National Wildlife Health Center
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Welcome to the National Wildlife Health Center! Our mission is to advance wildlife health science for the benefit of animals, humans, and the environment.
Explore Science to learn more about wildlife diseases, ongoing projects, the Honolulu Field Station, and services.
Explore Data and Tools to use WHISPers, wildlife bulletins, our field manual, CWD surveillance app, and more.
Science Spotlight: Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease Virus 2
Rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus 2 (RHDV2) has been confirmed for the first time in wild rabbits in the United States.
Learn MoreHonolulu Field Station
The NWHC HFS provides support to the natural resource communities of Hawaii and the Pacific Basin in the investigation of wildlife diseases.
Learn MoreNews
Pathology Case of the Month - Mallard Ducks
Case History: In late December 2019, 25 dead mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) were observed in a retention pond belonging to an adjacent factory in Minnesota.
Pathology Case of the Month - Timber Wolf
Case History: An aged adult male 36 kg Timber Wolf was found dead in the winter of 2003 in northern Wisconsin, USA. The weather was clear and cold, with low temperatures in the negative single digits. Wolf and coyote tracks were present in the area.
National Wildlife Health Center Newsletter June 2020
In this edition of the USGS National Wildlife Health Center (NWHC) newsletter, we are focusing on current and collaborative work on chronic wasting disease (CWD).
View and download the newsletter (PDF).
Publications
An invasive disease, sylvatic plague, increases fragmentation of black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) colonies
ContextA disease can be a source of disturbance, causing population declines or extirpations, altering species interactions, and affecting habitat structure. This is particularly relevant for diseases that affect keystone species or ecosystem engineers, leading to potentially cascading effects on ecosystems.ObjectiveWe investigated the invasion of...
Keuler, Krystal M.; Bron, Gebbiana M.; Griebel, Randall; Richgels, Katherine When and where: Estimating the date and location of introduction for exotic pests and pathogens
A fundamental question during the outbreak of a novel disease or invasion of an exotic pest is: At what location and date was it first introduced? With this information, future introductions can be anticipated and perhaps avoided. Point process models are commonly used for mapping species distribution and disease occurrence. If the time and...
Hefley, Trevor J.; Russell, Robin E.; Ballmann, Anne; Zhang, Haoyu Low-level detection of SFD-causing Ophidiomyces on Burmese Pythons in southwest Florida, with confirmation of the pathogen on co-occurring native snakes
Snake fungal disease (SFD), or ophidiomycosis, is caused by the fungus Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola (Allender et al. 2015; Lorch et al. 2015). SFD is widespread across wild populations in the eastern United States (Lorch et al. 2016) and is known to infect more than 30 species of snake in North America and Europe (Lorch et al. 2016; Franklinos et al...
Glorioso, Brad; Bartoszek, Ian A.; Lorch, Jeffrey M.