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The AIH transcript for February 26, 2025

For more episodes of this podcast, please click this link.

NIL KÖKSAL: Hello, I'm Nil Köksal.

CHRIS HOWDEN: Good evening, I'm Chris Howden. This is As It Happens.

[theme]

CH: Tonight:

NK: Paying their respects. Thousands of Israelis line the streets to mourn two of the youngest hostages taken by Hamas on October 7th. Our guest describes what the Bibas family symbolizes for his country.

CH: Not remotely user friendly. Saskatchewan announces tough new measures on drug use, citing public safety. But an outreach worker says the rules won't make anything safer for the people he's helping.

NK: Climate anxiety. The U.S. Department of Agriculture scrubs climate change data from its website -- information that farmers relied on. Our guest tells us the loss is far from small potatoes.

CH: Full circle moment. Kelowna's Dallas Arcand describes what it was like to perform in front of some of hoop dancing's very best -- who eventually awarded him a fourth world championship title.

NK: Under cover of night. As seven planets align in our night sky, visitors are heading to Europe's newest Dark Sky Sanctuary: the Scottish island known as the “Isle of Rum.”

CH: And...a soba second thought. People will do anything to taste the noodles at an extremely exclusive place in China, including disrupting other customers -- which is a problem, because the place is a funeral home.

CH: As It Happens, the Wednesday edition. Radio that hits an all-time lo mein.

Part 1: Bibas Family Funeral, Farmers Data Lawsuit, Dark Sky Sanctuary

Bibas Family Funeral

Guest: Michael Levy

CH: Thousands of Israelis lined the streets of Rishon LeZion today to mourn three members of the Bibas family. Nine-month-old Kfir Bibas, his four-year-old brother Ariel and their mother, Shiri, were laid to rest in a private funeral. The two boys were the youngest hostages Hamas took on October 7th. Their bodies were released last week. Hamas claimed they were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza; Israel claimed they'd been brutally murdered by Hamas. That dispute -- as well as claims of violations by both sides -- threatened to derail the first phase of the fragile ceasefire. But in a breakthrough, Israel has agreed to release more than 600 Palestinian prisoners, in exchange for the bodies of four more Israeli hostages. Michael Levy's brother Or Levy was released on February 8th, after being held by Hamas for 491 days. We reached Michael Levy in Ganei Tikva, Israel.

NK: Michael, I know you were not lining the streets today. Understandably, you stayed home, and you stayed home with your brother. How did he handle this day? How is he doing?

MICHAEL LEVY: He is sad, like all of us. I think pretty much everyone felt it today. This was the saddest day I can recall.

NK: What does the Bibas family represent to you, and, and, and to Israelis who were lining the streets today?

ML: I think they they became a symbol, a symbol of innocent, happy family. And, you know, what is more innocent than a one-year-old baby, and a four-year-old kid, and a woman? And it's, it's just another proof of how evil this terrorist organization Hamas is.

NK: Yeah.

ML: What kind of a human being can you be to murder a baby with your own hands? This should be a lesson for the world that we have to fight terrorism and make sure this won't happen again. Not just here, anywhere.

NK: We saw members of the BBC family speak at the funeral today. Yarden Bibas is the boys' father, Shiri's husband. He survived his own hostage ordeal. His sister accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of prioritizing the destruction of Hamas over securing the release of hostages. And speaking specifically about her family, she said, quote, they could have saved you and preferred revenge, unquote. Is that, Michael, a sentiment that you have heard?

ML: I've heard it. And I can also understand why, why they said it. I think that the, the, not just the Israeli government, I think that the whole international community should have done a lot more to release all the hostages as soon as possible and deal with Hamas later. Unfortunately, it didn't happen.

NK: I wanted to ask you, if you don't mind a little bit more about your brother.

ML: Of course.

NK: What has he been able to share since his release about what he went through?

ML: Yeah, I won't get into specifics, but what he shared was, were things that, I mean, any normal person would think that, no, no person, a human being in the world, not even animals should live in those conditions without food, without water. And when they got water, it was usually polluted. They drink seawater most of the time, with no air, obviously. And they haven't seen the sun for almost 500 days. They were starved, and we all saw how they looked like. And it's a miracle that they're alive, that my brother is alive. You know, it could easily be me talking about my brother who was murdered in captivity. And I was fortunate to get him back. But there are still live hostages there, and we have to make sure that we are doing everything we can, so the funerals that we had to witness today won't repeat themselves.

NK: Your sister-in-law, your brother's wife, was killed by Hamas in the October 7th attack. Was he aware of that while he was being held?

ML: According to him, he thought it, it's, it's a possibility, but he wasn't 100 per cent sure. And he discovered that she was murdered only when he was released.

NK: How do you help him cope with that, Michael?

ML: I, I just spend as much time as I can with him. I let him set the pace, and let him tell us and tell me what he needs for me. And I'm just trying to be a good brother and, and be there for him and help him with anything I can.

NK: You also have a three-year-old nephew. Your brother's, your brother's son, who, I mean, at such a young age has experienced so much, so much loss, obviously. And didn't have his father with him for a large part of his, his first years. How is he doing? And, and I wonder, how are they doing together?

ML: Well, Almog is amazing. [NK chuckles] I mean, I think it's one of the things that can make anyone smile when he sees him. You know, we were worried at first because we didn't know how, how he will react after almost 500 days without his father. But when they met, it was as if they were never apart. Actually, when, when we brought him to meet him, he just ran through the corridors of the hospital and yelled, Where is Daddy? Where's Daddy? I want to meet him. It was the cutest thing ever. And I'm happy to see them together. And, you know, they sleep together every night. They, they catch up and then they make up for the lost time. And it's just, you know, this is the, the, the thing we, we all, we all, we've been waiting for.

NK: It makes me happy, Michael, to, to hear that smile in your voice as you describe that, and that you have those opportunities. I wish you safety and peace. Michael, thank you for your time.

ML: Thank you.

CH: Michael Levy's brother, Or Levy, was released by Hamas, which held him hostage for 491 days. We reached Michael Levy in Ganei Tikva, Israel.

[soul]

Farmers Data Lawsuit

Guest: Wes Gillingham

CH: Farmers plan ahead. They have to. And if they don't know what kind of weather to plan for, it makes their jobs -- which are already challenging -- that much harder. That's why organic farmers and environmental groups are suing the U.S. Agriculture Department for scrubbing key climate change data from its website. On January 30, the department started erasing information that farmers use to prepare for extreme weather-related events like heat waves, droughts, and floods from its website. The same day, it also froze funding for conservation and climate programs. Wes Gillingham is a sheep farmer, and the board president of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York. It's one of the plaintiffs in the case. We reached him in Washington, D.C.

NK: Wes, what kind of information was wiped out?

WES GILLINGHAM: So, one of the things that, that's most worrisome to me personally because of my own history, we ran a vegetable operation that experienced two 100-year floods and one 500-year flood in a five-year period. That's according to the U.S. Geological Survey. And when that happened, I was able to go to USDA and find assistance to get some funding to help with ditching that, you know, protected other folks downstream from where our field was. It was a river bottom field that we were releasing at the time, and we got assistance to, like, emergency recoup some of the ditching and, and take out the flood waters. That's the kind of thing that's missing now because they've taken information about where to get assistance. Farmers in America are not, they don't have access to Federal Emergency Management Agency funds. So, you know, it's through the USDA where they would find disaster funds from a flood event. So, that hit, it hits home for me that, you know, those kinds of extreme weather events are happening all the time now all over the country. It's not always the big major hurricane with a name. A lot of times, it's an isolated thunderstorm that sits over a ridge top and floods both communities on either side of the ridge. And that's the kind of thing that is just scrubbed because of a political agenda that's attacking climate change.

NK: It's also the time of year where farmers are planning for their summer growing season. So, how is what is, what has happened on the site, the scrubbing of this information, how is that impacting that work?

WG: It's really bad timing because there's things that farmers are planning for to adjust to prevent problems. There's people trying to get funding for riparian buffers where they can do plantings along the creeks, which not only protects the farm but protects the whole community and everybody downstream. But the other thing is this is when people are planning, okay, I'm going to take that 40 acres and I'm going to put in a cover crop this year, and maybe I can get some funding to pay part of the, you know, the seed costs, or, or I can get a grant. And farmers did get grants. Now, and now that this funding is frozen, I mean, there's farmers that have gone out and purchased things based on a loan that they got because they had a guaranteed funding resource from, from USDA. And now, they don't know whether they're going to get it, and they're on the hook for the loan that took out. I mean, it's horrible what's going on.

NK: So, how will you do your planning given this reality?

WG: Northeast Organic Farming Association, we have a helpline that farmers call if they're transitioning to organic, or they're looking for climate-smart farming practices, or how to improve their soil. And the staff steer farmers to those resources. And now, you can't steer the farmer to the resource page about cover cropping or climate-smart farming practices. So, it's impacting our staff's ability to help farmers.

NK: What kinds of things have farmers been telling you?

WG: All sorts of horror stories. The big one is people who have taken out loans based on partial assistance for something, whether it was infrastructure improvements, or fencing, or a delivery truck, it was able to get, one farmer I talked to a couple of weeks ago was able to get a loan for a brand new refrigerated delivery truck to deliver vegetables. And he was servicing local schools in his county. And he got the loan based on a percentage of a grant that he was supposed to get. Now, he doesn't know how he's going to get it, and he doesn't know how he's going to make the loan payments.

NK: Do you think this could, could break some farmers and put them out of business?

WG: The difference between New York and, you know, a lot of the western states or California is the bulk of the farms here are small farms. And those farms are generally dealing with a much tighter margin of error. So, something like this could really throw an individual operation for a loop.

NK: You know, I'm thinking back to, to the first Trump administration. And I wonder how you are comparing that? Because I recall at that time, there were, and it was controversial at the time, but farmers, well, I'm sure appreciated it, there were, there were huge payments, and subsidies, and farm aid from the Trump administration. I would imagine that, that some farmers -- the community is not a monolith, certainly, across your country -- but that they, they voted in this administration. So, were people caught off guard?

WG: Yes, absolutely. I mean, there's so much happening and so much confusion right now between the funding, the information scrubbing. And farmers are not, we don't have a political agenda. We're trying to feed the country. What's more important then a safe, stable food system? And this is throwing a loop, it's throwing a wrench into the food system.

NK: At the same time, you're part of another organization that is in Washington. That's why you're in the at the capital right now, lobbying for, for legislation that you hope comes through. What exactly are you hoping comes out of that? And, and what is it like doing that work with this new administration?

WG: So, you know, the work that NOFA is doing is part of the National Family Farm Coalition. And, again, this is, you know, separate from the lawsuit, it's about specific legislation. So, we can't just focus on the one travesty that's happening right now, you know, as we speak and all this confusion. We also need to keep pushing our legislators to do the right thing for the long, the long haul.

NK: Wes, I appreciate your time. Thank you.

WG: Thank you.

CH: Wes Gillingham is the board president of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York. Which is one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture. We reached Mr. Gillingham in Washington, D.C. We contacted the Department of Agriculture. It referred us to the Department of Justice -- which did not respond to our request before airtime.

[indie rock]

Dark Sky Sanctuary

Guest: Elle Hutchison

CH: They call it the "planetary parade": Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, Mercury, and Saturn. This week, all seven are visible in the night sky. It's a phenomenon you won't see again, until the year 2040. And one of the best spots on this planet to see the show is the Isle of Rum. The remote island in the Scottish Hebrides is the latest spot to be officially designated a Dark Sky Sanctuary. It's one of 22 locations worldwide to adhere to strict rules limiting the use of artificial lighting at night, as part of the nonprofit organization DarkSky International's efforts to reduce light pollution. Elle Hutchison is the visitor services manager of the Isle of Rum. We reached her there.

NK: Elle, we're reaching you just after sunset on the Isle of Rum. When you look out your window -- or maybe you're standing outside, I'm not sure -- can you tell us what you see?

ELLE HUTCHISON: Absolutely. I'm just at the patio doors of my cottage just now, and it's quite cloudy, I won't lie. But we're expecting a few breaks in the clouds later. And when that happens, you know, we're expecting to just see the entire sky lit up. We're really looking forward to it. We saw a little glimpse of things last night. We saw, you know, Mercury, we saw Venus, we saw Jupiter. And it's just been wonderful.

NK: I mean, just from the name, from, from the sound of your voice, and what you're describing, it's, it really does sound magical.

EH: Yeah.

NK: And you get to see this all the time.

EH: Every single, well, as long as there's no clouds.

NK: Sure.

EH: Then we get to see it every day. But, you know, I moved here maybe four months ago, and I moved from the city of Glasgow. So, a very bright city, a very, you know, busy city, where the only lights that you would see in the sky were maybe a glimpse of the moon. You never saw anything, really. So, when I moved here a few months ago, it was as if the sky just exploded. I'd never seen anything like it. I got a really kind of pain in the back of my neck, [NK chuckles] just with the amount that I was wandering about, you know, looking up, walking into trees. It is just phenomenal.

NK: Oh, who could, who could blame you? It does not get old, I bet?

EH: Yeah, it really, really doesn't. It doesn't. And I think that, you know, I thought the novelty would maybe have worn off by now. You know, it gets to this point in time where, you know, you're a few months in, you're used to, you're used to what you're seeing in the sky. But, really, it changes every single night. You know, you could see shooting stars one night, you could see satellites the next. It's just so exciting.

NK: This particular week with, with the kind of visibility of the planets that you were talking about, all seven planets visible. It's not going to happen again for another 15 years. So, does that mean that, that you have lots of visitors there?

EH: We do have some, yes. Annoyingly, our weather isn't amazing over here. So, some fairies have been subject to a bit of, a bit of weather. But the people that have managed to get across, you know, they're able to see what we can see tonight. We've got the telescopes out and all the night sky binoculars as well. And, you know, we get so many visitors here just over the course of the year, coming to look to the, to the skies and to the stars. And, you know, we end up learning a lot from them as well. And they learn from us. It's, it's just fantastic. So, we've got a guy over just now. He had no idea this was going on, but he came over to do some hill walking and to see, you know, see the sights of the island. And he's managed to meet a third of us. [NK chuckles] There's only 40 of us that live on this island. So, he's managed to to meet a third of us, chat away to us, and also see this absolute phenomenal, you know, planetary parade. It's such an experience that, you know, somebody that came over to do some walks is leaving with just so much more under his belt.

NK: Wow! What a, what a dream trip for him.

EH: Yeah. Absolutely.

NK: What, what have the visitors taught you?

EH: Well, you know, they, they point out constellations that maybe I didn't even know exist. You know, somebody was over recently, and they were showing me the, the smudge of Andromeda that you can see. They were pointing out to me how, you know, I can try and find that, and how I can see that. And I did actually see it, and it was just, you know, it takes you aback a little bit. You have to take a bit of a moment to think I am looking however many years into the past right now, and into the future at the same time.

NK: Poetry, Elle. You're speaking pure poetry. [EH laughs] The Isle of Rum is one of just a couple of dozen spots to be designated as a Night Sky Sanctuary. What led the Isle of Rum to, to seek out that designation?

EH: You know, the community here are just amazing. They worked for this status for years. As I say, I've only been here for a few months. So, I've only just come in once they've gotten their status. But I've learned, you know, how much work really went into this. They basically saw the sky as it was and thought, how do we protect this? How do we, you know, how do we help maintain this level of darkness? And they did just that, you know? They've spent years just working on themselves and their houses and their infrastructure. So, when you come over to Rum, there's no street lights, there's no artificial lights. Every single light on every single house is downward facing. The only lights that you'll see are maybe through the kind of creaks in people's curtains and the gaps in the windows. So, you know, you walk home by the light of, you know, a red-lit torch that you, that you wear on your head or by the moon, which is, it's a, is something that I've never been able to do before, but I can walk home by the moonlight, which is just incredible.

NK: Oh my! [chuckling] What is your favourite spot on the Isle of Rum to, to look at the night sky?

EH: I think my favorite spot is actually different from some other people. Some people say, you know, it's down, they love looking at it down to the south of the island in a place called Harris. You know, we've got a few different buildings down there. There's the Harris Lodge, which we're looking to, you know, renovate. And there's also a mausoleum down there. You know, it's just a place that people tend to flock to. But I really like, and it's pretty much in the centre of the island, it's where the road splits off into two, where you can either go to the north of the island or to the south of the island. And it's just this fork in the middle. And you just feel as though you're at the centre of everything. You know, all roads lead to where you're standing. You can see just stars from, for absolutely miles. You can see basically both ends of the island. And there's just something really, really magical about it. And you can see the lights from the mainland from it, which I think is really, really interesting because it's just such a, it's such a glow in the distance. It doesn't affect us at all. But, you know, it just kind of sets you almost worlds apart from a place where there is light pollution. And to have just, you know, an island like this where there's nothing, it's just, it's really, really magical.

NK: A pleasure speaking with you, Elle. Thank you.

EH: Thank you. Nil.

CH: Elle Hutchison is the Visitor Services Manager of the Isle of Rum, which was recently designated as a Dark Sky Sanctuary. We reached her there.

[lo-fi]

Chinese Mourning Noodles

[funeral home music]

CH: [talking calmly] Good evening. You're here to pay your respects to Li Xinghua. Please hang your coat in the -- pardon me? Ah: I see. You're here for the noodles. Well, please proceed through the doors on the right, and quietly ; we are having a visitation. Thank you. Good evening, ma'am; welcome to the funeral home. Ah, you've brought the grieving family a gift. It's...an empty bowl? Oh. You're also here for the noodles. Kitchen is to the right. Please avoid the [a little louder] weeping mourners who've suffered a terrible loss! Good evening, sir. Oh, dear. Here's a tissue. Tears are natural when -- oh, you're crying because you're hungry for noodles. Kitchen's that way. [music fades] It's nice for a funeral home to offer some sustenance to people grieving their loved ones. But Erlong Funeral Home in Guizhou, China has made a grave mistake: it made that sustenance too good. At breakfast and dinnertime, Erlong offers mourners noodles, for the equivalent of less than two dollars Canadian. It was much appreciated. Then it was too much appreciated. The noodles were so delicious that people with no funeral-home business at all started sneaking in, in greater and greater numbers. The BBC says that a recent social media post read, quote, "The queue for food is longer than the queue to lay flowers for the deceased." Unquote. These hours-long noodle lineups really made the funeral home un-funereal. So now, Erlong is giving out 50 bowls of noodles to the public, for free -- as long as they don't slurp them up next to people who are there to spend some quiet final moments with their late great-uncle. Seems like people should have figured that out on their own, but apparently tastiness leads to tastelessness.

[hip-hop]

Part 2: SASK. Drugs Weapons, CDN Hoop Dancer

SASK. Drugs Weapons

Guest: Robert Kraushaar

CH: Yesterday, Saskatchewan's justice minister announced that police in his province will be given new powers in the fight against drug use. Powers that Tim McLeod said were necessary to address a rise in fentanyl and methamphetamine use.

SOUNDCLIP

TIM MCLEOD: It's important that we recognize these substances for what they are. They're lethal poisons that need to be eradicated from our communities. No town, no family, no individual is truly safe from the far-reaching grip of illegal drug use.

CH: The new measures include fines of up to a million dollars for distributing drugs; new rules on trespassing and property seizures; and the re-classification of paraphernalia like needles and pipes as weapons. Robert Kraushaar is a social worker and a member of the Regina Street Team. We reached him in Regina.

NK: Robert, from what you're hearing about these new police powers, how do you think they're going to affect the people you work with on the streets of Regina?

ROBERT KRAUSHARR: The people that'll be most drastically affected are the people that society considers the most vulnerable. So, the people that are homeless, mental illness, addictions, they'll be the ones that are affected the most. And not in a good way. There's no ability to pay fines. There's no place for them to go right now. So, where are they going to go? Our prisons are already overpopulated, so I just don't see how this will end up being a good thing.

NK: Do you think any of the measures announced so far might help people deal with their addictions?

RK: The stuff for going after traffickers and stuff, I understand. Those are not the people that are carrying syringes, though, and those are not the people that are on the street. The people on the street are not traffickers. I wouldn't even consider most of them smaller-time dealers. Most of them are doing it for survival. And I know they involuntary treatment and stuff they talk about that might work for like a very tiny percentage. But for most people, and with addiction, anybody that knows about addiction, you have to want to stop. Like, you have to want to change. And then, lots of things have to be in place for that to happen a lot of times, like supports, housing, community coming behind you, family, things like that. And we don't have any of those things readily available at the drop of a hat for when somebody wants.

NK: I spoke to, I spoke to Alberta's health minister yesterday about that issue. The idea of building facilities, involuntary treatment facilities, which is the plan that they're proposing in Alberta. And the minister said that, that is, it's being done out of out of compassion. And I raised the question that you raised there about people having to be ready. But these changes suggest, or what we're hearing from officials is that something has to change. What do you say to people who say that what we've been doing is not working?

RK: For what we've been doing in Saskatchewan, like right now, as it stands, like, harm reduction is cut back a lot. And these things have been done all over the world and data has been corrected, but it kind of gets ignored for the most part due to policies and whatever. So, I, I wish that there, I wish that there was, like, one honest way to go about everything that would work and fit for everything. But that is not how anything is. There's no, every single person is an individual within an individual and unique list of traumas. And so many of them are, like, intergenerational and systemic racism traumas. Like, things like that. And just, I know harm reduction doesn't work for everyone, but also abstinence doesn't work for everyone right off the bat either.

NK: So, when, when the justice minister says in Saskatchewan that, that they are targeting dealers, they understand addiction is not a crime, you're not reassured?

RK: No, I'm not. I'm not. Because, like, if we're going by, like, just some of the things, like, we're talking about. Like, anybody using in public, I understand things like that. But, like, the needles and pipes as weapon, the one thing that really stuck out to me was, like, if somebody is exhibiting violent behaviour but not overtly using a needle as a weapon, they still have the ability to seize that weapon. So, they've, like, automatically it's considered a weapon, whereas like, it's not. There's, I don't, I don't think we have, like, an epidemic of people running around stabbing people with needles. Like, don't get me wrong, it happens. And it's very traumatic. And I'm not discounting that for people that it has happened to, or have witnessed it. But I don't feel that it's an epidemic where we need to take that measure where every single needle on somebody, and then you're just going to drive people further into hiding. You're going to drive people further into just reusing needles. In my opinion, honestly, when I look at it, I don't feel that it's targeting traffickers or manufacturers really at all. I don't, I don't see anything outlined here.

NK: If you don't feel that this is going to actually help solve this problem, or help people who are struggling, what do you think the government is trying to do here?

RK: I just really don't know what they're trying to accomplish here. Because I know that, like, even just from speaking with police officers and stuff, they don't want to be out there. A lot of them don't want to be out there doing that with people on the street and doing it. Because they understand that it's addiction and stuff like that. And it's not a crime to use drugs. Like, the war on drugs has not worked. Like, we've established that, I believe. I'm just surprised that we're still reiterating it and doing it all over again. I just don't get it.

NK: What do you say to those who, who might be supportive of what they're hearing from their government there because they say they feel unsafe as they see the way addiction is, is unfolding in their, in their neighbourhoods. And so, they want to hear this kind of thing from their government. What do you want them to, to understand from your point of view about the addiction crisis?

RK: I think that the one thing I always hope that people understand, and that, and I've seen it happen, I see it happen all the time, is that keep in mind that this is somebody's son or daughter, and somebody's brother, or sister, or mother, father. And just keep in mind that that could be your kid at any time. I hope to God that it never is that case. But that happens every day. Every single person has a mother or father. And these, these are people's kids out on the street, regardless of their age. And that is, people are hurting. And there's so much drama that doesn't get a chance to get dealt with because you're constantly in survival mode. So, just, I don't want to say, like, it does no good to sit there and put yourself in their shoes. Because if you're not understanding and you don't see it, you're not going to be able to do that, like, in an honest way. And I understand that. But just even as a start, picture that is your child, and picture that as, you know, that your child's sick and needs help and whatever, and then picture these harsh, harsh penalties being laid out on your child for, for what? Like, it's not, people are not going to be able to give back to society when they're locked up in prison. So, that's not what we're after. I just think there's so many, I would, I would encourage people to ask more questions from the government, and ask to see numbers. I'm not looking forward to seeing what comes out of this at all. And it's really sad that we're still doing this kind of thing.

NK: Robert, thank you for your time. Please take care.

RK: Yeah, for sure. Thank you.

CH: Robert Kraushaar is a social worker and a member of the Regina Street Team. We reached him in Regina.

[newsy theme]

NL Quadriplegic Care

CH: Right now, people in southern Labrador are waiting impatiently for a permanent doctor to be hired. In the meantime, they can see a doctor at the local hospital...just not in person. As of February 14th, the Labrador South Health Care Centre in Forteau has only been able to offer virtual health care. Dorman Fowler's son, Silone, is quadriplegic. And Mr. Fowler says his son needs to see a doctor every few weeks, sometimes urgently. He told the CBC how concerned he is that there's no doctor on-site.

SOUNDCLIP

DORMAN FOWLER: Very concerned. And we need something done. And we need something done now. Not, not next year. Concerning our son, he's a quadriplegic close to 25 years now. And he's, he got a, a suprapubic in his bladder that, for his water drainage. It's a tube that's gone into his bladder. And it's sealed off inside with a balloon that they inflate when, when the tube is changed. We try to go six weeks in between changes because the more times that it's changed, you're, you're more prone to water infections. But suprapubic can block. When it blocks, we don't have time for medevac. We don't have time for basically anything. I just get directly to the hospital in Forteau, and the tube needs to be changed right away. If not, he can go into an anomic attack it's called, where his blood pressure goes through the roof, sky high, and it could cause a heart attack, a stroke, or even death if it's not, you know, changed in, in the proper length of time, right? We've been at this now for the last two or three years, every four to six months. This is what we, this is what we have to do. We has to get on the, on the radio and voice our, our strong opinion on the doctors, you know, here in Forteau. We've been talking to everybody that we knows to talk to. And, yes, like, you know, we understand your situation. And, you know, we're, we're, we're going to try to get this done or get that done. But understand the situation is no good to us. If something happens, you know, I mean overnight tonight, we got to, you know, call the ambulance to get him into Forteau, what do we do? The nurses just cannot do anything for him. We're in a dire situation. Like, for us, a virtual doctor is simply no good.

CH: That was Dorman Fowler, who lives in southern Labrador, speaking to CBC's Rhivu Rashid.

[country rock]

CDN Hoop Dancer

Guest: Dallas Arcand

CH: Twenty years ago, Dallas Arcand was named a hoop dancing world champion for the first time. Then he did it again. And again. And earlier this month, he took home his fourth title. What you’re hearing is what it sounded like in Arizona during Mr. Arcand's final dance, before he won himself a first place prize in the senior division at the 35th Annual World Championship Hoop Dance Contest. [music fades] Dallas Arcand is Cree from Alexander First Nation in Alberta. He lives in Kelowna, B.C. And that's where we reached him.

NK: Dallas, I was just watching the video of your final dance at this competition. And at around the four, 4.5-minute mark, this big smile appears on your face. And you, you're still dancing, of course. And you're only halfway through, I think, through the dance. What was happening in that moment that the smile came across your face?

DALLAS ARCAND: I remember before I danced, I just realized that, you know, I was at the World Championship, and I was on the right path in life, and I was just happy to be there, and happy to be able to just continue this dance for many years that I've been doing it. And it always brings me so much joy. And I was hoping to portray that to the audience. And I was, I was grateful, too. I was trying to express my gratitude for all the people that came to support us in our event and hoop dancing. And, and also, I was, I was happy to just, to just be dancing and performing. And, and, you know, because in our communities, especially in our Indigenous communities, we're constantly faced with so many adversities. And prior to the competition, there was actually a death in our community.

NK: Oh, I'm sorry.

DA: Well, not my community directly, but the hoop dance community. One of our hoop dance buddies passed away before the event, so it was kind of heavy in the beginning. And, in a way, I was, I was kind of dedicating that, and that moment, and healing, and, and happiness to those out there that needed some joy in their life.

NK: Yeah, there's so much power in that movement and the culture, the cultural importance, obviously, for you. This is not the first time you've won, as our listeners have heard. So, where does this world championship sit in, in terms of all those other successes?

DA: This just reminds me that, you know, anything is possible. You know, even, even later on in your career, you can still, you can still achieve greatness, and still be at, at the top. You know, I have had some struggles in my own life, and this just is a great reward for me because I worked hard to get here. And it's always a constant battle in life to, to maintain things. Like, they say it's easy to get to the top, but it's hard to stay there. And that just reminded me of that.

NK: What has it taken, what does it take, to stay at the top?

DA: It takes a lot of dedication, training. Like, you've got to not only train to do the dance, but you've got watch what you eat. So, I can't have too much McDonald's, [NK chuckles] not too many Happy Meals and stuff. And, and I'm constantly going to the gym, too. So, it's a commitment, it's discipline. And, you know, it just means living a good life. And some people, that's, that's hard to do. And even I can admit it's been hard for me to, to, to be constant on that. But you can achieve great things like winning world championships like that.

NK: What do you think made you stand out in that performance, stand out to the judges?

DA: I think the fact that I was, I had so much fluidity in my dance. And prior to that, I was actually preparing, I prepared a different final dance routine for that, but I ended up not doing it because it just didn't feel natural to me. So, I just actually let myself go in that moment. And that's essentially what I did there, and that's how I was able to achieve that. And it was just the fluidity. I just didn't restrict myself to just being confined into an idea I had, and I just let the joy of the dancing and what I can naturally do with the dance, rather than trying to be all complicated and do some complicated moves and, you know, worrying about fumbling them up and stuff, and trying to be that perfect dancer. So, I just let go. And let go and let God, they say.

NK: Yeah, let go and let God. It's, it's, it's already, there's a, there's a high degree of difficulty anyway. There's a, there's a point in the dance where you pick up all of your hoops. How many were there at that point?

DA: There was 13 hoops that I was using in that routine.

NK: You were speaking earlier to our colleague in Kelowna at CBC News, Sarah Penton, and, and you told Sarah that, that you're seeing more and more young people picking up this art, picking up hoop dancing. What advice do you give young people who are just starting out?

DA: I, the, the advice I always give to the young people is, is commit yourself to it, and, and work hard. And, and also, you know, put your heart into it. And, and lots of good things can come out of it. And the good thing about hoop dancing is that it also helps in other areas of your life as well. Because, because of hoop dancing and culture, it actually, it brought me closer to education. Because before I got into culture and hoop dancing, I had a lot of trouble in school as a young person. And it gave me the confidence and the courage to go back and pursue my education and finish my education because that's a big struggle in our communities as well is having our young people continue their academic careers and discover their fullest potential. And, you know, I'm grateful for that because, you know, my, my daughter has actually almost done her degree, her university degree.

NK: Congratulations. So many things to congratulate you, congratulate all of you on. What, what did she study?

DA: She's studying, she's actually getting her bachelor's, actually, this coming year. And then, she's going to go for her master's. But she's mostly focused on Indigenous studies and policy, government policy studies, and, and just really a well-rounded education.

NK: You're proud!

DA: Yeah. Yeah. I am super proud of my daughter.

NK: As you should be. And what about her? She must be proud of you?

DA: Yeah, I think so. [NK chuckles] I think our kids are, you know, kind of too cool for us at times. [NK laughs] But, you know, I know she's, she's proud to, to, to have her parents there to support her. And, you know, she, you know, all of our kids definitely have their own way of showing it. And, you know, I'm great, I'm grateful to be her dad, though, and be there for her, and be a good provider for my daughter, and, and my son, too.

NK: Dallas, congratulations again. I appreciate your time.

DA: Thank you so much.

CH: World champion hoop dancer, Dallas Arcand, in Kelowna, British Columbia.

[electronic]

Taurasi Retirement

CH: Diana Taurasi is a basketball legend. So, it was a big deal when she announced her retirement yesterday, at the age of 42. The Phoenix Mercury point guard spent 20 seasons in the WNBA. She’s won six Olympic gold medals. And she's the league's all-time top scorer. The path to all that glory began years ago, at the University of Connecticut -- where Ms. Taurasi made a mark. Here's her college coach Geno Auriemma looking back on the fierce competitiveness that made her a star.

SOUNDCLIP

GENO AURIEMMA: Well, the third day of practice her freshman year, I threw her out of practice and I said, go back to California, you know?

SCOTT VAN PELT: Why? What'd she do?

GA: [laughing] Well, you know, she's so competitive that she was not having a lot of success in this one drill that we were doing. And so, she just turned into this foul machine, where she just hacked everybody that came near, you know? I thought, all right, so if I'm getting beat on this drill, I'm going to take it out on everybody that comes near me. And so, you know, that's the competitive Dee. And, and I always knew that she would be easy to coach. And I didn't always say Diana did this. Diana Did that. But all the things that she did, I used them later to help the new supposedly stars understand this is what it's going to take for you to win championships. Because Dee's first championship without Su, and Swin, and Asia, Tamika and that whole group was with four kids who had never started a game before ever at UConn. And two of them were freshmen. So, to be able to do that takes a certain otherworldly understanding of people to be able to know which buttons to push. And she would, in reality, she helped me coach that team. I wasn't really coaching her. I think she was my assistant coach, helping me coach those two National Championship teams her junior and senior year.

SVP: Her UConn years are standalone, but her Olympian accomplishments are standalone, her WNBA accomplishments are standalone. Geno, the part after she left you that you look out and you shake your head, what do you most marvel at that she did after her time with you?

GA: When you're a young player coming out of high school and you go to college, everything's new. You're trying to figure out who you are. You're trying to figure out, how do I leave, you know, how do I make my, how do I make my mark? And wherever she's been, both on the court and off the court, she's left a mark that will never, ever, ever be erased.

CH: That was UConn's women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma talking to Scott Van Pelt on ESPN yesterday.

[electronic]

Part 3: Tooth Vision, Dolphin Super Pod

Tooth Vision

Guest: Greg Moloney

CH: This week, Canadian medical history is being made at Vancouver's Mount Saint Joseph Hospital. Three patients are getting the first part of their osteo-odonto keratoprosthesis, or OOKP, surgeries. Since no one wants to say "osteo-odonto-keratoprostheseis", they're known colloquially as "tooth-in-eye" surgeries. And that's exactly what it sounds like. Doctors put a tooth in a patient's eye, in the hope that it will restore sight. Dr. Greg Moloney is an ophthalmologist at the hospital. We reached him in Vancouver.

NK: Dr. Moloney, how do people usually respond when you first tell them that, that you want to put their tooth in their eye?

GREG MOLONEY: I think it's shock and surprise, and ask me to repeat myself. [NK chuckles] But, yeah, so, so, and even within our colleagues that's usually the reaction because it is a rare operation that most people have not heard of, even if you are an eye surgeon. So, no, it's, it's, we have to, it takes a lot of explaining to begin the process.

NK: We're catching you just after the second surgery of three surgeries you are scheduled to perform this week. Just take us through what happened in the operating room today.

GM: We've had two good days so far. Today, we were operating on a young man from Toronto who was blinded by a condition known as Stevens-Johnson syndrome. So today, we spent some time removing a tooth and shaving that into a rectangle, and then drilling a hole in the centre of that to, to accommodate a small optical telescope. That was created by my colleagues, Dr. Kang and Dr. Webber. I spent the day removing scar tissue from his eye, removing scar tissue from his eye, so, so to expose the eyeball. And covering that over with, with mucosal lining from inside his cheek. So, we finished that surgery about an hour ago, and the tooth with the telescope is implanted into his cheek now, and we'll go back and retrieve that in about three months time to, to attach it to the front of the eye.

NK: And we should mention to our listeners that we're catching you during a well-earned break. Just catching, catching a chance to eat when you can. And we're interrupting that. So, we appreciate that. [chuckle].

GM: That's okay.

NK: How, how are the first two, two patients doing at this point?

GM: Well, we've, we've only just finished the second one. He's recovering from the anesthetic now. And that, our patient who was done yesterday has done very well. She had, to our surprise, only two, two Tylenol as pain relief overnight. And she is feeling good this morning, and has been let go from hospital to, to go and recover.

NK: And who is, is the ideal patient? I mean, is everyone you're working with, are they patients who are blind in both eyes? Because you're just replacing one, as I understand it.

GM: Correct. Because of the amount of surgery and the effort involved, we don't offer this to people who, unless they have two eyes that are blind. And it's really important to say that, you know, we don't offer this to patients who have retinal disease, or advanced glaucoma, or optic nerve damage. Really, all we're doing is replacing scar, a really scar-damaged front surface of the eyeball. So, unless the back surface of the eye is healthy, there's no value for the patient to go through the operation. Typically, we're looking for patients who have been affected by thermal injury, chemical injuries, or severe drug reactions like Stevens-Johnson syndrome, or some autoimmune diseases like mucous membrane pemphigoid. So, all of which produce the same result, which is severe scarring on the front of the eye.

NK: And why a tooth, and specifically, a canine?

GM: We want to have the, the, what we're after, or what we're trying to harvest is a good amount of dentin, which is the hardest subject, hardest substance that the body produces. And we, we want a lot of that to be, to be the casing that bridges between the telescope, the plastic telescope, and the rest of the patient's eye and body. So, the canine has a large amount of dentin available for us to access, and that's usually why that's our preference.

NK: There, there are risks, as there are with, with any surgery, but specifically with this one. What do you, what would you tell your patients?

GM: I think, and just like with any surgery, any ocular surgery of any kind, there's a chance that we could introduce infection and lose all vision. With this operation in particular, in the whole of the 12-hour procedure, there are moments in the surgery where the eyes open to the world. And in those in those moments, we could experience a bleed, or a detachment of the retina that could really upset all of the work that we've done. So, we don't take patients into this journey without them expecting it to be hard, with a chance that it doesn't go well. Fortunately, we now have decades of data on the operation, and how this operation performs in the longer term, and the risk-reward ratio for these patients when they have no vision at all is well worth it, we think.

NK: And how often, how likely is it that they get their vision back?

GM: We, if you look at a, the oldest published series which is from Italy, after 27 years, still more than half of the patients at that, with 27 years as the average follow-up -- so some were longer, some were shorter -- still had vision that was good enough to obtain a driver's license. So, so, when there is no other option that works anything like as well, that statistic is, is, is unrivaled in this, in this form of surgery.

NK: Is there a risk of rejection over time?

GM: There is no risk of rejection. And because we're using part of the patient's own body. There is risk in the longer term of other problems like high pressure in the eye or retinal detachment. There's a risk that the bone that we implant can, the body can start to absorb or, or shrink over time, and meaning we have to revise or touch up the surgery. But those, those issues are manageable. They have solutions, and we will monitor for them. I think when you look at the patients we did in Australia with the same program seven or eight years ago, most of those patients, I'm happy to say, are still functional and happy with, with, with good useful vision that, that they're enjoying today.

NK: The patient who is scheduled to have his surgery done tomorrow told one of our producers that he's so thankful for you, and the hard work, the long hours you put into this work, and to helping them. How does it feel when, when patients say that, that sort of thing to you?

GM: I think, for all of us, I speak for all of the surgeons on the team, when I say it's definitely the most emotional, you know, work that, that we've been involved in when it does, when it does result in a return to normal life and normal vision for these patients. It's certainly the most rewarding thing, you know, we've been involved, involved with in our career.

NK: Doctor, I appreciate your time. Thank you.

GM: That's no problem.

CH: Dr. Greg Moloney is an ophthalmologist and surgeon at Mount Saint Joseph Hospital in Vancouver. That's where we reached him.

[acoustic guitar]

Dead Body Flight

CH: When Mitchell Ring and Jennifer Colin saw empty seats next to them on their flight from Melbourne to Doha, they thought they'd lucked out. But today, they wish every seat around them had been full. About 10 hours into their long-haul flight, a fellow passenger suffered a medical emergency, collapsed in the aisle, and died. And then the cabin crew put her body, covered in blankets, in the empty seat next to Mr. Ring, for the remaining four hours of the flight. The couple spoke to Ally Langdon from Australia's Channel 9 about that ordeal.

SOUNDCLIP

MITCHELL RING: Well, the staff were there in no time. And pat them on the back, they did a wonderful job trying to revive her. It was right, right beside me in the aisle. And they, they did everything they could. But, unfortunately, the lady couldn't be saved, which was pretty heartbreaking to watch. Then they went to try and move her. They bought this chair down, which I'd never seen before, but it had just two wheels on the back. And they put her in this chair. And they tried to wheel her up towards business class, but they, she was quite a large lady, and they couldn't get her through the aisle because she's, at her height was at armchair height. So, they looked a bit frustrated, and they just looked at me and saw seats were available beside me. The wife was on the other side. We're in a row of four by ourself. And they just said to me, Can you move over, please? And I just, just said, Yes, no problem. And then, they placed the lady in the chair that I was in.

ALLY LANGDON: We're also really mindful this is incredibly distressing for this woman's family as well. But I'm just thinking about you. You're then placed, or this corpse is then placed next to you for how long on the flight?

MR: For the next four hours, three-and-a-half to four hours, left on the floor.

AL: So, I can understand why this was so distressing, Jenny.

JENNIFER COLIN: Yeah, I'm not a great flyer at the best of times. But when my husband turned around and said, Move, move, we got to move. I was really shocked. And I said, Are they going to, you know, put her there? And, luckily,a lady behind me on the other aisle, she said, Darling, darling, come here. A lovely English lady. And I said [crying] thanks to her. But, so Mitch was across the aisle then from me for the rest of the flight. We totally understand, and we can't hold any of the airlines responsible for the poor lady's death. But surely after that, there has to be a protocol that then looks after the, the customers that, that are on board.

MR: And there was another situation at the end when we landed. They told us in our area to stay in our seats, and then the ambulance officers and the police came in. And then, the ambulance officers started pulling the blankets off the lady right beside me. I was there. And I got to see her face. It wasn't, wasn't nice. [chuckle].

JC: Traumatic.

MR: They have a duty of care to their customers as well as their staff that we should be contacted to make sure that if you need some support, you need some counseling, because this has never happened to us before. I don't really know how I feel. [chuckle] And would like, would, would, would like to talk to somebody, and to make sure all alright.

CH: That was Mitchell Ring and Jennifer Colin talking to Ally Langdon from Channel 9 in Australia, about the moment the body of a dead passenger was placed next to them on a long-haul Qatar Airways flight from Melbourne to Doha. In a statement to Channel 9, Qatar Airways said it is looking into the situation, and is in the process of contacting passengers who were affected.

[sombre instrumental]

Snow Farmers

CH: By the time late February rolls around, a lot of us have had enough of snow. Especially when we've spent most of the winter wading through piles of it. But for Natalie Childs, heavy snowfall this year has been a sight for sore eyes. Ms. Childs is a co-owner of Agricola Cooperative Farm in Papineauville, in the Outaouais region of Quebec. And for farmers like her, lots of snow is often a good sign.

SOUNDCLIP

NATALIE CHILDS: Well, I think we're sort of happy to have, you know, like, a good, old-fashioned winter. We've had a couple of years where we really weren't seeing, you know, those stable cold temperatures or serious snowfall. So, I think for us, it, it feels good in some ways to have, you know, like, a winter like we used to have.

SEAN HENREY: Yeah, especially, yeah, you're in Outaouais . So, it's been, it's been tricky [chuckling] for the last little while.

NC: Yeah. We've seen a lot of, of fluctuations. And I think, you know, for us, like for a lot of people, it's the, the uncertain, the unstable weather that's, that's really the challenge. So, having these, you know, consistent cold temperatures, and having actual snow, not just the freeze/thaw cycle has been really nice in a lot of ways.

SH: So, what does it mean in terms of your preparation for the spring?

NC: Yeah, I mean for us, we, we are always trying to sort of grow things earlier and earlier. So, you know, we're going to be turning on our greenhouses next week, and trying to get plants going. So, you know, there's a certain part of us that, you know, is going to be hoping for some sunny days because that always helps. But the snow cover actually does help because it does provide some serious insulation for the ground. So once the ground melts, it's actually likely to be warmer, more ready to go than if we'd had really little snow cover but a really hard freeze.

SH: Looking at the forecast right now for your region, and you said sun would help, but it doesn't look like it's coming. It might tomorrow, just a little bit. [both chuckling] But it doesn't looks like it's coming. You can't have it all.

NC: Well, exactly. And, I mean, we, we always say, you know, March is in like a lion, out like a lamb. So, that's what we kind of, you know, early March is always the time that, you know, we kind of expect to be a little unpredictable and not the nicest weather.

SH: Yeah, I bet. Are there any negative impacts to the amount of snowfall we got recently?

NC: Well, I think there's always the risk, especially where we are, spring is often kind of either droughts or floods, depending on, you know, how gradual or quick the snowmelt is. That's always the risk we're kind of facing, at least in our region. And it's a risk that definitely is increasing. You know, we have one area on our farm, a whole field that we don't grow in because, you know, three of the past five years, it's been flooded. And that's an interesting one because the previous owner was there for 40 years and never had that section flooded. So, we're noticing, you know, these extremes are happening kind of more and more. So, that's always a question mark. But we just, we don't know yet what it's going to look like.

CH: Natalie Childs co-owns a cooperative farm in Papineauville, Quebec. She was speaking with the CBC's Sean Henry, host of Daybreak Montreal.

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Dolphin Super Pod

Guest: Evan Brodsky

CH: You're on a boat on the Pacific Ocean, moving through water that is such a deep blue that it seems unreal. And suddenly, you're surrounded by thousands of dolphins, leaping gracefully in slow motion, while soaring saxophone music fills the air. For a lot of people, that's the stuff of dreams -- or daydreams concocted to prevent an aneurysm during a traffic jam. But for Evan Brodsky, it recently became the stuff of reality. Minus the sax music and the slow-motion. Last week, Mr. Brodsky was out scouting on the California coast when he witnessed that dolphin lover's fantasy. He's a captain and videographer with the boat tour company Monterey Bay Whale Watch. And we reached him in Monterey, California.

NK: Evan, when did you first notice, and what did you notice, as all of this started around you?

EVAN BRODSKY: So, I didn't know at first. We got about 10, 15 dolphins, and we were kind of just traveling along with them, you know, making sure to run parallel to them, not cut off their path or alter their behaviour. And, eventually, they took us to what I call the mother lode. [NK chuckles] I'm just kind of looking on the horizon. And the water looked like it was boiling hot water. It was just like foam and bubbles everywhere. There were so many dolphins. And I said to my coworkers, like, there's the dolphins, there's the rest of them. So, yeah, we went out to check it out, and it was, it was so amazing. It was, we were just lost for words. I think one of my coworkers even started shedding a few tears, although she won't admit it.

NK: Oh now! [laughing] Well, how could you not? I mean, it would be quite moving. And when you say the rest of them, how many are you talking about?

EB: Dolphins are very social animals. They're usually in pods. It's, it's, it's possible, but it's not common to see maybe five or 10 of them. When you see a few of them, there's usually more not far away. As we went out there, there were just thousands and thousands of them.

NK: What does that, what does it sound like?

EB: Without the engine of the boat, it sounds like a lot of water splashing. We couldn't really hear any vocalizing or anything because we were outside, open, exposed.

NK: Right.

EB: But, yeah, it was just a lot of splashing and water noise, [NK chuckles] waves. It, it's, it's quite, it's quite an experience to take in.

NK: And, and how close were you? This is a small boat. How close did you get to them?

EB: So, it was such a, such a big group of dolphins. Our number one concern is always the wildlife, making sure they're not bothered, they're not disturbed. We really love the wildlife, so we never want to alter their behaviour. We always kind of go on a course with them. We don't cut them off. We don't go in front of them. We don't mess with the mothers and babies. So, we started out maybe about 100 metres or so away from them. And at one point, they just started approaching our boat. Dolphins are naturally very curious animals. And if there's any boaters listening, I'm sure they would be familiar with this. The boats put off a wake, which is the waves behind the boat, that the hull is pushing off and displacing the water. So, the dolphins, it's actually their natural behaviour. They want to approach these wake, and they serve them. And they're basically conserving energy. They're surfing along and just almost like a free ride for them. So, they swim right up to the boat. Like, we were looking down and they were right next to us. It was incredible.

NK: I saw maybe three or four dolphins in Istanbul, once on the Bosphorus. And they just jumped out and jumped back into the water, and I was beside myself. Even then, I still talk about it. It's been years. So, I can only, I mean, I can't even imagine how glorious this was. You mentioned mothers and calves. You saw them in this case as well.

EB: Yeah. So, I typically baby northern right whale dolphins aren't something we regularly see too often. I can probably count personally on one hand how many times I've seen them since 2022 that I've personally worked in Monterey Bay. So, the calves are actually really cool looking. The adults are jet black, and as you can see in the video, they're a beautiful gloss jet black. The calves, you can see in the video, are actually more of a battleship gray, and they start turning darker in colour as they get older. And they're just so cool looking. They're like little footballs jumping out of the water next to Mom.

NK: So, this is just, it's not only beautiful, it's, it's rare. I mean, so many levels of, of rare [chuckling] that you're getting here.

EB: What I'm told by my marine biologist colleagues is that this was most likely a big social event. They were --

NK: It's a party? [chuckling].

EB: Yeah, a big party. They were breaching, which is when they fully jump their body out of the water. They were doing a behaviour called spy hops, which is where they actually physically stick about a quarter of their body out of the water. They stick their head up, and they kind of look around and look at their surroundings. They were slapping their tails. So, it was a big, fun social event. And, as I mentioned, I've been in Monterey since 2022. I know our company has seen stuff like this before. But me personally, since I've been here, this is the biggest super pod of this specific species of dolphin I've ever witnessed. And there were about 2,000 northern right whale dolphins mixed, swimming and socializing together with, I estimate, about 500 to 700 Pacific white-sided dolphins.

NK: Once you see something like this, I'm sure you want to see it again. Do you think you'll get a chance to?

EB: I'm sure someday I, just you never know when. We don't see dolphins every day, especially super pods like this. Maybe once every few months. I got very lucky with last month with a Risso's dolphin

encounter. But that's not something typical. Usually in the winter months there's a little bit more. Believe it or not, the water temperature in Monterey Bay is a little bit warmer in the wintertime than it is in the summer. So that might have something to do with it. But we, we in the winter time are noticing these bigger groups. So, I hope to see it again. You just never know when. And every time I see something like this, it's like the first time, every time. It never gets old.

NK: I bet, I bet it doesn't. You said your, your coworker said a few tears, but is it admitting it. What about you?

EB: I definitely had a smile, a big grin from ear-to-ear. We all had smiles on our face. We were all so excited. But I was just, you know, focused on getting the shot and driving the boat at the beginning. And then, I swapped out and had my coworker take the wheel while I did these drone shots. So, it came out really awesome. And I really also wanted to add in, it's really important for me why I started flying drones and filming wildlife in the first place. Because I really want to bring awareness, and I hope to inspire the public that they could actually come see these dolphins theirself, wild and free in their natural habitat, and hopefully not spend money on a captive dolphin or whale show.

NK: Evan, I'm glad we could speak. Thank you.

EB: Yeah. Thank you so much for having me. My pleasure.

CH: Evan Brodsky is a captain and videographer with the boat tour company Monterey Bay Whale Watch. We reached him in Monterey, California.

[lounge jazz]

What Animals Funded

CH: "In order of appearance" usually relates to lists of actors in movies -- not conservation funding. But for a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers looked back at 25 years of conservation projects -- and some $2 billion dollars in funding. And they discovered that most of that money went to conservation efforts devoted to bigger, cuter, more charismatic species. Mammals like rhinos and elephants. And meanwhile, other species facing a more dire threat of extinction have been left to fend for themselves. Plants and invertebrates each received less than seven per cent of that funding, while fungi and algae squeaked out a measly .2 per cent. It's no surprise then that researchers who study these more neglected creatures sometimes have to employ creative methods to attract the public's attention. Researchers like Dennis Desjardin. In 2011, the evolutionary biologist spoke to As It Happens, about his newly-discovered fungus:

SOUNDCLIP

CAROL OFF: Dr. Desjardin, why did you name your new fungus spongiforma squarepantsii?

DENNIS DESJARDIN: For two reasons. One, because it looks a lot like SpongeBob, and the second is to draw attention to the wonderful world of fungi. Now, this is not your typical mushroom. It doesn't have a cap, and gills, and a stem. But instead, it's just a round ball that sits on the forest floor and looks just like a sponge. And if you look with high magnification at this sporebearing surface, it looks just like the seafloor covered with tube sponges. And if you smell it, it smells faintly fruity. And since SpongeBob lives in a pineapple under the sea, we assumed that he smelled a little fruity as well.

CO: Now, SpongeBob SquarePants., Are you a fan of the, of the show?

DD: Well, I watched the show quite a bit with my son when he was growing up. He's in college now, so it was quite a few years ago. But, yes, I was quite familiar with the show.

CO: Now, do these mushrooms live in Bikini Bottom, [DD laughs] which is also the name of the underwater city in that.

DD: No, they don't live in Bikini Bottom. They just live in a forest in Borneo.

CO: And they don't live in a pineapple?

DD: They don't live in a pineapple, but they smell a little bit like one.

CO: What kind of reaction did you get from the scientific community when you said that was going to be the name?

DD: When we submitted it to the journal and it went out for review, none of the reviewers liked the name. And the editor of the journal was not too happy with it either. They thought it was a frivolous name and too cute.

CO: So, what did you say to them?

DD: Well, basically, I said that in a discipline where we're required to publish new species in Latin, that a little frivolity wasn't a bad idea. And that the journal's responsibility is to treat the science, not necessarily what we name it. And, really, it's our choice as too, that we can name it anything we want to. And since we named it that, it is, as you're talking to me now, so it's brought a lot of attention to the need for discovering species around the world. There's so much we still don't know in so many forests that are underexplored that you can always find amazing organisms.

CO: When you say the journal, you mean the Journal of Microalgae. Now that you have our attention about the fungus, what's special about it?

DD: It's the second known species in the genus. This is a genus that I discovered two years ago from central Thailand, and called spongiforma thailandica. And it was, it's just really odd. It's, when we do the DNA sequencing on it, we find that it's closely related to mushrooms that a lot of people like to eat. And the fact that it is shaped like a sponge, and not having a stem and not having a cap is an interesting evolutionary adaptation. And we see that sort of pattern happening in other groups of mushrooms, but we don't see it very often. So it's a unique morphology. This new species, squarepantsii from Borneo is, as I said, the second known species in the genus. It has some really unusual microscopic and physiological characteristics. So, there's just a lot about it that is strange. And so, it was exciting to find out.

CH: From Our Archives, that's evolutionary biologist Dennis Desjardin talking to our former host, Carol Off, in 2011, about his newly discovered fungus: spongiforma squarepantsii.

The AIH Transcript For February 26, 2025

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