Wildlife Health Talks
This is the podcast of the Wildlife Disease Association (WDA, https://www.wildlifedisease.org). Our host Dr Catharina Vendl chats with wildlife health professionals including researchers, vets, pathologists and more, about the joys and challenges of their job and the emerging issues of wildlife health locally and worldwide. All of our guests have a longstanding affinity with the WDA and a true passion for wildlife in common. So brush up your knowledge of current wildlife issues and One Health with Wildlife Health Talks.
Episodes
57 episodes
#57 Helen, bighorn sheep, mountain caribou and WDA2025 (Canada)
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 ...
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Season 3
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Episode 57
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29:16
#56 Janelle and the kiwi (NZ)
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...
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Season 3
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Episode 56
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27:04
#55 Sonia and the science of pushing boundaries (USA)
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 Ric...
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Season 3
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Episode 56
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29:12
#54 Will and the raccoons (USA)
Join our host Dr. Cat Vendl as she takes you to Oklahoma, where Will Funk directs wildlife rehabilitation at WildCare Oklahoma, caring for over 8,000 native patients annually – from hummingbirds to bald eagles, and even tarantulas! Will shares ...
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Season 3
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Episode 54
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17:44
#53 Tim and conservation chemistry (USA)
In this episode, our host Cat Vendl sits down with Dr. Tim Cernak, who is revolutionizing wildlife conservation through an unexpected lens: Conservation chemistry. From developing human medicines at Merck to fighting wildlife extinction with ar...
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Season 3
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Episode 53
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32:05
#52 K9 and queer ecology (Australia)
Join us for an eye-opening conversation with K9 Jenns, a PhD candidate at the University of Sydney's Bat One Health Research Team, who brings a transformative perspective to the study of flying foxes and their viruses. Through the lens of queer...
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Season 3
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Episode 52
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28:19
#51 Anna and the microbats (Australia)
In this episode, our host Cat Vendl takes you to Berlin to meet Anna Langguth, a PhD candidate studying one of the most devastating wildlife diseases recorded in mammals: white nose syndrome. From childhood bat enthusiast to innovative research...
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Season 3
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Episode 51
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25:32
#50 Dianna and the wombats (Australia)
Join us for an extraordinary conversation with Dianna Bisset, an Australian wildlife carer whose journey spans from creating equipment for James Cameron's deep-sea expeditions to rehabilitating wombats and kangaroos at Rocklily wildlife ref...
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Season 3
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Episode 50
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34:23
#49 Michele and wildlife tuberculosis (South Africa)
In this episode, we are taking you on a dive into the world of wildlife tuberculosis with Professor Michele Miller. Michele is the NRF South African Research Chair in Animal TB at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. Her career has spanned ...
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Season 2
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Episode 49
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22:48
#48 Laura and the muskoxen (Canada)
In the 1960s, the Canadian government decided to relocate 14 muskoxen to the Eastern Arctic, a region where these large bovines had never been native. The intention was to support the local Inuit community by providing a new source of food and ...
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Season 48
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Episode 2
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20:13
#47 Rita and the cottontail rabbits (Portugal & Angola)
In this episode, you will meet Dr. Rita Santos, a veterinarian whose passion for wildlife has taken her across continents. From rehabilitating cottontail rabbits and hummingbirds in Minnesota to treating wildlife in the UK, Rita shares insights...
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Season 2
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Episode 47
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23:21
#46 Anastasiia and the brown bears (Japan & Ukraine)
Our host Cat Vendl chats with Anastasiia Kovba about all things viral diseases of wildlife in Japan, to be more precise on the island of Hokkaido. Anastasiia is a PhD student, based at the University of Hokkaido in Sapporo. ...
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Season 2
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Episode 46
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20:47
#45 The making of WDA2024 off-country (online) conference
Have you heard of the upcoming WDA2024 off-country conference from Dec 1-6? In less than 2 months the annual international WDA conference is coming up. It will take place in Australia’s capital, Canb...
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Season 2
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Episode 45
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27:23
#44 Jane and all things Australian wildlife health (Australia)
Our host Cat Vendl is talking all things Australian wildlife health with wildlife biologist Jane Hall. Jane is the project officer at the Australian Registry of Wildlife Health at Taronga Zoo and a PhD candidate at Griffith University.
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Season 2
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Episode 44
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28:22
#43 Helena and Project 'Whale Exhale' (Norway)
This week on WDA's Wildlife Health Talks podcast, host Dr Cat Vendl immerses herself and our listeners in an interview with Dr Helena Costa on her project 'Whale Exhale'. Helena studies the viruses in the blow of humpback whales that visit the ...
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Season 2
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Episode 43
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25:36
#42 Richard Kock and how colonialism threatened species survival (UK)
Our host Cat Vendl chats with WDA's own vice president Richard Kock. Richard has lived almost a life time of promoting wildlife health in Africa, Central Asia and the UK. Born in Rhodesia (today's Zimbabwe), Richard worked in Kenya for many yea...
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Season 2
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Episode 42
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30:26
#41 Martin and the Amur tigers (all over the place)
Tigers, leopards and now one-horned rhinos. Dr Martin Gilbert studies them all. He is a wildlife veterinarian, epidemiologist and Associate Professor of Practice at Cornell University, US. Originally from Scotland, he has investigated infectiou...
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Season 2
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Episode 41
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30:22
#40 Sarah and the endeavour of scholarly publishing (USA)
Our host, Dr Cat Vendl chats with yet another winner of the 2024 BioOne Ambassador awards, Dr Sarah Wright. Sarah studied an aspect of the immune system of South American sea lions. She is based in Illinois in the US and is the Associate Editor...
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Season 2
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Episode 40
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24:43
#39 Elis and the bighorn sheep (USA)
Our host Dr Cat Vendl and her guest Dr Elis Fisk dive into the mystery of the bighorn sheep. Elis is a PhD candidate and anatomical pathology resident at Washington State University in the US and one of the winners of the 2024 BioOne Ambassador...
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Season 2
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Episode 39
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19:18
#38 Andrew and the upcoming international 72nd WDA conference (Australia)
Our host Dr Cat Vendl chats with Dr Andrew Peters, past WDA president and Associate Professor in Wildlife Health and Pathology at Charles Sturt University in Australia. A small revolution is about to take place within the WDA and hopefu...
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Season 2
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Episode 38
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29:39
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#37 Nigel and the art of story telling (Special edition!)
This year’s international WDA conference in Canberra, Australia, is preceded by a series of webinars to familiarize the WDA community with the concept behind the conference. This conference will differ quite a bit from the conventional. O...
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Season 2
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Episode 37
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25:21
#36 Jess, bats and all that jazz (USA)
In this episode, we are diving into the fascinating world of the Egyptian rousette bat and its rich variety of pathogens. Our host Dr Cat Vendl chats with Dr. Jessica Elbert, a board-certified pathologist and PhD candidate at the University of ...
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Season 2
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Episode 36
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19:47
#35 Ruth, Marja and Katie, and the Review of Migration and Wildlife Disease Dynamics (UK)
In the aftermath of the Covid19 pandemic, the Convention on Migratory Species of the United Nations renewed their focus on One Health and migratory species. In the wake of this renewal, researchers from the University of Edinburgh in the UK wro...
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Season 2
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Episode 35
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29:25
#34 Flo and the seal lice (Argentina & Antarctica)
Seals have lice. This might not sound like a revolutionary fact. Many mammal species carry lice. However, as it happens, seal lice are the only marine insects that exist on this planet. In this episode, our host, Cat Vendl interviews Dr Florenc...
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Season 2
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Episode 34
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19:58
#33 Ai-Mei and the sika deer (Taiwan/Australia)
We all love to see a conservation project on a previously endangered wildlife species succeed. But what happens if a formerly small population grows to a point where its size becomes unsustainable? Performing a cull? Definitely not the most ple...
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Season 2
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Episode 33
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20:18
