Special Report Rapport spécial The Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative: Addressing wildlife health challenges in the 21st century Craig Stephen
I
What is the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative?
n their 2010 report, “Canada’s National Wildlife Disease Strategy: Moving Forward 2010” Canada’s federal/provincial/ territorial wildlife directors noted; “enhanced collaboration and coordination is needed to build and maintain an effective national wildlife health program.” The purpose of the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative (CWHC) is to meet this need. Firmly rooted in our 6 regional centers, the CWHC works to promote and protect the health of wildlife and Canadians through leadership, partnership, investigation, and action. Founded in 1993, the CWHC acts as a wildlife health expertise and information hub linking federal, provincial, territorial, university, and civil society partners. The foundations of this network are our regional centers in Canada’s 5 veterinary colleges and the British Columbia Animal Health Centre. Each regional center, as well as our national office, provides services and exchanges insights and information on wildlife health with national and regional stakeholders. This cross-Canada model supports claims that Canada’s wildlife health surveillance system is scientifically defensible and nationally representative. The CWHC provides 3 core services. First, it helps make us aware of the Canadian wildlife health situation. By providing and linking the outputs of laboratory and field investigations of the causes of wildlife morbidity and mortality, the CWHC produces an ongoing snapshot of the major disease threats affecting wildlife as well as diseases of wildlife that could threaten public health, domestic animals, and safe use of the environment. For example, pathological investigations of causes of Beluga whale deaths helped to inspire habitat protection and pollution control. The CWHC coordinates programs such as the Canadian Interagency Wild Bird Influenza Survey to identify new influenza sub-types in wildlife and supports access to markets. The lack of trade restrictions upon the detection of EA/AM H5N8 and H5N2 influenza in wild birds in North CWHC National Office, Western College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, 52 Campus Drive, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5B4. Address all correspondence to Dr. Craig Stephen; e-mail: [email protected] Use of this article is limited to a single copy for personal study. Anyone interested in obtaining reprints should contact the CVMA office ([email protected]) for additional copies or permission to use this material elsewhere. CVJ / VOL 56 / SEPTEMBER 2015
America in 2014–2015 likely reflects desensitization of poultry trading partners to findings in wild birds because of the consistent surveillance for several years. Similarly the 20-year-old CWHC database of wildlife investigations supported Canada’s case to international trading partners that Canada was free of Classical Swine Fever. A national program of West Nile virus surveillance in wild birds is a key example of CWHC contributions to public health planning and preparedness as are projects on diseases of urban wildlife. The CWHC is developing technology and capacity to identify changes in sub-clinical indicators of health to allow us to see emerging risks before wildlife become ill or die. Whether through our ongoing scanning surveillance or targeted programs, CWHC provides situational awareness of trends in wildlife diseases which, in turn, provides important insight into priority actions needed to protect wildlife, public health, and agriculture and provide confidence in the safe use of our environments. The second CWHC core function is to promote an equitable and equivalent wildlife health program across Canada. Wildlife health is a challenging field to govern and manage as some wildlife are under federal jurisdiction while many more are under the jurisdictions of the provinces and territories. Some wildlife health issues are important for conservation agencies, some for public health, others for agriculture and still others affect economic and cultural interests. There is no single government or agency that has legislated responsibility for all of wildlife health. The CWHC provides the “glue” that can support an all-of-government approach. By being outside of any single agency, the CWHC is able to act as a One Health organization bridging responsibilities and concerns to see wildlife health as a single integrated program rather than a series of unconnected activities. Critical to this function is our extensive and growing network of partners and collaborators. Many of the people with capacity and responsibility for wildlife health lie outside of the CWHC; however, the CWHC works to connect these people so that we all have a clearer picture of threats confronting wildlife health. In recognition of the importance of this network, the CWHC has been investing significant time and effort into developing means for us to stay in touch, such as our websites, Facebook, and Twitter feeds (see www.healthwildlife.ca), as well as by formalizing membership in our network by developing a cohort of CWHC affiliates and associates in partner organizations. The CWHC has been instrumental in developing a cohesive national approach to a variety of important wildlife health issues such as fostering a national chronic wasting disease plan, championing a national wildlife disease strategy, and facilitating 925
RAPPORT S PÉCIAL
strategies for emerging issues, such as a recently held workshop on wildlife health and climate change. By coordinating and facilitating actions across agencies and partners, the CWHC helps to harmonize Canada’s response to wildlife disease. For example, the CWHC coordinates national activities to detect and mitigate white nose syndrome — an introduced disease devastating North American bats. The CWHC also works to expand Canadian capacity by contributing experiences, cases, and expertise used to train the next generation of wildlife health researchers and managers at our partner universities. The third core CWHC function is to support evidence-based actions. Decision-makers look to the CWHC for analysis, integration, assessment, and communication of wildlife data to help identify priorities for action and investment. Being based in Canada’s veterinary schools provides CWHC with access to graduate students and faculty who are passionately interested in understanding the drivers of wildlife health and disease. Worldclass wildlife health science underpins our ability to identify the most effective, acceptable and efficient ways to detect, manage, and prevent wildlife diseases and maintain healthy wildlife populations. In addition to publishing our science in peer-reviewed literature, the CWHC translates these findings for use in policy-making and program planning. This includes contributions to national and regional working groups as well as undertaking risk and threat assessments. For example, a recent assessment of the threat to Canadian salamanders from a devastating Asian chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans) introduced to Europe helped federal partners develop responses that will reduce the risk of this fatal disease being introduced into Canada.
Twenty-first century challenges to wildlife health We live in a time of unprecedented social and environmental change largely related to the exponential growth of the human population. Changes in land use, climate, wildlife exploitation, pollution, globalization, disease patterns, and other factors create a multitude of interacting challenges wildlife must confront. These interactions can often lead to emerging and surprising threats such as the introduction of foreign diseases (e.g., bat white nose syndrome and salamander chytrid disease); the appearance of new syndromes (e.g., snake fungal disease); and increased impacts of endemic threats such as the larger burden of diseases due to winter tick in moose. Anticipating and coping with such surprising events require a three-pronged strategy (1). First, the CWHC is working to expand its foundation of traditional wildlife disease surveillance into a program of wildlife health intelligence. An intelligence approach exploits a number of information collection and analysis tools to provide guidance and support decisions in order to anticipate threats and vulnerabilities to prevent negative impacts and promote positive effects. This includes developing new CWHC technology to routinely scan websites and social media outlets for signals of changes in health indicators as well as enhancing our national disease database to more rapidly and effectively search for clusters of diseases. Second, earlier recognition and response to emerging and surprising events can be gained by more effectively linking 926
different information sources. The CWHC acts as a knowledge broker that is tied into various sources of information and is able to identify and communicate patterns and trends. Our growing social media capacity and the development of more regular communication tools are linking wildlife health interests across Canada. Third, sometimes events cannot be anticipated but rather, a population must be prepared to cope with them. This means working to reduce population vulnerability to change. There are several lines of activity within the CWHC that aim to identify vulnerable populations to allow early intervention and promote resilience to change. For example, research and think tank events are linking wildlife health activities with issues such as cumulative effects assessment and climate change. Team members are also developing tools and models to measure stressors in animals and changes in populations in advance of disease. A second major challenge facing wildlife is a dwindling concern for wildlife conservation. Although this seems counterintuitive given prevailing environmental change, there is evidence to suggest that public tolerance to wildlife conservation has diminished, while interests in personal adaptation to climate change and concerns about economic performance have increased (2,3). Some authors attribute part of this attitudinal change to the “One Health” movement which has emphasized the role of wildlife as sources of emerging zoonoses and thus fostered fear of wildlife rather than interest in promoting their abundance and sustainability (4). This creates the paradoxical situation wherein investment in wildlife health increases our understanding of the connection between wildlife disease and risks to people and agriculture, which in turn increases fear and reduces interest in wildlife protection. Rather than focusing strictly on wildlife diseases and risk, the CWHC is supporting an expanded perception of wildlife health that pays equal attention to the positive contributions healthy wildlife provide society. Whether it is the use of wild fish for commercial harvest, the use of wildlife as food in subsistence hunting, the value of healthy wildlife for non-consumptive uses such as bird watching, or by giving people confidence in spending time in nature, CWHC outputs provide assurances that wildlife are safe for us, our economic activities, and our shared environment. The third challenge to wildlife health is a product of the previous two. Past interest and investment in one disease at a time, especially infectious diseases that may threaten people or agriculture, has narrowed the scope of practice of wildlife health. The One Health movement, in particular, has largely focused on wildlife zoonoses rather than other threats, such as pollution, and has neglected how we can gain primary prevention by promoting healthy, sustainable wildlife. Pollution remains a growing threat for wildlife. The CWHC contributes to our understanding of pollution effects on wildlife through our ongoing surveillance and outbreak investigations. Field investigations have been used to assess the relationship of fish die-offs and activity in northern oil sands operations. Beluga disease surveillance helped to link pollution in the St. Lawrence River to gastric neoplasia (5). However, capacity and investment in wildlife health and toxicology has diminished despite the exceptional history of wildlife as sentinels of pollution and the emergence of new threats such as estrogen mimics. CVJ / VOL 56 / SEPTEMBER 2015
CVJ / VOL 56 / SEPTEMBER 2015
changes. The CWHC is working towards this modernized vision of wildlife health while at the same time ensuring its core services are fully delivered across the country.
References 1. Stephen C, Berezowski J, Misra V. Surprise is a neglected aspect of emerging infectious disease. Ecohealth 2014. 1(4). DOI: 10.1007/s10393014-1001-4. Available from: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/ s10393-014-1001-4/fulltext.html Last accessed July 13, 2015. 2. Butler S, Shanahan J, Decker DJ. Public attitudes toward wildlife are changing: A trend analysis of New York residents. Wildl Soc Bull 2003:1027–1036. 3. Lorenzoni I, Pidgeon NF. Public views on climate change: European and USA perspectives. Climatic Change 2006;77:73–95. 4. Decker DJ, Leong KM, Evenesen DTN. Perceptions of wildlife-associated diseases risks: A challenge or opportunity for “One Health” in national Parks? Proceedings of the George Wright Society Conference. 2009. Pp. 101–106. Available from: http://www.georgewright.org/0918decker. pdf Last accessed July 13, 2015. 5. Martineau D, Lemberger K, Dallaire A, et al. Cancer in wildlife, a case study: Beluga from the St. Lawrence estuary, Quebec, Canada. Environ Health Persp 2002;110:285–292.
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S PECIAL R E PORT
Wildlife health lags behind human and food animal medicine in its application of population and herd health concepts. Most investment and activity still favor response to emerged and endemic causes of morbidity and mortality rather than a herd health, preventive approach that accommodates both the needs for wildlife welfare and sustainability as well as addressing the services wildlife provide to society through economic, cultural, and ecological means. The CWHC is advocating for development of a National Wildlife Health Strategy that supports a cross-Canada network able to provide a full spectrum of population health activities. Like the human health care system, wildlife deserve the equivalent of the coroner to generate clues to prevent premature deaths; the capacity to respond to emerging and endemic diseases to reduce their effects on productivity and longevity; a preventive care system to reduce threats and risks before impacts are realized; and teams that can cooperate across disciplines to ensure that wildlife have the capacity to cope with ongoing
I
What is the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative?
n their 2010 report, “Canada’s National Wildlife Disease Strategy: Moving Forward 2010” Canada’s federal/provincial/ territorial wildlife directors noted; “enhanced collaboration and coordination is needed to build and maintain an effective national wildlife health program.” The purpose of the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative (CWHC) is to meet this need. Firmly rooted in our 6 regional centers, the CWHC works to promote and protect the health of wildlife and Canadians through leadership, partnership, investigation, and action. Founded in 1993, the CWHC acts as a wildlife health expertise and information hub linking federal, provincial, territorial, university, and civil society partners. The foundations of this network are our regional centers in Canada’s 5 veterinary colleges and the British Columbia Animal Health Centre. Each regional center, as well as our national office, provides services and exchanges insights and information on wildlife health with national and regional stakeholders. This cross-Canada model supports claims that Canada’s wildlife health surveillance system is scientifically defensible and nationally representative. The CWHC provides 3 core services. First, it helps make us aware of the Canadian wildlife health situation. By providing and linking the outputs of laboratory and field investigations of the causes of wildlife morbidity and mortality, the CWHC produces an ongoing snapshot of the major disease threats affecting wildlife as well as diseases of wildlife that could threaten public health, domestic animals, and safe use of the environment. For example, pathological investigations of causes of Beluga whale deaths helped to inspire habitat protection and pollution control. The CWHC coordinates programs such as the Canadian Interagency Wild Bird Influenza Survey to identify new influenza sub-types in wildlife and supports access to markets. The lack of trade restrictions upon the detection of EA/AM H5N8 and H5N2 influenza in wild birds in North CWHC National Office, Western College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, 52 Campus Drive, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5B4. Address all correspondence to Dr. Craig Stephen; e-mail: [email protected] Use of this article is limited to a single copy for personal study. Anyone interested in obtaining reprints should contact the CVMA office ([email protected]) for additional copies or permission to use this material elsewhere. CVJ / VOL 56 / SEPTEMBER 2015
America in 2014–2015 likely reflects desensitization of poultry trading partners to findings in wild birds because of the consistent surveillance for several years. Similarly the 20-year-old CWHC database of wildlife investigations supported Canada’s case to international trading partners that Canada was free of Classical Swine Fever. A national program of West Nile virus surveillance in wild birds is a key example of CWHC contributions to public health planning and preparedness as are projects on diseases of urban wildlife. The CWHC is developing technology and capacity to identify changes in sub-clinical indicators of health to allow us to see emerging risks before wildlife become ill or die. Whether through our ongoing scanning surveillance or targeted programs, CWHC provides situational awareness of trends in wildlife diseases which, in turn, provides important insight into priority actions needed to protect wildlife, public health, and agriculture and provide confidence in the safe use of our environments. The second CWHC core function is to promote an equitable and equivalent wildlife health program across Canada. Wildlife health is a challenging field to govern and manage as some wildlife are under federal jurisdiction while many more are under the jurisdictions of the provinces and territories. Some wildlife health issues are important for conservation agencies, some for public health, others for agriculture and still others affect economic and cultural interests. There is no single government or agency that has legislated responsibility for all of wildlife health. The CWHC provides the “glue” that can support an all-of-government approach. By being outside of any single agency, the CWHC is able to act as a One Health organization bridging responsibilities and concerns to see wildlife health as a single integrated program rather than a series of unconnected activities. Critical to this function is our extensive and growing network of partners and collaborators. Many of the people with capacity and responsibility for wildlife health lie outside of the CWHC; however, the CWHC works to connect these people so that we all have a clearer picture of threats confronting wildlife health. In recognition of the importance of this network, the CWHC has been investing significant time and effort into developing means for us to stay in touch, such as our websites, Facebook, and Twitter feeds (see www.healthwildlife.ca), as well as by formalizing membership in our network by developing a cohort of CWHC affiliates and associates in partner organizations. The CWHC has been instrumental in developing a cohesive national approach to a variety of important wildlife health issues such as fostering a national chronic wasting disease plan, championing a national wildlife disease strategy, and facilitating 925
RAPPORT S PÉCIAL
strategies for emerging issues, such as a recently held workshop on wildlife health and climate change. By coordinating and facilitating actions across agencies and partners, the CWHC helps to harmonize Canada’s response to wildlife disease. For example, the CWHC coordinates national activities to detect and mitigate white nose syndrome — an introduced disease devastating North American bats. The CWHC also works to expand Canadian capacity by contributing experiences, cases, and expertise used to train the next generation of wildlife health researchers and managers at our partner universities. The third core CWHC function is to support evidence-based actions. Decision-makers look to the CWHC for analysis, integration, assessment, and communication of wildlife data to help identify priorities for action and investment. Being based in Canada’s veterinary schools provides CWHC with access to graduate students and faculty who are passionately interested in understanding the drivers of wildlife health and disease. Worldclass wildlife health science underpins our ability to identify the most effective, acceptable and efficient ways to detect, manage, and prevent wildlife diseases and maintain healthy wildlife populations. In addition to publishing our science in peer-reviewed literature, the CWHC translates these findings for use in policy-making and program planning. This includes contributions to national and regional working groups as well as undertaking risk and threat assessments. For example, a recent assessment of the threat to Canadian salamanders from a devastating Asian chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans) introduced to Europe helped federal partners develop responses that will reduce the risk of this fatal disease being introduced into Canada.
Twenty-first century challenges to wildlife health We live in a time of unprecedented social and environmental change largely related to the exponential growth of the human population. Changes in land use, climate, wildlife exploitation, pollution, globalization, disease patterns, and other factors create a multitude of interacting challenges wildlife must confront. These interactions can often lead to emerging and surprising threats such as the introduction of foreign diseases (e.g., bat white nose syndrome and salamander chytrid disease); the appearance of new syndromes (e.g., snake fungal disease); and increased impacts of endemic threats such as the larger burden of diseases due to winter tick in moose. Anticipating and coping with such surprising events require a three-pronged strategy (1). First, the CWHC is working to expand its foundation of traditional wildlife disease surveillance into a program of wildlife health intelligence. An intelligence approach exploits a number of information collection and analysis tools to provide guidance and support decisions in order to anticipate threats and vulnerabilities to prevent negative impacts and promote positive effects. This includes developing new CWHC technology to routinely scan websites and social media outlets for signals of changes in health indicators as well as enhancing our national disease database to more rapidly and effectively search for clusters of diseases. Second, earlier recognition and response to emerging and surprising events can be gained by more effectively linking 926
different information sources. The CWHC acts as a knowledge broker that is tied into various sources of information and is able to identify and communicate patterns and trends. Our growing social media capacity and the development of more regular communication tools are linking wildlife health interests across Canada. Third, sometimes events cannot be anticipated but rather, a population must be prepared to cope with them. This means working to reduce population vulnerability to change. There are several lines of activity within the CWHC that aim to identify vulnerable populations to allow early intervention and promote resilience to change. For example, research and think tank events are linking wildlife health activities with issues such as cumulative effects assessment and climate change. Team members are also developing tools and models to measure stressors in animals and changes in populations in advance of disease. A second major challenge facing wildlife is a dwindling concern for wildlife conservation. Although this seems counterintuitive given prevailing environmental change, there is evidence to suggest that public tolerance to wildlife conservation has diminished, while interests in personal adaptation to climate change and concerns about economic performance have increased (2,3). Some authors attribute part of this attitudinal change to the “One Health” movement which has emphasized the role of wildlife as sources of emerging zoonoses and thus fostered fear of wildlife rather than interest in promoting their abundance and sustainability (4). This creates the paradoxical situation wherein investment in wildlife health increases our understanding of the connection between wildlife disease and risks to people and agriculture, which in turn increases fear and reduces interest in wildlife protection. Rather than focusing strictly on wildlife diseases and risk, the CWHC is supporting an expanded perception of wildlife health that pays equal attention to the positive contributions healthy wildlife provide society. Whether it is the use of wild fish for commercial harvest, the use of wildlife as food in subsistence hunting, the value of healthy wildlife for non-consumptive uses such as bird watching, or by giving people confidence in spending time in nature, CWHC outputs provide assurances that wildlife are safe for us, our economic activities, and our shared environment. The third challenge to wildlife health is a product of the previous two. Past interest and investment in one disease at a time, especially infectious diseases that may threaten people or agriculture, has narrowed the scope of practice of wildlife health. The One Health movement, in particular, has largely focused on wildlife zoonoses rather than other threats, such as pollution, and has neglected how we can gain primary prevention by promoting healthy, sustainable wildlife. Pollution remains a growing threat for wildlife. The CWHC contributes to our understanding of pollution effects on wildlife through our ongoing surveillance and outbreak investigations. Field investigations have been used to assess the relationship of fish die-offs and activity in northern oil sands operations. Beluga disease surveillance helped to link pollution in the St. Lawrence River to gastric neoplasia (5). However, capacity and investment in wildlife health and toxicology has diminished despite the exceptional history of wildlife as sentinels of pollution and the emergence of new threats such as estrogen mimics. CVJ / VOL 56 / SEPTEMBER 2015
CVJ / VOL 56 / SEPTEMBER 2015
changes. The CWHC is working towards this modernized vision of wildlife health while at the same time ensuring its core services are fully delivered across the country.
References 1. Stephen C, Berezowski J, Misra V. Surprise is a neglected aspect of emerging infectious disease. Ecohealth 2014. 1(4). DOI: 10.1007/s10393014-1001-4. Available from: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/ s10393-014-1001-4/fulltext.html Last accessed July 13, 2015. 2. Butler S, Shanahan J, Decker DJ. Public attitudes toward wildlife are changing: A trend analysis of New York residents. Wildl Soc Bull 2003:1027–1036. 3. Lorenzoni I, Pidgeon NF. Public views on climate change: European and USA perspectives. Climatic Change 2006;77:73–95. 4. Decker DJ, Leong KM, Evenesen DTN. Perceptions of wildlife-associated diseases risks: A challenge or opportunity for “One Health” in national Parks? Proceedings of the George Wright Society Conference. 2009. Pp. 101–106. Available from: http://www.georgewright.org/0918decker. pdf Last accessed July 13, 2015. 5. Martineau D, Lemberger K, Dallaire A, et al. Cancer in wildlife, a case study: Beluga from the St. Lawrence estuary, Quebec, Canada. Environ Health Persp 2002;110:285–292.
927
S PECIAL R E PORT
Wildlife health lags behind human and food animal medicine in its application of population and herd health concepts. Most investment and activity still favor response to emerged and endemic causes of morbidity and mortality rather than a herd health, preventive approach that accommodates both the needs for wildlife welfare and sustainability as well as addressing the services wildlife provide to society through economic, cultural, and ecological means. The CWHC is advocating for development of a National Wildlife Health Strategy that supports a cross-Canada network able to provide a full spectrum of population health activities. Like the human health care system, wildlife deserve the equivalent of the coroner to generate clues to prevent premature deaths; the capacity to respond to emerging and endemic diseases to reduce their effects on productivity and longevity; a preventive care system to reduce threats and risks before impacts are realized; and teams that can cooperate across disciplines to ensure that wildlife have the capacity to cope with ongoing
