Best WDA Communications Committee Podcasts (2025)

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#63 Nelson and the gorillas (Uganda) 26:34

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27d ago26:34

26:34

Join host Dr. Cat Vendl as she ventures into Uganda's misty mountains to meet Dr. Nelson Bukamba, one of the world's few gorilla doctors providing life-saving veterinary care to our planet's most endangered relatives. Nelson's journey from a heartbroken 10-year-old making a promise to his dying dog Simba to treating wild mountain gorillas is nothin…

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#62 Sam and the swift fox (USA) 26:24

1M ago26:24

26:24

Join host Dr. Cat Vendl as she ventures into Wyoming's vast wilderness to meet Dr. Samantha Allen, the state's wildlife veterinarian who juggles budget spreadsheets and helicopter captures of bighorn sheep. From her unforgettable first WDA conference moment wielding a Stryker autopsy saw on a porpoise, Sam shares her journey from small-town kid tol…

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#61 Damien and Canadian wildlife diseases 27:07

2M ago27:07

27:07

Join host Dr. Cat Vendl as she heads to Vancouver Island to meet Dr. Damien Joly, CEO of the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative – though he insists he's just a "boring old disease ecologist!" But this couldn’t be further from the truth. Discover how Canada's unique cooperative approach tackles wildlife diseases across the world's second-largest c…

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#60 Alexandra and wildlife conservation in times of war (Lebanon) 25:51

2M ago25:51

25:51

Meet Alexandra Youssef, Lebanon's first and only certified wildlife rehabilitator and co-founder and vice-president of the NGO Lebanese Wildlife, based in Beirut. Alexandra fights to save wildlife amid economic collapse, war, and ancient cultural myths that drive species toward extinction. From the striped hyena (Lebanon's national animal, yet its …

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#59 Steve and the tale of the Storytelling Ape (Australia) 32:34

3M ago32:34

32:34

Self-described "systems thinker" Dr. Steve Unwin has spent decades working at the human-wildlife interface across four continents and believes we've got our scientific name all wrong. According to Steve, we're not Homo sapiens but Pan narrans: the storytelling ape. Host Dr. Cat Vendl explores Steve's journey from "pretending to be a zoo vet" to cre…

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#58 Brett and rabies in Cape fur seals (South Africa & Australia) 27:37

3M ago27:37

27:37

In this captivating episode, host Dr. Cat Vendl speaks with zoo veterinarian and researcher Dr. Brett Gardner about the unprecedented rabies outbreak in Cape fur seals along South Africa's coast. Brett reveals how this once-impossible disease jumped from black-backed jackals to marine mammals, creating a new wildlife health crisis. Discover the det…

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#57 Helen, bighorn sheep, mountain caribou and WDA2025 (Canada) 29:16

4M ago29:16

29:16

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 save mountain caribou through a variety of conservation strategies. Helen shares insights about Indigenous…

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#56 Janelle and the kiwi (NZ) 27:04

4M ago27:04

27:04

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 into hundreds, leading to the largest kiwi translocation in history. Janelle reveals the challenges of ma…

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#55 Sonia and the science of pushing boundaries (USA) 29:12

5M ago29:12

29:12

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 Rica to tracking white ibises navigating between Florida's wetlands and city parks, Sonia shares insights fro…

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#54 Will and the raccoons (USA) 17:44

5M ago17:44

17:44

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 his fascinating journey from studying red kites in London to investigating mysterious neurological outbrea…

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#53 Tim and conservation chemistry (USA) 32:05

6M ago32:05

32:05

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 artificial intelligence, Tim shares how he's creating a "One Health Pharmacy" – where cutting-edge drug deve…

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#52 K9 and queer ecology (Australia) 28:19

6M ago28:19

28:19

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 ecology, K9 reveals how their personal journey has enriched their understanding of the complex relationsh…

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#51 Anna and the microbats (Australia) 25:32

7M ago25:32

25:32

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 researcher, Anna shares her fascinating work on understanding how Australian microbats might respond to this deadl…

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#50 Dianna and the wombats (Australia) 34:23

7M ago34:23

34:23

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 refuge. Diana shares her firsthand experience of the devastating 2019-2020 Black Summer bushfires and their profo…

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#49 Michele and wildlife tuberculosis (South Africa) 22:48

8M ago22:48

22:48

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 from clinical work in major U.S. zoos to groundbreaking research in South Africa's Kruger National Park. H…

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#48 Laura and the muskoxen (Canada) 20:13

9M ago20:13

20:13

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 other resources. However, it appears the government did not consult the community about its needs or prefe…

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#47 Rita and the cottontail rabbits (Portugal & Angola) 23:21

10M ago23:21

23:21

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 from her diverse experience in wildlife medicine. We discuss the fascinating differences between European…

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#46 Anastasiia and the brown bears (Japan & Ukraine) 20:47

10M ago20:47

20:47

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. Anastasiia grew up in the Ukraine and did her vet degree there. For her Master’s, she moved to Japan to study HIV. But since h…

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#45 The making of WDA2024 off-country (online) conference 27:23

11M ago27:23

27:23

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, Canberra, from Dec 1-6. Australia! Sounds great, you might think. But that may not be in the budget right now. Fear not! We have you covered. This year’s c…

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#44 Jane and all things Australian wildlife health (Australia) 28:22

11M ago28:22

28:22

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. In her many years with the Registry, she has worked with all creatures big and small, from the tiniest marsupials …

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#43 Helena and Project 'Whale Exhale' (Norway) 25:36

12M ago25:36

25:36

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 coastline of Norway for the annual herring run. A PhD student at Nord University in Bodø, Norway, it's a f…

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#42 Richard Kock and how colonialism threatened species survival (UK) 30:26

12M ago30:26

30:26

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 years. He has seen the devastating consequences of colonialism to wildlife conservation first hand and has wo…

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#41 Martin and the Amur tigers (all over the place) 30:22

1y ago30:22

30:22

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 infectious diseases and mysterious mass die-offs all over Asia. It was him and his colleagues who discovered that i…

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#40 Sarah and the endeavour of scholarly publishing (USA) 24:43

1y ago24:43

24:43

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 for two veterinary journals and the co-host of the podcast Veterinary Vertex. Listen in to Sarah’s story!…

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#39 Elis and the bighorn sheep (USA) 19:18

1y ago19:18

19:18

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 Award. In his video for the award, he showcases his impressive drawing skills and explains how he and his…

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#38 Andrew and the upcoming international 72nd WDA conference (Australia) 29:39

1y ago29:39

29:39

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 hopefully the world of conference-ing as we know it. Andrew is the main organizer and creative head of the upcoming inte…

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#37 Nigel and the art of story telling (Special edition!) 25:21

1y ago25:21

25:21

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. One of the new concepts introduced will be the special presentation style applied through-out the conference. The…

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#36 Jess, bats and all that jazz (USA) 19:47

1y ago19:47

19:47

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 Georgia. Marburg virus is just one of many viruses that the Egyptian rousette bat carries. Jessica has bee…

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#35 Ruth, Marja and Katie, and the Review of Migration and Wildlife Disease Dynamics (UK) 29:25

1+ y ago29:25

29:25

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 wrote a review titled "Migratory Species and Health: A Review of Migration and Wildlife Disease Dynamics, and…

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#34 Flo and the seal lice (Argentina & Antarctica) 19:58

1+ y ago19:58

19:58

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 Florencia Soto about her work on the host-parasite-relationship between seals and lice and her recent trip to Ant…

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#33 Ai-Mei and the sika deer (Taiwan/Australia) 20:18

1+ y ago20:18

20:18

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 pleasant option. Our guest, Dr Ai-Mei Chang, works on a way more ethical solution: She develops and tests imm…

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#32 Simon and the otters (Germany) 28:04

1+ y ago28:04

28:04

They are small, agile, and incredibly cute and their numbers are steadily increasing in Germany. However, the Eurasian otter still faces many challenges in German waterways. Our guest, Dr Simon Rohner, studied their causes of death, their pollutant burdens, and the human-otter-conflict. Him and his colleagues have been working on solutions of how t…

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#31 Tania and the pigs of Papua New Guinea 20:02

1+ y ago20:02

20:02

Our guest this week is Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) first female vet. Dr Tania Areori is one of only three vets at the National Agriculture and Quarantine Inspection Authority (NAQIA) in PNG. One of the first challenges in her new position was managing the African swine fever outbreak. Tania had to work hard to get where she is now. Since she was kid, …

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#30 Fernado and the secrets of the Peruvian rainforest 24:38

1+ y ago24:38

24:38

Deep in the rainforest between Peru, Colombia and Brazil there is a lot going on. Wildlife trafficking is likely to blame for the occurrence of reverse zoonoses transmitted from humans to owl monkeys caught for biomedical research. In addition to studying the occurrence of reverse zoonoses, our guest, Dr Fernando Vilchez Delgado, investigates the p…

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#29 Debra and all sea creatures great and small (USA) 20:24

1+ y ago20:24

20:24

Deaf dolphins, hooked turtles and manatees hit by boats, Dr Debra Moore has seen it all in her career as aquatic mammal vet. She is the former head vet of the Institute of Marine Mammal Studies, IMMS, in Southern Mississippi, US. In addition to her clinical work, she is an assistant clinical professor at Mississippi State University and gives vet s…

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#28 Alice and the tick microbiome (Japan) 15:34

1+ y ago15:34

15:34

Ticks have a microbiome, too. They carry essential symbionts and sometimes less essential members like Borrelia. Our host Dr Cat Vendl and her guest Dr Alice Lau explore the secrets of tick microbiome, but also chat about what it’s like to move to different countries to follow one’s academic career. Alice is an expert in this. She speaks at least f…

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#27 How it all began: Carlton Herman and the birth of the WDA (USA) 21:44

1+ y ago21:44

21:44

In this first Wildlife Health Talks episode of 2024, we are taking you back to the very beginning, back to the year of 1951, when 28 US and Canadian wildlife biologists at the 16th North American Wildlife Conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, founded the Wildlife Disease Committee. Only one year later, in 1952 the Committee was renamed to, you might …

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#26 Hezy and Malawi's sleeping sickness 24:33

1+ y ago24:33

24:33

Our guest, Dr Hezy Anholt, is a true world citizen. She has lived and worked in about 10 different countries. Originally from Canada, Hezy has found a second home in Malawi where she initially worked as a research veterinarian for the Lilongwe Wildlife Trust for two years. In addition to running her own wildlife vet business, she has been a PhD can…

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#25 Julien and the koalas (Australia) 32:15

1+ y ago32:15

32:15

Koalas face a multitude of threats in their natural habitat on the east coast of Australia. These include habitat loss, infection with Chlamydia, dog attacks and car accidents. Our guest, Dr Julien Grosmaire, works as an environmental consultant and oversees the assessment of those threats. And as a side effect, he gets to hang out with incredibly …

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#24 Sarange and her adventures of becoming a Kenyan wildlife vet 32:26

1+ y ago32:26

32:26

Dr Sarange Angwenyi knew that she wanted to become a wildlife vet at an early age. Experiences like acting as bait for an aggressive leopard to dart and relocate the animal, certainly wasn’t part of her initial plan. And yet, Sarange loves every minute of her journey that started with her 10 year-old self, shadowing her local vet. Today, Sarange se…

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#23 Enkee and the Saigas (Mongolia) 23:33

2y ago23:33

23:33

Join us on a trip to the Mongolian steppe! You don’t need to be a mammal lover to find these creatures fascinating. Saiga antelopes have been around and unchanged since the last ice age when they roamed the Mongolian plains with woolly mammoths. But the saigas haven’t had an easy run for the past years. In 2016/2017 a massive disease outbreak that …

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#22 Heather and the Australian Registry of Wildlife Health 25:26

2y ago25:26

25:26

‘Pathologists know everything, they just know it too late’ For our guest Dr Heather Fenton, wildlife pathology is like being a detective solving a murder mystery case. Only that her victims are not human, but dolphins, penguins, sea snakes or turtles. For her that makes it even more exciting. Heather works for the Australian Registry of Wildlife He…

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#21 Diego and Galapagos 2.0 (Chile) 24:33

2y ago24:33

24:33

Did we just find Galapagos 2.0? We are pretty sure we did. Guafo island is a pristine island in the south of Chila and just like the Galapagos Islands it is teaming of marine life, being a safe haven for South American fur seals, humpback whales, sea otters, and orcas. This is where marine biologist Dr Diego Perez-Venegas truly feels at home. He is…

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#20 Henry and the ibises (USA) 30:45

2y ago30:45

30:45

Chicago is a great city with lots of opportunities for people and wildlife species alike. Our guest, Henry Adams, loves this city and its wildlife. They work as Wildlife Management Coordinator at Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago and study the feathered, furry and scaly inhabitants and investigate how they deal with busy city life. Henry is also a self-t…

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#19 Mac and the turtles (USA & Thailand) 21:37

2y ago21:37

21:37

Mac loves pathology and marine mammals. So he turned it into his career. On this week’s episode, our host Cat Vendl chats with Weerapong Laovechprasit, called Mac, about his journey from clinical work with stranded marine mammals in Thailand to his PhD in sea turtle health at the University of Georgia, US. Learn more about dugongs and why they make…

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#18 Jorge and the tapirs (USA & Costa Rica) 25:12

2y ago25:12

25:12

Tapirs are Costa Rica’s megafauna. They are special in more than just one way. Visually, they are highly elusive, but they have a rich vocal life. Due to their immense appetite for fresh greens, they regularly get into conflict with the local farmers. That’s where the work of our guest, Dr Jorge Rojas Jimenez starts. Jorge is a PhD student at the U…

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#17 Joy, Ebola and CANUSA (USA) 16:49

2y ago16:49

16:49

In this episode, our host Cat Vendl chats with PhD student Joy Flowers. Joy is the co-founding mother and current president of the very first North America-wide WDA student chapter, called CANUSA. Joy is in the first year of her PhD at Pennsylvania State University, US. In her PhD, she studies the impact of deforestation on Ebola virus spillover. G…

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#16 Siska and the orangutans (Indonesia) 24:45

2y ago24:45

24:45

Our guest Dr Fransiska Sulistyo never planned to work with these amazing creatures. It happened just by chance and now, Siska can’t imagine her life without the gentle orangutans. She spent five years in the jungle of Borneo as animal welfare coordinator of BOSF (Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation). She got to know the hairy primates inside and o…

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#15 Gianmarco and everything wildlife everywhere all at once 19:04

2y ago19:04

19:04

Let us take you on a trip from the mountains of the Pyrenees, over the lush rainforests of Costa Rica to the remote Pacific paradise of Cocos Island. this episode's guest Dr Gianmarco Bettoni is still an early wildlife researcher and veterinarian, but he has participated in multiple, amazing projects. What they all have in common is the aim of prom…

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#14 Kaylee and the rats (Canada) 27:10

2y ago27:10

27:10

They are wildlife, too, but they are mostly overlooked in wildlife research. They are the rats that roam our cities! Our guest and rat detective, Dr Kaylee Byers, is part of the Vancouver Rat Project, and studies the pathogens urban rats carry. And as importantly, she studies the rats’ ecology that drives infection patterns. Let’s be honest, humans…