Bears are wild animals. Dogs are pets. It's pretty simple, right? Events in my hometown this summer had me rethinking this. I wrote a short essay on the topic for The Philosophical Salon. One part of the essay explores a growing disenchantment with the words 'wild' and 'wilderness.' Another looks lovingly, and a bit critically, …
Wildlife as a Philosophical Matter
Anyone who loves wildlife in the West should pay attention to what has been going on around Yellowstone National Park. Montana’s position on wolves has, to put it delicately, taken a ‘hard turn.’ This needs to change. The 2021 Montana state legislature crafted aggressive laws to reduce the state’s wolf population. Wolves can now be …
Wolf Seekers
“I’m just a nobody.” I won’t say this man’s name but if you have stood on the side of the road in Yellowstone during the winter searching through a spotting scope for distant wolves, you have probably met him. He claims to be “just a nobody” because he does not have “advanced degrees” or a …
Why Montana’s Not That Different
Jetlag gets you up early. On the first day back from a trip to Europe, I found myself alert in bed at 5.30 a.m. wondering how exactly I was going to fill the time till breakfast. A casual jog around the neighborhood would not normally be my first choice but it felt like a good …
Orangutans, Human Landscapes, and the Processes that Made them Both
In a recent article in Anthropocene Magazine about the future of orangutans, Brandon Keim observes “the key to their survival is us not killing them.” You would be forgiven for thinking that Keim is a master of the blindingly obvious after he offers a statement like this. We all already know that orangutans don’t fare …
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A Small Brown Bear with A Big Weight on Its Shoulders
On Tuesday of this week, Rewilding Europe relaunched their work in the Apennine region of Italy. Together with their partner Salviamo L’Orso, the organization is beginning a campaign they hope will lead to a growing population of one of the signature species of the region, the Marsican brown bear. An additional goal is to provide …
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Christopher J. Preston 