BRI’s Wildlife Health Program offers mobile surgical and anesthesia services for procedures such as internal transmitter implantation in avian and mammalian species. BRI’s veterinarians specialize in surgical implantation of satellite transmitters in a variety of avian species, including:

• Surf Scoters
• White-winged Scoters
• Long-tailed Ducks
• Common Eiders in Maine and Massachusetts
• Red-throated Loons
• Northern Gannets

BRI’s wildlife veterinarians have extensive field experience working in a variety of locations across North America and internationally. Our veterinarians can offer assistance with a variety of field needs, including:

• Safe and humane capture/handling of wildlife
• Obtaining blood and other samples
• Best practices for sample handling and storage
• Health assessment of captured animals
• Veterinary oversight for translocation/captive rearing projects
• Training for field staff
• Field necropsy

BRI’s wildlife veterinarians can assist with the planning and implementation of wildlife research and conservation projects. BRI’s veterinarians can work with biologists to develop a health assessment plan that is “custom designed” for each project or species.

Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) approval is an increasingly important part of wildlife research. IACUC oversight of studies involving free-ranging wildlife presents a unique set of challenges for both reviewers and researchers. BRI’s wildlife veterinarians serve as IACUC members through the University of Southern Maine, and are experienced with the many considerations necessary for humane, ethical, and legal conduct of wildlife research. We can assist researchers with protocol development for IACUC review, ensuring all relevant guidelines and requirements are met.

Post-mortem examination (necropsy) of deceased animals is a critical procedure for identifying causes of mortality and collecting tissue samples for further toxicological and disease testing. The vital information gained through necropsy examination can help guide conservation efforts, diseases surveillance, and future research.

BRI’s Wildlife Health Program offers in-house necropsy services through our Wildlife Pathology Lab, and our veterinarians can also provide on-site necropsy of larger species as well as training for biologists. By partnering with board-certified veterinary pathologists at collaborating institutions, we are able to expand our diagnostic capabilities for high-priority cases.

Wildlife epidemiology is the science of understanding health and disease in animal populations (rather than just individual animals). Wildlife epidemiology helps us understand the causes of novel wildlife health problems, determine the importance of health threats to conservation planning and even to understand and manage the risks posed to animal and human health by movement or transport of animals and pathogens around the world.