The Last Wolves

Connecting villagers to local governments and researchers is important to controlling possible disease outbreaks at their source. The One Health disease protection program, also known as PODD, uses funding from Ending Pandemics, a San Francisco nonprofit, to run an app and system through which villagers and local officials can interface with health organizations. A special app developed translates local languages and transmits information back to organizations, agencies, and researchers at local universities.

Ebola is a highly contagious deadly disease that can wipe out dozens of people in a community if it goes untreated or undetected. However, there is now a vaccine that can be given to anyone who may have come into contact with an infected person, allowing healthcare providers to stop ebola epidemics before they start.

Westerners' fear of infection of Ebola motivated a vaccine in record time, but a preventive system put in place could ensure similar results for other viruses before they reach the same magnitude.

New Mexico's new legislation fundamentally transforms its wildlife agency through three key reforms: expanding the mission beyond hunting/fishing to include all species conservation, securing new funding through increased license fees, and overhauling governance to require expertise-based appointments. While the state is still waiting for all the changes to take effect, early indicators show this new legislation is inspiring other states, providing a model to refer to for modernizing wildlife management.

Local agencies tasked with controlling disease-spreading organisms are releasing sterile male mosquitoes to help reduce the pest’s population and prevent the spread of dengue. This strategy has decreased the mosquito population by about 82% in parts of Southern California, marking the first time in eight years that the population has declined instead of increased.

In collaboration with local government and organizations, The Carter Center launched an initiative to curb the spread of neglected tropical diseases, like river blindness. Throughout the initiative, the Center provided health education to rural communities most affected by the disease and also led a mass drug administration of Mectizan, which is known to kill the parasite that causes river blindness. Over 20 years, the Center administered 27 million doses of the medication, effectively eliminating the disease.

The Pangolin Conservation Guild Nigeria is a nonprofit educating the public on the importance of the declining pangolin population, the laws against hunting them, and how to keep them from going extinct. The organization also contains a task force to rescue captured pangolins and return them to the wild.

Scientists and conservationists reintroduced the pool frog to England after proving that the species was once native to the country but had gone extinct. Members of the species, ranging from tadpoles to mature frogs, were collected in Sweden and then introduced to two different sites in England. The efforts have been successful, with populations dispersing on their own to other locations in the region.

A collaboration between the state government, tribal councils, and conservation organizations has allowed the greater one-horned rhino to make a comeback in India. Since this initiative started, the rhino population in Manas National Park has increased to almost 3,000. The program is largely successful because it sought buy-in from locals and they converted poachers into conservationists by offering them a monthly stipend.

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative coordinated a coalition of national governments and nonprofits to eradicate polio and may provide lessons for administering COVID-19 vaccines. GPEI helped with funding and the procurement and supply of vaccines. A network of local partners carried out vaccination initiatives and designed micro-planning strategies to reach high-risk relevant populations. Nigeria built cold chain storage, transport, and distribution systems to handle the polio vaccine, as well as a vaccine accountability management system that monitors and tracks vials throughout vaccine administration.