Abstract

There are increasing opportunities for the emergence and resurgence of diseases at the human, domestic animal, and wildlife interface as a result of many human activities. These diseases are an increasing threat to public health, domestic livestock, the conservation of natural resources, and the economy. As a consequence, there is an urgent need for veterinarians to work as part of multidisciplinary wildlife health teams to increase capacity to address wildlife health issues and mitigate or minimize the negative effects of these emerging diseases. The goal of this study was to determine how the zoo and wildlife veterinary community can improve assistance to wildlife biologists and more effectively contribute to wildlife health management and conservation. This was achieved by surveying wildlife biologists’ perceptions of veterinarians working in wildlife conservation and opinions on how veterinarians can contribute, as well as enquiring about wildlife biologists’ past experiences working with veterinarians.

A six-question, two-page questionnaire was sent to the members of the Virginia chapter of The Wildlife Society (n=146) and the western section of The Wildlife Society (n=1031) via email in August 2006. Fifty-three questionnaires were returned which resulted in a 4.5% return rate. Data was entered into an Excel spreadsheet (Microsoft Excel 2003, Redmond, WA, USA) and analyzed using SPSS statistical package (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). The majority of biologists worked for a public institution (56.9%), whereas 35.3% worked for a private organization, and 7.8% worked for both. When asked about veterinarians’ knowledge of wildlife management, experience with working with wildlife, and training in population health, there was a general perception that veterinarians lacked these attributes (Table 1). In addition, there was a perception that veterinarians focused mostly on treating individual animals and were not available to assist with in situ conservation projects. However, there was a recognition that veterinarians could contribute to wildlife anesthesia, research, pathology/diagnostic services, disease surveillance, and animal welfare (Table 2). In contrast, biologists felt that veterinarians did not have a useful role in conservation policy and regulations.

Table 1

Responses of wildlife biologists (n=53) to the question “How would you rate veterinarians with regard to the following?” “Agree” and “disagree” categories have been combined.

Table 2

Responses of wildlife biologists (n=53) to the question “Please indicate the level of importance you place on each of the following contributions of veterinary medicine to wildlife management and conservation.” “Useful” and “not useful” categories have been combined.

In general, veterinarians appeared to be underutilized by wildlife biologists (Table 3). Wildlife biologists reported working with wildlife veterinarians on a frequent or occasional basis, general practitioners on an occasional basis, and zoo veterinarians were hardly ever utilized (83% of respondents had never worked with a zoo veterinarian). The biologists who had worked with veterinarians reported a positive experience. The most common reasons for requesting veterinary assistance are listed in Table 4.

Table 3

Responses of wildlife biologists (n=53) to the question “Have you ever utilized assistance or advice from a wildlife veterinarian, zoo veterinarian, or general practitioner?”

Table 4

The most common reasons wildlife biologists (n=53) requested veterinary assistance.

In conclusion, it appears that the zoo and wildlife veterinary community needs to increase outreach to the wildlife management and conservation community. Specifically, formal exchanges and linkages between the American Association of Wildlife Veterinarians/American Association of Zoo Veterinarians and the Society for Conservation Biology/The Wildlife Society may be particularly beneficial. In addition, a database of zoo and wildlife veterinarians who have specialized skills germane to wildlife management and conservation as well as availability of veterinarians by geographic region may increase wildlife biologist utilization of veterinarians. A priority should also be promoting the ability of zoo and wildlife veterinarians to contribute to wildlife health and conservation policy.