Interventions in Wild Animal Health

This year marked the launch of the Interventions in Wild Animal Health Field Course, run by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and the University of Edinburgh (UoE) as an integral component of the on-line MVetSci in Conservation Medicine awarded by UoE. The Field Course, held predominantly in Sariska Tiger Reserve, Rajasthan, India, and supported by The Thriplow Trust, provided practical skills in free-living wild animal population monitoring, disease investigation and restraint techniques to complement the theoretical learning from the MVetSci Conservation Medicine with the specific objective of increasing the capacity of wildlife health professionals in biodiverse developing countries where there are hotspots of wildlife disease which threaten biodiversity. This is the first Masters level course in conservation medicine to include a field course in a developing country. Twenty-one students from ten different countries, including fourteen students from biodiverse, developing countries, travelled to Sariska to receive in field teaching from 16 tutors from UoE, WII and ZSL and gain an insight into the challenges of working in a developing country where huge efforts are placed into wildlife conservation. Over a three-week period, the students covered three module topics: (i) population monitoring including practical use of transects and camera trapping , (ii) rehabilitation, field disease investigation and surveillance, including use of geographical information systems and field pathological investigation (iii) free-living wild animal restraint and anaesthesia, including planning, equipment and techniques. Topics on health aspects of human-wildlife conflict and

protected area management were covered in depth across modules. Sariska Tiger Reserve has important populations of tiger, leopard and striped hyaena for which the main prey base is chital, sambar, nilgai, wild pig and common langur, and many rare birds are present including the golden backed woodpecker, crested serpent eagle and great Indian horned owl plus many species of reptiles and amphibians. A tiger reintroduction programme took place between 2005 and 2009 and there are now 13 tigers present in the reserve. The students also gained experience of wildlife management and human-wildlife conflict in Keoladeo National Park, Ranthambore National Park and wildlife rehabilitation teaching at Wildlife SOS Bear and Elephant rescue facilities in Agra. Each field/study site was used to discuss specific protected area management paradigms encountered by wildlife health professionals in India. Dr Tony Sainsbury, Senior Lecturer in Wild Animal Health at the Zoological Society of London commented “We greatly valued the opportunity to teach practical skills in health monitoring in South Asia where there is a vital need to increase capacity in wildlife veterinarians”. Anna Meredith, Professor of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine at the University of Edinburgh said “Running the course in a National Park surrounded by towns and villages and their associated livestock provided a crucial example of the need for a one-health approach to wildlife conservation”. Professor Pradeep Malik, Head of Wildlife Health at the Wildlife Institute of India explained “Human-wildlife conflict is an ever-present concern to the people of South Asia and teaching students in-situ offered them important experiences in managing health and disease in this remarkable natural environment”. The interventions in Wild Animal Health Field Course will take place annually and further

details are available on http://www.zsl.org/science/postgraduate-study/interventions-in-wild-animal-health. Further details of the MVetSci Conservation Medicine are available here http://www.ed.ac.uk/vet/studying/postgraduate/taught-programmes/conservation-medicine. Priority is given to applicants from South Asia.

Alexandra Thomas

Image 1. Tutors and students monitor the anaesthetic recovery of a male sambar deer from jeeps in Sariska National Park

Image 2. Dr Nic Masters, Zoological Society of London and two students monitor the chemical restraint in a male sambar deer in Sariska National Park

Image 3. Dr Tony Sainsbury explains the approach to field pathological examination to the student group in Sariska National Park