The AVA Annual Conference is the nation’s premier veterinary event, covering all fields of veterinary science and in 2017 brought together over 920 veterinary professionals and 115 exhibitors.
Veterinarians play an essential role in the treatment and rehabilitation of wildlife in Australia. They treat thousands of wildlife casualties every year, developing species specific knowledge and skills. In addition wildlife rescue and rehabilitation allows local communities to become involved in wildlife conservation and management and increases public awareness of local environmental issues. However, it also involves considerable human intervention in the lives of wild animals raising emotional, political, ethical, health, welfare and ecological issues and its contribution to the conservation of wildlife species is debatable. Consequently the practice has become the focus of controversy and debate, and its overall effectiveness remains unclear, as important aspects of the process, such as post-release morbidity, mortality, fecundity and dispersal have not been clearly assessed or studied. There are still large gaps in our knowledge of wildlife rehabilitation, and the priorities for improving wildlife rehabilitation practices all involve veterinarians. These include further research and investigation into post-release outcomes, greater sharing of information among wildlife rehabilitation groups and veterinarians to ensure best practice protocols and to improve animal welfare, greater awareness by state government departments of the role of private veterinarians in wildlife rehabilitation, and for veterinarians to take a more active role in wildlife rehabilitation groups, advising state departments and through public education.
