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
It’s 2020 and Fires are Devastating Another Biodiversity Hotspot Your Donations are Needed
Photo Credit: Ailton Lara. EOM
The South American Pantanal is the world's largest tropical wetland and flooded grassland. Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay all host portions of this biodiversity Hotspot. This year there have been more than 15,000 fires in the Pantanal, causing widespread devastation to indigenous people’s lands and critical endangered species populations and wildlife habitat. To date it is estimated that 3.3 million hectares (8.1 million acres) have already been burned, an area equivalent to three quarters the size of Switzerland and twice the size of this year’s California megafires. This equals destruction of 15-22% of this unique biome. The Pantanal is a fire adapted ecosystem but with its worst drought in 47 years human caused and natural fires have spread out of control.
WDA members in Latin America and across the globe are involved in this crisis, responding to the needs of government agencies, the public and carrying out triage and treatment of injured wildlife. They are doing their best to help front-line institutions deal with these displaced and injured.
Your donation will be directly and entirely used by WDA Latin America to fund the emergency response and ensure the welfare and conservation of wildlife.
WDA members: Donate now on the website, https://wildlifedisease.org/wda/ABOUTWDA/DonatetotheWDA.aspx,
If you are not a WDA member you can donate by calling the WDA Business Office at 785-865-9404.
If you have questions or need assistance, please contact wda@allenpress.com.
2021 Annual International Conference
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