Wildlife Health Talks – Détails, épisodes et analyse

Dr Ana Maria Villada has spent years unraveling the mysteries of sloths—creatures so physiologically unique that they're closer to chimpanzees than they are to each other. But her work treating electrocution injuries, creating rope highways through fragmented forests, and tracking hand-raised orphans released into the wild reveals something surprising: sloths are far more adaptable than science once believed.

Right now, Ana is in Uzbekistan fighting to protect sloths from international wildlife trade. Yet back in Costa Rica, her biggest challenge isn't the dramatic rescues, it's answering a fundamental question: we still don't know if sloth populations are thriving or declining in the wild.

Discover how the Sloth Institute's "sloth speedways" benefit jaguars, monkeys, and porcupines. Hear why hand-raised sloths can survive in the wild. And learn what makes treating a three-fingered sloth 31% more complicated than treating a two-fingered one.

Links

Learn more about the Sloth Institute

Ana Maria's professional Instagram page.

Check out more details about Ana Maria's PhD at Andres Bello University, Chile. 

Read the press release and information about sloth trafficking for CITES here.

UPDATE: 

SLOTHS HAVE BEEN LISTED ON APPENDIX II BY CONSENSUS!!!! This is a huge win for future conservation efforts! Check out the Instagram post here.

We'd love to hear from you ... share your thoughts, feedback and ideas.

By day, Dr. Alexandria Bullen treats cattle and cats at a veterinary clinic on Tasmania's rugged northwest coast. By night, she's out tracking platypuses and bandicoots in the wilderness. In this episode, host Dr. Cat Vendl meets Alex at the Australasian WDA conference to explore how she bridges clinical practice with wildlife research.

Discover why golf courses and urban dog parks are unexpected bandicoot hotspots, what a decade of platypus health monitoring reveals, and how Alex's research uncovered these marsupials' surprising cold tolerance. From her transformative Antarctic journey with Homeward Bound – where migrating seabirds reminded her how interconnected our world truly is – to volunteering with Vets Beyond Borders in Indonesia, Alex shares how stepping outside traditional veterinary roles opened doors she never imagined.

With a PhD on quoll health ahead, Alex delivers an empowering message: you don't need fancy resources or prestigious positions to contribute to wildlife health. Life is a choose-your-own-adventure, and the key is refusing to let imposter syndrome hold you back.

Links

Learn about  Conservation Medicine in Regional Tasmania here

Interested to learn more about the homeward bound journey? Check it out here.

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Join host Dr. Cat Vendl as she ventures into Wyoming's vast wilderness to meet Dr. Samantha Allen, the state's wildlife veterinarian who juggles budget spreadsheets and helicopter captures of bighorn sheep. From her unforgettable first WDA conference moment wielding a Stryker autopsy saw on a porpoise, Sam shares her journey from small-town kid told she'd only work with "cows and cats" to tackling Wyoming's diverse wildlife health challenges.

Discover how chronic wasting disease has become endemic across Wyoming, why older male deer might be the main disease spreaders, and the surprising prevalence of rabbit hemorrhagic disease since 2020. But perhaps most intriguingly, meet the adorable swift fox—a resilient little species where 92% test positive for parvovirus exposure, raising fascinating questions about disease transmission between wild and domestic animals in America's wild west.

Link
https://wgfd.wyo.gov/wyoming-wildlife/wildlife-disease-and-health

We'd love to hear from you ... share your thoughts, feedback and ideas.

Join host Dr. Cat Vendl as she heads to Vancouver Island to meet Dr. Damien Joly, CEO of the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative – though he insists he's just a "boring old disease ecologist!" But this couldn’t be further from the truth. Discover how Canada's unique cooperative approach tackles wildlife diseases across the world's second-largest country, from bird flu that's here to stay to chronic wasting disease threatening deer and potentially caribou.

Damien shares captivating stories from hunting pandemic viruses in Southeast Asian bats (they found a thousand new viruses with some being very similar to COVID!) and saving Mongolian gazelles from unnecessary culling during disease outbreaks. Learn why diplomatic skills matter more than business acumen when coordinating wildlife health across provinces, and get an insider's preview of the upcoming WDA conference in Victoria – where you might spot orcas from the ferry!

Links

The Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative: https://www.cwhc-rcsf.ca/

Wanna learn more about the upcoming WDA2025 conference? Check out the website: https://www.wda2025.com

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Meet Alexandra Youssef, Lebanon's first and only certified wildlife rehabilitator and co-founder and vice-president of the NGO Lebanese Wildlife, based in Beirut. Alexandra fights to save wildlife amid economic collapse, war, and ancient cultural myths that drive species toward extinction. From the striped hyena (Lebanon's national animal, yet its most killed) believed to hypnotize victims, to snakes executed on sight despite most being harmless, Alexandra battles superstition alongside bullets.

Learn how this former nutritionist turned pioneering rehabilitator personally funds rescues while confronting gunshot-wounded raptors, rabies outbreaks, and deep-rooted folklore. Alexandra reveals how war and superstition create a perfect storm for wildlife destruction, yet demonstrates how One Health principles can bridge human survival and conservation – even when caring for bats and hyenas puts her own safety at risk.

A rare glimpse into wildlife rehabilitation where every rescue is an act of defiance, and changing minds may be harder than healing bodies.

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Self-described "systems thinker" Dr. Steve Unwin has spent decades working at the human-wildlife interface across four continents and believes we've got our scientific name all wrong. According to Steve, we're not Homo sapiens but Pan narrans: the storytelling ape. Host Dr. Cat Vendl explores Steve's journey from "pretending to be a zoo vet" to creating vital conservation networks and leading Wildlife Health Australia's International One Health Program.
Discover how orangutans taught him patience while conducting "environmental enrichment" experiments on their keepers, why mental health is crucial for wildlife practitioners, and how better storytelling might be our best tool for preventing our own extinction. A refreshing perspective on using compassion and communication to transform wildlife health in an era of growing political isolationism.

Links of the organizations mentioned in this episode that Steve is involved in:
Wildlife Health Australia
PASA
OVAG

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In this captivating episode, host Dr. Cat Vendl speaks with zoo veterinarian and researcher Dr. Brett Gardner about the unprecedented rabies outbreak in Cape fur seals along South Africa's coast. Brett reveals how this once-impossible disease jumped from black-backed jackals to marine mammals, creating a new wildlife health crisis.

Discover the detective work behind tracing the virus's origin, the devastating impacts on both seal colonies and human communities, and the race to protect sub-Antarctic species through emergency vaccination programs. Brett also shares insights from his PhD research on Australian fur seals, highlighting how much remains unknown about disease ecology in Southern Hemisphere marine mammals—making this episode essential for anyone interested in emerging wildlife diseases and One Health approaches. 

Links

One Health Research Group at the University of Melbourne

Out of the Blue - teaser for the upcoming documentary on the rabies outbreak in cape fur seals in South Africa

Article on the rabies outbreak investigations

Brett's professional Instagram handle: #conservationvet_brett

Footnote:

Brett pointed out that they didn't test the seal the dog came into contact with. The dog being bitten by a seal was not actually witnessed, and the seal wasn't identified or sampled. The dog rabies was linked to seal rabies later via sequencing.

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Join host Dr. Cat Vendl with Dr. Helen Schwantje, British Columbia's pioneering wildlife veterinarian of nearly three decades. Journey from her unexpected career beginnings to her groundbreaking work with bighorn sheep and the complex fight to save mountain caribou through a variety of conservation strategies. Helen shares insights about Indigenous partnerships and previews the upcoming WDA conference in Victoria, where scientific presentations will blend with diverse perspectives in a spectacular coastal setting – where you might just spot an orca! 

Discover how building communities and fostering collaboration has shaped a remarkable career dedicated to protecting Canada's iconic wildlife.

Links

Wild sheep foundation

Caribou Conservation Alliance

International WDA2025 conference in Victoria, BC, Canada

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Join host Dr. Cat Vendl as she travels to New Zealand's Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari, where Dr. Janelle Ward leads native species restoration behind the country's largest predator-proof fence. Discover how four kiwis introduced in 2005 grew into hundreds, leading to the largest kiwi translocation in history. Janelle reveals the challenges of managing this booming population, from specialized conservation dogs tracking elusive birds to navigating new health conditions as the sanctuary reaches carrying capacity. Learn how deep partnerships with local Māori iwi enrich conservation through co-governance and cultural practices, creating a sanctuary where biodiversity thrives and a thousand-year vision for restoration unfolds—one bird at a time.

Links
https://www.sanctuarymountain.co.nz/ & https://www.linkedin.com/in/janelle-ward=b692a01b 

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Join host Dr. Cat Vendl as she speaks with Dr. Sonia Hernandez, Wildlife Disease Association president and professor whose research spans continents and species. From studying prehistoric-looking tapirs adapting to human landscapes in Costa Rica to tracking white ibises navigating between Florida's wetlands and city parks, Sonia shares insights from her remarkable career.

Discover how her journey from intimidated veterinary student to association leader has shaped her vision for science communication in an era of growing skepticism. Along the way, Sonia offers valuable wisdom for wildlife health professionals about staying adaptable and finding unexpected paths to meaningful work—crossing borders both geographical and disciplinary to address today's complex wildlife health challenges

Links
https://hernandezlabuga.wixsite.com/wilddisease/dr--sonia-hernandez
https://hernandezlabuga.wixsite.com/wilddisease
https://warnell.uga.edu/directory/people/dr-sonia-m-hernandez-dvm-daczm-phd 

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