Caring for the health of wild animals is key to their welfare and survival. Unexpected disease, illness or injury can make the difference between extinction and survival. As ever more species are threatened, ensuring conservationists get expert wildlife health support has never been more important.
Categories
Beneficiaries
Integrating animal health into conservation isn’t a luxury; it’s essential to restoring biodiversity and protecting the health of all species, humans included. Disease is a natural part of a balanced ecosystem, but when that balance is destroyed by human activity and climate change, increased spillover of pathogens can jeopardize the survival of threatened species. Building wildlife medicine capacity is key, but training is still difficult and expensive to access for many vets who need it most.
Making sure wildlife conservation programmes build animal health into their work is key to saving species. We partner with conservation organisations to make sure they get training in how to protect wildlife health, and can access expert veterinary help to manage disease, treat injured animals and safely reintroduce species to the wild. We advocate for vets to work alongside biologists, economists and local communities, sharing knowledge to give threatened animals the best chance of survival.
