Wildlife Veterinarian V.S. Wildlife Biologist/Conservationist

[Jboeding]

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Hey Everyone!

I would like everyone's opinion on Wildlife Veterinariy Medicine v.s. Wildlife Bioloy/Conservation; I am having a hard time picking between the two.

Could anyone tell me what each encompasses. I have searched for articles on Wildlife Vets, but they are too few in numbers.

From what I understand, Wildlife Bioloists lead most of the programs and organize everything and how it the conservation efforts will be set up WHILE Wildlife veterinarians are more of the people the wildlife biolgists call in to sedate, stich, or are there to analyze medical problems and such.

Thanks for everything! I would appreciate as much detail as possible!!

Any links to wildlife veterinarians stories and stuff would be great, but I found most of the helpful ones from google.

Thanks!

- Jacob

 

[epivetlove]

I think the major difference between the two is that one is medical (veterinarian) and the other is not. Biologists deal with studying wildlife--population dynamics, environment, habitat, human encroachment, so on and so forth. A wildlife veterinarian is going to be a veterinarian that has knowledge on how to diagnose and treat wildlife species. Though, that's not to say that there isn't any crossing of job duties. Also, becoming a biologist would probably be less time consuming (and easier on the wallet) You could get a MS or PhD in Wildlife Sciences to be more competitive/knowledgeable...

Here's a blog I found. May or may not provide additional insight. 🙂

http://outdoorvets.com/2010/06/28/so-you-want-to-become-a-wildlife-vet-ah/

 

[that redhead]

We literally have just been talking about this a few posts down.

Wildlife veterinarian would deal with the actual "medical" side - medications, surgical procedures, etc, especially in a zoo. A conservationist or biologist could have any number of different roles - rehab, government/legislative work, research, etc.

The best thing to do, as always, is gain experience in your fields of interest.

 

[epivetlove]

Here's a short biography/interview of a wildlife veterinarian in Alaska. Her job deals with a lot of herd health and disease surveillance (which is totally awesome, imo), pathology, immobilization, research, etc.

http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=wildlifenews.view_article&articles_id=128

I love how varied, even within a particular field, veterinary medicine can be. 😍

 

[Jboeding]

Thanks Guys, I will check that post out, I didn't see anything before!

 

[Jess Monster]

I agree with those above, especially in that the two will likely have a huge amount of crossover in function.

I always saw the difference as mostly educational and licensing. Also, someone with the title of "Wildlife Biologist" may have any combination of work experience, a BS, an MS, and/or a PhD. In that sense it is less defined than "Veterinarian" which is a medical degree based title.

Most of the vets I've known who work with wildlife also have an MS or PhD in something that relates to wildlife (they also work in academia so I doubt that's a representative sample).

The biggest benefit of a PhD to me is the focus on research. Same with most types of Master's, really. To my knowledge, field and laboratory research seems to be an optional activity in vet school.

 

[Jboeding]

Great reply! Thanks!

I notice the cross over and it is quite concerning. I am more of a hands on person; I don't know if I would really suit the research and academic field, but I have never done it before so I can not say that with experience. I feel as if the best option for me to do at this point is to volunteer for interships relating to both Wildlife Biology/Conservation compraed to a Wildlife Veterinarian. The hard part now if finding where :O

Thank you again to all!

- Jacob

 

[Jess Monster]

I feel as if the best option for me to do at this point is to volunteer for interships relating to both Wildlife Biology/Conservation compraed to a Wildlife Veterinarian. The hard part now if finding where

Every summer USDA-APHIS-Wildlife Services offers paid internships at the state and federal level (funding permitting). You can search and apply to those through USAjobs.gov whenever they get posted (usually December to February). Depending on your level in school, some can pay rather well for a student position.

 

[adams30]

Wildlife Medicine focuses on diseases that spread amongst or threaten the conservation of wildlife. They also focus on public health and the spread of diseases between humans, domestic animals, and wildlife.

Wildlife vets try to limit these diseases from spreading and promote conservation. Sometimes they also work for fertility to help endangered animals conceive, however this is more along the lines of zoo vet.

Wildlife vets and biologists usually study the genetics of wild animal populations for conservation purposes.

If you are interested in gaining more true wildlife vet experience, I would suggest studying abroad as there are probably more opportunities for students abroad. I did mine in South Africa through my university. There I met wildlife vets for Kruger National Park and they shared stories about their careers and I learned what it is like to be a wildlife vet.

Basically, they told me that their job is 90% research and 10% clinical. They only treat wounds etc if they were human inflicted, ie poachers. Otherwise, they spend their time studying and tracking diseases that affect wildlife and try to stop them in order to preserve conservation, such as bovine tuberculosis.

 

[Elliott Garber]

Great insights from everyone here. I was really torn between these two fields as an undergraduate as well and eventually went with the veterinary route because I decided that I could more easily stay involved in a variety of fields that way.

I did an interview with Dr. Mike Cranfield in which we covered this topic a bit. He's the director and wildlife veterinarian with the Gorilla Doctors, and he has a ton of experience in the zoo and wildlife worlds. You can listen to it or watch a YouTube version here:

http://www.elliottgarber.com/wildlife-veterinarian-dr-mike-cranfield/

 

[WelshCob]

One costs significantly less... 😉

 

[adams30]

One costs significantly less... 😉

👍