Although national surveillance systems are maintained for human health (CDC) and for livestock disease (USDA); there is no network or data repository in the area of wildlife disease surveillance. Because emerging and re-emerging diseases severely affect wildlife populations, impact domestic and agricultural animals, and are a reservoir for zoonotic transmission, it is crucial to have early notification and recognition of disease patterns in wildlife populations. Due to fragmented systems of wildlife management, inconsistent investigation into sudden mortality events, and limited laboratory availability, there is not a single entity that is responsible for reporting disease events in North American wildlife populations.
Objective
The USGS National Wildlife Health Center in conjunction with federal, state, tribal partners proposed an event reporting system with current and historic information on wildlife morbidity and mortality events in North America. The vehicle to accomplish this goal is WHISPers, the Wildlife Health Information Sharing Partnership event reporting system. This system depicts laboratory confirmed wildlife mortality events using geospatial mapping capability. Data are collected by multiple partners to collectively enhance the understanding of disease in wildlife populations.