Overview

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Academic contacts

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Offerings

MURDOCH-S1-EXT-2018-ONGOING
MURDOCH-S1-INT-2018-ONGOING

Enrolment rules

Students must be enrolled in the following: Master of Wildlife Health and Conservation (M1232) or the Master of Veterinary Studies in Conservation Medicine (M1122).

Other learning activities

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Learning activities

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Learning outcomes

1.
Interdisciplinarity Recognise the synergistic roles of veterinarians and non-veterinarians (including biologists/ecologists/environmental scientists) when undertaking wildlife health investigations, highlighting the importance of multidisciplinary approaches to these activities.
2.
Knowledge Able to compare and contrast issues relating to different aspects of wildlife health activities, including legislation, humane euthanasia, species-specific manual and chemical restraint, diagnostic sample collection and storage, and public health/OH&S issues when working with wildlife.
3.
Skills Able to describe the appropriate approach to sample collection for diagnostic testing, humane euthanasia, and handling/restraint, based on taxonomic group(s).
4.
Application Developed the necessary toolkit to plan and conduct wildlife health investigations with due consideration for animal welfare and the legal frameworks governing these activities.

Assessments

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Additional information

Unit content:There are many steps that must be taken to ensure wildlife health and disease investigations are conducted efficiently, ethically, safely (for humans and wildlife), and with appropriate permissions and consultation with key stakeholders. The key to successful wildlife health activities, whether with captive or free-ranging wildlife, is to understand all the different components of a project, where and when to seek advice and further training, and how to line up all the various components at the start so that the program can run smoothly. Beyond this, there are species specific and project specific aspects of sampling and diagnostic test submission and selection that must be incorporated into planning and delivery. This unit will open by discussing common wildlife health activities conducted by biologists and ecologists for conservation purposes, which involve aspects of veterinary science. This will be used to introduce students to the concept of legal frameworks and legislation that govern these activities, creating the need for multidisciplinary approaches. Focus will be given to the Australasian region for legislation and legal frameworks, although the principles apply globally. Students will then explore issues of animal welfare, ethics and humane euthanasia, appropriate to species and activities. This leads into the principles of appropriate handling and restraint for wildlife health investigations and sampling, including the use of manual and chemical restraint. Students will be introduced to the basics of diagnostic sampling in a species-specific framework. Finally, students will gain an insight into health and safety issues of wildlife health investigations with focus on prevention of zoonotic disease transfer.