Veterinary science on the conservation frontline

In the 21st century, vets and vet nurses are working with wildlife all over the world in different capacities, depending on their skills or training, very different from 50 years ago when a few pioneers were challenging the still-prevailing orthodoxy that disease played little or no part in the regulation of animal populations. Certainly the present situation has come about because of the increasing recognition of the number of species that have become critically endangered over that period, and the efforts of wildlife biologists to rescue them. Zoos have had an important role in connecting the two disciplines — as zoological medicine has grown exponentially and the active role of zoos in field conservation has followed, it has been natural for veterinary professionals to carry their expertise into the wild.

Critically endangered species are best regarded as critically ill patients. Biologists often have to work with the unknown in trying to stabilise them, and vets and vet nurses are all too familiar with that scenario. For many species a rescue effort has to look at the causes of decline very quickly, and the critical care phase may have to proceed with very limited information. On the veterinary side, we may have to deal with ‘unknown unknowns’, an example of which would be the novel transmissible tumour devastating Tasmanian devils in Australia, which turned out to be spread by non-viral transmission of genetic material through bite wounds. More often we are looking at ‘known unknowns’, working from what we already know about similar species in captivity.