Year of Coexistence: October

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To honor our incredible wildlife, Defenders has declared 2019 the Year of Coexistence. Over the course of the year, we'll highlight innovative ways people are sharing the landscape with wildlife.

October: Gray Wolves

Defenders has pioneered practical solutions to minimize conflicts between wolves and livestock. We’re working with ranchers across the West to develop nonlethal deterrents, better animal husbandry practices and other innovative tools that minimize conflict and build social acceptance for wolves. Over the years, we’ve helped hundreds of ranchers purchase turbo-fladry and livestock guard dogs, hire range riders and deploy scare devices to keep wolves away from livestock. By minimizing conflicts with livestock and the lethal backlash against wolves that often follows, these proactive methods help protect both livestock and wolves.

Larry Travis

Coexisting with Gray Wolves

The greatest challenge as wolves return to their historic range is to build acceptance and appreciation for wolves, which Defenders strives to do by bringing people together to learn how to live with this magnificent, native species once again.

David Friend

Human Dimensions of Coexistence

For Defenders, people's values are front and center to our work mitigating human-wildlife conflict. We presented at the annual conference on human dimensions, Pathways, in Estes Park, Colorado.