Interview with Dr. Heather Bryan

I think one of the themes that has emerged from Raincoast’s research is how interconnected wolves are with the marine landscape, and that was a big theme of Dr. Chris Darimont’s work. And so to me, that’s really fascinating and really unique to wolves in coastal BC. That’s certainly something that local people have always known, but it’s something that in terms of Western science is fairly new and I think a really fascinating part of the work Raincoast has done.
They have a lot of ecological roles. For one, they help keep prey populations healthy; often they’ll target the young and the sick and the old individuals, and that can have consequences in maintaining a healthy balance between predator and prey—so not having too many prey helps keep the natural balance of ecosystems. That’s really important.