Established in 1941, the wildlife health laboratory (WHL, formerly the wildlife investigations laboratory) withinthe california department of fish and wildlife (cdfw) is mandated to provide service…

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) received a $1,223,728 Formula Grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior's Fish and Wildlife Service under the Wildlife Restoration and Basic Hunter Education and Safety Program (CFDA 15.611) for the period July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026. This grant supports the operations and services of the Wildlife Health Laboratory (WHL), which investigates, monitors, and manages wildlife population health issues throughout California. The WHL provides disease surveillance, conducts necropsies on wildlife specimens, develops and implements wildlife disease monitoring and management programs, and delivers training to CDFW staff and partner agencies on disease investigations and sampling protocols to assess the health and condition of wildlife populations.

The grant enables the WHL to respond to wildlife morbidity and mortality events across California, including disease outbreaks such as avian influenza, waterfowl botulism, avian cholera, and ungulate hemorrhagic disease. In addition to disease investigation and surveillance activities, the WHL provides leadership in scientific development, including collaborative support for project design, analysis, and reporting. The funding supports veterinarians and biologists who work with CDFW's wildlife management, habitat conservation, and lands divisions to provide expertise and coordination on wildlife health matters that inform harvest regulations and management decisions affecting California's diverse terrestrial wildlife resources.

Established in 1941, the wildlife health laboratory (WHL, formerly the wildlife investigations laboratory) withinthe california department of fish and wildlife (cdfw) is mandated to provide service and expertise to respond toany wildlife morbidity and mortality event in california. This responsibility requires the need for extensivecommunication, coordination, and training with other agencies, cdfw regional and law enforcement staff, and thepublic. This is particularly important for supporting staff in cdfw wildlife management, habitat conservation, and lands (e.g., waterfowl botulism avian cholera, ungulate hemorrhagic disease events, pesticide usage inillegal cannabis grows).the whls mission is to investigate, monitor, and manage wildlife population health issues in california. As thedefinition of health has broadened so has whls duties and responsibilities. In addition to providing leadership, training, and direction for statewide response to wildlife disease and mortality events, wildlife capture, andanimal welfare, WHL has leadership roles in scientific development that includes collaborative support of projectdevelopment, study design, analysis, and reporting. Through these and other roles, the WHL supports and leadsprojects that touch on most aspects of terrestrial wildlife in california. The WHL oversees the collection and analysis of biological samples from wildlife for disease surveillance andmortality morbidity investigations. Veterinarians and biologists at WHL conduct necropsies develop and implementwildlife disease surveillance, monitoring, and management programs and train cdfw staff and partners in diseaseinvestigations and sampling as necessary to monitor the health and condition of wildlife populations and to aidmanagers in evaluating potential effects that may influence harvest regulations. Disease surveillance programsmanaged by the WHL for californias species include, but are not limited to, avian influenza, treponemeassociatedhoof disease (tahd), and mycoplasma ovipneumoniae. Epidemiologic data from these efforts providevaluable information needed for effective wildlife management as animals are affected by drought conditions andhabitat sustainability, wildfire, and emerging infectious diseases, including sars-COV-2 and rabbit hemorrhagicdisease (RHDV2), that are increasing in or threatening wildlife populations. In addition to disease surveillance and management, the WHL supports species management programs at cdfw by providing expertise and training in the safe capture and handling of wildlife, data collection, study design, genetics, and investigations for pesticides and contaminants. The WHL is managing more and more species-relatedsamples and data collected through animal captures and disease investigations. Increasingly, the WHL is providingleadership, training, and expertise for human wildlife conflicts associated with game species such as mountainlions, black bears, coyotes, deer, and ELK.