Kyle Artelle | Raincoast Conservation Foundation

Supporting resurgent Indigenous-led governance: A nascent mechanism for just and effective conservation

Published on 2020 01 06 | by Raincoast | in Scientific Literature

Three maps of human populations especially Indigenous communities, overlaid on a photo of mountains and waters of the Great Bear Rainforest.

A new publication finds that in many cases a resurgence in Indigenous governance can increase both the scale and effectiveness of biodiversity protections…

Problem humans and the ecology of bear-human conflict

Published on 2019 12 13 | by Kyle Artelle, PhD | in Inform

A black bear turns their head a little while sitting down comfortably.

Last month, in Penticton, BC a group of five black bears – three males and two younger females – had been spotted feasting on residents’ garbage. Conservation authorities were called in, and the five bears were shot dead. This came just a week after six bears were shot in over a three day period near […]

Evidence, values, policy, and the advance of science

Published on 2019 10 24 | by Raincoast | in Scientific Literature

A rhinoceros and juvenile rhinoceros stand in the brown grass of the Botswana flats.

Last month, a group of scientists published a letter in the journal Science that advocated for trophy hunting, arguing that the practice can help safeguard biodiversity. In today’s issue of Science, there are six response letters, and Raincoast scientists (Drs. Kyle Artelle, Chris Darimont and Paul Paquet), contribute to three. Our team argues that there […]

Research: Publication reform to safeguard wildlife from researcher harm

Published on 2019 04 17 | by Raincoast | in Scientific Literature

A wolf rests on the beach in the Great Bear Rainforest, with a chart from Figure 1 overlaid.

Scientists from Raincoast Conservation Foundation, University of Victoria, Alpha Wildlife Research & Management, and University of Saskatchewan reviewed more than 200 peer-reviewed academic journals that commonly publish wildlife research, evaluating the presence and comprehensiveness of ‘Animal Care’ requirements of authors. The study, “Publication reform to safeguard wildlife from researcher harm,” published as an open access article…

Research: Differentiating between regulation and hunting as conservation interventions

Published on 2019 02 11 | by Raincoast | in Scientific Literature

A giant pile of bison bones loom over a person standing beside it.

Wildlife conservation literature and public discourse, too often gloss over the important difference between hunting and the regulation of hunting. This is so common that there is a persistent, misinformed idea that extinctions have been avoided through the act of hunting. Historically, the regulation of hunting, not hunting itself, has averted extinction…

Salmonid species diversity predicts salmon consumption by terrestrial wildlife

Published on 2019 01 07 | by Raincoast | in Scientific Literature

A collage of images and graphs from a published peer reviewed article on salmonid species diversity and bear health: Hakai, Raincoast, University of Victoria, and Spirit Bear Foundation logos at the bottom.

Research by scientists at Spirit Bear Research Foundation, Raincoast Conservation Foundation, and the University of Victoria, led by Christina Service, shows that salmon species diversity – the number of spawning salmon species available – is far more important and positively related to salmon consumption in coastal black bears than biomass abundance…

Mismeasured mortality: correcting estimates of wolf poaching in the United States

Published on 2018 04 13 | by Raincoast | in Scientific Literature

Journal of Mammalogy cover for research published on mismeasured risks of poaching due to bias.

This research tests and rejects the long-held idea that data lost when known animals disappear were unbiased, under conditions common to most, if not all, studies using marked animals. Published government estimates are affected by the biases discovered. And so government estimates of systemically underestimating risks of poaching…

Wildlife management isn’t rocket science (but it should still be other kinds of science)

Published on 2018 03 24 | by Raincoast | in Interviews

Do wildlife management policies in North America consistently rely on good evidence? Do management wildlife agencies commit to hallmarks of science in their methodologies? When governments defend hunting laws and regulations by touting science, should we accept their claims at face value? Listen to Carol Off and Kyle Artelle discuss…

Chris Darimont interviewed on CFAX 1070 about political populations

Published on 2018 03 20 | by Raincoast | in Interviews

What is a political population? Did governments around the world try to exaggerate the size or resilience of carnivore populations? Have estimates of populations been skewed by systemic selection of data to suit political interests? Adam Stirling and Chris Darimont take on these questions and more…