A story worth the wait F

FOR ALL THE great articles we publish, there are dozens of equally amazing stories that remain untold. We simply don’t have the space to tell them all. Still, many of those pieces simmer, and eventually we find an opportunity to share them. For instance, I’ve wanted to publish a story on the global trade of illegal wildlife for about five years now. I got the idea after a visit to Ontario’s now-closed Muskoka Wildlife Centre, which was dedicated to rehabilitating native species that had been kept illegally as household pets. During the visit, the centre’s Jody North mentioned that the Internet had completely changed the world of buying and selling native and endangered species. Essentially, you can get any animal you want online. This year, the planets aligned and we assigned Leslie Anthony to investigate Canada’s connections to the worldwide wildlife racket. Anthony focused his piece (“Biodiversity apocalypse,” page 52) on the work of Sheldon Jordan, the director general of wildlife enforcement for Environment Canada and chair of the INTERPOL wildlife crime working group. The resulting story was worth the wait. Of course, as our annual wildlife issue always does, we also celebrate the best of Canadian species, from our feature photo essay on the Yukon’s unique population of ice grizzlies (page 42) to the return of bison to Alberta’s Banff National Park (page 32), and much more. —Aaron Kylie To comment, please visit cangeo.ca or email editor@canadiangeographic.ca. For inside details on the magazine and other news, follow editor Aaron Kylie on Twitter (@aaronkylie).