Wolf Panel Discussion
- This event has passed.
Featured photographer and National Geographic Explorer Ronan Donovan will moderate the panel which will include scientist Kira A. Cassidy, rancher and wildlife biologist Hilary Zaranek, and large carnivore biologist Ken Mills. The intention of the panel is to deliver varied voices from people who have spent collectively over 30 years studying wolves in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. All three of the panelists are dedicated to delivering measured and thoughtful opinions and ideas about the human-wolf relationship and are interested in finding ways to reduce the conflict between wolves and humans. The event will be held in the Cook Auditorium. Admission is free for area locals as part of First Sundays.
As wolves in North America are increasingly under threat due to recent extreme wolf-control laws, and humans continue to impinge on the land and food sources that these animals need to survive, Donovan hopes that his photos will provide people with a better understanding of these often misunderstood animals. He also hopes they will see wolves as they are: powerful, intelligent, social mammals that have evolved to live in family structures similar to humans.
“The way that a culture views wolves can reveal a lot about how a society interacts with their environment—is there a belief of power over animals, or is there a collective shared landscape?” Donovan says. “As a visual storyteller, my goal is to portray my subjects in their most authentic way by showing the challenges they face as well as the tender moments between family members in order to evoke a shared emotion that the viewer can connect with.”
ABOUT RONAN DONOVAN
A field biologist turned conservation photographer and filmmaker, Ronan Donovan has explored the human relationship to nature and wildlife on all seven continents. Donovan’s passion for conserving wild animals and wild places was ignited as a child growing up in Vermont and later during his years as a wildlife field biologist researching spotted owls and chimpanzees. He transitioned to visual storytelling as a way to amplify the wildlife researchers and conservationists that Donovan collaborated with. In addition to his National Geographic work on wolves, Donovan has documented human-chimpanzee conflicts in Uganda, and the legacy work of primatologist Dian Fossey focused on mountain gorillas in Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda. Donovan strives to reconnect viewers to the natural world through the lives of our fellow social mammals to highlight our shared past and interwoven future.