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A cow moose running with her young calves Tuesday, April 22, 2025

Harnessing Connections for Efficient Disease Investigation

Wildlife, just like people, cluster into social or family groups. And just like people, animals pass their diseases around to others sharing their group. Given these two facts, we derived novel statistical equations that consider...

Category: In the News
Canada goose standing in water at sunset Wednesday, February 12, 2025

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza

HPAI Update 04/17/25 In New York, 2025 started off with an increase in bird cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). We found H5N1 in nearly 250 birds across 30 species thus far, waterfowl and raptors being the most affected....

Category: Disease Watch
Guanaco in scrubland Wednesday, February 5, 2025

The CWHL Goes to South America

Allocating grassland resources to guanaco populations in Argentina To help society in Santa Cruz, Argentina put together a Provincial Guanaco Management Plan, we developed population simulations to see how the number of guanacos (...

Category: In the News
male woodduck in water Thursday, January 23, 2025

Environmental Contamination and Consumption of Waterfowl

Throughout history, humans have eaten locally caught meat for a variety of nutritional, cultural, and economic reasons. In the present day, hunters in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Connecticut harvest over ½ a million wild-...

Category: In the News
Melanie in front of mountains and blue lake Thursday, December 19, 2024

December: A Day in the Life Of...

Northeast Regional Fish and Wildlife Health Coordinator: Melanie Kunkel  As the Northeast regional fish and wildlife health coordinator, my day-to-day work varies greatly! I work with 13 state fish and wildlife agencies in the...

Category: Wildlife 411
Dr Kaganer preppnig DNA samples for testing Wednesday, November 20, 2024

November: A Day in the Life Of...

Research Associate:  Alyssa Kaganer My role within the Cornell Wildlife Health Lab (CWHL) is a grab bag of all things related to molecular biology - meaning that no two days are ever alike, and I never do all the different parts of...

Category: Wildlife 411
Beth at her scope Wednesday, October 30, 2024

October: A Day in the Life Of...

Wildlife Pathologist: Beth Buckles Ithaca may pride itself on being “gorges”, but in my opinion the best part of living in the Finger Lakes is Autumn! The changing leaves, crisp air, and fall sunshine make this the perfect time of...

Category: Wildlife 411
Melissa holding a large alligator snapping turtle on at the water's edge Tuesday, October 29, 2024

Meet Alfie –How One Turtle Created a Conservation Connection

In August of 2023, an alligator snapping turtle (Macrochelys temminckii) was pulled out of the Genesee River in upstate New York by US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) biologists, who were seining (net fishing) for fish. They...

Category: Wildlife 411
Dr. Kaganer preparing reagent solutions for testing Thursday, October 24, 2024

Protocols, Pipelines, and Potential When Evaluating New Diagnostic Tools

The rapid spread of chronic wasting disease in white-tailed deer highlights the need for new detection tests that can quickly and rapidly detect the presence of disease. Real-time quaking-induced conversion (RT-QuIC) is a promising...

Category: In the News
At desk with computer screens Monday, September 30, 2024

September: A Day in the Life Of...

Program and Communications Coordinator: Jennifer Peaslee Cat herder, catch-all, and photo hog—I relate to all these terms and more. My position requires that I do and know a fair bit of everything to manage the administrative tasks...

Category: Wildlife 411
Rachel at her computer Tuesday, August 27, 2024

August: A Day in the Life Of...

Research Veterinarian: Rachel Abbott I typically start my day by doing the NY Times puzzles to warm up my brain as I eat my breakfast. Then I head over to my desk by the window or into my office on campus to solve puzzles associated...

Category: Wildlife 411
red fox feeding on deer carcacss in the snow Monday, August 12, 2024

Scavengers as Bioindicators of Lead in White-tailed Deer

Lead (Pb) is a heavy metal that doesn't offer any clear biological benefits and is harmful to both wildlife and humans. Even though lead has been banned in various consumer products, it is not currently regulated in ammunition used for...

Category: In the News
Jenny on the stoop with her dog Zoey Monday, July 29, 2024

July: A Day in the Life Of...

Wildlife Veterinarian: Jenny Bloodgood Serving as the veterinarian for the CWHL keeps me on my toes, and July has been no exception! On a given day, I might be coordinating with our DEC or regional partners, working on a paper or...

Category: Wildlife 411
Nick at his desk with screens showing mapping and coding Wednesday, June 26, 2024

June: A Day in the Life Of...

A Data Analyst: Nick Hollingshead Although my job title is “data analyst,” only a fraction of my time at the Cornell Wildlife Health Lab is spent analyzing data. I help people understand how to turn data into useful information and...

Category: Wildlife 411
White-tailed deer doe with cocked back ear on green blurred background Monday, June 17, 2024

Novel Regional CWD Predictions Using Machine Learning

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) continues to spread through wild cervid herds in North America, rendering surveillance increasingly expensive for wildlife agencies. Although drivers of CWD outbreaks have been studied at herd, outbreak,...

Category: In the News
Brenda at her desk, showing math work on her computer screen Monday, June 3, 2024

May: A Day in the Life Of...

Mathematical Modeller: Brenda Hanley Wake up and go for the coffee. The first decision of the day is which mug to use. Choice 1: a mug celebrating math. Choice 2: a mug making good-natured fun of math.  If we have a meeting at...

Category: Wildlife 411
Business woman hand touching Introduction of artificial intelligence. Thursday, May 2, 2024

Predicting CWD is No Longer Out of Reach

In conjunction with researchers at USGS, the collaborative SOP4CWD team recently published the Habitat Risk software, a Bayesian epidemiological model that predicts the odds of CWD infection in white-tailed deer occupying a given home...

Category: In the News
Dr. Hitchener in his office reviewing slides for the day. Monday, April 29, 2024

April: A Day in the Life of...

A Wildlife Pathologist: Gavin Hitchener My role within the laboratory is multi-functional, and I serve many stakeholders, including the wildlife health laboratory and the anatomic pathology group. I also act as the director of the...

Category: Wildlife 411
Young woman with backpack enjoying sunset on peak of foggy mountain. Tuesday, April 9, 2024

What's on the Horizon for CWHL students?

Ever wonder what happens with our students after they are done working/learning with the Cornell Wildlife Health Lab? Well, we keep in touch and follow their journey beyond CWHL. Here's a look at what a few of our wildlife students...

Category: Wildlife 411
David in the lab, preparing to pull samples Tuesday, March 26, 2024

March: A Day In the Life of...

A Research Technician: David Dayan As a former undergraduate researcher and now postgraduate research technician with the Cornell Wildlife Health Lab, I have mostly worked on a study of environmental contaminants in hunter-harvested...

Category: Wildlife 411
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