OHI

Elephant Seal Colony Declines One Year After Avian Flu Outbreak

The sounds of barking elephant seals are again in the air along the breeding grounds of Península Valdés, Argentina—but it’s quieter. Roughly a year after a massive outbreak of H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza killed more than 17,000 elephant seals, including about 97% of their pups, scientists estimate that only about a third of the elephant seals normally expected here returned.

Seeing the Big Picture

Understanding the interaction between people, animals, plants and their shared environment — collectively known as One Health — has never been so important.

Crude Awakenings

Western snowy plovers, listed as federally threatened under the Endangered Species Act and considered a “species of special concern” in California, were some of the animals rescued by OWCN wildlife responders during the Orange County oil spill.