June 22, 2012

In the Spotlight: Wildlife Disease & Contaminant Monitoring & Surveillance Network

Wildlife Disease & Contaminant Monitoring and Surveillance Network (WILDCOMS)
A new collaborative surveillance network that monitor disease and contaminates in UK vertebrate wildlife

WILDCOMS aims to:
  • provide a focal point for disease and contaminant monitoring in wild vertebrates
  • provide an integrated overview of the health status of UK wild vertebrates
  • facilitate collaboration between WILDCOMS network partners
  • facilitate identification of disease and contaminants of emerging concern
The different organizations, or schemes, that make up the WILDCOMS network include:
  • Predatory Bird Monitoring Scheme - National surveillance scheme that quantifies the exposure of sentinel predatory bird species to pollutants, pesticides and biocides of current and emerging concern.
  • Wildlife Incident Investigation Scheme - Investigates wildlife deaths in England and Wales where there is evidence that pesticide poisoning may be involved.
  • Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA) Diseases of Wildlife Scheme - Conducts wildlife disease surveillance for all vertebrate wildlife species.
  • Clean Seas Environment Monitoring Programme - Investigates contaminant concentrations and the incidence of fish diseases in vertebrate fish at offshore and inshore sites to assess the health status at both the organism and population level.
  • Disease Risk Analysis and Health Surveillance Programme - Conducts disease risk analysis and health surveillance for interventions for the conservation of rare native species within Natural England’s Species Recovery Programme.


WILDCOMS Newsletter

WILDCOMS publishes a newsletter, which includes a main article, news and updates from the different schemes and upcoming events. The main article for this Spring Issue is entitled, Wildlife and Zoonoses. The latest issue can be found here.


Do You Know of a Wildlife Health Related Organization?

The Digest staff invites you to submit the name of an organization that you think readers from the wildlife health community would be interested in learning about.

Just send a link to the organization to us at digest@wdin.org. If it fits within the scope of the Digest, we will share it with your colleagues in an upcoming issue.

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