Focus of the WDA



* Endangered Species – WDA members with international, state, provincial, federal, and private agencies have been intimately involved in efforts to preserve and improve the status of endangered species populations. Efforts include monitoring the status of the black-footed ferret in Wyoming, determining the impact of diseases on eagles in the West and of gray wolves in the North Central states.



* Game and Furbearing Animals – Extensive research and surveillance have provided untold benefits to wildlife through private and public agencies by enhancing understanding of the impact of diseases on wild animal populations.



*Wildlife Conservation – Many members, working as and/or with wildlife biologists, investigate the effects of environmental toxins, habitat alterations, and introduction of exotic species on the health of native wildlife.



* Wildlife Relocation – Many members are engaged in the reintroduction of wildlife species into areas from which they have been extirpated. Efforts are being made to prevent the introduction of disease and to monitor the health of these animals.



* Wildlife Rehabilitation – Veterinarians and other clinically oriented specialists affiliated with the WDA have been increasingly interested in the rehabilitation of sick and injured wildlife, especially raptors.



* Zoological Parks – Zoo veterinarians supervise the care or a large variety of species and provide husbandry and veterinary care for many threatened and endangered species from all over the world.



*Public Health – WDA members have contributed substantially to knowledge about arthropod-borne encephalitis, rabies, tularemia, Lyme disease, hantavirus, environmental toxicants, and many other diseases affecting human health.



* Livestock and Poultry – Wildlife specialists participate in research, clinical and field efforts to control diseases that not only infect our wildlife species but may be economically devastating to domestic livestock as well. Among these diseases are malignant catarrhal fever, brucellosis, tuberculosis, viscerotropic velogenic Newcastle disease, and African swine fever.



* Comparative Medicine – Many WDA members with specialty training in the health and biological sciences are involved in basic research using wildlife as models of diseases found in humans or domestic animals.



* Ecosystem Health – Because no species exists independently of its environment many WDA members are addressing the complex issues of overall ecosystem health. One topic of special concern is aquatic animal health, as many marine mammals and sea birds serve as biomarkers for the assessment of the health of the marine environment.