Join host Dr. Cat Vendl as she meets Dr. Nick Doidge, zoo veterinarian and researcher, working to save the world's rarest insect – the Lord Howe Island Stick Insect, nicknamed the "tree lobster."

Thought extinct for 80 years, these living fossils were dramatically rediscovered on a volcanic rock stack in the Pacific Ocean. But after bringing them back from just two individuals, a new threat emerged: deadly bacterial infections threatening the entire captive population.

Discover how Nick has developed cutting-edge diagnostic tools to detect the pathogenic bacterial strains ahead of the insects' planned reintroduction to Lord Howe Island next year.

This episode reveals the intricate science behind saving a species that survived impossible odds on a cliff face in the middle of the ocean.

Links

Nick's profile on the One Health Research Group at Melbourne Uni

We'd love to hear from you ... share your thoughts, feedback and ideas.

In honor of International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples on Aug 9, join host Dr. Cat Vendl for a special episode featuring two powerful Indigenous voices in health and healing. Meet Dr. Nicole Redvers, a member of the Deninu K'ue First Nation and Western Research Chair in Indigenous Planetary Health, who reveals how Indigenous healers have always treated humans and animals as interconnected beings. Then hear from Angaangaq, a traditional healer from Greenland whose spiritual mission is to "melt the ice in the heart of men."

From Arctic seal hunting rituals that honor life to the simple power of saying "good morning," discover how Indigenous wisdom about balance, respect, and gratitude offers essential guidance for wildlife health professionals. A transformative conversation about breaking down silos, building bridges between knowledge systems, and remembering that healing begins with recognizing our interconnectedness with all life.

Links

Learn more about Nicole's and Angaangaq's wisdom and work.

We'd love to hear from you ... share your thoughts, feedback and ideas.

Join host Dr. Cat Vendl as she ventures into Uganda's misty mountains to meet Dr. Nelson Bukamba, one of the world's few gorilla doctors providing life-saving veterinary care to our planet's most endangered relatives. Nelson's journey from a heartbroken 10-year-old making a promise to his dying dog Simba to treating wild mountain gorillas is nothing short of extraordinary.

From 3 AM wake-up calls to tracking gorilla families across 321 square kilometers of impenetrable forest, Nelson reveals what it's really like to provide medical care to patients who don't exactly line up for treatment. Discover how these gentle giants weathered the COVID-19 pandemic and how Nelson's cutting-edge research on "cryptic" parasites is unraveling the invisible threads connecting gorilla health to human communities. With fewer than 1,063 mountain gorillas remaining in the wild, Nelson represents a new generation of conservation veterinarians using both field medicine and laboratory science to protect our closest living relatives – one gorilla at a time.

Links
https://www.gorilladoctors.org

https://www.facebook.com/gorilladoctors

https://bsky.app/profile/gorilladoctors.bsky.social

https://www.linkedin.com/company/gorilla-doctors/

We'd love to hear from you ... share your thoughts, feedback and ideas.

Join host Dr. Cat Vendl as she ventures into Wyoming's vast wilderness to meet Dr. Samantha Allen, the state's wildlife veterinarian who juggles budget spreadsheets and helicopter captures of bighorn sheep. From her unforgettable first WDA conference moment wielding a Stryker autopsy saw on a porpoise, Sam shares her journey from small-town kid told she'd only work with "cows and cats" to tackling Wyoming's diverse wildlife health challenges.

Discover how chronic wasting disease has become endemic across Wyoming, why older male deer might be the main disease spreaders, and the surprising prevalence of rabbit hemorrhagic disease since 2020. But perhaps most intriguingly, meet the adorable swift fox—a resilient little species where 92% test positive for parvovirus exposure, raising fascinating questions about disease transmission between wild and domestic animals in America's wild west.

Link
https://wgfd.wyo.gov/wyoming-wildlife/wildlife-disease-and-health

We'd love to hear from you ... share your thoughts, feedback and ideas.

Join host Dr. Cat Vendl as she heads to Vancouver Island to meet Dr. Damien Joly, CEO of the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative – though he insists he's just a "boring old disease ecologist!" But this couldn’t be further from the truth. Discover how Canada's unique cooperative approach tackles wildlife diseases across the world's second-largest country, from bird flu that's here to stay to chronic wasting disease threatening deer and potentially caribou.

Damien shares captivating stories from hunting pandemic viruses in Southeast Asian bats (they found a thousand new viruses with some being very similar to COVID!) and saving Mongolian gazelles from unnecessary culling during disease outbreaks. Learn why diplomatic skills matter more than business acumen when coordinating wildlife health across provinces, and get an insider's preview of the upcoming WDA conference in Victoria – where you might spot orcas from the ferry!

Links

The Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative: https://www.cwhc-rcsf.ca/

Wanna learn more about the upcoming WDA2025 conference? Check out the website: https://www.wda2025.com

We'd love to hear from you ... share your thoughts, feedback and ideas.

Meet Alexandra Youssef, Lebanon's first and only certified wildlife rehabilitator and co-founder and vice-president of the NGO Lebanese Wildlife, based in Beirut. Alexandra fights to save wildlife amid economic collapse, war, and ancient cultural myths that drive species toward extinction. From the striped hyena (Lebanon's national animal, yet its most killed) believed to hypnotize victims, to snakes executed on sight despite most being harmless, Alexandra battles superstition alongside bullets.

Learn how this former nutritionist turned pioneering rehabilitator personally funds rescues while confronting gunshot-wounded raptors, rabies outbreaks, and deep-rooted folklore. Alexandra reveals how war and superstition create a perfect storm for wildlife destruction, yet demonstrates how One Health principles can bridge human survival and conservation – even when caring for bats and hyenas puts her own safety at risk.

A rare glimpse into wildlife rehabilitation where every rescue is an act of defiance, and changing minds may be harder than healing bodies.

We'd love to hear from you ... share your thoughts, feedback and ideas.

Self-described "systems thinker" Dr. Steve Unwin has spent decades working at the human-wildlife interface across four continents and believes we've got our scientific name all wrong. According to Steve, we're not Homo sapiens but Pan narrans: the storytelling ape. Host Dr. Cat Vendl explores Steve's journey from "pretending to be a zoo vet" to creating vital conservation networks and leading Wildlife Health Australia's International One Health Program.
Discover how orangutans taught him patience while conducting "environmental enrichment" experiments on their keepers, why mental health is crucial for wildlife practitioners, and how better storytelling might be our best tool for preventing our own extinction. A refreshing perspective on using compassion and communication to transform wildlife health in an era of growing political isolationism.

Links of the organizations mentioned in this episode that Steve is involved in:
Wildlife Health Australia
PASA
OVAG

We'd love to hear from you ... share your thoughts, feedback and ideas.

In this captivating episode, host Dr. Cat Vendl speaks with zoo veterinarian and researcher Dr. Brett Gardner about the unprecedented rabies outbreak in Cape fur seals along South Africa's coast. Brett reveals how this once-impossible disease jumped from black-backed jackals to marine mammals, creating a new wildlife health crisis.

Discover the detective work behind tracing the virus's origin, the devastating impacts on both seal colonies and human communities, and the race to protect sub-Antarctic species through emergency vaccination programs. Brett also shares insights from his PhD research on Australian fur seals, highlighting how much remains unknown about disease ecology in Southern Hemisphere marine mammals—making this episode essential for anyone interested in emerging wildlife diseases and One Health approaches.

Links

One Health Research Group at the University of Melbourne

Out of the Blue - teaser for the upcoming documentary on the rabies outbreak in cape fur seals in South Africa

Article on the rabies outbreak investigations

Brett's professional Instagram handle: #conservationvet_brett

Footnote:

Brett pointed out that they didn't test the seal the dog came into contact with. The dog being bitten by a seal was not actually witnessed, and the seal wasn't identified or sampled. The dog rabies was linked to seal rabies later via sequencing.

We'd love to hear from you ... share your thoughts, feedback and ideas.