Seeking Peaceful Coexistence with Wildlife

This episode seeks to highlight solutions which help humans and wildlife coexist. It highlights the reasons behind why conflicts take place and how policymakers are addressing it. It also addresses how each of us can handle conflicts with the animals around us every day whether it is a small mosquito or a big bear. Our first guest, Gerard Martin, is a conservationist in India who focuses on trying to educate people, and young children on how to coexist with snakes. Death due to snake bites is a very big problem in India, which also gives a negative perception of the animal. But Gerry is trying to change that. We will also talk to Petros Chrysafis, a wildlife conservationist based in California, focusing on mitigating human-wildlife conflicts in the region. He tells us more about how he has established predator monitoring tools and non-lethal deterrent measures to ensure livestock and wildlife coexist safely. Lastly, we will hear from Paul Pebsworth, a primatologist who has worked on mitigating human-wildlife conflict between primates and humans in many parts of the world and is currently based in Texas. Paula’s focus is to find solutions for humans and wild animals to coexist and also addresses the language and narratives policymakers, the media, researchers, conservationists etc should use while talking about human-wildlife conflicts. Our correspondent is Priyanka Shankar.