Why bother about wildlife disease?

In most developed countries, the maintenance of the numbers of wildlife¹ is vested in the natural resource agencies of those countries. During earlier times, game species were the primary focus of natural resource agencies^2,3 however, current wildlife conservation continues to transition towards a more holistic focus on biodiversity⁴ and environmental health^5,6. Nevertheless, that transition lags behind in addressing wildlife disease in “…the struggle for existence between different forms of life…”.⁷ Thus, the primary objective of this presentation is to provide a pragmatic assessment of wildlife disease that is irrespective of one’s orientation towards wildlife conservation. A secondary objective is to highlight the changing role of disease over time as a wildlife conservation factor. That transition is relevant to the insights provided for current and future efforts focused on sustaining global biodiversity and desired levels of wildlife populations in nature.