In the Spotlight – The NWHC Recent Wildlife Mortality Event Map

Discover Where Wildlife Mortality Events are Occurring in the US
The NWHC Recent Mortality Event Map

For many years the USGS National Wildlife Health Center (NWHC) has been making information about wildlife disease outbreaks, the location, species involved, and cause of death available in a tabular format on its New and Ongoing Wildlife Mortality Events web page. Not long ago they began making this information available on their newly released Recent Mortality Events Map. Each event is shown on the map as well as being listed along side the map with the newest events on top (see figure).

These data are not all-inclusive. Information on some outbreaks may not be received until months or years after the event, but efforts continue to make the information as complete as possible. For information on older wildlife mortality events please see the Quarterly Mortality Reports.

This mortality data is collected through the collaborative efforts between the NWHC and a network of partners across the United States who document wildlife mortality events in order to provide timely and accurate information.  It is used by natural resource managers, researchers, public health officials, and legislators to help design disease prevention and mitigation strategies, to address interconnections between human, domestic animal, and wildlife disease, and to assist in identification of 'normal' disease issues vs. biosecurity concerns.

Source: USGS National Wildlife Health Center

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What Other Essential Resources Should Every Wildlife Professional Know About?

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