Premium
Conservation Medicine
Author(s) -
DEEM SHARON L.,
KILBOURN ANNELISA M.,
WOLFE NATHAN D.,
COOK ROBERT A.,
KARESH WILLIAM B.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2000.tb05315.x
Subject(s) - wildlife , wildlife conservation , livestock , work (physics) , environmental planning , one health , business , conservation science , environmental resource management , wildlife management , public health , environmental health , geography , medicine , nursing , ecology , engineering , biodiversity , biology , mechanical engineering , environmental science
A bstract : The Field Veterinary Program (FVP) of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) was created in 1989 to combat the wildlife disease and health problems that increasingly complicate the process of wildlife conservation. The FVP provides veterinary services for the more than 300 WCS conservation projects located in more than 50 countries around the world. Most of these projects are in tropical regions and many have a wildlife/domestic livestock component. Wildlife health care provided by the FVP staff includes (1) identifying critical health factors; (2) monitoring health status; (3) crisis intervention; (4) developing and applying new technologies; (5) animal handling and welfare concerns; and (6) training. Additionally, the staff of the FVP give expert advice to many governmental and non‐governmental agencies that are involved in setting policies directly related to wildlife health and conservation issues. In this paper, two FVP projects are presented as examples of studies that have increased our understanding of the role wildlife diseases may play in the health of livestock and human populations, as well as the role humans and livestock may play in the health of wildlife populations. Examples of the collaborative work between the FVP staff and scientists from many disciplines (e.g., acarologists, mycobacterium experts, ecologists, and biologists) are also presented.