What is Wildlife Health?
Wildlife health often refers to the monitoring of diseases and their impacts within wildlife populations. But “wildlife health” is much more than the presence or absence of disease. Wildlife health is the ability of wildlife to thrive in a changing environment.
The health of wildlife populations is influenced by many interacting factors. These include genetics, environmental stressors, habitat quality, and disease.
Why Care about Wildlife Health?
The health of wildlife, domestic animals, humans, and our ecosystems are intricately connected.
- Healthy environments with strong, thriving wildlife populations support the health and well-being of humans.
- Disease can reduce and severely weaken wildlife populations.
- Many wildlife diseases can spread to domestic animals and people.
By learning about and managing the risks that come from wildlife diseases and health concerns, we can help reduce the impacts to wildlife and help protect domestic animals and humans.