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A Bald Eagle in flight by Richard Lee/Unsplash

For Your Information

While the recent population recovery of bald eagles in New York State is a conservation success, evidence from necropsies suggest that ingested lead from ammunition fragments is causing morbidity and mortality to wild eagles.
Portrait of a Black bear

A new paper published by the Cornell Wildlife Health Lab team and partners describes the emergence of mange in New York State black bears.
Black bear walking through coniferous forest

For Your Information

Mange is a parasitic skin disease found in free-ranging wildlife populations and has been increasingly reported in black bears over the last decade in New York State. This paper led by Cornell researchers describes the geographic, seasonal, and demographic factors associated with mange in NYS black bears.
A Bald Eagle shown eating at a deer carcass

The bald eagle’s comeback is one of America’s most famous conservation success stories. But despite the boom in their numbers, bald eagles still face many threats, including poisoning from ingesting lead bullets.
Elizabeth Bunting at her desk by Ryan Young-Cornell University

The New York State Wildlife Health Program is a key partnership between Cornell and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. The program coordinates responses when disease strikes New York’s wild animals and it helps prevent outbreaks, in domestic animals and people too, by translating data into policy.
Two Bald Eagles shown at their nest

Blog

Long before I was aware of the problem, professionals of veterinary medicine and pathology treated, rehabilitated, or necropsied ill, dying, or dead bald eagles. The wild birds had been presented for care after they ingested lead fragments from spent ammunition....
Bald Eagle radiograph from Avian Haven

Bald eagle populations have slowly recovered from near devastation after the government banned DDT in 1972, but another ongoing issue has weakened that rebound – lead poisoning from gunshot ammunition.
A Bald Eagle shown eating at a deer carcass

For Your Information

Bald eagles are considered a recovery success in the U.S. after rebounding from near extirpation due to widespread use of DDT. Although abundances of bald eagles have increased since DDT was banned, other contaminants have remained in the environment with unknown influence on eagle population trends.
A Fisher shown in a tree

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation recently renewed the New York State Wildlife Health Program for $6.4 million over five years. This partnership has enabled Cornell to work with the state’s wildlife biologists on threats that affect all of New York's wildlife.
Two Gray geese in flight over water

The Cornell Wildlife Health Lab has created StaPOPd, an interactive online tool that helps calculate how many plants or animals need to be introduced into a habitat in order to establish a stable population - a critical piece of information for conservation projects.