Essentials of Disease in Wild Animals (PDF)

The interrelationship between wild animal, domestic animals and
human health is appreciated now more than ever before. This is
because of the recognition of the involvement of wild animals in
diseases of humans and domestic animals, the impact of disease on
wildlife management and conservation biology, recognition of new
forms of environmental contamination, and academic interest in
disease as an ecological factor.

This is the first introductory level book about disease in wild
animals that deals with basic subjects such as the nature of
disease, what causes disease, how disease is described and
measured, how diseases spread and persist and the effects of
disease on individual animals and populations. In contrast to
authors of many other veterinary books, Gary A. Wobeser takes a
more general approach to health in wild animals, recognizing that
disease is one ecological factor among many and that disease can
never be considered satisfactorily in isolation. Rather than focus
on individual causative agents and their effect on the individual
animal, the emphasis is on why disease occurred, and on the complex
interactions that occur among disease agents, the environment and
host populations.

Written by a leading researcher in wildlife diseases, this book
will fill a knowledge gap for those called to work with disease in
wild animals who lack experience or training in the general
features of disease as they relate to wild animals. Veterinarians,
ecologists, wildlife biologists, population biologists and public
health workers will find this book invaluable.