of bears, and municipal wildlife strategies to living with coyotes.

In this week's episode of Defender Radio we're bringing you highlights from two of our speakers: Donna Doyle of the Town of Oakville, who explained the importance of a municipal wildlife strategy, and Mike McIntosh of Bear With Us Rehabilitation and Sanctuary, who detailed the vital need to understand bear language and how we can peacefully live among them.

The Living With Wildlife 2014 conference was a resounding success! Nearly 100 guests and speakers arrived at the Holiday Inn Carlton in Toronto on October 17 for a day of seminars, education and networking.

Topics of the day covered everything from animal laws to rehabilitation of bears, and municipal wildlife strategies to living with coyotes.

In this week's episode of Defender Radio we're bringing you highlights from two of our speakers: Erin McCance, who discussed white-tailed deer and urban management issues in Winnipeg, and Brad Gates of AAA Gates Wildlife Control, who entertained and educated the group with discussions of wildlife proofing homes.

We can barely believe it’s been a full year since this project first started. In that year we’ve had dozens of interviews with internationally-recognized scientists and advocates. We’re heard one-on-one interviews with those who have witnessed tragedy and those who have stopped cruelty. We’ve worked with great people Psychologist and beaver believer Dr. Heidi Perryman, rock star and animal lover Bif Naked, photographer Jo-Anne McArthur and Lesley Sampson of Coyote Watch Canada. We’ve talked about issues ranging from wolf ecosystem protection and the natural history of beavers to keeping squirrels out of attics and how to talk about co-existence with your schools. And through it all, we’ve had you, our incredible supporters, listening in.

And what better way to start Season Two of Defender Radio than with two of our absolute favourite guests?

We’ll be hearing from Brad Gates, owner of AAA Gates Wildlife Control on raccoons in Toronto – why they’re here and how we can live alongside them, as well as Dr. Marc Bekoff, discussing his upcoming book, Rewildling Our Hearts.

Let’s get started with season two!

It’s been a long week for us at APFA – the celebration we were having over the RCMP’s decision to ditch their muskrat fur hats for their regular cold weather uniform was brought to an abrupt halt. The Conservative government stated they would overturn the decision in order to protect the fur industry.

You’ll hear more about this from one of our guests this week, but to get the details and sign the petition asking the government to honour the RCMP’s decision, check out FurBearerDefenders.com or visit us on Facebook at Facebook.com/FurFree or Twitter with @FurBearers

In addition to the media hoopla caused by the government’s decision, we’re also busy getting ready for the 2014 Living With Wildlife conference in Toronto. And this week, we’re bringing you interviews from two of our speakers.

Camille Labchuk, a former Green Party candidate and animal rights lawyer, will be presenting at the conference on October 17. She recently joined us to talk about her work using the law for the animals, as well as how she’s fighting the government’s overruling of the RCMP decision.

Following Camille will be Donna Doyle of the Town of Oakville’s Environmental Policy department. Donna has played a vital role in the development of a wildlife plan, an environmental plan and most recently a road ecology plan, leading the Town of Oakville to a higher standard of living for animals.