Mark your Calendars! WDA will host a virtual week 30 August – 5, September 2020
Dear WDA colleagues,
COVID19 has sadly forced us to postpone our International Conference in Cuenca until 2021. However, I am certain you will all agree that in these last months more than ever before wildlife has been discussed here, there and everywhere! The topics of wildlife health, diseases and the links between wild animals, livestock and humans have made it to the media front pages, and forced many of us to put extra hours of work no matter where we are located.
I would argue it is therefore more than appropriate for our association to get together and take a short pause to discuss among other things, on what is happening in the different sections of our association, and how we can as a group continue to be a reference and a valued contributor to promote wildlife health across the globe.
With the help of technology, I would like to invite you all to join us for a virtual WDA week at the beginning of September. During this week, we are planning to host several events:
1. Our WDA Council meeting - the meeting will be held in two 3-hour blocks, Monday august 31st, and Tuesday September 1st both starting at 16:00 EDT (UCT/GMT - 4 hours).
2. WDA annual business meeting - the meeting will be held Thursday, September 3rd at 9 am EDT (UTC-4 hours). Not only will we discuss what is happening in WDA (some exciting news), but we will announce the winners of our two most prestigious awards, the Ed Adison Distinguished Service Award and the joint AAWV and WDA, Tom Thorne and Beth Williams Memorial Award.
3. Wildlife health across the world – each of our sections has been challenged to organize a 1hr session where they will bring 2 invited lecturers to present topics relevant to the respective section. These meetings will be open to all no matter where you are located and can be a short yet “teasing” chance to hear on what is keeping you colleagues across the globe so busy!
A calendar has been made to help you locate the different meetings and the times they take place. Please refer to the time zones columns to identify the correct time for you. Some may mean a late evening or a very early rise, but I have no doubts it will be worth it! The calendar can be accessed HERE.
These meetings will be hosted as ZOOM webinar and we will provide all with the links closer to the dates. More info on each “Wildlife health across the world” session will also be on our webpage in the coming days/week.
I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible during this week!
With my best regards,
Carlos das Neves
WDA President
Click image above for more information!