361: Managing Our Criminal Nature with Mary Roach
“I don’t care what’s going on in the world that day, a bear attack will be headline news, because it is this very primal, horrifying, frightening thing. And the other thing… is the way that they kill is not how you really want to really be killed.”
Who among us hasn’t, at some point, wondered just what exactly a bear manager or a danger tree feller blaster does? Well, Mary Roach, America’s funniest science writer, TED 20 Most Watched list member, and increasingly frequent guest on this podcast has, and now she’s written a book for our collective enlightenment. In today’s episode, Mary discusses her latest offering, FUZZ: When Nature Breaks the Law, taking us on a fascinating journey around the world to explore these and other unique professions dealing with animals and plants whose interactions with humans can be dangerous and even fatal.
She starts by explaining the oxymoronic nature of many conservation organizations, the work of wildlife biologists within them and the horrible decisions it can involve, and some reasons behind poor decisions that are often made regarding animal-human conflict. Mary goes on to share some surprising statistics regarding bears and other wildlife, the liability associated with accepting a certain amount of risk in human-animal conflicts, killer trees and the people who deal with them, the historical concept of actually punishing animals who break the law, and the introduction of RoBird drone technology. She concludes the episode on a hopeful note with her story of Roger, one of the many interesting individuals she interviewed for her book. While fully acknowledging the severity of human-wildlife conflicts, Mary manages to sprinkle her trademark humor throughout today’s conversation as she opens our eyes to the reality, complexity, and, well, oddity of some these occupations that so many of us may never even have known existed.
