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.
Chief Executive Officer, CWHC
Chief Operations Officer, CWHC
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: 497Our website includes up-to-date numbers on the Quarterly Reports page.
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 |
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
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 |
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) |
Parks Canada
Environment and Climate Change Canada
Canadian Food Inspection Agency
Public Health Agency of Canada
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.
To promote and protect the health of wildlife and Canadians through leadership, partnership, investigation, and action
A world that is safe and sustainable for wildlife and society
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.
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.
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.
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.
Dissecting Animal Health: CWHC Western/Northern Hosts Necropsy Course
CWHC-Atlantic Performs Blue Whale Necropsy
CWHC Annual Workshop Agenda 2017 (PDF)
CWHC Annual Workshop 2016: An Atlantic and Canadian Perspective on Wildlife Health
2016 INCDNCM Conference: Important Dates
2016 Muskox Health Ecology Symposium
CWHC Snake Fungal Disease Threat Assessment (PDF)
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)
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.
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.
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:
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.
Urban Rats – Does the City Environment Increase Potential Risks to Human Health? (U of Guelph)
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
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
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.
Groundhogs, squirrels, and skunks, oh my!
Ghostbusters? No – Tickbusters!
CWHC: Canada’s Wildlife Watchdogs
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Discovery of Whirling Disease in Canada
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
Fungal diseases: an emerging threat to wildlife health
Researchers Boar into the Ecology and Health of Wild Pigs
Come Together, Right Now, Over Pigs
Ghostbusters? No - Tickbusters!
Groundhogs, squirrels, and skunks, oh my!
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.
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
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)
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
Susan Kutz – Regional Director
Samuel Sharpe – Wildlife Pathologist
Collin Letain – Coordinating Wildlife Health Technician
Trent Bollinger – Regional Director
Lorraine Bryan – Pathologist
Marnie Zimmer – Wildlife Biologist
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)
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
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
Colin Robertson – Wilfred Laurier University
Todd Shury – Parks Canada
Brett Elkin – Government of Northwest Territories
Gordon Stenhouse – Foothills Research Institute Grizzly Bear Research Program
Helen Schwantje – Government of BC
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
Ian Barker – Ontario Veterinary College (retired)
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)