The Saint Louis Zoo announced plans on September 19 to launch an Institute for Conservation Medicine that will research infectious diseases and their effects on wildlife, domestic animals, our livelihood, and public health.
According to Sharon Deem, director of the Institute, the media paints an inaccurate picture of people extracting diseases from animals, such as SARS and the Avian flu. Zoonotic pathogens, or agents that travel between animals and people, are actually agents that we share—humans are animals. “What has changed in the last 10 to 20 years,” says Deem, “is the way we interact with animals. The connection between humans and animals has become much closer.” To illustrate, Deem points to the interactions between wild and domesticated birds.
With increasing wetland modification and the subsequent influx of areas devoted to production birds, the opportunity for interactions between wild and domesticated birds along migratory routes has increased. Additionally, Deem cites the frightening illegal trade of many bird species and the practices of moving birds (and other animals for consumption) long distances as modes that augment the possibility of transferring pathogens.
In reality, 75 percent of emerging infectious diseases that affect people are related to animals, and 70 percent of those originate from wild animals. But wild animals are not solely to blame: Deem encourages us to consider our domestic livestock. “Those animals have more potential to interact with wildlife than humans do. They can be the link between wildlife and humans,” Deem warns.
Deem is pragmatic but cautious: “We have a lot of mouths to feed on this planet—the human population is reaching 7 billion. But biodiversity in wildlife is very important. We have to meet the needs of humans without destroying the very resources that make it possible for life,” she reiterates.
Perhaps most importantly, Deem values the notion that everything we do in St. Louis today affects the rest of the world: our buying potential, lifestyles, the materials and natural resources we use. “Helping with the conservation of these resources is a type of prevention, which ultimately helps the ecosystem,” Deem explains optimistically. She urges children to get in touch with nature in their own backyards and urges all of us to consider that what we buy and what we are willing to support can go a long way.
To learn more about the goals and projects of the Institute of Conservation Medicine, visit the Saint Louis Zoo’s website: http://www.stlzoo.org/animals/conservationmedicine.htm.
