Growing up in rural Nova Scotia, my childhood was immersed in nature. I spent all my time turning over rocks at low tide looking for marine invertebrates like starfish and sea urchins, or lying on my stomach for hours watching ants come and go, leviathans in their own little grass jungles. I read my first Gerald Durrell book when I was nine, tucked away and surrounded by my grandparents’ rather expansive book collection. I subsequently read every book I could find about endangered species. Extinction became a sad and distressing word for me, and I became obsessed with the idea of one day saving animals from that fate. 

In later years, I studied wildlife management at university and was fortunate to have had wonderful experiences with animals in the wild during these studies. I met exceptional people during those years. Yet, still, very few seemed to have the same sense of urgency I had around species extinction. 

All of this changed when I went to the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust as WPC’s 8th Canada’s New Noah. I was surrounded by conservation professionals whose goals and dreams were the same as mine, to act and to save, not just talk about, endangered species. Conservation breeding and reintroduction of the Mauritius kestrel and the ploughshare tortoise not only saved these species from disappearing forever but galvanized habitat protection, led to the creation of national parks to protect their habitats, and employed local people to carry out the conservation work itself. 

Conservation breeding and reintroductions have now saved more than a 1,000 species from extinction, including iconic creatures like the California condor, Arabian oryx and kakapo. These efforts now span the globe, with more than 2,000 species involved in conservation translocations across all taxa, even including plants, marine invertebrates and terrestrial insects. 

Returning to Canada I was disheartened to find that taking direct action to save endangered species was generally dismissed here as “too difficult” and “not possible”. Initial attempts by WPC to champion hands-on conservation efforts were met by skepticism. Despite this resistance, WPC forged ahead with early successful reintroduction programs for the swift fox, burrowing owl and eastern loggerhead shrike. We are now Canada’s leading and most experienced organization dedicated to breeding endangered species and reintroducing them to the wild – giving back directly to nature.

Like Durrell’s early global pioneering work to bring endangered species back, WPC is today, carrying out similar pioneering projects across Canada. Our exceptional biologists have developed new methods for breeding bumble bees in captivity, releasing snakes into artificial hibernacula to survive Canadian winters, and creating revolutionary “love tubs” for frog conservation.

The WPC team reminds me of the earlier conservation leaders at Durrell. They are passionate, determined and dedicated, and stubbornly unwilling to give in to the daily challenges that come with wildlife conservation. They are underfunded and face long hours, and difficult field conditions. Despite these challenges WPC’s team are proving that hands-on conservation efforts can succeed, and they are becoming the next generation of Canada’s front-line conservation leaders.

They are the reason I believe there is hope.

Recent global species assessments and scientific publications prove that reintroductions prevent extinction. Not only do reintroductions prevent species loss, but they also recover and restore populations. Just as important, they also show us that action is possible and we can all, indeed, make a difference.

Extinction is no longer an option. Not on WPC’s watch. We understand how to restore species and we know endangered species conservation works. WPC will do everything we can to ensure that not another species ever goes extinct in Canada.

Thank you for joining us and being such a critically important part of this mission.

Wishing you and your loved ones a joyful holiday season and a bright, hopeful start to the New Year.

Dr. Lance Woolaver Jr.

Executive Director

Lance joined Wildlife Preservation Canada in 2017, bringing with him 18 years of experience managing recovery programs for some of the world’s most endangered species. He was Wildlife Preservation Canada’s eighth Canada’s New Noah in 1997, and he then stayed in Mauritius to manage species recovery projects for the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation. That experience helped him carry out the first releases of eastern loggerhead shrikes in Ontario upon returning to Canada in 2001. Lance has a PhD from York University and an MSc from Acadia University.

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