The Cougar Conundrum

How we are sharing the world with a successful predator

One thing that I love about my work is that I get the opportunity to talk to so many interesting people working with wildlife around the world. For today’s episode I wanted to share with you one of those conversations.

Some of you might remember our episodes on “how to catch a cougar” back in season 2. If you do, the name Dr. Mark Elbroch will probably sound familiar.

Mark is a good friend of mine and a cougar biologist with Panthera - he took us out into the forests of WA State to radio collar and track a cougar for those episodes. It was an incredible experience.

Well, I also had the honor of interviewing him on stage at Town Hall in Seattle recently - about the fascinating lives of cougars - mountain lions - he’s on the cutting edge of some leading research about their behavior, their ecology, and how we can protect and appreciate these beautiful big cats. Mark’s just written a book called The Cougar Conundrum: Sharing the World with a Successful Predator and we’ll talk about that too.

THE WILD is a production of KUOW in Seattle in partnership with Chris Morgan Wildlife and Wildlife Media. It is produced by Matt Martin and edited by Jim Gates. It is hosted, produced and written by Chris Morgan. Fact checking by Apryle Craig. Our theme music is by Michael Parker.

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