Blogs from the Field
A healthy future for wildlife, people, and planet.
![Free-roaming dogs in Nepal](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2023-09/IMG_2924%20news%20thumbnail.jpg?itok=BiJ9TFul)
September 13, 2023
It was 5:30 am and I was already sweating when I stepped out of my wooden sleeping hut and into the steamy dawn at Nepal’s Chitwan National Park. It was already 85°F but would reach 105°F before noon. I was up before the sun to complete my summer intern research project - a census of free-roaming domestic dogs in the park’s buffer zone....
![Head veterinarian, Dr. Ana Bastos, and veterinary intern, Sarah Abdelmessih with the cheetah cubs after their vaccinations.](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2023-04/Sarah%20Abdelmessih%20blog%20thumbnail.jpg?itok=BMozpWjc)
May 24, 2023
This past summer, with support from Cornell’s Expanding Horizons Program, I had the opportunity to work with the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Otjiwarongo, Namibia as a veterinary extern....
![Ana Pantín with sheep in Tajikistan.](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2023-03/Ana%20Panti%CC%81n%20Overture%20of%20the%20Pamirs%20blog%20thumbnail.jpg?itok=NgPQlNSD)
March 22, 2023
I vividly remember the night before I left for Tajikistan; I was nervous, excited, and utterly exhausted. I had just finished wrapping graduation gifts for my roommates and had just about moved everything out of where I was living for the last two years (including my bed)....
![Camera trap image of an adult dhole](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2023-01/Camera%20trap%20image%20of%20an%20adult%20dhole%20walking%20blog%20thumbnail.jpg?itok=lg0S3S7A)
February 11, 2023
Six years ago, on a regular workday, I was sitting at my desk tagging photos from a camera trap survey. Late in the afternoon, a picture of an uncanny species baffled me. It looked somewhat like a domestic dog, but taller and longer-bodied....
![Portrati of a Snow Leopard](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2022-07/Snow%20Leopard%20blog%20thumbnail.jpg?itok=5K23HN5H)
December 16, 2022
by
Martin Gilbert
It all started with an unexpected text message - “Do you know of any veterinarians willing to assist a snow leopard collaring project in a remote corner of eastern Kyrgyzstan?” One jumped immediately to mind…me!
![Amir Sadaula collecting blood from an immobilized rhino.](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2020-11/_B010354_01%400%2C3x.jpg?itok=gSZkYw_b)
November 11, 2020
by
Martin Gilbert
As I write this in summer 2020, it is almost six months since the first reports that a mysterious new pathogen was emerging in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Given the pandemic that ensued, few of us remain unaware of the omnipotent reach of wildlife-origin microbes to disrupt our health, our economies and our liberty....
![Amur tiger in winter](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2019-05/ThePowerof_Tiger_Amur_6383864001-xam4cd.jpg?itok=wW6LZUnH)
February 18, 2019
by
Martin Gilbert
The fate of our wildlife lies at the hands of our policy makers – an obvious statement perhaps, but sometimes these forces work in unexpected ways....
![Tiger street art](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2020-01/AHimalayan_Tiger-street-art-1r7gvpv.jpg?itok=Y_aN1hYF)
December 03, 2018
by
Martin Gilbert
While sitting in a café contemplating the surrounding forested hills, it struck me that there is something unique about the city of Thimphu in Bhutan....
![Green rice fields in Thakurdwara](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2019-05/Retreading_Thakurdwara-shrfz1.jpg?itok=XSaAKK5J)
October 17, 2018
by
Martin Gilbert
On a sweltering monsoon afternoon in September 1994, I stepped out from a garish-painted bus in western Nepal, the driver pointing me south along a rough track threading off between vibrant green rice fields....
![Indonesia](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2019-05/ToCatch_20170505-Indonesia-iPhone-180-21ir7mq.jpg?itok=NiMNHQ8v)
March 03, 2018
by
Martin Gilbert
Given their near supernatural reputation, it can be hard to distinguish the truth of the tiger from its mythology....