WDA Communications Committee

Wildlife Health Talks

Science EN ↓ 86 episodes

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.

Author

WDA Communications Committee

Episodes

#11 Ali and the fruit bats (Australia) 21.05.2023 26:19

Flying foxes are omnipresent on Australia’s east coast. Some people love them, others, especially horse and property owners with lots of yummy fruit trees in their backyards are not so sure. It’s particularly horses that are sensitive to a virus that feels very comfortable in Australia’s fruit bats. It’s Hendra virus. Our guest Dr Alison Peel is fascinated by the variety of viruses that call bats...

#10 Tiggy and Australian Wildlife Health 07.05.2023 35:16

Cat’s guest in this episode, Dr Tiggy Grillo wears many hats. She is the Chief Operating Officer of Wildlife Health Australia, works with the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) and is the co-chair of the IUCN SSC Wildlife Health Specialist group. Tiggy is a vet but she also uses her diplomatic skillset to navigate the waters of international wildlife health management and policy. And she...

#9 Rick and the worms (USA) 23.04.2023 32:13

However crawly and creepy, Rick loves them all. Dr Rick Gerhold is an Associate Professor of Parasitology at the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Tennessee. Our host Cat chats with Rick about his passion for worms, large and small, and his favorite part about sampling wild moose. Check out Rick’s uni profile: https://vetmed.tennessee.edu/about/faculty-staff/profiles/?id=138 We...

#8 Rachael and the Australian sea lions 09.04.2023 25:10

Australian sea lions are one of the most endangered mammal species in Australia. And they are not alone. Australia is infamous for one of the highest extinction rates of native animal species worldwide. Our host Cat chats with Dr Rachael Gray about her work trying to find out what is ailing the sea lions and how to help them survive. An usual breeding cycle, a high prevalence of hookworms and cli...

#7 Fidu and the rhinos 26.03.2023 23:14

Our host Cat chats with wildlife health veterinarian and anesthesiologist Dr Friederike (Fidu) Pohlin about her PhD on rhinos in South Africa and her current work on small and large wildlife in the Austrian forests. Rhinos are Fidu’s favorite patients, but they aren’t the easy sort. Especially translocations are challenging. Fidu once even accompanied them on a plane trip to make sure they were mo...

#6 Scott, his Wombot and the physics behind poo shapes 12.03.2023 26:44

Podcast host Cat chats with Dr Scott Carver about the secret lives of wombats. His team built a robot, the Wombot, that allows to explore the burrows of the animals with the square-shaped poo. Scott is fascinated by the different shapes of poo in the animal kingdom and is particularly proud of his most recent paper, where he explores the physics behind the mystery. Scott also investigates sarcopti...

#5 Mel and the penguins 26.02.2023 21:25

Not even 30 bee stings in one hand and a fridge full of exploding penguin eggs could stop PhD candidates Mel Wells to study the pollutant exposure of little penguins in Australia’s south. Based at the University of Tasmania, Mell uses the smallest of all penguin species, the little penguins, as marine ecosystem sentinels for PFAS exposure in the seas surrounding Tasmania. The ‘forever chemicals’...

#4 Liz and the bats 12.02.2023 21:59

Why do bats carry so many deadly viruses that don’t affect them and why is it a fungus that brings them to their knees? Our host Cat chats with Dr Elizabeth Falendysz, a vet and wildlife veterinarian at the National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wisconsin. Liz doesn’t like tight spaces but for the bats and her research she squeezes herself through the tightest cave tunnels. Listen in to the f...

#3 Peri and the pot-bellied pigs 29.01.2023 21:13

Cat chats with Dr Peri Wolff who has been the WDA’s executive manager since 2019. Few people know about Peri’s adventurous past. She used to treat film stars and made sure the wolves, monkeys and tigers were up for the job when the stage lights came on. Wild animals are her passion, but pot-bellied pigs are her secret treat. Besides holding the WDA together, Peri looks after the pet pigs of Los An...

#2 Sarah and the sea stars 15.01.2023 19:22

Sarah loves the underdogs of the animal world. In 2013 she got up close with her study species for the first time. When doing an externship at the Seattle Aquarium, she witnessed a natural tragedy firsthand. Sea stars off the coast of Seattle were dying by the millions. The culprit? A disease called sea star wasting. After that, sea stars never let Sarah go again and she decided to dedicate her Ph...

#1 Lazy turtles, freezing manatees and the oil spill aftermaths with Dr Jenny Bloodgood 01.01.2023 25:50

Our host Cat chats with Dr Jenny Bloodgood about her work with turtles who grow into seafood-loving couch potatoes in rehab, manatees who are not quite ready for climate change and the devastating 12-year aftermaths of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the gulf of Mexico, the largest and most devastating oil spill in history. Jenny is a vet and marine mammal health researcher at the Dauphin Isla...