Forest Preserves of Cook County is home to nation’s first wildlife residency program

The Forest Preserves of Cook County is home to the nation’s first wildlife residency program that meets the rigorous standards of the American College of Zoological Medicine – the certifying body for veterinary specialists in zoo and wildlife medicine.

Launched one year ago in July 2022, the Illinois Zoological and Wildlife Health Management Residency is a collaboration between the Chicago Zoological Society, which manages Brookfield Zoo; the Forest Preserves of Cook County; and the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine, according to a news release.

The program, which is a three-year residency with advanced training in veterinary science, aims to build critically needed knowledge about the health of wild animal populations in both urban and suburban settings. The wildlife resident provides professional veterinary medical services for Forest Preserves field programs and conducts and assists with laboratory and field research dedicated to maintaining wildlife and ecosystem health in Cook County.

In the year since the program launched, the first resident of the program, Dr. John Winter, along with staff from the three partner institutions, have made several important discoveries related to local wildlife health, including:

• A new virus found in invasive red-eared slider turtles was identified for the first time in native, endangered Blanding’s turtles;
• Locally tested coyotes are negative for canine influenza, which means they cannot be the source of cases found in domestic dogs in the Chicagoland area; and
• Adenovirus – a disease that can affect the reproductive health – has been discovered for the first time in Illinois wood ducks.

“Our new wildlife residency program is underway at a significant time. Fewer than half the states in the U.S. have wildlife veterinarians,” Dr. Sathya Chinnadurai, senior vice president of animal health and welfare for the Chicago Zoological Society, said in the release. “Using proven frameworks in training post-graduate veterinarians in wildlife and ecosystem health, this initiative prepares residents to join the field’s growing workforce and contribute to wildlife conservation, supporting population health of our local animals like deer, coyotes, turtles, birds, fish and many more. We hope this program can serve as a model for other states and organizations nationwide to collaborate in support of wildlife health.”

Covering nearly 70,000 acres, the Forest Preserves of Cook County is one of the oldest and largest forest preserve districts in the country. Forest Preserves staff lead data collection and research efforts to improve land management practices to maximize biodiversity, with a long history of studying wildlife to understand the transmission of zoonotic diseases to protect public health and the interaction between these diseases, flora, and fauna, according to the release.

Thanks to broad wildlife conservation efforts, the population numbers of several local species are stable or increasing. However, changes in landscape features and species composition, emerging diseases, and the increasing human population continue to threaten the health and populations of other local wildlife species.

“We have been conducting field research in the preserves with a variety of partners for decades, but the residency program brings the Forest Preserves to another level of monitoring the health of the local animal populations,” Chris Anchor, senior wildlife biologist with the Forest Preserves of Cook County, said in the release. Already in the first year, with clinical health assessments now available, we have several new findings that would have taken years to discern in the past. Because of this partnership and residency, we know more about what is normal and what is extraordinary in terms of the diseases that can be found in the animals that live in this area.”

Rotating between the Forest Preserves and Brookfield Zoo, Winter is integrally involved in the wildlife health management of a variety of animal populations, including white-tailed deer, Blanding’s turtles, soft-shelled turtles, North American river otters, snakes, several populations of raptors, coyotes, several species of shore and aquatic birds, and various fish species. Additionally, the resident receives clinical experience with animals at Brookfield Zoo and at the Wildlife Epidemiology Lab at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.

Winter has a strong passion for conservation medicine and previously completed a one-year wildlife medicine internship sponsored by Partners for Wildlife at the Progressive Animal Welfare Society Wildlife Center in Lynnwood, Wash., and Washington State University. He received his veterinary degree from the University of Illinois, where he studied Blanding’s and eastern box turtles while also working with a variety of other native species as a student fellow. Winter graduated with a bachelor’s degree in zoology and psychology from the University of Florida.

Dr. Matt Allender, a clinical veterinarian at Brookfield Zoo and director of the Wildlife Epidemiology Lab at the University of Illinois, serves as the primary mentor to Winter. His clinical and research skills in the field of wildlife medicine helped to develop this position into a preeminent wildlife health training program in the country.

“The Forest Preserves has an extensive track record in monitoring urban and suburban wildlife health and our resident has the opportunity to train with some of the world’s best biologists,” Allender said. “One year in and we’re already uncovering significant information on the health and wellness of local species, and now with that knowledge in hand, conservationists and biologists are better equipped to preserve and improve the environment for animals and humans alike.”

In total, nearly 20 veterinary mentors across Brookfield Zoo, the Forest Preserves of Cook County and the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine will engage with Winter – further strengthening the partnership between the institutions as they work to preserve wildlife. The program draws upon the University of Illinois’ wildlife and conservation medicine programs based in Urbana-Champaign.

CZS and its partners have trained veterinary residents in the medicine of zoo and aquarium animals for many years, but this is the first time a program is focused on wild animals. As the initiative develops and grows over time, CZS hopes to scale up the program to support additional animals and areas.