At the Banff Mountain Book Festival we were treated to one of the most amazing slideshows I’ve ever seen.
Ian McAllister gave an overview of his life story vis-a-vis bears and wolves.
He’s very angry about big game trophy hunting. (And Ian’s a hunter who kills deer to feed his family.) There’s no reason to tag bear or wolf.
Ian McAllister is a nature photographer, writer, and conservationist who has dedicated his life to exploring the remote wilds of the British Columbia coast. Born in Vancouver, his exploration and adventures in the province’s rugged West Coast began at a young age, and inspired in him a passion for conservation which led him to become one of Canada’s leading advocates for rainforest protection.
With a keen interest in wildlife behaviour, ecology, and sailing, McAllister has spent much of the last 20 years travelling along the north coastline of British Columbia, observing the behaviour of coastal wolves and grizzly bears. For the last 17 years, McAllister has lived in the heart of the Great Bear Rainforest, one of the last places on earth where wolves live relatively undisturbed by humans. In his latest book, The Last Wild Wolves, he documents the behaviour of two packs, one in the extreme outer coastal islands and another farther inland.
McAllister’s first book, The Great Bear Rainforest (1997), was instrumental in helping Greenpeace, the Sierra Club, Ian and Karen McAllister’s Raincoast Preservation Society, and other environmental groups to successfully lobby British Columbia’s provincial government to impose a moratorium on grizzly bear hunting and to designate a large portion of the province’s mainland coast as parkland in 2001.
McAllister is a founding member of the Raincoast Conservation Society, and his images have appeared in numerous publications including International Wildlife, BBC Wildlife, Audubon, Sierra, and Beautiful British Columbia. Also a filmmaker, his footage has been used by National Geographic TV, Discovery Channel, and the BBC.
His two books:
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