News

News

(October 28, 2019) Rapid and profound socio-ecological changes are driving a species extinction crisis while severely impacting the health—of people, wildlife, domesticated animals, and plants. Immediate action is imperative. On October 25th, the Wildlife Conservation Society and the German Federal Foreign Office convened the One Planet, One Health, One Future conference, including top minds from around the globe addressing how human development and interference on nature are generating threats aff...

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(October 17, 2019) "It's not for the faint of heart" said Dr. Karesh — a former chief field veterinarian at the Wildlife Conservation Society —  referring to an unusual research project where our scientists and rangers have worked under extremely challenging conditions deep in the forests of the Congo for the past 12 years, trying to predict human Ebola outbreaks by detecting them first in apes and other forest animals:New York Times: You’re Swabbing a Dead Gorilla for Ebola.Then I...

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(September 25, 2019) While often vilified, bats actually bring many irreplaceable benefits to their ecosystems. They benefit caves by providing valuable nutrients in their guano (which is an excellent fertilizer, and is sometimes also used for crops!); they feed on huge volumes of insects each night including agricultural pests and mosquitoes; many plants rely on bats for pollination and seed dispersal; bats serve as prey for falcons, hawks, owls and other predators; and study of their unique features, such as echol...

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(September 25, 2019) GPS tracking devices placed on hammer-headed bats in the Republic of the Congo have given scientists the first detailed look at the daily routines of these suspected Ebola virus reservoirs.  The GPS tracking is part of a collaborative study involving WCS' Health Program and the United States' National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID), to learn whether environmental factors—such as the length of the rainy season or high temperatures during the dry season—a...

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(September 01, 2019) WCS colleagues advocated for wildlife at the 18th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP18) to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in Geneva, with the Mongolia wildlife health team leading efforts to save Saiga, by working with the governments of Mongolia and the USA to have saiga listed in Appendix 1 during the CITES CoP18. Inclusion of saiga on Appendix I of CITES will help ensure that international commercial trade will not c...

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