Title: Mobilizing Positive Change for Wildlife Health
Abstract: Wildlife health is planetary health, yet translating this truth into action demands more than scientific insight—it requires intentional change. Amid escalating environmental crises, wildlife professionals, especially students and early career scientists, have a unique opportunity to drive effective action locally and globally. This talk explores tangible pathways for change rooted in communication, collaboration, and community. Drawing from interdisciplinary examples—from Indigenous knowledge integration and citizen science initiatives to strategic policy engagement and innovative storytelling—I illustrate how emerging wildlife professionals can bridge gaps between research and action. I emphasize the power of clear, accessible communication to influence public perception and policy; collaborative partnerships to extend impact; and community engagement to foster long-term stewardship and resilience. Practical guidance will focus on leveraging digital platforms, building inclusive networks, and employing advocacy skills to amplify conservation outcomes. Ultimately, transformative change depends not only on robust science but on empowered, connected individuals committed to shared goals. Attendees will leave inspired and equipped to act meaningfully, knowing that impactful change begins with clarity of purpose and thrives through collective effort.
Bio: Shane Mahoney, President of Conservation Visions and Founder of the Wild Harvest Initiative®, is an internationally recognized conservationist and dedicated wildlife advocate, as well as a foremost expert on the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation. As comfortable stalking or studying black bears in his home province of Newfoundland as he is lecturing in a university classroom, Shane truly bridges the gap between our hunting tradition and the science of conservation. Equal parts zoologist, poet, hunter, philosopher, orator, and naturalist, he is a strong believer in the benefits of publicly communicating about the positive impacts of sustainable use conservation.
A recipient of numerous awards, including the Gold Medal in Wildlife Science by the Caesar Kleberg Institute and Safari Club International’s Conservationist of the Year, Shane has also been listed as one of North America’s 25 most influential conservationists by Outdoor Canada Magazine, was nominated for Person of the Year by Outdoor Life, and has been named a Wildlife Society Fellow. His impressive body of work includes more than 100 popular articles featured in more than a dozen magazines; extensive academic research published in 18 peer-reviewed academic journals, and 8 published book chapters, in addition to countless speaking engagements. Shane has also appeared as host or narrator for a variety of television efforts and has collaborated with media giants including the British Broadcasting Company and National Geographic to produce award-winning films.
Today, he serves as Deputy-Chair of the IUCN’s Sustainable Use and Livelihoods Specialist Group (SULi), IUCN representative to the Collaborative Partnership on Sustainable Wildlife Management, International Liaison for the Wildlife Society, and President of Policy and Law for the International Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation (CIC).
Conservation Visions’ motto, “One Natural World, One Humanity, One Chance… Conservation Matters,” reflects Shane’s certainty that the conservation movement is more important today, than ever before. Without a doubt, he is the spokesman we need.
Title: Embracing values, uncertainty, and fear to take science-based conservation action
Abstract: We are in the sixth mass extinction, and unlike the others, this one is caused by one species. More conservation action is needed, but when and how should such action be taken? Ecosystems are complex and the type or extent of threats is often unclear. After all, this is not rocket science….we deal with far more complicated issues. Nevertheless conservation translocations, which release organisms into nature that originate from wild populations, captive breeding, or propagation, have increased thirty-fold in thirty years. We will explore challenges and successes of such efforts to restore populations and ecological function of various plants, invertebrates, amphibians, birds, and mammals in Canada and around the world. We will shine a spotlight on the most threatened group of species – those that are Extinct in the Wild, as their fate literally lies in human hands for a potential return to nature. We will also introduce new global guidelines that aim to maximize benefits and minimize risks for organisms displaced into human care through confiscation, injury, or human-wildlife conflict. Touching on even more tricky issues for conservation, we will explore whether genes should be inserted into organisms, or whether species should be inserted into ecosystems, where they have never been before. Fear of organizational or personal consequences of decisions to act, or not to act, often stem from the fact that conservation efforts will not be judged on conservation grounds alone. However, when livelihood and cultural priorities of Indigenous Peoples and local communities are integrated, public perception is addressed, and economic trade-offs are considered, courageous innovations can be scalable and sustainable. Such potential successes are apparent in collective efforts to restore populations of threatened cat species across continents. Conservation works incredibly well…we just need more of it. Increased, equitable capacity building across generations and nations, increased investment, and increased courage to take action, can yield tremendous hope for nature and for ourselves.
Bio: Dr. Axel Moehrenschlager is Panthera’s Director for the Small Cat Program and for Conservation Translocations. He is also Chair of the IUCN SSC Conservation Translocation Specialist Group, and Leadership Committee Member of the IUCN’s Species Survival Commission. Dr. Moehrenschlager is a Research Associate at Oxford University where he received his Ph.D., multiple Erskine Fellow at New Zealand’s University of Christchurch, Adjunct Associate Professor at Clemson University in the U.S.A., and Adjunct Professor at Canada’s University of Calgary. In Canada, he founded the Centre for Conservation Research and the Wilder Institute. In broader capacities, he serves on several funding and award committees such as the UK-based Conservation Collective and the St. Andrews Prize for the Environment.
Title: Bighorn sheep pneumonia: Identifying the Cause of a Multifactorial Disease
Abstract: Epizootic pneumonia is a devastating disease of wild bighorn sheep that has contributed to marked population declines of this species. The disease initially manifests as outbreaks with high (median 48%) mortality in all age classes. Population recovery in subsequent years is limited by repeated lamb pneumonia outbreaks that may impair recruitment for years or decades. Epizootic bighorn sheep pneumonia is a polymicrobial disease, which long challenged development of a clear understanding its cause. A simplifying causal hypothesis – Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae as the primary initiating infectious infection – has now provided a clearer understanding of both initial all-age pneumonia and lamb pneumonia phases of the disease, enabling on-going development efforts towards rational and effective management responses.
Bio: BS Zoology UW-Madison 1973. DVM U MN 1981 PhD WSU 1986. Worked at Washington State University my entire career, with a service appointment in the Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory and research focus on neonatal immunology, then food safety, then bighorn sheep pneumonia (beginning in 2005). Bighorn sheep pneumonia research benefited immensely from collaboration with ID Dept of Fish and Game (Frances Cassirer), from support from the Wild Sheep Foundation, and from appointment as the Wild Sheep Foundation Rocky Crate Endowed Chair in Wild Sheep Disease Research in 2016.
Find more detail on Tom’s career and research HERE
Title: Land use and soil characteristics are associated with increased risk of treponeme-associated hoof disease in elk (Cervus canadensis)
Abstract: Treponeme-associated hoof disease (TAHD) is an emerging infectious disease of elk (Cervus canadensis) in the northwestern United States. Transmission between elk has been hypothesized to occur via direct contact with infected hoof tissues and contaminated soils. Thus, environmental factors that increase contact or proximity between elk, promote pathogen survival in soils, or alter susceptibility of elk to infection may facilitate transmission and determine the spatial distribution of cases in affected areas. Our objectives were to describe the spatial distribution of TAHD in southwestern Washington using hunter-based surveillance and identify environmental features associated with disease occurrence. We used spatial scan statistics to show that cases of TAHD were spatially clustered among game management units. We next used generalized linear models to investigate associations between apparent cases of TAHD and environmental features thought to enhance transmission within the endemic area (e.g., precipitation, land use patterns, and soil characteristics). As an application of the epidemiological triad framework, this project provides first insights on high-risk environments for TAHD, which may be useful for focusing disease surveillance and identifying where management interventions that reduce the number of TAHD-affected elk and elk congregation could have beneficial effects on reducing TAHD transmission.
Bio: Steven Winter recently graduated with his PhD from Washington State University, where he worked with Drs. Margaret Wild and Pilar Fernandez. His dissertation focused on understanding distributional patterns and risk factors of treponeme-associated hoof disease, an emerging disease of elk in the northwestern United States. Prior to his PhD work, he studied chronic wasting disease for his master’s degree at Virginia Tech and worked as a wildlife technician for several years around the US. He plans to continue researching wildlife diseases and applying quantitative skills from landscape epidemiology and disease ecology for the betterment of wildlife management and conservation.
Abstract: Many wildlife students still don’t have a meaningful opportunity to take a policy class. Those who do have the opportunity typically experience either a recitation of agency structure, enabling legislation, and treaties, or a collection of stories from folks who have worked in the business of wildlife policy for some time. While both are valuable, they lack important context and often leave students wondering what to do with the information that’s been presented. This session aims to offer thoughts, guidance, and tools for understanding and influencing formal and informal policy in all its forms (private, public, local, corporate, state/provincial, federal, international). This session will utilize a combination of the speaker’s own experiences in natural resource policy and an integration of current attendee research to provide attendees applicable skills for the practice of wildlife policy. Much like the scientific discussions biologists are used to, this session will introduce a systems view of policy in which participants can see the position they occupy now and the positions they can navigate toward or away from in their careers, and what options they’ll be facing in each position.
Bio: Charlie Booher is a Consultant at Watershed Results who specializes in natural resource conflict resolution. He has the great privilege of representing some of the United States’ oldest, largest, and most generous conservation organizations in Helena, MT and in Washington, DC. Charlie is an Associate Wildlife Biologist © and a Professional Member of the Boone and Crockett Club. Outside of the office, you can find him hiking in the mountains of Western Montana and re-learning how to hunt and fish in the Northern Rockies.
Session synopsis: Naima Jutha is chairing the Dialogue session: “Shared Ground: Community Collaborations in Wildlife Health Monitoring”. This session explores the power of community-driven and co-developed approaches to wildlife health monitoring, with a focus on northern and Indigenous-led initiatives. Through a series of short “Community Voices” lightning talks and an open discussion, the session highlights diverse experiences from harvesters, outfitters, wildlife officers, and researchers. Together we will examine ethical considerations, practical challenges, and innovations emerging from collaborative work in the field. Centering community leadership and Indigenous knowledge systems, the session aims to foster deeper understanding and more effective, respectful partnerships in wildlife health research and practice.
Bio: Naima Jutha is the Wildlife Veterinarian and Chief Veterinary Officer with the Government of the Northwest Territories of Canada with a strong focus on community-engaged approaches to wildlife health. Her work in northern Canada, including her graduate work with northern BC guide outfitters and the Tahltan Nation, emphasizes the importance of transdisciplinary networks and bridging local, Indigenous and western knowledge systems to support collaborative, responsive, and sustainable wildlife health surveillance systems.
Session synopsis: Erica will co-chair the Dialogue session: “Shared Ground: Community Collaborations in Wildlife Health Monitoring” with Naima Jutha. This session explores the power of community-driven and co-developed approaches to wildlife health monitoring, with a focus on northern and Indigenous-led initiatives. Through a series of short “Community Voices” lightning talks and an open discussion, the session highlights diverse experiences from harvesters, outfitters, wildlife officers, and researchers. Together we will examine ethical considerations, practical challenges, and innovations emerging from collaborative work in the field. Centering community leadership and Indigenous knowledge systems, the session aims to foster deeper understanding and more effective, respectful partnerships in wildlife health research and practice.
Bio: Erica Suitor is a PhD candidate at the University of Calgary. Her research is part of a long-standing, community-based wildlife health surveillance program in the Kitikmeot Region of the Canadian Arctic, developed in response to declining muskox and caribou populations. Rooted in collaboration with Inuit harvesters who collect samples, the program emphasizes respectful partnerships, knowledge sharing, and the co-production of locally relevant research. Erica’s doctoral work focuses on dental health and aging of muskoxen. As a hunter, she brings a grounded, relational understanding to her research and values reciprocal engagement with communities who rely on wildlife for food, culture, and livelihood.
