Jim Sterba’s disturbing news about wildlife

We’re overrun with wild animals and have no plan to solve the problem. Jim Sterba, author of Nature Wars, is our guest in the current episode of Wildfire. You don’t want to miss this.

From the sad to the sensational, Sterba tells us – in his book and on the show – how and why burgeoning wildlife populations have “turned backyards into battlegrounds.” The topic is very timely as Maine approaches its second referendum on bear hunting in a decade. In fact, Sterba presents an account on Maine’s 2004 bear referendum in his chapter on bears, appropriated titled “Teddies.”

I posted a column about the book earlier in the year. You can read that here.

Sterba was a foreign correspondent and national reporter for more than 40 years for the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. And he has many Maine connections including the summer residence that he and his wife enjoy on the coast near Bar Harbor.

We were very lucky to secure Jim for the show before he headed south for the winter. He was a fascinating guest. This is one of the few episodes where cohost Harry Vanderweide and I spent more time listening than talking!

Wildfire can be seen on the Time Warner cable station on Wednesdays at 7 pm, Fridays at 7:30 pm, Saturdays at 2:30 pm, and Sundays at 9:30 pm.

You can also watch all Wildfire episodes on the website of Maine Audubon. Here is the link to the show with Jim Sterba. Enjoy!

George Smith

About George Smith

George stepped down at the end of 2010 after 18 years as the executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine to write full time. He writes a weekly editorial page column in the Kennebec Journal and Waterville Morning Sentinel, a weekly travel column in those same newspapers (with his wife Linda), monthly columns in The Maine Sportsman magazine, two outdoor news blogs (one on his website, georgesmithmaine.com, and one on the website of the Bangor Daily News), and special columns for many publications and newsletters. Islandport Press published a book of George's favorite columns, "A Life Lived Outdoors" in 2014. In 2014, George also won a Maine Press Association award for writing the state's bet sports blog. In 2016, Down East Books published George's book, Maine Sporting Camps, and Islandport Press published George and his wife Linda's travel book, Take It From ME, about their favorite Maine inns and restaurants.