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June 2022

A 4-toed salamander by Alex Roukis shown sitting on top of a leaf

For Your Information

Successful conservation efforts for threatened species depend on accurate characterization of their distribution, habitat use, and threats. Environmental DNA (eDNA) monitoring can provide a sensitive and noninvasive alternative to traditional surveillance techniques.
An adult crow receiving care at the wildlife hospital

West Nile virus may no longer be a death sentence to crows. In a new study from the College of Veterinary Medicine, wildlife experts describe successfully treating and releasing five American crows infected with the deadly disease, These are the first known crows to survive West Nile virus.
Wildlife biologist shown in a lab with vertebrate bones on shelves.

The effects of lead poisoning can vary depending on exposure, but they’re often devastating. Cornell wildlife ecologist Dr. Krysten Schuler notes that lead impacts every system in the body and that while eagles have been carefully studied, it’s likely that other animals are affected by lead poisoning too.
A Red-tailed Hawk shown carrying prey in talons

For Your Information

Anticoagulant rodenticides continue to be used across the U.S. as a method for controlling pest rodent species. As a consequence, wild birds of prey are exposed to these toxicants by eating poisoned prey items.
A sail-driven fishing boat shown in open water

Cornell's Dr. Kathryn Fiorella seeks to ensure the health of fisheries by taking into account the nutritional and livelihood needs of the people who depend on them.
A Snow goose being treated at Cornell's wildlife hospital

Each spring, large flocks of snow geese make their annual trek from the south back up to their Arctic breeding grounds. One goose’s journey was interrupted, however, by an increasingly common threat to wildlife — lead toxicity. 
A Snow goose being treated at Cornell's wildlife hospital

Video

This female snow goose came to the Janet L. Swanson Wildlife Hospital for lead toxicity. She couldn’t keep up with her flock on its migration north because she was too sick to fly. The Cornell team nursed her back to health and she was released back into the wild.

Raina Plowright, a world-renowned ecologist and epidemiologist who studies the mechanisms that drive the spillover of pathogens between species, has joined the College of Veterinary Medicine. Her transdisciplinary work demonstrates that preserving and restoring wildlife habitats can stop pathogen spillover by minimizing contact between infected wildlife and potentially susceptible livestock or human hosts.