The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is a nonprofit organization headquartered at the Bronx Zoo in New York City that saves wildlife and wild places worldwide through science, conservation action, education and inspiring people to value nature. WCS addresses global conservation challenges in over 50 countries in Africa, Asia, the Americas, and the world’s oceans as well as manages the Bronx Zoo, Central Park Zoo, Queens Zoo, Prospect Park Zoo, and the New York Aquarium. Since our founding in 1895, WCS has harnessed our veterinary expertise to save wildlife and wild places around the globe. From providing specialized care to over 16,000 animals at our New York City zoos and aquarium, and in local and international field projects, to tackling health challenges at the interface of wildlife, domestic animal, and human health around the world, WCS veterinarians, epidemiologists, and other health science professionals collectively represent an unparalleled constellation of capabilities.
About One World - One Health™
Recent outbreaks of Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever, West Nile Virus, Zika Virus, MERS, SARS, Monkeypox and Avian Influenza remind us that human and animal health are intimately connected. A broader understanding of health and disease requires a unity of approach achievable only through a confluence of human, domestic animal and wildlife health - One Health. Phenomena such as species loss, habitat degradation, pollution, invasive alien species, and global climate change are fundamentally altering life on our planet from terrestrial wilderness and ocean depths to the most densely populated cities.
The rise of emerging infectious diseases threatens not only humans (and their food supplies and economies), but also the fauna and flora comprising the biodiversity that supports the living infrastructure of our world. No one discipline or sector of society has enough knowledge and resources to prevent the emergence or resurgence of diseases in today’s globalized world and no one nation can reverse the patterns of habitat loss and extinction that can and do undermine the health of people and animals. Only by breaking down barriers among agencies, individuals, specialties and sectors can we liberate the innovation and expertise needed to meet the many challenges to the health of people, domestic animals, and wildlife and to the integrity of ecosystems. The WCS Health Programs are working towards adaptive, forward-looking and multidisciplinary solutions to the challenges that lie ahead. To win the disease battles of the 21st Century while ensuring the biological integrity of the Earth for future generations requires interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral approaches to disease prevention, surveillance, monitoring, control and mitigation as well as to environmental conservation more broadly.
The 2019 Berlin Principles on One Health
The 2004 Manhattan Principles supporting a One World - One Health™ approach
www.oneworldonehealth.org