Zoo disease management practitioners gather to build advanced oversight system

The National Wildlife Disease Management Institute, under the Ministry of Climate, Environment and Energy, said Wednesday it is hosting a "Zoo Disease Management Practitioners' Council and International Academic Seminar" at the Onoma Hotel in Yuseong-gu, Daejeon.

The event is organized by the institute and co-hosted by the Korean Association of Zoo and Aquarium Veterinarians. About 100 participants are expected, including veterinarians and zookeepers responsible for disease management at zoos nationwide, as well as officials from metropolitan and provincial environmental agencies and veterinary colleges.

At the event, the institute will present its zoo disease management guidelines, covering routine disease control, response measures when captive animals fall ill, and procedures for requesting disease diagnosis. Participants will also discuss how to establish and institutionalize a zoo disease management system.

At the international academic seminar, veterinarians from Ueno Zoo in Japan and Ocean Park in Hong Kong will share clinical cases from their respective institutions, while Kim Dae-yong, a professor at Seoul National University's College of Veterinary Medicine, will present necropsy and diagnostic cases from domestic zoos.

Veterinarians from Seoul Grand Park Zoo, Gwangju Uchi Zoo and Everland will then share cases from their own clinical practice.

The institute and a research team led by Kim Gyu-tae, a professor at Kyungpook National University, will also present findings from the first nationwide survey of major zoos in South Korea. The survey identified zoonotic intestinal pathogens — Giardia (found in African crested rats) and Enterocytozoon bieneusi (found in lynxes and spotted seals) — that can spread between humans and animals.

The findings were published Sept. 23 in One Health, an international academic journal covering integrated health management across humans, animals and the environment.

Lee Chang-gyu, director of the National Wildlife Disease Management Institute, said he hopes the event will serve as an opportunity to share disease management experience from zoos at home and abroad and to help the zoo disease management guidelines take root in practice. "We will continue to do our best to support the health of animals kept at zoos," Lee said.