25 YEARS OF WILDLIFE HEALTH IN CANADA

CWHC Annual Report 2016/2017

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EDITORIAL


This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative. Over the past quarter century, the CWHC has grown from a small network of people helping to determine the causes of wildlife death to become Canada’s national wildlife health program; ensuring we meet our international obligations in conservation, trade, public health, and providing leadership on national wildlife health issues.  This February federal, provincial, and territorial Ministers agreed that a national approach to wildlife health is needed. The CWHC provides expertise and experience so that Canada can deliver a national approach able to confront challenges like climate change, emerging diseases and pollution. The Cooperative helps us to be better prepared and focused on preventing problems before they arise while also providing confidence that foods harvested from our lands and seas are safe. The UN’s sustainable development goals aim to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all. These goals cannot be achieved without protecting life on land and life below the seas. The Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative is a valued partner in that effort.

Four factors are driving us to continue to evolve; (1) diseases are a more frequent cause of species declines and extinctions; (2) wildlife are the source of almost half of all new human infections; (3) social license and public demand require capacity to measure and monitor wildlife health; and 4) climate change, resource extraction and landscape changes are increasing infectious and pollution threats to agriculture and public health and are making it harder for wildlife to stay healthy.  This year’s report highlights the many activities, partnerships, connections, and leadership the CWHC has developed in the past year that prepare us to meet these challenges.

Craig Stephen

Chief Executive Officer, CWHC

Patrick Zimmer

Chief Operations Officer, CWHC

HIGHLIGHTS AND KEY MESSAGES


Scanning surveillance numbers by region

SELECTED DISEASE COUNTS

RABIES

Examined 1,124
Positive 39

WHITE-NOSE SYNDROME

Examined 232
Positive 14

AVIAN INFLUENZA VIRUS

Examined 1,582
Positive 88

CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE

Examined 134
Positive 12

WEST NILE VIRUS

Examined 1,564
Positive 34

2,792 TOTAL ANIMALS OF 266 UNIQUE SPECIES

 

REGION TOTALS

Pacific: 497
Prairie: 745
Central Canada: 921
Atlantic: 525
North: 104

Birds
Mammals
Other
Birds    Mammals    Other

Our website includes up-to-date numbers on the Quarterly Reports page.

SELECTED DISEASE COUNTS

RABIES

Examined 1,124
Positive 39

WHITE-NOSE SYNDROME

Examined 232
Positive 14

AVIAN INFLUENZA VIRUS

Examined 1,582
Positive 88

CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE

Examined 134
Positive 12

WEST NILE VIRUS

Examined 1,564
Positive 34

 

 

 

Governance, FINANCES, and PARTNERS


Good governance in wildlife health promotes openness, transparency and integrity; facilitates effective collaboration; and promotes a performance orientation in program delivery.

Stewardship provides centralized and responsible management of a national network of expertise and capacity, delivering independent advice, and helping achieve policy goals that address shared values linked to wildlife health

 

 

REVENUES

  General Targeted  Total 
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada   135,593 135,593
Canadian Food Inspection Agency 200,000 245,000 445,000
Environment and Climate Change Canada 440,000 154,315 594,315
First Nations and Inuit Health Branch 4,972   4,972
Fisheries and Oceans   53,687 53,687
Parks Canada 150,000 22,100 172,100
Public Health Agency of Canada 240,000 0 240,000
Alberta - Fish and Wildlife 5,000   5,000
BC Ministry of Agriculture 75,854 0 75,854
BC Ministry of Environment 10,000   10,000
BC Ministry of Forests, Lands & Natural Resource Operations 10,000 0 10,000
Genome British Columbia   307,542 307,542
Growing Forward 2   404,460 404,460
New Brunswick 10,259 3,500 13,759
Newfoundland & Labrador 21,700 0 21,700
Northwest Territories 16,000 35,000 51,000
Nova Scotia 9,500   9,500
Nunavut 15,000 0 15,000
Ontario - Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs   50,000 50,000
Ontario - Health and Long Term Care 100,000   100,000
Ontario - Natural Resources 80,000 73,000 153,000
Prince Edward Island - Ministry of Environment 4,735   4,735
Prince Edward Island - Ministry of Health   3,050 3,050
Québec - Ministère des Forêts, de la Faune et des Parcs 105,000 59,440 164,440
Québec - Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux 35,000   35,000
Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food   68,000 68,000
Saskatchewan Environment 41,309 64,000 105,309
Government of Yukon 14,000 0 14,000
Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC   200,000 200,000
University of Calgary, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine 42,808   42,808
University of Saskatchewan, Western College of Veterinary Medicine 11,000 5,000 16,000
US Department of Agriculture   11,000 11,000
Canadian Wildlife Federation 5,000   5,000
Canadian Hatching Egg Producers   2,888 2,888
Chicken Farmers of Canada   7,219 7,219
Egg Farmers of Canada   7,219 7,219
Turkey Farmers of Canada   4,331 4,331
Miscellaneous Income/Fee-for-service 14,741 29,277 44,018
TOTAL REVENUE  $ 1,661,878  $ 1,945,620  $ 3,607,498

 

EXPENSES

  General Targeted  Total 
Salaries and Benefits 1,423,356 485,530 1,908,885
Equipment 39,440 0 39,440
Diagnostic Costs 162,464 115,779 278,244
Operations 90,370 411,050 501,420
Travel 51,602 33,428 85,030
Other 8,581 553,609 562,190
Overhead 222,728 106,414 329,142
TOTAL EXPENSES 1,998,540 1,705,809 3,704,349
       
REVENUE LESS EXPENSES  $   (336,662)  $     239,811  $     (96,851)

 

 

OVERVIEW OF THEMES FOR THIS YEAR'S ANNUAL REPORT


Lead - Protecting and promoting wildlife health in Canada with strong, shared leadership.

Connect - Improving efficiency and effectiveness by working together.

Innovate - Developing the best available evidence and advice to sustain health wild animals and society in a changing world.

Engage - Providing a shared vision and objective for a national health network in Canada.

 

The CWHC is Canada’s first and only national wildlife health program. We foster partnerships and collaborations among our partners and within our network. The linkages and interactions created through the CWHC strengthen ties and positions Canada as a global leader in wild animal health.

We support strategic priorities and decision making by contributing to societal health and well-being, addressing food safety and food security concerns, investigating emerging disease issues and their management, providing assurances to agriculture and the bio-economy, developing adaptation strategies for wild animal health, and enhancing training and development of animal health professionals.

 

OUR MISSION

To promote and protect the health of wildlife and Canadians through leadership, partnership, investigation, and action

OUR VISION

A world that is safe and sustainable for wildlife and society

LEAD


Leaders encourage breakthroughs not by developing followers but by building communities that can innovate. For the CWHC, it is a matter of harnessing the collective intelligence and enthusiasm of our growing community of practice. Our leadership includes creating a common purpose, values, and venues for people to interact and problem-solve together. We also lead by creating partnerships, process, tools, and organizational capacity to share and integrate ideas and information.

EXAMPLES

Knowledge is a key organizational resource in the 21st century. The CWHC is leading development of tools and strategies to strategically exploit the knowledge accumulated across our community of practice.

New Strategies: The CWHC’s framework for action on wildlife health serves as the foundation for the path forward on the federal, provincial, and territorial Ministers’ request for a national approach to wildlife health. The framework outlines a modernized national approach that emphasizes risk assessment/management and adaptable capacities within key areas of focus (health intelligence, stewardship, innovation, and effective governance). This plan will enable governments to adapt and respond effectively to up-and-coming threats to conservation, public health and economies from climate change, emerging diseases, globalization, and changes to organizational capacities. The next year focuses on developing a strategy and implementation plan for Ministers to endorse in early 2018. Concurrently, the CWHC has organized discussions with partners in the north, the Canadian Wildlife Directors Committee, and other key stakeholders to ensure CWHC programs meets the many needs for wildlife health.

New Tools: A systematic and consistent approach to triaging potential threats and identifying viable responses can help wildlife health decision makers act in time to prevent or mitigate harm. The CWHC developed a number of decision support tools including; a Situation and Response Analysis Framework for Wildlife Health; and a Snake Fungal Disease Rapid Threat Assessment. Like our work exploring how wildlife surveillance can contribute to public health preparedness for climate change, these projects not only help answer pressing questions but also develop frameworks and perspectives to explore similar issue in the future. Rather than addressing each case on an ad hoc basis, the CWHC is creating new tools to increase the consistency, transparency, and repeatability of integrating and assessing diverse sources of information to guide management responses.

New perspectives: Wildlife health can no longer be defined as the absence of a specific subset of diseases. The CWHC is expanding this notion by developing and extrapolating population health concepts to wildlife. Whether this is working with local communities in Nunavut to assess seal herd health; working with Fisheries and Oceans Canada to explore a new policy definition for salmon health or writing papers advocating for new perspectives, the CWHC is leading the modernization of how we define wildlife health.  We are also collaborating with international partners to describe the core competencies, roles and functions of national wildlife health programs in an effort to help harmonize how all countries monitor and care for wildlife health.

CONNECT


The CWHC is built upon a network of expertise that comprises over 40 partner agencies and institutions and dozens of associates and collaborators spread across Canada and globally. Through harmonization and coordination the CWHC provides a National approach to wildlife health in Canada, presenting a shared vision for wildlife health, identifying challenges and opportunities, and providing action to achieve a shared mission.

 

Capacity building

Being adequately prepared is a foundation of being able to prevent and effectively respond to wildlife health issues. Such preparation requires capacity and expertise, the CWHC is actively involved in the development and training of wildlife health specialists in Canada and internationally. Workshops and training courses provide ongoing education and skill development. In partnership with our host post-secondary institutions the CWHC provides valuable educational materials and learning opportunities for the next generation of wildlife health professionals.

Training:

Oh Deer! Wildlife Conservation Students get their Hands Dirty During CWHC Atlantic’s Annual Necropsy Course

Dissecting Animal Health: CWHC Western/Northern Hosts Necropsy Course

A Walk on the Wild Side

CWHC-Atlantic Performs Blue Whale Necropsy

Workshop/Conference Links:

CWHC Annual Workshop Agenda 2017 (PDF)

CWHC Annual Workshop 2017

CWHC Annual Workshop 2016: An Atlantic and Canadian Perspective on Wildlife Health

2016 INCDNCM Conference: Important Dates

2016 Muskox Health Ecology Symposium

OIE:

OIE Collaborating Centre

Fact Sheets:

CWHC Snake Fungal Disease Threat Assessment (PDF)

 

National Programs

Coordinated and harmonized regional and national programs improve the efficiency and effectiveness of response options when dealing with wildlife health issues. Centralized coordination of programs such as white-nose syndrome surveillance among bats and avian influenza surveillance in wild birds help prioritize response efforts and inform management options. The CWHC’s capacity to help plan responses, provide evidence to better target resources and assist in on –the-ground response allows us to offer a full spectrum of activities to minimize possible threats and promote the key role wildlife play in our societal well-being.

Surveillance Data - Avian Influenza

Revolutionizing Avian Influenza Surveillance

Duck Duck Coot: Testing Wild Birds for Avian Influenza

National Wild Bird Interagency Avian Influenza Surveillance Program Operational Plan (PDF)

 

Example

International collaborations and working groups
As a partner in the OIE Collaborating Centre on Research, Diagnosis and Surveillance of Wildlife Pathogens, the CWHC works with international partners to improve the delivery of wildlife health programs. Our work with the Sri Lanka Wildlife Health Centre culminated this year as our grant from the International Development Research Centre draws to a close. Our work in the Caribbean to foster One Health leadership also drew a close late 2017, with the creation of a new book on One Health in the Caribbean. Our work with 11 nations generated a new technical report (published by the USGS) focused on evidence-based design of national wildlife health programs. The CHWC assisted our Collaborating Centre partner, the US National Wildlife Health Center, undertake a review of its Hawaii field station. Our work on strategic planning in development and support for wildlife health programs continue to be applied in Australasia and Europe.

ECHO (Environment/Community/Health Observatory)
Working as a co-leader with other Canadian Universities the CWHC is currently engaged in a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) grant focusing on inter-sectorial strategies to address cumulative determinants of health. This project brings together environmental and social science researchers to develop an Environment/Community/Health Observatory.

http://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/50373.html

INNOVATE


The rapid pace of social and environmental changes prevents the CWHC from doing business as usual. To innovate is to make changes in something established, especially by introducing new methods, ideas, or products. Key to the CWHC innovation strategy are; (1) creating ways to connect and integrate diverse types of knowledge, people and capacities; (2) challenging assumptions and encouraging new ways of doing things, and (3) promoting a forward-looking vision that prepares us not just for today but also for tomorrow.

 

Preparedness

Given the great many issues but relatively few resources for wildlife health, it is important to be able to quickly identify, sort, and prioritise problems and information to ensure resources are used to their greatest effect and programs are prepared in advance of problems. Preparedness comes from having the tools, relationships and processes in place in advance of problems arising. Some recent examples include:

  • Being ready to see impending problems: The CWHC has lead in the development and deployment of new diagnostic capacities that ensures we are able to detect emerging threats or quickly recognize newly introduced problems such as snake fungal disease and salamander chytrid disease.  Extending the lessons learned in eastern Canada to prepare western Canada for white-nosed syndrome is another example.
  • Collecting and assessing information in a quick and reliable fashion. This year saw the development of our Wildlife Health Intelligence Platform to allow us to gather a greater diversity of information more effectively and quickly and extract it for analysis. New frameworks for rapid threat assessments were also created to promote consistent identification and assessment of emerging priorities.
  • Creating and communicating information: In some cases, such as our quarterly reports, updates on trends and emerging issues increase people’s awareness of critical issues. In other cases, new information has been created, such as Canada-specific disinfection protocols for white-nose syndrome management developed at our Atlantic regional centre. 
  • Developing new tools and perspectives: New tools, such as innovative environmental genomic methods to augment avian influenza, challenge the status quo and help move our programs to a new level. New ways of looking at persistent problems, such as our examination of the role of wildlife surveillance in public health preparedness for climate change, open new avenues for programs and inquiry. Conversations with federal, provincial, and state partners, and stakeholders have fostered new discussions about how to approach chronic wasting disease.
  • Exploring neglected places and populations: Sometimes, innovation and preparedness comes from looking where others have not. Work at our British Columbia regional centre is providing new insight into how ecology and epidemiology work together to challenge what we know about reducing public health risks from rats.  Similarly, new research projects in BC and Ontario are exploring the role for wildlife in the ecology and spread of antimicrobial resistance.

 

Urban wildlife

The Vancouver Rat Project: Historically, urban rats have been the source of a number of infectious diseases associated with significant human illness and death in cities around the world. Yet despite the fact that rats are thriving in cities around the world, very little is known about urban rat populations or rat-associated public health risks in modern cities. The goal of the Vancouver Rat Project (first initiated by CWHC regional director, Dr. Chelsea Himsworth) is to address this knowledge gap by studying urban rat populations, the microbes they carry, and the health threats that they could pose to people. Currently, the VRP is investigating the role of the environment, genetics, and rat health on the ecology of pathogens carried by rats and the impact of rodent control techniques on the spread rats and their zoonotic pathogens. We are also working to develop a municipal rat surveillance system for the City of Vancouver.

LINKS

Vancouver Rat Project Website

Urban Rats – Does the City Environment Increase Potential Risks to Human Health? (U of Guelph)

On the lookout for rats: UBC grad student to develop surveillance system to track rodent population (Vancouver Courier)

Keeping Canada Safe - Vancouver Rat Project (CBC)

The Case For Leaving City Rats Alone (Nautilus)

Rising urban rat population pose health risks to humans, says researcher (CBC)

Rise in rat population a threat to human health says UBC study (CBC)

Project Tracks Urban Rats’ Health Risks to Humans

 

Avian Influenza(AI)

Canada’s experiences with notifiable avian influenza have been costly and disruptive. Migratory waterfowl, sea birds, shore birds, and perhaps some other avian classes are the natural hosts of AI. Surveillance programs developed and coordinated by the CWHC based on wild birds have been in place in Canada since 2005. However, the interface between free-flying wild birds, the environment, and commercial poultry holdings is complex creating challenges to accurately identify, respond and predict the risk of AI presence in a geographic region.

To help address these challenges, the CWHC has been developing innovative methods and tools, in addition to conducting critical evaluations of AI surveillance programs. One such tool is the Wildlife Health Intelligence Platform (WHIP) a health information system designed to meet information needs and support decision-making.

Another tool, the genomic analysis of wetland sediment for AI virus surveillance, is being developed at the CWHC BC Regional Centre at the Animal Health Centre in Abbotsford. Thus far, this tool has been capable of detecting the highly-pathogenic H5N2 (as well as numerous other AI virus subtypes and strains) during a BC outbreak associated with that virus in 2014/2015. The virus was detected in wetlands throughout the outbreak area, showing that it was circulating widely in waterfowl at the time and could have been detected in advance of the outbreak had this approach been available (the established surveillance system did not detect any AI virus in waterfowl in 2014). A two-year longitudinal study comparing AI virus sequences found in sediments from ‘sentinel’ wetlands to those obtained from waterfowl trapped on those wetlands is underway. The diversity of virus sequences obtained through targeted-resequencing of sediment, will be compared to those obtained from hunter-killed waterfowl in two consecutive surveillance seasons using a cost-benefit analysis.

Researchers Pool Expertise to get the Poop on Avian Influenza

Revolutionizing Avian Influenza Surveillance

 

Climate Change

The CWHC is addressing climate change directly and indirectly. Indirectly, our scanning surveillance and field investigations provide early warning systems for the emergence of new diseases or mobilization of pollutants as well as the implications of these changes for conservation, public health, and trade. Our more directed climate change actions include advocating for an expanded perspective of the relationship between community climate change resilience and wildlife health. These efforts are also helping expand how public health perceives wildlife – seeing it not only as a source of harm but also as important determinants of community health, especially in rural and indigenous communities. 

Building Northern capacity to monitor wildlife health aims to protect seal, caribou and narwhal resources.

Groundhogs, squirrels, and skunks, oh my!

Ghostbusters? No – Tickbusters!

CWHC: Canada’s Wildlife Watchdogs

Bélugas de la Mer de Beaufort/Belugas of the Beaufort Sea

LIST OF PUBLICATIONS FOR 2016/2017

ENGAGE


CWHC activities and program culminate in converting knowledge into action. Key to success is engaging our community of practice by providing advice and outputs to our government partners, helping to educate and train new wildlife health practitioners, working with communities and groups to further our collective well-being and advocating on wildlife health issues.
                                          

Example:

Community engagement

The CWHC’s community ranges from central government agencies in Ottawa to industry groups to local communities. Collaboration and support from the poultry industry to develop the Wildlife Health Intelligence Platform is an example. Our Atlantic regional centre is working with a local seal hunting community on Nunavut to establish a seal herd health program. Novel ways to work with hunters in the Northwest Territories remains central to surveillance work being done with our regional centre in Alberta. In British Columbia, collaborations with the First Nations Fisheries Council are helping to create a community informed perspective on the drivers of salmon health. The CWHC is also on the steering committee to develop the International Year of the Salmon which reaches to communities across the North Atlantic and North Pacific. A new project has us working with the First Nations Health Authority in BC to develop an approach to including technical and community perspectives on ecological health as part of the agencies health and wellness monitoring program.  Students and field staff in provincial agencies are critical members of our community. In the past year, regional centres have provided technical training programs for this group to improve their abilities to recognize wildlife diseases.

 

Building Northern capacity to monitor wildlife health aims to protect seal, caribou and narwhal resources

 

Promoting Science in Canadian Arctic Communities (2017-2020)

This project is funded by NSERC’s Promoscience program, which supports exposure of youth to science that is culturally and contextually relevant and stimulates sustained interest. The program is co-led by Dr. Susan Kutz and Dr. Fabien Mavrot, a post-doctoral fellow, at the University of Calgary Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. The scientists work in partnership with the Olokhaktok Hunters and Trappers Committee, the Kugluktuk Hunters and Trappers Organization, the schools of Ulukhaktok, NT and Kugluktuk, NU, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Government of the Northwest Territories, and the Department of the Environment, Government of Nunavut. Together, this team will implement a youth science education program and use interactive classroom presentations, hands-on activities, and education ‘on-the-land’ to teach youth about wildlife biology, health, and management.  

 

International Year of the Salmon

The International Year of the Salmon is a collaborative, international initiative across the northern hemisphere. It aims to elevate the capacity of outreach and research to meet the challenges facing salmon, and the communities associated with them, in a rapidly changing world.  Dr. Craig Stephen CEO of the CWHC, is a member of a steering committee working to develop and launch this initiative. The CWHC experience in managing a multi-institutional consortium, centralizing diverse sources of information and strategic planning are helping shape the International Year of the Salmon.

 

White Nose Syndrome

Bat Week: In October 2016 Canada joined in on Bat Week, an annual event to increase public awareness of bats. We worked with Parks Canada Agency and the Canadian Wildlife Federation to deliver hands on education to the public throughout Canada.

Bat Week Day 4: What can I do?

 

Parks Canada Edubat trunk: Project Edubat, an award winning initiative from the USA, has developed bat trunks; trunks loaded with educational material about bats. We were able to secure a bat trunk for Parks Canada to be used by their interpretive staff throughout the country.

Species at Risk Public Registry

Project EduBat - Creating Bat Champions (Facebook)

 

Bats Astray: In collaboration with Parks Canada Agency, provincial parks, US working group representatives, and others, we have developed an informative brochure about the risks of accidentally translocating bats in umbrellas or awnings of camper vans, how to minimize risk of translocation, and how to safely remove bats when found in/on camping vehicles. The editable format allows campsite managers to add logos and region specific information and contact details before distributing among camping guests.

EMERGING ISSUES


Providing capacity to recognize new and emerging problems has been a foundation of the CWHC’s services to society for 25 years. Our regional centres have played central roles in detecting the first discovery of some diseases in Canada, such as whirling disease in trout in Alberta and snake fungal disease in Ontario. Our scanning surveillance and targeted surveillance programs help to see changes in the range or amount of diseases being seen including white-nosed syndrome in bats. It can help provide assurances that new foci of disease are not emerging in, such as for rabies. Programs like as our avian influenza surveillance system or our collaborations to look for foreign animal diseases in wild boar in Saskatchewan provide assurance to markets. Our surveillance efforts remain adaptable to new conditions. Recently, we implemented new protocols for tick surveillance as part of our contribution to Canada’s climate change preparedness.

 

Whirling disease

Discovery of Whirling Disease in Canada

 

Bats

WNS

White-Nose Syndrome Moves Northwest
White-nose Syndrome News of 2016: The good, the bad, the ugly

Rabies

2 simple ways to prevent the spread of rabies

Outreach

WNS Outreach Projects (PDF)

 

Fungal diseases (WNS, Snake fungal, etc)

Fungal diseases: an emerging threat to wildlife health

 

Wild boar

Researchers Boar into the Ecology and Health of Wild Pigs

Come Together, Right Now, Over Pigs

 

Tick and vector borne

Ghostbusters? No - Tickbusters!

Groundhogs, squirrels, and skunks, oh my!

 

Climate change

The CWHC is addressing climate change directly and indirectly. Indirectly, our scanning surveillance and field investigations provide early warning systems for the emergence of new diseases or mobilization of pollutants as well as the implications of these changes for conservation, public health, and trade. Our more directed climate change actions include advocating for an expanded perspective of the relationship between community climate change resilience and wildlife health. These efforts are also helping expand how public health perceives wildlife – seeing it not only as a source of harm but also as important determinants of community health, especially in rural and indigenous communities. 

Building Northern capacity to monitor wildlife health aims to protect seal, caribou and narwhal resources.

Groundhogs, squirrels, and skunks, oh my!

Ghostbusters? No – Tickbusters!

CWHC: Canada’s Wildlife Watchdogs

Bélugas de la Mer de Beaufort/Belugas of the Beaufort Sea

 

PEOPLE


Staff

National

Craig Stephen – Chief Executive Officer
Patrick Zimmer – Chief Operating Officer
Kevin Brown – Information Services Manager
Bevan Federko – Programmer/Analyst
Chintan Mehta – Programmer/Analyst
Dale Jefferson – Data and Communications Officer
Nadine Kozakevich – Accountant (WCVM)
Nataliya Morgun – Financial Assistant (WCVM)
Jane Parmley – Epidemiologist (Ontario/Nunavut)
Jordi Segers – National White-Nose Syndrome Coordinator (Atlantic)

 

BC

Chelsea Himsworth – Co-Regional Director, Diagnostic Pathologist
Helen Schwantje – Co-Regional Director, Provincial Wildlife Veterinarian
Cait Nelson – Assistant Regional Director, Provincial Wildlife Health Biologist
Vicki Bowes - Avian Pathologist
Tony Redford - Avian Pathologist
Ann Britton – Mammalian Pathologist
Glenna McGregor – Mammalian Pathologist
Steven Raverty – Mammalian Pathologist
Hein Snyman – Fish, Reptile, and Amphibian Pathologist
Erin Zabek – Bacteriologist
Tomy Joseph – Virologist
Nancy Dewith – Epidemiologist
Brian Radke – Public Health Veterinarian
Jane Pritchard – Lab Director and Chief Veterinary Officer

 

Alberta

Susan Kutz – Regional Director
Samuel Sharpe – Wildlife Pathologist
Collin Letain – Coordinating Wildlife Health Technician

 

Western/Northern

Trent Bollinger – Regional Director
Lorraine Bryan – Pathologist
Marnie Zimmer – Wildlife Biologist

 

Ontario/Nunavut

Claire Jardine – Regional Director
Doug Campbell – Veterinary Pathologist
Lenny Shirose – Biologist
David Cristo – Communications and Projects Coordinator
Paul Oesterle – Part-time Wildlife Technician
Erin Scharf – Part-time Wildlife Technician (on maternity leave)
Jane Parmley – Epidemiologist (CWHC National)

Québec

Stéphane Lair – Regional Director
Noémie Suma – Part-Time
Marion Desmarchelier – Part-Time
Kathleen Brown - Laboratory Technician
Judith Viau - Animal Health Technologist
Viviane Casaubon - Wildlife Health Technician

 

Atlantic

Pierre-Yves Daoust – Regional Coordinator
Scott McBurney – Wildlife Pathologist (retired)
Laura Bourque – Wildlife Pathologist
Jordi Segers - National White-Nose Syndrome Coordinator
Darlene Weeks – Wildlife Technician
Fiep de Bie – Wildlife Technician

 

Associates

National Office

Colin Robertson – Wilfred Laurier University
Todd Shury – Parks Canada
Brett Elkin – Government of Northwest Territories
Gordon Stenhouse – Foothills Research Institute Grizzly Bear Research Program

 

BC

Helen Schwantje – Government of BC

 

Alberta

Owen Slater – University of Calgary Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
Susan Cork – University of Calgary Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
Judit Smits – University of Calgary Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
Nigel Caulkett – University of Calgary Faculty of Veterinary Medicine

 

Ontario/Nunavut

Ian Barker – Ontario Veterinary College (retired)

 

Atlantic

Spencer Greenwood – Atlantic Veterinary College
David Overy – Nautilus Bioscience Canada – Atlantic Veterinary College
María Forzán – Atlantic Veterinary College
Gary Conboy – Atlantic Veterinary College
Raphaël Vanderstichel, Atlantic Veterinary College
Ted Leighton – Western College of Veterinary Medicine (retired)