Lunch + Legislation launches its fourth year with guest John Vucetich, PhD. John is the first person we’ve hosted who combines his academic and research career with policy work.
I’ve come to understand that to no longer be endangered, means that you have to be well-distributed throughout your former range.
I’ve come to understand that to no longer be endangered, means that you have to be well distributed throughout your former range … Gray wolves currently occupy about 15% of their historic range so it’s really difficult to think that occupying 15% of your historic range constitutes being ‘recovered.’
John Vucetich, Lunch + Legislation, Nov. 6, 2023
Prof. Vucetich demonstrates that scientists, researchers and academics can have a powerful voice in shaping and influencing legislation and policy. In this episode of L+L, he spoke about:
a new method of mapping big cats in SE Asia, to find the intersection between cat population and human tolerance for the animals in order to best target conservation efforts
the ethics of re-introducing wolves to Isle Royale, which implicates issues of human intervention
a discussion of the status of wolf hunting in Michigan, a state which has seen the fewest wolves hunted over the last decade, but which has sought to justify the hunt on unscientific bases
an important critique of the Endangered Species Act, namely two interpetations of the term “all or in a portion of its range”; while the US Fish & Wildlife Service uses a narrow interpretation, John argues that a broader definition is necessary to promote biodiversity
