Lian Yeap

This poster presents preliminary findings from a proof of concept trial for satellite tracking of Baudin's cockatoos. The study follows the work by Christine Groom, which is successfully demonstrating that Carnaby's cockatoos can be tracked using satellite transmitters, and a trial which involved attaching transmitter devices to captive black cockatoos of all three species (Le Souef et al. 2013). Two rehabilitated adult female Baudin's cockatoos were anaesthetised and fitted with tail-mounted satellite trackers and released in Kelmscott in September 2012. Prior to release, both birds were health checked and flight tested to demonstrate fitness for release. The movements of the cockatoos were monitored according to Argos satellite transmissions, as well as ground truthing using flock sightings and reception of VHF signals from the satellite units using a radio telemetry antenna. According to their transmissions, the birds initially stayed in the Kelmscott area in close proximity to one another and other groups of Baudin's cockatoos in the area. However, after several days, one of the cockatoos flew south and joined a flock of Baudin's cockatoos migrating further south. Interestingly, during this migration, this bird returned to the Serpentine area from which she was originally found injured. This bird currently remains in the Beela area, 140km southeast of Perth, with other Baudin's cockatoos. The second cockatoo remained in the release area for several weeks before also moving south to Cardup, 33km southeast of Perth, where her transmitter was found two months later, still attached to the tail feathers which had possibly moulted out.

There is increasing recognition of disease as a threatening process for biodiversity conservation, and associated with that the need to study the health of wildlife species within ecological contexts in order to assist recovery efforts to conserve threatened species. This paper discusses postgraduate training initiatives offered by universities and collaborative partner organisations in Australasia, which aim to train veterinarians in the fields of wildlife health and conservation medicine. There are a diverse range of postgraduate training programs offered through coursework and research degrees, as well as clinical residency programs. Postgraduate coursework degrees which are available for veterinarians cover a diverse range of topics including wildlife medicine, conservation medicine, epidemiology, evidence-based clinical practice, and a new unit has recently been developed in comparative pathology of wildlife. Additionally, there have been and continue to be numerous PhD research projects being undertaken by veterinarians in Australasia focusing on disease in wildlife. An interdisciplinary approach is required to address the disease challenges facing biodiversity conservation and fi1rther our understanding in relation to emergence of new diseases in wildlife; associated disease inter-relationships between human, animal and ecosystem health; and the, often anthropogenic, ecological change that affects these health inter-relationships and drives disease emergence. It is hoped that graduates of postgraduate training in wildlife health and conservation medicine will be well placed to address the complex issues associated with the increasing occurrence of disease as a threatening factor to endangered Australasian wildlife, both in practice and at policy level.