Wild Tomorrow Podcast

Katie Byers
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Wildlife advocate and conservation troublemaker. I write the truths insiders won’t say: where donations go, which rescues harm, why viral videos lie. wildtomorrow.substack.com

Episodes

  1. 3d ago

    When Bears Show Up Where They Shouldn’t: What Simultaneous Sightings Across Six States Actually Tell Us

    I’ve spent enough time tracking wildlife stories to know when something shifts from coincidence to pattern. This week, black bears appeared in residential areas across Minnesota, Massachusetts, Ohio, Colorado, Pennsylvania, and New York. Not one or two isolated incidents. Simultaneous reports across regions that don’t typically share ecological conditions. The official explanation landed quickly: seasonal changes, warmer and drier conditions, bears seeking food and territory. Standard wildlife management messaging. The kind of statement designed to reassure the public without examining what’s actually happening beneath the surface. But when I look at these incidents together, I see something else. I see a species responding to environmental pressure in real time. I see habitat fragmentation forcing wildlife into human spaces. And I see a conservation narrative that prioritizes human comfort over ecological truth. The Pattern Nobody Wants to Name Six states. Different ecosystems. Same week. Minnesota’s sightings came from suburban neighborhoods. Massachusetts reported bears in residential yards. Ohio, a state where bear populations have been historically minimal, logged multiple encounters. Colorado and Pennsylvania, where bears are more common, saw increased activity in areas previously considered low-risk. New York added to the count with reports from communities that hadn’t seen bears in years. Wildlife officials issued the predictable advisories: don’t approach bears, secure trash, bring in bird feeders, keep pets indoors, supervise children, report nuisance activity. All practical advice. All reactive. What’s missing from these advisories is any acknowledgment of why this is happening now, across such a broad geographic range, in areas where human-bear encounters were previously rare or nonexistent. The “warmer, drier conditions” explanation sounds reasonable until you examine what that actually means. Warmer and drier conditions don’t just make bears wander. They indicate habitat stress. Food scarcity in natural environments. Water source depletion. Territory compression. Bears don’t show up in residential neighborhoods because they prefer human company. They show up because their natural habitat can no longer support them. The Uncomfortable Reality of Habitat Fragmentation I’ve written about habitat loss enough times to recognize the pattern. Development expands. Natural corridors shrink. Wildlife adapts or dies. Black bears have large home ranges. Males can cover 60 to 100 square miles. Females need 15 to 40 square miles. When development fragments that range, when logging or agriculture or suburban expansion cuts through traditional territory, bears don’t simply disappear. They adjust. They move into spaces where food is accessible. Trash bins. Compost piles. Bird feeders. Pet food left on porches. Fruit trees in suburban yards. Human spaces become bear habitat not by choice, but by necessity. The simultaneous sightings across six states suggest something larger than individual bears making opportunistic decisions. This looks like population-level displacement. Multiple bears across multiple regions responding to similar environmental pressures at the same time. Climate change doesn’t just warm the planet gradually. It creates cascading ecological effects. Altered precipitation patterns affect vegetation growth. Vegetation changes affect food availability for herbivores. Food scarcity for herbivores affects predators and omnivores. Bears, as opportunistic omnivores, feel these shifts acutely. When natural food sources decline, bears travel farther. When territory becomes contested due to population density in shrinking habitat, younger or weaker bears get pushed into marginal areas. Marginal areas now include human neighborhoods. What Public Safety Advisories Don’t Address The standard wildlife management response focuses on human behavior modification. Secure attractants. Report sightings. Stay vigilant. This approach treats symptoms while ignoring causes. I’m not suggesting people shouldn’t secure trash or remove bird feeders. Those measures reduce immediate conflict risk. But they don’t address why bears are showing up in places they historically avoided. The advisories also don’t mention what happens to bears who become habituated to human areas. Bears that repeatedly access human food sources often get labeled as nuisance animals. Nuisance designation typically leads to relocation or lethal removal. We create the conditions that push bears into our spaces, then punish the bears for adapting. This cycle repeats across species and ecosystems. Mountain lions in California suburbs. Coyotes in urban parks. Alligators in Florida golf courses. The pattern is consistent: habitat loss forces wildlife into human areas, human-wildlife conflict increases, and wildlife pays the price. The conversation around these bear sightings should include questions about land use planning, habitat corridor preservation, and climate adaptation strategies for wildlife. Instead, we get instructions on trash management. The Security Incident That Doesn’t Belong Here The original report included a completely unrelated item: a fatal shooting near a White House security checkpoint, the third gunfire incident near President Trump in a month. Placing this incident alongside bear sightings creates a strange editorial choice. Two entirely separate stories. Two different types of threat. Two different responses required. But maybe that juxtaposition reveals something about how we process risk. Security incidents near the White House generate immediate national attention. Protocols get reviewed. Security measures get enhanced. Resources get allocated. Bears appearing in residential areas across six states get local news coverage and standard advisories. The systemic environmental factors driving these encounters remain largely unexamined. We respond decisively to human-created threats while treating ecological displacement as a minor inconvenience. Both situations involve safety. Both require systemic solutions. But only one gets treated as a crisis requiring structural intervention. What Actually Needs to Happen If we’re serious about reducing human-bear conflict, we need to address habitat connectivity. That means preserving and restoring wildlife corridors. It means incorporating ecological considerations into development planning. It means acknowledging that climate change affects wildlife behavior and adapting our land management accordingly. It also means funding wildlife management agencies adequately. State wildlife departments operate on limited budgets. They’re expected to monitor populations, respond to conflicts, conduct research, and educate the public while managing increasing human-wildlife interface challenges. Public education matters, but it needs to go beyond “don’t feed the bears.” People need to understand why bears are showing up. They need to see the connection between development patterns, climate change, and wildlife displacement. Communities in bear country need support for non-lethal conflict prevention. Bear-resistant trash containers. Electric fencing for beehives and chicken coops. Funding for wildlife crossing structures. These interventions work, but they require investment. We also need to stop treating every bear sighting as an emergency. Bears existed in these regions long before human development. Their presence isn’t an invasion. It’s a return to historic range or an adaptation to changing conditions. Learning to coexist means accepting that wildlife belongs in the landscape, even when that landscape includes human communities. The Bigger Picture We Keep Avoiding These bear sightings are data points in a larger ecological shift. Species ranges are changing. Migration patterns are adapting. Animals are responding to environmental pressures in real time. The question isn’t whether wildlife will continue appearing in unexpected places. The question is whether we’ll address the systemic factors driving these changes or keep issuing the same reactive advisories. I’ve covered enough conservation stories to recognize when institutions prioritize messaging over solutions. The response to these bear sightings follows that pattern. Reassure the public. Provide basic safety guidance. Avoid discussing the uncomfortable reality that our development patterns and environmental policies create these conflicts. Wildlife doesn’t have the luxury of waiting for us to get comfortable with the truth. Bears need habitat now. They need food sources now. They need space to exist without constant human conflict. Every time we frame wildlife presence as a problem to be managed rather than a symptom of ecological disruption, we miss the opportunity to address root causes. The bears showing up across six states this week are telling us something. The question is whether we’re willing to listen. What I’m Watching For I’ll be tracking whether these sightings continue. Whether they escalate. Whether wildlife agencies start connecting these incidents to broader environmental patterns. I’ll be watching for any policy responses beyond standard public advisories. Any discussion of habitat restoration. Any acknowledgment that this represents more than seasonal bear behavior. I’ll also be watching for how many of these bears end up relocated or killed because they did exactly what any animal would do when their natural habitat can no longer support them. Because that’s the real story here. Not that bears are appearing in residential areas. But that we’ve created conditions where they have nowhere else to go, and we’re still pretending this is just about securing trash cans. The truth matters more than comfort, especially when wildlife is at stake. These bears deserve better than reactive management and surface-level explanations. They deserve habitat. The

    13 min

  2. May 7

    What 31 Dead Sloths Reveal About Conservation Theater

    Show Notes: What 31 Dead Sloths Reveal About Conservation Theater Support organizations doing the actual work: The Sloth Conservation Foundation (SloCo) Field-based sloth research and habitat protection in Costa Rica. No public interaction, no sanctuary tourism. Just science and conservation on the ground. slothconservation.org/donate The Sloth Institute Sloth rehabilitation and release in Costa Rica, plus reforestation work. They reviewed the Sloth World necropsy reports and have been publicly tracking this case. theslothinstitute.org Animal Legal Defense Fund The organization fighting for stronger legal protections for animals across the country, including the Tiger Creek lawsuit mentioned in this episode. If you want to support the legal side of holding facilities like Sloth World accountable, this is where your dollars go. aldf.org/donate Central Florida Zoo They’re currently caring for the surviving Sloth World animals. If you want to support the direct cost of that rescue, this is it. centralfloridazoo.org National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association The professional organization behind the licensed wildlife rehabilitators doing legitimate work every day. Four-star Charity Navigator rating. If this episode made you want to support the people actually doing ethical wildlife care, start here. nwrawildlife.org ———————— Follow the investigation: The Florida AG’s office is assisting the Ninth Judicial Circuit with an ongoing criminal investigation into Sloth World. Contact Florida State Rep. Anna Eskamani’s office to express support for stronger exotic animal facility legislation in Florida. Get full access to WildTomorrow at wildtomorrow.substack.com/subscribe

    16 min

  3. Apr 21

    You Moved to the Country. The Country Was Already Occupied.

    There is a particular kind of wildlife conflict story that wildlife rehabilitators, rural landowners, and conservation professionals have started to recognize on sight. It goes like this: someone moves to a rural area, discovers that rural areas contain wildlife, and then spends considerable energy trying to make the wildlife go somewhere else. The raccoons were here first. So were the possums, the coyotes, the feral hogs, the barn owls, and the snake you found in your garden that you posted about in a panic on Facebook. They were all here before the fence posts, before the patio, before the outdoor cat feeding station you set up with the best intentions. This is not a criticism. It is an orientation. Because the first step toward actually coexisting with wildlife is understanding that you moved into their neighborhood, and that comes with some responsibilities that a Google search and a marshmallow trap are not going to fulfill. Thanks for reading WildTomorrow! This post is public so feel free to share it. The Amenity Migration Problem Researchers have a name for what happens when people relocate to rural areas specifically for the lifestyle, the land, the quiet, the aesthetics of nature. They call it amenity migration, and studies show it leads to habitat fragmentation, increased invasive species pressure, and altered wildlife migration patterns that significantly impact local biodiversity. In other words, the very people drawn to rural areas because they love nature often bring the most disruptive expectations about what nature is supposed to look like and how it is supposed to behave. Researchers have documented ecological and landscape transformations that reflect the conflicting nature ideologies of newcomers and established populations. Long-term rural residents tend to understand that wildlife is part of the deal. Newcomers, arriving with an idea of nature built from aesthetics rather than experience, often do not. The raccoon on your porch is not a malfunction. It is Tuesday. The Feeding Station Pipeline Here is where things get ecologically interesting, and where good intentions start producing measurable harm. Outdoor cat feeding is widespread, especially among people who care about animals. The impulse is understandable. Feral cats are often in rough shape, and leaving food out feels like the compassionate thing to do. What it actually does is create a wildlife buffet with no bouncer. Research on feral cat feeding stations found that wildlife consumed the overwhelming majority of the food. At one monitored station, raccoons accounted for 15% of feeder visits, with skunks dominating at 74%, and the target species, feral cats, making up only 4% of visits. The cats were frequently arriving to an empty bowl. 📊 Interactive: Who’s Actually Eating the Cat Food? — Feeding Station Visitor Data Cat colonies form around food sources and grow to the limits of the food supply. So do raccoon populations. So do skunk populations. So does every other opportunistic omnivore in the coastal plains of South Texas, which is, it turns out, most of them. If you have been putting food out for months and now have what feels like a raccoon convention on your property, the food is not incidental to that situation. The food is the situation. The Feral Cat Piece Nobody Wants to Talk About Feral cat management is genuinely complicated, and this is not an attack on people who care about cats. But the ecological reality is difficult to ignore. Scientists from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated that free-ranging domestic cats kill between 1.3 and 4.0 billion birds and between 6.3 and 22.3 billion small mammals annually in the United States. In the coastal plains of South Texas, which sits directly in major migratory flyways and hosts significant populations of ground-nesting shorebirds and grassland species, that number is not abstract. It is local. It is the killdeer nesting at the edge of your pasture and the meadowlarks in the field behind your house. Feral and free-ranging cats compete directly with native mesopredators like skunks, opossums, raccoons, and foxes for prey. Humans subsidize cat populations by supplying food and shelter, allowing cat populations to reach densities up to 100 times higher than those of their native counterparts. You cannot feed one part of this system and be surprised when the rest of it shows up at the table. The “I Did My Research” Problem “Nature is not a catalog. You don’t get to choose the animals that you will see and won’t see in your yard.” That is a direct quote from wildlife professional Ed Clark, and it is worth posting somewhere you will read it regularly. Rural wildlife literacy is not built through internet searches. It is built through years of observation, hands-on experience, and the humility to consult people who actually work with these animals. Licensed wildlife rehabilitators. TPWD. Local wildlife control operators who know the species, the season, and the legal landscape. Research shows that individual attitudes and beliefs toward wildlife strongly predict support for lethal or removal-based control measures over nonlethal strategies like deterrence and education. People who arrive with a fear of or frustration with wildlife are more likely to reach for a trap than a conversation with someone who knows what they are doing. The internet will confirm whatever you want it to confirm. That is not the same as accurate information. What Rural Coexistence Actually Looks Like People who have lived rural lives for a long time are not naive about wildlife. They know raccoons are destructive. They know coyotes will take chickens. They know snakes are going to be in the garden. They manage these realities through deterrence, habitat modification, secured food sources, and occasionally licensed professional intervention when something genuinely crosses a line. They do not tend to be shocked that the country has animals in it. More than 90% of human-wildlife conflicts can be resolved on-site without removing the animal. Secure your food sources. Bring cat bowls in at night. Use motion-activated deterrents. Accept that some amount of wildlife presence is not a problem to be solved. It is the baseline. If you moved to the country because you love nature, the most important thing you can do for that nature is learn to share it with something other than your own comfort level. The raccoons were here first. They will be here after you. The least you can do is not make their remaining time a death sentence in a borrowed live trap on the way to a county park. For questions about wildlife conflicts in Texas, contact TPWD at (800) 792-1112. For wildlife emergencies in the Gulf Coast region, contact Gulf Coast Wildlife Rescue. To find a licensed wildlife rehabilitator near you, visit the National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association directory. If this feels like a callout article, that’s because it is, make sure to read my previous article linked below. Get full access to WildTomorrow at wildtomorrow.substack.com/subscribe

    7 min

  4. Apr 21

    The Raccoon Relocation Problem: Why "Catch and Release" Is Not What You Think It Is

    Every spring, social media fills up with well-meaning posts from people who have discovered that raccoons are eating their cat food, raiding their garden, or throwing a block party on their back porch. The solution, many of them announce with confidence, is simple: trap them and relocate them somewhere they can live their best raccoon life. It sounds kind. It is not kind. And in Texas, it is also illegal. Let’s talk about it. The Golden Corral Problem Raccoons in South Texas are thriving. If you have spent any time in rural areas, you have seen them: fat, glossy, absurdly well-fed animals who have figured out that humans are, frankly, terrible at securing their garbage. They are smart, adaptable, and completely unintimidated by you. They are also not your problem to solve by driving them somewhere else. The logic of relocation feels intuitive. Animal is here. Animal should not be here. Therefore, move animal. Done. Except wildlife biology does not care about your logic, and neither does the Texas Department of State Health Services. First: It Is Illegal Under the Texas Rabies Control and Eradication Administrative Code, it is illegal for a private citizen to transport any live raccoon indigenous or naturalized to North America. A violation of this law is a Class C misdemeanor. Even licensed professionals face strict rules. Quarantined animals, including raccoons, can only be moved within a 10-mile radius in the same county near the original capture site. State law requires approval from TPWD and the landowner of the release location before any transport occurs. If you want to trap and relocate a nuisance furbearing animal in Texas, you must first obtain a letter of authorization from the TPWD Wildlife Division specifying the species and estimated numbers. That authorization process involves paperwork, waiting, and an honest conversation with a wildlife professional who will almost certainly recommend something other than relocation. The “I did my research” defense does not hold up in front of a game warden. Second: Relocation Is a Death Sentence Here is where the good intentions really fall apart. Fifteen years of GPS raccoon translocation studies show a survival rate of just 18% for relocated raccoons. Read that again. Of every ten raccoons someone drives out to “the woods” and releases because they felt bad about killing them, eight are dead within months. Studies suggest that less than 20% of relocated raccoons survive for more than a few weeks. Challenges include predation, starvation, and violent competition from raccoons already living in the release area. One study found a 50% mortality rate at three months post-release, with mortality potentially reaching 75% after one year. This is not a rescue. This is a delayed execution with extra steps and a cleaner conscience for the person doing it. Even if the stress of capture and transport does not kill them outright, relocated raccoons face violent confrontations with resident animals who are not interested in sharing their territory with a disoriented stranger. Raccoons are not gentle creatures by nature. A confused, stressed raccoon dropped into another raccoon’s home range is not going to be welcomed with a fruit basket. A 1999 study found that relocated raccoons left release sites within hours to days, and were more likely to den in human residence areas than raccoons native to the release site. So you have moved the raccoon, traumatized the raccoon, probably killed the raccoon, and the raccoon’s last act on earth was to try to find another human house. Congratulations. 📊 Interactive: Raccoon Relocation: What People Think vs. What Actually Happens Third: It Does Not Even Solve Your Problem Nature abhors a vacuum. If you trap and remove one animal, another will almost certainly move into the territory you just cleared. The food source is still there. The access points are still there. The neighborhood is still raccoon-friendly. You have not addressed anything except your own discomfort, and you have done it at the cost of an animal’s life. Whatever entry point or attractant brought the raccoon to your property in the first place is still there. Sooner or later, another raccoon, or another wild animal, will find it. This is what wildlife professionals call the vacuum effect, and it is why trap-and-relocate programs consistently fail to produce long-term results. You are not solving a problem. You are cycling through animals until you run out of patience or marshmallow bait. 📊 Interactive: Raccoon Relocation: What People Think vs. What Actually Happens What Actually Works The raccoons on your porch are there because something attracted them. Remove the attraction, and you remove the raccoons. This is not complicated, though it does require admitting that the situation is mostly of your own making. Secure your food sources. If you feed outdoor cats, bring the food in at night. Secure your garbage with bungee cords or a latching lid. Remove brush piles, fallen fruit, and easy den sites. Motion-activated lights and sprinklers work reasonably well as deterrents. More than 90% of human-wildlife conflicts can be resolved on-site, without removing the animal at all. The science on this is not ambiguous. If you have a genuine nuisance situation that goes beyond cat food scheduling, contact a licensed wildlife control operator or call TPWD. They can assess the actual situation and give you legal, effective options that do not involve driving a raccoon to a county park and hoping for the best. 📊 Interactive: The Numbers Don’t Lie — Feeding Station Visitors & Raccoon Relocation Survival A Note on Marshmallow Traps Marshmallows work as raccoon bait because raccoons will eat anything that smells like sugar. Feral cats, generally, do not care. This is a known and commonly used baiting technique, which means if you are planning to set traps and release raccoons elsewhere, you are already aware that a live animal is going to be in that trap, probably overnight, definitely stressed, possibly a nursing mother with kits dying somewhere nearby that you will never find. That is worth sitting with. The Bottom Line Raccoons are intelligent, resilient, and deeply adapted to living alongside humans. They are going to be in your yard. They are going to be on your porch. They are going to stare at you with complete indifference while you yell at them from your back door at 10 PM. That is rural Texas. That has always been rural Texas. If you live here and deal with wildlife, the ethical and legal path forward is coexistence, deterrence, and when necessary, calling someone who is actually licensed to handle it. The raccoons do not need to be relocated. The misinformation does. If you have a genuine wildlife conflict in Texas, contact TPWD at (800) 792-1112 or find a licensed wildlife rehabilitator through the National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association. For wildlife emergencies in the Gulf Coast region, contact Gulf Coast Wildlife Rescue. Get full access to WildTomorrow at wildtomorrow.substack.com/subscribe

    7 min

  5. Apr 15

    What to Do When You Find a Wild Animal

    Every spring and summer, my phone fills up with the same call. Someone has found something. A bird on the ground, a baby squirrel in the yard, a turtle in the road. They are panicked and well-meaning and standing there not knowing what to do next. That first instinct of reaching out is exactly right. It’s the next five minutes that determine whether the animal makes it. This week’s episode of WildTomorrow walks through what those five minutes should actually look like: what to do, what not to do, and why the gap between those two things costs animals their lives more often than any injury does. I’ve pulled the checklists from the episode here so you have them in one place. Screenshot them. Share this post. Send it to someone who would absolutely panic and pick up the bird immediately. Find graphics and a printable version here. BEFORE YOU TOUCH ANYTHING: OBSERVE FIRST Give yourself two to three minutes to watch from a distance before you touch anything. These are the questions to run through: □ Is the animal moving? Is it breathing? □ Are there parents nearby, watching from a distance? □ Is it a fledgling, a young bird that’s supposed to be on the ground? □ Is there a visible wound, blood, or obvious injury? □ Was it found near a road, a window, or with a cat or dog? Not sure if it needs help? Take a photo and text it to a local wildlife rehabilitator. That is not a bother. That is exactly what we are here for. IF IT NEEDS HELP: CONTAINMENT You have a container. You have something. Here is what works: □ Cardboard box with a lid □ Laundry basket with a towel over the top □ Pet carrier or dog crate □ Plastic tote with air holes poked in the lid □ Cooler with the lid cracked □ Bathroom or closet with the door shut (for larger animals) Line it with a plain cotton t-shirt, hand towel, or paper towels. Avoid terry cloth or loose knits; claws catch in the loops. Then: dark room, quiet, away from people and pets. Stress kills. The box is not just containment. The box is the first treatment. DO NOT DO THESE THINGS □ Do NOT offer food or water (unless a rehabber tells you to) □ Do NOT handle the animal more than needed to get it contained □ Do NOT leave the container in direct sun or a hot car □ Do NOT show it to neighbors, kids, or bystanders □ Do NOT attempt to clean wounds or apply first aid □ Do NOT assume silence means the animal is fine The instinct to feed is one of the most dangerous. An injured animal given food before it’s physiologically stable can aspirate, develop aspiration pneumonia, or crash from the metabolic stress. Water can drown a bird too weak to hold its head up. Dark box, quiet room, call a rehabber, in that order. WHEN YOU CALL: HAVE THIS READY □ Species, or describe: size, color, beak / feet / scales □ Where it was found (address, GPS, or habitat description) □ How long ago you found it □ Any visible injury, blood, abnormal posture, or seizures □ What it was near: road / window / cat / dog / wire □ Can you transport, or do you need pickup? Send a photo by text even after you’ve called. A single photo tells a rehabber more than five minutes of description and helps with triage before anyone gets in a car. If the rehabber can’t respond immediately, hold the container. Stay calm. They may be with another critical animal. Your animal is not the only one in crisis today. Waiting with a contained animal is doing the job. THE 60-SECOND RULE When you find an injured wild animal, these are the only decisions that matter in the first minute: 1. Observe from a distance. Does it actually need help? 2. If yes, find a container. Any container. Line it. 3. Place the animal inside. Minimal handling. 4. Dark. Quiet. Away from people and pets. 5. Call a licensed wildlife rehabilitator. Send a photo. 6. Wait. Hold the container. Do not feed. You do not need experience. You do not need equipment. You just need to start. FIND A REHABBER NEAR YOU Animal Help Now (zip code search): ahnow.org National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association: nwrawildlife.org/page/Found_Injured_Wildlife Wildlife Rehabber zip code search: wildliferehabber.org Texas Parks & Wildlife — rehabbers in Texas: tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/rehab/ WildTomorrow is an independent conservation accountability publication. No grants, no sponsorships, no seats at tables with the organizations I investigate. If this post was useful, the best things you can do are share it and subscribe. Get full access to WildTomorrow at wildtomorrow.substack.com/subscribe

    14 min
  6. Wild Wins, March 2026 (Podcast): A Sturgeon, Four Rhinos, and $3.8 Billion

    Apr 7

    Wild Wins, March 2026 (Podcast): A Sturgeon, Four Rhinos, and $3.8 Billion

    Wild Wins is now a podcast. Same coverage, same voice, new format. Each month, we break down the biggest conservation victories in one episode: the funding, the court rulings, the species coming back, and the tech making it possible. March 2026 gave us a lot to work with. Canada’s $3.8 billion nature commitment. The ESA restored by a federal court. Forty species gaining international protection. Rhinos released into ancestral grassland. A hundred-year-old absence ending in the Milwaukee River. AI cutting poaching by 60 percent in Kenya. Hit play. The doom scroll doesn’t tell you this part. Get full access to WildTomorrow at wildtomorrow.substack.com/subscribe

    6 min
  7. The Zoo Question, episode 1

    Mar 10

    The Zoo Question, episode 1

    Hi, I'm Katie Byers, and this is The Zoo Question, a series from Wild Tomorrow about what really happens behind the conservation story zoos like to tell. In this first episode, we're talking about something I call the zoo industrial complex: how institutions that say they exist to savewildlife have become mostly about ticket sales, branding, and balance sheets. If you've ever walked into a zoo and felt that uneasy gap between the glossy conservation signs and the animals pacing behind glass, this episode is for you. Get full access to WildTomorrow at wildtomorrow.substack.com/subscribe

    9 min
  • 7 Episodes

About

Wildlife advocate and conservation troublemaker. I write the truths insiders won’t say: where donations go, which rescues harm, why viral videos lie. wildtomorrow.substack.com

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  • Creator
    Katie Byers
  • Years Active
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  • Episodes
    7
  • Rating
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  • Copyright
    © Katie Byers
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    Wild Tomorrow Podcast