Coexisting with Urban Wildlife: An Interview with Heather Kerrison

During Camp Climate, we had the opportunity to host Heather Kerrison to share a presentation on coexisting with urban wildlife. Heather’s presentation was so packed full of amazing information that we interviewed her to share it with you via a blog post.

Heather is passionate about environmental education and mitigating human-wildlife conflict. This is underpinned by a background in Zoology and a Masters of Environmental Studies, where she focused specifically on mitigating human-wildlife conflict in urban areas. She has experience working for non-profit organizations, wildlife rehabilitation centres and environmental education organizations. She is also a Social Media Specialist and understands the role that social media plays in reaching a large audience with educational messaging, particularly about wildlife and environmental based issues. She is very passionate about educating others and grounds herself in the belief that once we know better, we can be better.

What got you interested in urban wildlife-human conflict?

“I originally became interested in the concept of human-wildlife conflict (HWC) from my deep passion for elephants and the plight of their species. I’ve written term conservation papers on African Elephants and the devastation to their populations caused by the ivory trade. I have also personally visited and volunteered at elephant sanctuaries in Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Thailand. It was through these experiences that I became aware of all the ways the humans conflict with elephants in Asia. This was originally going to be the focus of my graduate work. However, when I began working at Toronto Wildlife Centre in April of 2018, I quickly saw how much HWC occurs right here in the GTA and how unprepared people are to cope with it, particularly the lack of education surrounding wildlife that lives amongst us. I decided then to focus on HWC here in our urban spaces and mitigating it with education. I felt a duty to help mitigate the harm that is caused to wildlife every day by our habits, our infrastructure and even poor attitudes towards wildlife. The hope is and always will be to foster care. I believe that if people know better, they will be better.”

How can we be better neighbours to urban wildlife?

“We can be better neighbours by caring about wildlife and educating ourselves about species in urban environments. With understanding, we can have compassion. If you know that letting your cat outdoors can result in the death of many wildlife species, then you can show your respect for wildlife by keeping them indoors. By taking these small steps, based in education, we can foster a peaceful coexistence. To me that means people understanding why any given species acts in the way they do and how we can help them thrive. If you understand that birds are very harmed by infrastructure and often die from window collisions, you can do your part to add window decals to your home and business. Again, it is these small actions based in care and understanding that will really help us all to live in a greater harmony where less animals are harmed.“

Can you explain a bit about your wildlife Jeopardy games?

“For a part of my Major Research Project (MRP), I developed some educational programming for the Toronto Wildlife Centre. The goal was to create engaging, educational material that incorporated play, storytelling practices and greater involvement of the students.

The Wildlife Jeopardy was part of that. I created these games (one is for a slightly older/ more advanced audience) so that students could engage in a fun yet challenging way to learn about HWC in urban environments. This includes covering “nuisance” situations, infrastructure, the legality of interfering, stakeholders, how our pets interact with wildlife, how discarded items can be harmful and what nature happenings, despite popular opinion, are quite normal!”

Where can people go to learn more information?

“You can always learn more by following social media channels that I contribute to. I contribute bi-weekly blogs to the Nature Notes Blog.

I also post daily with current nature happenings and helpful information to the Instagram @wbubarrie

You can follow me personally, I often do stories of short nature talks or pictures and facts based on photos I have taken in urban green spaces @heather­­_kerrison

An excellent resource that I often point people to, especially if you find yourself stumbling open a sick, injured or potentially orphaned animal is the Toronto Wildlife Centre. There is also tons of great information on there about many common conflicting situations such as animals nesting in your attic or under your deck and humane ways to cope with that.”

Final thoughts?

“Overall, I just want people to be excited by the biodiversity that exists in urban areas and to educate themselves on how to help all beings thrive in our ecosystems. Many people have good intentions but lack the knowledge to realize the harm they are causing. People that feed bread to geese or raise a squirrel as a pet often have the best of intentions but fail to realize the extreme harm they are causing. I ask that people seek to know. And that once you know better, to be better. Care about the wild part of wildlife. Appreciate the biodiversity in our urban ecosystems, and help it thrive. And tell more people! Pass it on. The more people that are in the know, the closer we will get to peaceful coexistence.”