About the Wildlife Disease Association

• History of the Wildlife Disease Association (WDA)

• Focus of the Wildlife Disease Association

• Constitution and Bylaws

• Meet the Wildlife Disease Association Management Team

• Awards and Recognitions

• Sustaining members

History of the Wildlife Disease Association

In March 1951, a group of 28 U.S. and Canadian scientists interested in wildlife diseases founded an organization called the Wildlife Disease Committee. The rest, as they say, is history - eventually becoming what we know as the Wildlife Disease Association (WDA) in 1952.

For a complete history of the Association, in English, please click here.

Today, the WDA is an international scientific society of wildlife professionals, veterinarians, epidemiologists, biologists, ecologists, research scientists and other individuals involved with wildlife diseases and related disciplines, promoting research, management, education, communication, consultation and collaboration. The WDA sponsors an annual scientific conference and publishes the Journal of Wildlife Diseases.

Focus of the WDA

• Endangered Species – WDA members together with international, state, provincial, federal, and private agencies are intimately involved in efforts to preserve and improve the status of endangered species populations.  Examples include monitoring the status of the black-footed ferret in Wyoming, USA, trying to control losses of Tasmanian devils associated with Devil facial tumor disease, and investigating factors contributing to the woylie decline in West Australia.


• Game and Furbearing Animals – Extensive research and surveillance provides multiple benefits to wildlife through private and public agencies by enhancing understanding the impact of diseases on wild animal populations.


• Wildlife Conservation – Members, working as and/or with wildlife biologists, investigate the effects of environmental toxins, global warming, habitat alterations, and introduction of exotic species on the health of native wildlife.


• Wildlife Translocation – Many members are engaged in translocation of wildlife between areas. Efforts are made to prevent the introduction of disease and to monitor the health of animals following translocation.


• Wildlife Rehabilitation –Veterinarians, clinically oriented specialists and other professionals affiliated with the WDA are increasingly interested in the rehabilitation of sick and injured wildlife, especially rare, threatened and endangered species.


• Zoological Parks –Zoo veterinarians supervise the care of a large variety of species and provide husbandry and veterinary care for many captive populations of threatened and endangered species from all over the world. In addition, they work with wildlife and other resource managers on the management of free-ranging wildlife population health.


• Public Health –WDA members contribute substantially to knowledge about arthropod-borne encephalitis, rabies, tularemia, Lyme disease, hantaviruses, plague, environmental toxins, and many other wildlife diseases potentially affecting human health.


• Livestock and Poultry –Wildlife specialists participate in laboratory, clinical and field research to control diseases in wildlife that can be economically devastating to domestic livestock. Among these diseases are malignant catarrhal fever, brucellosis, tuberculosis, viscerotropic velogenic Newcastle disease, and African swine fever.


• Comparative Medicine – Many WDA members with specialty training in the health and biological sciences are involved in basic research using wildlife as models of diseases found in humans or domestic animals.


• Ecosystem Health – Because no species exist independent of its environment, many WDA members are addressing the complex issues of ecosystem health. Topics of special concern include aquatic animal health, as many marine mammals and sea birds serve as biomarkers for the assessment of the health of the marine environment, and the multiple interactions resulting from human and domestic animal encroachment into wild habitats.


• Wildlife Disease Ecology – Understanding the transmission dynamics and impacts of diseases in wildlife populations is crucial to the future conservation management of wildlife. Thus, members conduct research on both endemic and exotic diseases in wildlife populations, to understand the transmission, ecology and impacts of diseases in these populations.

Constitution and By Laws

• WDA Constitution: As amended September 2004
• WDA By Laws: As revised August 2009

WDA Management Team

Management of the Wildlife Disease Association rests with several groups of people. (Contact information can be found by clicking on the titles.) These groups include:

• Officers: The officers of the Association include President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer.
• Council: The government and operation of the Association is vested in the Council, made up of the officers, seven Members-at-Large (i.e., six regular members and one student member), Editors, and an elected representative from each Section.
• Editors: The editors for the Association include those for the Journal of Wildlife Diseases, the Supplement to the JWD and the web page.
• Managers: The WDA managers include the Executive Manager and Business Manager.

WDA Recognition and Awards

The WDA gives several awards and provides funding to recognize outstanding work in wildlife health and service to the WDA. (Recipient information can be found by clicking on the award titles.)These awards include:

• WDA Distinguished Service Award: The DSA is the highest award of the Wildlife Disease Association. The purpose of the DSA is to honor a WDA member of long standing who, by his/her outstanding accomplishments in research, teaching and other activities, including participation in WDA affairs, has made a noteworthy contribution furthering the aims of the Wildlife Disease Association.
• WDA Emeritus Award : The Emeritus Award is an honorary category of membership awarded by the Council to members of the WDA who have retired from their profession and who in the opinion of Council have contributed significantly to the study of wildlife diseases.
• WDA Duck Award : The Duck Award is presented to recipients to acknowledge a particularly embarrassing incident (e.g., foible/mistake) that usually occurs at the annual meeting of the WDA.
• WDA Student Awards: The WDA offers a scholarship and two awards to encourage student participation in the Association and our annual conference, and to recognize outstanding student research.
• Tom Thorne and Beth Williams Memorial Award: The Award is presented in acknowledgement of either an exemplary contribution or achievement combining wildlife disease research with wildlife management policy implementation or elucidating particularly significant problems in wildlife health.
• Carlton M. Herman Founder’s Fund: The main scope of activities supported by the fund is the relation of population health and density to changes in habitat. The scope includes all animals, including the human species. Activities may include invited lectures, funding of research, presentation of medals in acknowledgement of contributions, support of publications, or other activities as determined by the trustees of the Fund. [Award Info]
• WDA In Memoriam: This section profiles those WDA members who made significant contributions to the WDA and to wildlife and ecosystem health worldwide.

WDA Sustaining Members

The WDA is proud to recognize members and member organizations who make a significant contribution to support particular interest in the objectives of the Association as Sustaining Members. These include:

Wildlife Conservation Society, Field Veterinary Program (WCS-FVP)/Global Health Programs (WCS-GHP)
Between 2000 and 2005, the WCS-FVP made one year memberships in the Wildlife Disease Association available to more than 250 scientists in less economically developed countries of the world! Beginning in 2006, the WCS-GHP has co-sponsored with the WDA the free electronic distribution of all issues of the Journal of Wildlife Diseases to more than 110 of the lest economically developed countries of the world. The WDA greatly appreciates the contributions of the WCS-FVP and subsequently the WCS-GHP towards fulfilling the mission of the Association!

For more information on the WCS-FVP, please click here.