Biotelemetry System: Infrastructure for assessing disease transmission in wildlife

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The growing human population and associated global habitat fragmentation has increased the transmission of infectious disease from wildlife to domestic animals and humans. An emerging "One World, One Health" paradigm emphasizes that the health of humans, animals, and the environment must be treated as one inseparable whole--yet wildlife health and its link to humans remains the weakest part of our understanding of the system. There is a strong need for research on the factors governing the transmission of diseases among wildlife. Over a decade satellite-based telemetry collars have been used to track movement of large mammals over broad spatial and temporal scales, providing critical, new information to guide governmental agencies. Application to infectious disease spread in wildlife places new demands on equipment for tracking how individual animals interact at fine scales because disease transmission is from animal-to-animal and from sources in the environment. New technologies for telemetry and remote viewing are now making it possible to address these key questions about wildlife disease transmission for the first time. We are requesting funding for infrastructure at the cutting edge of these technologies that allow us to track the actual, intimate contacts (< 1 m) between individual animals. The infrastructure will be used on mule deer in eastern Alberta, one of the only two provinces in Canada where Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), a 100% fatal prion disease related to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle, is now marching across the landscape. Vaccines for CWD are not likely feasible in the near future and harvest management is considered the best, long-term strategy for disease control method even if vaccines become available. The information from these collars is needed to model direct contact rates as part of a long-term harvest management experiment conducted by Alberta Fish and Wildlife for assessing two alternative harvest strategies focused on deer social groups that may be the key drivers in the CWD transmission. The research will lead to science-based management for controlling CWD transmission as part of Canada's National Strategy.