Wildlife Health – The Missing Piece of the Conservation Puzzle

This December, our main fundraiser of the year, the Big Give Christmas Challenge, will focus on the vital need to put Wildlife Health at the heart of conservation.

Please look out for the campaign, which will run from 2^nd-9^th December 2025. Thank you in advance for sharing, talking about it and giving!

‍

With more than one million animals and plants threatened with extinction over coming decades^[1],it has never been more critical to make sure that wildlife health is not the forgotten piece of the species conservation puzzle.

Slowing down and preventing the extinction of wildlife species – both local populations and across their global ranges – is fundamental to addressing the twin challenges of biodiversity loss and climate change. While many of us are passionate about supporting conservation efforts to save threatened species, traditional approaches have tended to focus on addressing poaching and the illegal wildlife trade, loss and destruction of habitat, and climate change mechanisms. But that leaves out a vital piece of the puzzle: the role of disease and the urgent need to safeguard the health of wild animals, because the spread of disease is also intricately linked to extinction, biodiversity loss and climate change.

The Covid pandemic has thrown a spotlight on the disease risks associated with the ever-expanding interface between wildlife, domestic animals and people, with greater chances of spillover of new pathogens as contact between different species increases. While this has helped boost the One Health agenda, as more notice is taken of potential zoonotic diseases, it’s also a moment to focus on wildlife as victims of disease, from sea otters dying from toxoplasmosis as cat litter contaminates the ocean, to the mass die off of saiga antelope from Pasteurella as a result of climate change^[2], or African lions being decimated by canine distemper virus, thought to have been originally transmitted by domestic dogs^[3]. When local populations of a species are particularly small and fragmented, a disease outbreak can quickly result in local extinction; modelling has predicted that small populations of Amur tigers, for example, are as much as 65% more likely to be wiped out when canine distemper virus is present^[4].

Taking disease in its wider sense of disruption to normal biological processes, the catastrophic loss ofvultures to unintentional poisoning with the NSAID diclofenac, the risk to sea turtles of becoming entangled in discarded fishing gear or of a tiger suffering a snare injury are all further stark illustrations of the urgent need to integrate wildlife health considerations and mitigations into species conservation programmes, and to make sure those implementing them have the necessary skills and knowledge of conservation medicine. Having the right expertise can make the difference between life and death of an individual animal, and the success and failure of a conservation project.

How does veterinary medicine play a key role in species conservation?

The primary role of veterinary medicine in conservation is often surveillance and base line sampling, so that infectious disease can be identified, monitored, predicted and mitigated against. In addition when numbers are small, conservation strategies should give every individual the opportunity to breed and play a role in the survival of the species and the maintenance of a healthy gene pool. This means taking care of any that are injured, malnourished or otherwise ill is also an important aspect of conservation, which requires wildlife health professionals with specialised knowledge of rehabilitation, including elements such as wound healing, nutrition and husbandry. In addition, there is a need for an understanding of how recovered animals, like a sea turtle which has lost a flipper due to entanglement, or a vulture which has collided with power lines, can be safely returned to the wild.

Captive breeding and translocation (the planned movement of animals from one area to another, including reintroduction) of threatened species are also key tools when it comes to protecting threatened wildlife and restoring native populations which can then play a vital role in maintaining ecosystem health. The return of wolves to Yellowstone is a well-publicised example. Closer to home in the UK, recent captive breeding programmes have resulted in reintroductions of red-billed choughs, Scottish wild cats and beavers, while other translocations have involved pine martens and golden eagles. Wildlife vets playa crucial role in these interventions, particularly with regard to the drawing up essential Disease Risk Assessments which must be in place and up to date, and complemented by pre-release health checks, before any movement of animals to a new location can be undertaken. There is also an obvious need for wildlife health professionals to have essential skills in safe capture of wild animals, using both physical restraint and chemical immobilisation through darting and anaesthesia.

Training the next generation of wildlife vets

To protect the health of wildlife and play their role in saving species, vets and biologists clearly need specialist knowledge and experience. This is not typically part of the vet school curriculum, and gaining it elsewhere can be difficult and expensive. In areas of high biodiversity but limited economic resources it can be both particularly important and particularly hard for vets to access training in conservation medicine. While qualified vets have unique medical skills to offer, it is not always obvious how to apply existing knowledge to conservation. It can often be about adapting and improvising, in order to make the best use of the resources available in a challenging field situation, for example. Aspiring wildlife vets need training to help them adapt their knowledge so they can be effective members of bigger multi- and inter-disciplinary conservation teams. They need to understand how best to apply their knowledge of animal health and disease, population medicine and public health to the bigger picture of protecting biodiversity, and how the needs of all stakeholders fit together.

Where does WVI fit?

WVI works with local conservation organisations around the globe to build in-country capacity in conservation medicine and wildlife health. We establish long-term partnerships between organisations on the ground and our VeterinaryPartners – veterinary professionals with specific knowledge and skills relevant to a particular species or project - in order to transfer expertise and upskill local vets and biologists. We provide training in how to monitor and respond to disease, treat injured animals, and safely reintroduce species to the wild. We also support the education of committed and talented early-career wildlife vets who demonstrate the potential to advance conservation medicine in places where there is currently little wildlife health expertise.

Completing the Conservation Puzzle

Unfortunately wildlife health is still too often the forgotten piece of the conservation puzzle. Healthy wildlife contributes to healthy ecosystems and the resilience of biodiversity, which in turn mitigates the impact of climate change. We need to ensure that wildlife health is routinely incorporated into conservation planning and policy, and that wildlife vets, especially those working in regions of high biodiversity but lower incomes, can access the skills and knowledge they need to play their key part in conservation initiatives.

Good health is important to all who share the planet. It is a unifying force that underlines the interconnectedness of all living things. Wildlife health can no longer be the missing piece of the puzzle. It must be an integral part of species conservation for solutions to be truly effective.

‍

‍

[1] https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2019/05/nature-decline-unprecedented-report/

[2] https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/science-blog/scientists-uncover-why-200000-antelope-suddenly-died

[3]  Roelke-Parker,M., Munson, L., Packer, C. et al. A canine distemper virusepidemic in Serengeti lions (Panthera leo). Nature 379,441–445 (1996)., p443 https://doi.org/10.1038/379441a0

[4] https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0110811

‍