As we step into the year 2024, we are re-invigorating our commitment to challenging the status-quo in the field of wildlife health.

While there is still no single accepted definition of “wildlife health,” in recent years there has been more discussion surrounding the various factors that contribute to health. For example, resilience and the ability to cope or adapt in response to environmental challenges is often agreed to be an important aspect of wildlife health. There is also growing awareness that the health of wildlife exists on a continuum and is not a dichotomous concept. Health therefore cannot be measured as yes/no, healthy/unhealthy, or diseased/not diseased. Rather, multiple factors and determinants of health must be evaluated.

Challenges in defining and measuring “wildlife health” are complicated by the fact that the field includes a wide range of professionals with different educational backgrounds who use different terminology and concepts. Those in the fields of ecology or biology may be more likely to use terms such as population “viability” or “fitness” rather than the term “health.”  Veterinarians may be more likely to discuss health in terms of “disease” or “pathology.” Wildlife rehabilitators may focus more on direct anthropogenic impacts on wildlife health such as trauma and toxin ingestion. None of these are correct or incorrect – diverse perspectives are all needed to contribute to our understanding of wildlife health in a changing environment.

Health can also be assessed based on individual animals, a population, or an entire ecosystem. Varying definitions of health and different assessment methodologies may be used to quantify “health” depending on what scale you are looking at. This could range from serum biochemistry panels measured in individual animals, to abundance counts of a species across a wide geographic range, to ecological health assessments that include interactions between multiple species and their environment.

These are just some of complexities and challenges we face in the field of “wildlife health,” and highlights the need for organizations and individuals that are capable of spanning the traditional disciplinary silos.

Because wildlife exist in complex systems that span jurisdictions and professions, we must find commonalities that bridge the current gaps in communication, values, goals, and beliefs between wildlife professions.

WildlifeHealth.org is an independent, apolitical, self-funded initiative. We are not directly associated with any university, government agency, or private institution- but we facilitate communication between all of these realms.

Our Goals:

• Serve as a conduit of information to help ideas flow between diverse professional disciplines and institutions

• Catalyze new ideas and dialogue around wildlife health, ecological health, conservation, and society

• Inspire and empower the next generation of wildlife professionals through leading by example, and exposing students to non-traditional career paths and innovative opportunities within the broad field of wildlife health

We welcome you to join us in these goals in 2024 and beyond!