May 02, 2023 Wild Birds: Human & Animal Welfare, Environment, and Global Sustainability
Wild birds are important for their contributions to ecosystem health and human well-being. Critical ecological roles provided by birds include insect and rodent control, plant pollination, and seed dispersal. Wild birds have also captivated humans for millennia, and today, the avid birder or “twitcher” is...
May 02, 2023 Managing Outdoor Cats
Much controversy surrounds the management of outdoor cats. Developing an agreement on the most appropriate and effective way to reduce the number of outdoor cats—by sterilization or eradication—is at the center of this longstanding dispute. Members of the wildlife conservation community argue that killing outdoor...
Apr 16, 2023 Exciting Developments for the Connectivity of Wild Landscapes
The Center for Large Landscape Conservation (CLLC), called Climate Conservation initially, was established by veterinarian and conservation biologist Dr. Gary Tabor in Bozeman, Montana, in 2011. WBI was delighted when CLLC agreed to be a WBI partner. Both organizations are building connections and partnerships to...
Apr 16, 2023 The Avid Birder
In 1955, The United States Fish and Wildlife (FWS) inaugurated a periodic survey focused on Americans’ recreational, wildlife-related activities. One might immediately assume that hunting and fishing would dominate this field, but that would be wrong by a long shot (pun intended). While some 40...
Mar 29, 2023 One Health: A Public Health Solution or Slogan?
Some of the earliest surveys of pet ownership in the United States were carried out in the 1970s by Robert Schneider and his colleagues at the University of California in Davis. They were interested in developing a One Health solution to human cancer by studying...
Mar 29, 2023 Reducing Deaths And Anxiety: Why Trees Should Be Cause Célèbre For Our Health And Well-Being
It has been a year since my neighborhood journey into “standing up” for trees began. It started as so many things do for me these days, on a dog walk.My rescue companion, Duke, and I were walking across the woods and farmland when we came...
Mar 16, 2023 Coping with Captivity: The Tragic Journey of Willie B.
This tale is the first in a three-part series about Willie B., Atlanta's iconic ape and one of the most famous gorillas in the world. Willie B., named after the long-serving Mayor of Atlanta, William B. Hartsfield, was captured in Cameroon, probably in 1960, and...
Mar 16, 2023 Human-Wildlife Interactions (and Conflicts) in Urban Environment
Some wildlife species have adapted successfully to urban environments and the presence of humans and their companion animals. Garbage cans are, or can be, a significant food source for urban wildlife and may be a source of human-wildlife conflict.In Cape Town, South Africa, baboons have...
Mar 01, 2023 Bird Flu: Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza – An Update
In the last few years, a highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza (HPAI) virus has caused the deaths of millions of seabirds and waterfowl worldwide, and many more millions of factory-farmed poultry being culled to halt the spread of the virus. WBI wrote about the emergence...
Mar 01, 2023 The Anniversary of the UNEA Nexus Resolution
On March 2, 2022, the United Nations Environment Assembly (the world's environment parliament) passed a landmark resolution calling on the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) to produce a report on the Nexus between animal welfare, the environment, and sustainable development. This Resolution offers enormous potential...