Addressing Wildlife Health in a Rapidly Changing World
 
Vet with Rhino
Dr. Robin Radcliffe, pictured with Sumatran rhino Rosa, oversees Wildlife Health Cornell's rhino-related efforts.

The Wildlife Health Cornell Team hopes your 2019 has started off well. We're excited to share our first newsletter of the new year, with updates on some of our conservation efforts over the past several months.

Wildlife Health Cornell works on some of the most endangered species in the world, including the Javan rhino. There are only an estimated 68 Javan rhinos left on the planet, and we are working with Indonesian partners to investigate disease threats and translocation techniques to help secure a future for this critically endangered natural treasure.

Through a grant from the Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future and in partnership with Cornell's Lab of Ornithology, a Cornell student is now documenting the normal vocalizations of these rhinos for the first time. The recordings will allow scientists to better monitor the Javan rhino population, gain insights into group dynamics and structure, and potentially help to identify ideal candidates for eventual translocation to establish a second population.

For more information on the work of the Wildlife Health Cornell  Center of Excellence, please visit www.wildlifehealthcornell.org. As in the past, we hope you find this e-newsletter useful and thought-provoking. Please let us know! 
 
- Steve Osofsky, DVM
Jay Hyman Professor of Wildlife Health & Health Policy
White-Tailed Deer
Far-Reaching Effects of Chronic Wasting Disease
 
Chronic wasting disease has been found in deer in 23 states and two Canadian provinces. Wildlife agencies, conservation organizations, and the hunting industry are coming together to educate the public and highlight the need for investment in scientific research to better understand the disease.
Lake Victoria
     
    
Public Health and Fisheries
 
Freshwater fisheries are under tremendous pressure from pollution, climate change, and overfishing. Cornell's Dr. Kathryn Fiorella is taking an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the links between the health of inland fisheries and that of the people who depend on them.
President of Botswana
Botswana President Highlights Commodity-Based Trade of Beef
 
In his 2018 State of the Nation Address, the President of Botswana noted the importance of implementing commodity-based trade of beef for Ngamiland, an approach that Cornell has been working on with regional partners to bring the region closer to reconciling foot and mouth disease-related conflict at the livestock / wildlife interface than ever before.
Tiger
© R. Gilbert
Not Every Sick Tiger is the Same
 
Wildlife Health Cornell's Dr. Martin Gilbert helped discover the bizarre cause of death of a sick tiger in Bhutan - a human tapeworm in its brain! As the human population grows, we can expect more of these unusual events to occur, with infections moving between people, domestic animals and wildlife.
Great Ape
Apes and Sustainability Forum
 
An "Apes and Sustainability" forum held at Cornell University brought together an interdisciplinary group of Cornell faculty, activists, and scientists to explore new perspectives on conserving nonhuman great apes in sustainable ways.
Students Taking Samples
 
With eDNA, scientists can count fish and other animals just by collecting a small sample of water. Students and teachers from across New York have been participating in Cornell's FishTracker Program to gather DNA data about invasive fish species and threatened native species.
Lab Equipment
   
Veterinarian Leads Implementation of Biobank Standards
 
Cornell's Dr. Maria Castelhano was invited to participate in a global taskforce to standardize biobanking practices. Since most of the world's facilities are for human biobanks, Dr. Castelhano's presence ensured that biobanks which collect animal samples are represented.
Skunk
 
Isabel Jimenez, a 4th-year Cornell veterinary student, is the lead author on the paper "Isolation of Rabies Virus from the Salivary Glands of Wild and Domestic Carnivores during a Skunk Rabies Epizootic" in the Journal of Wildlife Diseases.
Snowy Owl
Your gift literally means the world to us!
 
Please consider supporting Wildlife Health Cornell by giving online, or contacting Sheila M. Reakes at 607-253-4310 or <smr45@cornell.edu>.
                     

The Wildlife Health Cornell Center of Excellence envisions a healthy future for wildlife, people and planet. We strive to develop proactive, science-based approaches for sustaining a healthier world. By improving knowledge, understanding, and capacity at the interface of wildlife health, domestic animal health, and human health and livelihoods, environmental stewardship can be enhanced today, and for tomorrow.
To learn more about Wildlife Health Cornell, please contact
Dr. Steve Osofsky at  s.osofsky@cornell.edu or visit our website .
 
Please let us know if you have any comments on this e-newsletter,
an d if you find it useful! Thank you for your support.