Over the summer, I have been completing my practicum placement at the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative (CWHC), and for those who are unaware, the CWHC is a national organization dedicated to generating knowledge needed to assess and manage wildlife health. A large portion of what the CWHC does is centered around wildlife disease surveillance to detect emerging health threats to wildlife, including risks posed to humans and livestock.  

To enhance wildlife surveillance in Canada, the CWHC developed an online reporting tool for sick and dead animals called the Wildlife Health Tracker. As such, my role within the CWHC has been to explore and evaluate this online reporting tool through three key tasks which include: a scoping review of wildlife health surveillance, comparative data analysis between the Wildlife Health Tracker and the standard CWHC reporting system, and the synthesis of a questionnaire which will be sent to users of the Wildlife Health Tracker.

Over the past months, I have also had the incredible opportunity to become involved with a variety of other tasks which include the creation of an infographic for the CWHC and OAHN (Ontario Animal Health Network), writing a blog post for the CWHC, and engaging with multiple stakeholders. I have even had the opportunity to do some field work tick-dragging!

Overall I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at the CWHC, and I look forward to seeing what the rest of the summer will bring. As a side note, be sure to sign up for the Wildlife Health Tracker to report any dead or diseased wildlife you may see by going to http://wildlifehealthtracker.com.