Abstract

Diversity, equity, inclusion, and access to wildlife health careers are imperative for this profession, whose activities impact all of society. To meet current and emerging challenges, promote innovation, and engage with the public more profoundly, a diverse and representative workforce is essential. However, currently the wildlife health profession is not representative of the diverse populations it serves. Barriers to entry into wildlife health fields are multifaceted. In surveying various educational programs, the foremost barriers to inclusion in wildlife health activities for high school students were:

• Time commitment: Students may need to work to contribute financially to their households or be responsible for caring for siblings while parents are working and may not have time to allocate to volunteering.
• Transportation: Students may not have access to vehicles, and public transportation can be cost-prohibitive.
• Meals: Cost may be prohibitive.
• Permission: Caregivers who are unfamiliar or uncomfortable with their child’s involvement in an activity, even an academic one, away from home, may be reluctant to allow participation.
• Accessibility: Lack of access to information regarding opportunities and lack of perceived access due to insufficient cultural or other representation within the desired field

In 2022, the Wildlife Health Youth Fellowship was created to address these barriers and increase awareness of and opportunities for wildlife health-related career activities to high school students from disadvantaged backgrounds (first-generation college bound and/or low income). The most critical component of the fellowship was creating accessibility via financial support for students to be able to participate in a wildlife rehabilitation experience that would normally only be available to those with the financial freedom to volunteer for such an opportunity. During its initial year, this fellowship provided a stipend for work, transportation costs, meal costs, and work supply reimbursement for two students from underrepresented backgrounds to participate in an animal husbandry and public engagement-based youth volunteer program (“Youth Crew”) at The Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, CA, once weekly for eight months. Additional components of the fellowship included mentorship of students by staff from the UC Davis Wildlife Health Center and a UC Davis visit, during which students presented on their experiences to faculty and staff at the UC Davis One Health Institute. Also, students and their parents/caregivers received a campus tour. Students reported that the most valuable part of their fellowship was the mentorship they received from professionals in the wildlife field, and parents/caregivers highly valued being included in their children’s career development.

Now in its second year, this fellowship is supporting three students’ participation in wildlife health youth volunteer programs, as well as developing a wildlife health career awareness campaign. Enhancing accessibility to the wildlife health field is a slow process but can be achieved over time. By promoting programs such as this fellowship at high schools that have largely underrepresented student populations and responding to the systemic inequity of financial hardship, the diversity of applicants entering the wildlife health field will inevitably increase, leading to improved representation and greater accessibility.

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the UC Davis One Health Institute DEI Competitive Grants Program for funding for the first year of the Wildlife Health Youth Fellowship, and the UC Davis Karen C. Drayer Wildlife Health Center for funding for year two of the fellowship. The authors would also like to thank The Marine Mammal Center for working with and teaching the students during their time on Youth Crew.

*Presenting author