5.1.1. Wildlife Rehabilitation

Most wildlife rehabilitation in this country is done by volunteers from many walks of life with varying levels of experience and expertise. In most states, wildlife rehabilitators are licensed and require a "veterinarian-of-record" to maintain that license. Most of these rehabilitators need their veterinarian to obtain drugs for treatment, euthanasia solution and also for advanced veterinary care required by some of their patients. In Massachusetts, a veterinarian can provide emergency care to wildlife without a special permit. Veterinarians that regularly provide care for wildlife do need to obtain a permit from the Commonwealth http://www.state.ma.us/dfwele/dfw/dfw_rehab.htm. In other States, be sure to check for specific local State regulations.

There are several wildlife rehabilitation centers around the country with private funding and employing full-time veterinarians. Some examples are:

• Wildlife Center of Virginia http://www.wildlifecenter.org/
• Tufts Wildlife Clinic http://www.tufts.edu/vet/signature/wildlife.html#clinic
• International Bird Rescue Research Center http://www.ibrrc.org/
• Tir-State Bird Rescue & Research, Inc. http://www.tristatebird.org/
• Willowbrook Wildlife Center http://www.dupageforest.com/EDUCATION/willowbrook.html
• HSUS Cape Wildlife Center http://www.hsus.org/wildlife/cape_wildlife_center/

Support organizations that involve veterinarians include:

• American Association of Wildlife Veterinarians http://www.aawv.net/
• National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association http://www.nwrawildlife.org/home.asp
• International Wildlife Rehabilitation Council http://www.iwrc-online.org/
• Wildlife Disease Association http://www.wildlifedisease.org/

5.1.2. Turner Endangered Species Foundation

http://tesf.org/

http://www.turnerfoundation.org/

Employees: 1 Staff veterinarian, a veterinary technologist and 13 biologists

2000-2001 Projects

• working as the only private permittee of the US Fish and Wildlife Service on wolf recovery,
• managing one of the most productive black-footed ferret breeding facilities in North America,
• managing the most successful population of reintroduced desert bighorn sheep in New Mexico,
• managing 1 of only 3 pre-release facilities for the Mexican Wolf Recovery Program,
• conducting the only successful attempt by any organization to restore a population of red-cockaded woodpeckers where no founder population existed,
• engaging in the largest ongoing effort of any organization to translocate and expand prairie dog populations,
• serving as a primary catalyst for a bi-national campaign to conserve migratory pollinators along a 2,500-mile migration corridor from the southwestern U.S. to southern Mexico,
• conducting the largest private effort to restore the native longleaf pine/wiregrass ecosystem in the southeast,
• producing the most extensive study ever to assess feasibility of reintroducing swift fox, and
• assembling and leading the most serious effort to evaluate the restoration potential for wolves in the Southern Rockies

5.1.3. Wildlife Conservation Society/Hornocker Wildlife Foundation

http://wcs.org/

http://www.hwi.org/

Throughout this past century, WCS has supported pioneering field studies of key species such as bighorn sheep, black-footed ferrets, grizzly bears, mountain lions and bald eagles, and helped create more than 30 U.S. parks and reserves, including the Arctic national Wildlife Refuge, and the Olympic and Wind Cave National Parks. As it enters its second century, WCS continues to build on this North American tradition by informing and inspiring people to care about native wildlife and ecosystems.

After concentrating most of its efforts in Africa, Asia and Latin America for 25 years, WCS renewed its North America program in 1994, with the idea that its cooperative, information- based approach could help improve conservation on this continent. In North America, WCS seeks to provide technical assistance and biological expertise to local groups and agencies that lack the resources to tackle conservation dilemmas. WCS's strategy is to support comprehensive field studies that gather information on wildlife needs and then resolve key conservation problems by working with a broad array of stakeholders, including local community members, conservation groups, regulatory agencies and commercial interests.

WCS operates more than 50 field projects in key areas in North America. In the western U.S., we work on conservation issues affecting the region's vast public lands. In the northeast WCS concentrates on wildlife conservation in public and private forests. While in the tri-state New York metropolitan region, WCS's Metropolitan Conservation Alliance seeks to maintain biodiversity at the suburban-rural frontier.

The Field Veterinary Program, created by the Wildlife Conservation Society, augments ongoing WCS efforts by dealing with wildlife health issues as well as providing the information essential to effective conservation planning. Applying proficient veterinary skills in the field gives animals a fighting chance in their race for survival. Monitoring wildlife health trends firsthand increases the field vet's reaction time towards counteracting any wildlife health crises that may arise and threaten a species.

Training conservation workers worldwide is integral to saving wildlife populations. Technological advancements have been made and continue to be developed in the area of research and conservation management. One of the greatest feats accomplished by the Field Veterinary Program is working with governments worldwide to establish parks and reserves which enhance ecosystem restoration, and ensure that species are protected from human threats.

Based at WCS's Wildlife Health Sciences Center, a state-of-the-art medical and research facility, a wide range of biological and professional resources is available to the Field Veterinary Program through WCS's diverse operations at home and abroad.

Ongoing field projects:

Gorilla Health - In the fragile lowland forests of Africa, the FVP launched a preventive health care program to protect populations of endangered western lowland gorillas. The program includes education for park rangers, researchers, and local inhabitants to reduce the transmission of diseases between humans and gorillas, as well as the collection of hundreds of biological samples which are analyzed as part of a comprehensive gorilla health evaluation.

Sea Turtle Health - FVP veterinarians have been monitoring sea turtle health in the important foraging grounds off the coast of Nicaragua for 2 years. In 2001, this program will expand to the shores of Congo and Gabon in Africa. 5 species of sea turtles nest and forage on these coasts. This will be the first sea turtle health monitoring program to compare the health of sea turtles at sites on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean

Forest Elephant Tracking - For several years now, the FVP has been assisting WCS researcher Steve Blake with his forest elephant tracking project in Congo and the Central African Republic. Our veterinarians safely immobilize the elephants so that Mr. Blake can fit them with a tracking collar.

Sea birds, sea lions, and seals - The FVP is involved in long-term monitoring of toxin levels in several species of birds found in Peru and Argentina, including Guanay cormorants, giant petrels, and red-legged cormorants. FVP veterinarians are also studying immunology in fur seals, elephant seals, and sea lions.

Bolivia Projects - FVP veterinarians are working with a variety of species in several national parks in Bolivia. Recent trips have focused on maned wolves, oncillas, tayras, armadillos, blue-fronted parrots, tapirs, and peccaries.

WCS/HWF Wolverine Ecology Project

5.1.4. Wildlife Trust

http://www.wpti.org/

Wildlife Trust conserves threatened wild species and their habitats in partnership with local scientists and educators around the world. management recommendations, wildlife health evaluations, and species restoration.

An inevitable consequence of the close human/wildlife habitat interface that exists in degraded and fragmented habitat is the increased transmission of disease among species. Wildlife Trust is a pioneer in explaining the link between wildlife species health and the health of ecosystems and people. For example, habitat damage has increased stress in living things, causing greater susceptibility to disease across species and geographic boundaries.

Conservation Medicine Program Projects:

• Examine the patterns of disease emergence and transmission across identified keystone species in stressed or fragmented terrestrial and coastal marine habitats.
• Develop protocols for long-term monitoring of health of keystone species.
• Provide technical expertise to Wildlife Trust projects in the event of epizootics and epidemics of species at risk.
• Conduct training in conservation medicine to local wildlife professionals.
• Communicate the importance of health issues in ecosystem and species conservation to communities living in Wildlife Trust project areas.

Marine Sea Turtle Conservation Medicine Project :

Last year, a retrospective histopathologic survey was completed of malignant tumors identified from green turtles between 1991-2001 in the Hawaiian Islands. Approximately 30% of the turtles with fibropapilloma disease (FP) show mild to severe tumors in the oral cavity. Dr. Aguirre plans field trips this year to the Hawaiian Islands, Costa Rica, Baja California and Oaxaca, Mexico to obtain specimens of sea turtles. The purpose of these samples will be to examine the health threats to these species, including prevalence studies of FP. The field trips also will provide an assessment of environmental conditions that may be promoting the disease. Training professional students continues to be a priority of this project.

Marine Animal Stranding Network Project:

This project has the objective to increase coordination and collaboration with scientists in Mexico and the Caribbean Region to develop an international marine mammal and sea turtle stranding network. Members of this international network are being trained in a series of workshops held on site between 2000-2002. A common database and exchange of information to document marine mammal and sea turtle mortalities throughout the region will increase awareness of the environmental changes currently occurring in these marine ecosystems.

Wildlife Health of North American Migratory Waterfowl Project :

The presence of disease in individuals and populations can be an indicator of environmental health including local and global environmental impacts and ecosystem changes. Wetland fragmentation and destruction are having many serious effects on survival of migratory waterfowl. At the present time, the importance of wildlife diseases is recognized by private and governmental agencies in few countries. Wildlife Trust has ongoing collaboration with Mexican institutions regarding efforts to diagnose and control disease in declining waterfowl populations during their wintering migration. Increasing data on disease agents in a greater number of species and scattered locations raise questions regarding the possibilities of disease introduction and exchange between geographical areas. There is supported evidence of annual reintroduction of disease agents from areas south of the US by migratory birds such as avian influenza, equine encephalitis, and avian cholera. Questions regarding the over wintering and spreading of arboviruses such as West Nile encephalitis virus to new locations need to be answered. This project will establish a system of surveillance for currently known waterfowl diseases as an initial attempt to establish the baseline status of waterfowl diseases in Mexico.

Marine Sentinel Species Project:

Recent increases in infectious disease outbreaks, mass mortality events, harmful algal blooms, and unusual changes in some marine species population numbers points toward a decline in marine ecosystem health. Methods to assess marine ecosystem health, however, are lacking. The vast expanse of the oceans makes it difficult to assess its health. To move forward, Dr. Aguirre has for the last three years been developing a "sentinel species" project to determine if selected marine vertebrates could serve as indicators for marine health.

5.2.1. Wyoming Game and Fish Department

http://gf.state.wy.us/

5.2.2. Michigan Department of Natural Resources -Rose Lake Wildlife Disease Laboratory

http://www.michigan.gov/dnr

The lab originated in 1933 and was housed in Berkey Hall on the Michigan State College campus. In the 1950's the lab moved to a barn on the Rose Lake Wildlife Research Area and then in the early 1960's moved into its current location on the Rose Lake Wildlife Research Area.

The lab is responsible for monitoring the health and well-being of Michigan's wildlife. To meet this responsibility, lab personnel are involved in a variety of activities. Wildlife specimens are submitted by the public and Wildlife Division personnel for cause of death determination. We are involved annually with deer, bear, and furbearer harvest and research surveys, Bovine Tuberculosis surveys on deer and carnivores, and assisting researchers. We work closely with State and Federal agencies that are involved with the state's wildlife. Lab personnel consist of two Secretaries, two Wildlife Veterinarians, a Wildlife Biologist (Pathologist), two Laboratory Scientists, three Laboratory Technicians, a part-time Wildlife Technician, and seasonal State Workers.

5.3.1. National Wildlife Health Center

http://www.nwhc.usgs.gov/

Each year, wildlife managers across the United States are confronted with sick and dead animals, frequently on a large scale. Minimizing such wildlife losses depends on effective technical support, knowledgeable guidance, and timely intervention. The National Wildlife Health Center (NWHC) mission is to provide information, technical assistance, and research on national and international wildlife health issues. To fulfill the NWHC mission, the Center monitors disease and assesses the impact of disease on wildlife populations; defines ecological relationships leading to the occurrence of disease; transfers technology for disease prevention and control; and provides guidance, training and on-site assistance for reducing wildlife losses when outbreaks occur.

The NWHC is located in Madison, Wisconsin. The modern buildings and laboratories are designed exclusively for combating wildlife diseases. Due to the mobility of wildlife and the potential for spread of disease, timely and accurate determination of causes of wildlife illness and death is a prerequisite to achieving effective disease control and prevention. National wildlife refuge personnel, law enforcement agents, state conservation agency biologists, university-affiliated scientists and others send wildlife carcasses and tissue samples to the NWHC for diagnostic examination. The Center has a staff of over seventy scientists and support personnel who offer services and conduct activities to prevent and control wildlife diseases. The Center had a major role in conducting field studies and providing expert testimony that resulted in the conversion to nontoxic shot for hunting waterfowl in the United States.

Center field investigations provide immediate technical assistance to field personnel who find sick and dead wildlife. NWHC personnel provide instructions on collection, preservation, and shipment of specimens for laboratory examination and will travel to problem areas to conduct field investigations and assist local personnel with disease control operations. They respond to catastrophic events, such as major die-offs, that threaten the health of wildlife populations. Assistance is provided for disease problems that involve migratory birds, endangered species and other warm-blooded wildlife that live on Department of Interior (DOI) lands throughout the United States.

Center staff also provide expertise regarding animal welfare regulations and their application to wildlife. Technical assistance regarding animal welfare matters is often provided to wildlife biologists and others. Preparation of videotapes, publications, consultations and training are activities commonly carried out by the Center in the animal welfare arena.

NWHC Activities include:

• Studies of diseases affecting endangered species.
• Development of disease diagnosis and control techniques.
• Evaluation of the frequency, geographic distribution, and species affected by specific pathogens.
• Evaluation of the impacts of various disease agents on wildlife population dynamics.
• Assessment of the interactions between environmental contaminants and infectious agents.
• Laboratory diagnosis of wildlife mortality.
• Environmental profiles of wetlands and the eruption, perpetuation, and maintenance of avian botulism and avian cholera.
• Investigations of avian tuberculosis in whooping cranes.
• Ecology of inclusion body disease of cranes.
• Technical assistance on wildlife health issues through workshops and seminars both at the Center and at other locations nationally and internationally.
• In-house training for senior veterinary students, wildlife biologists, and foreign scientists interested in wildlife diseases.
• International scientific activities with Russian counterparts for the study of wildlife diseases of mutual interest; with the Wildlife Institute of India in developing faculty expertise in wildlife disease; and with an Egyptian veterinarian who spent one and one half years at the Center training to assist development of wildlife health capabilities in Egypt.
• Production of a videotape on lead poisoning in migratory birds that is widely used by the national and international conservation community.
• Technical consultations with government scientists and officials in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Denmark, France, Russia, and England regarding lead poisoning in wild birds.
• Evaluation of wildlife disease risks associated with New Zealand's endangered species program.
• Production of a book-length field guide on wildlife disease and videotapes on special techniques underscores the Center's goal of relating technical information and concepts about wildlife diseases in a practical and relevant format.

Current Issues:

• West Nile Virus
• Foot and Mouth Disease
• Amphibian Declines and Malformations
• Emerging Diseases in Wildlife

5.3.2. National Park Service

The National Park System encompasses approximately 83.6 million acres, the largest area is Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. At 13,200,000 acres it is 16.3 percent of the entire system. The smallest unit in the system is Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial, Pennsylvania, at 0.02 of an acre. Of the 380 parks, monuments, preserves and historic sites, the NPS employs one veterinarian, stationed in Ft. Collins, Colorado.

5.3.3. Parks Canada

Stationed in Banff National Park, Alberta, Parks Canada employs one contract, 6-month veterinarian each year. Several of the health management projects currently being conducted include:

• Elk and cervid herpes virus and IBR
• Elk and liver fluke infections
• Johne's disease in park Wildlife
• Surveillance of wildlife for emerging diseases including brucellosis, bovine tuberculosis, trichinosis, etc.
• Brucellosis, tuberculosis, Mycobacterium paratuberculosis, and anthrax outbreaks in Wood Buffalo National Park

6.3.1. Internships and Residencies (selected)

There are very few exclusive wildlife internships or residencies. These are listed below. Many of the academic zoological medicine residencies and internships include a component of free-ranging wildlife medicine.

• Residency Program in Zoological Medicine at the University of Florida - Gainesville http://www.vetmed.ufl.edu/sacs/wildlife/RESIDENT.html
• Veterinary Residency in Zoological Medicine (Wildlife Emphasis) at the Wildlife Center of Virginia in conjunction with the University of Tennessee in Knoxville http://www.wildlifecenter.org/training/index.php
• Zoological Medicine Residency (Wildlife Emphasis) at the University of North Carolina - http://www.cvm.ncsu.edu/studentservices/intern_resid/zoology.html
• Zoological Medicine and Surgery Residency Training Program at the University of Wisconsin http://vmthpub.vetmed.wisc.edu/sa_services/special_species/residency.htm
• Wildlife Internship at TUSVM

6.3.2. Board Certification

American College of Zoo Veterinarians - Wildlife Specialty http://www.aczm.org/aczmmain.html

7.1.1. Texts and Articles

Aguirre, A. Alonso and Edward E. Starkey. Wildlife disease in U.S. National Parks: historical and co-evolutionary perspectives. Conservation Biology, 8 (3), pp. 654-661.

Friend, M. Ed. Field Guide to Wildlife Diseases. United States Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service / Resource Publication 167

National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association. Principles of Wildlife Rehabilitation : the essential guide for novice and experienced rehabilitators. 1997.

Noninfectious Diseases of Wildlife. 2nd ed. ed. by Anne Fairbrother, Louis N. Locke, and Gerald L. Hoff. Iowa State University Press, 1996.

Wild Neighbors : the humane approach to living with wildlife. Ed. By John Hadidian, Guy R. Hodge, John W. Grandy. The Humane Society of the United States, Washington, D.C. 1997.