Special Species Symposium
The Special Species Symposium is a weekend-long event bringing together students and professionals interested in veterinary medicine and animal management as it relates to non-traditional species, including zoo animals, wildlife, exotics, aquatics, and pocket pets.
Hosted by the Zoo and Wildlife Society (ZAWS), this entirely student-run conference brought together passionate minds from across the U.S. and Canada to explore topics in zoo, wildlife, exotic, and conservation medicine.
An introduction to Dr. Marinkovich’s journey towards achieving his dream of becoming a Clinical Veterinarian at the San Diego Zoo.
Last week, the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine hosted the Special Species Symposium to shine a light on various topics within the fields of zoo, exotic, and wildlife medicine. The Symposium brought speakers from a variety of backgrounds as well as students from Cornell, University of Pennsylvania, and University of Montreal together to discuss these fields.
The SSS is a student-led and faculty-supported symposium, the goal of which is to supplement our veterinary curriculum and provide students from near and far with the opportunity to learn more about these amazing species. Since 1991, when Dr. Kearns planned the first Special Species Symposium, the Symposium has expanded into a yearly event in partnership with the University of Pennsylvania’s College of Veterinary Medicine. Over the past 26 years, our curriculum at Cornell University has also expanded to include varied coursework and opportunities to explore wildlife, zoo and exotic medicine within the school, hospital, Wildlife Health Center, Wildlife Health Initiative, and abroad through Expanding Horizons and Engaged Cornell. We chose climate change for the theme for the 2017 Special Species Symposium because we recognize the need for veterinarians to play an important role in helping wildlife, domestic species and humans thrive in a warming climate. Climate change affects all living creatures on Earth; from changing habitats to changing disease transmission patterns, a warming climate provides important and difficult challenges for veterinarians to tackle for years to come. Although the term has become commonplace, climate change is causing very real changes to wildlife and wild spaces, and we want to shed light on what veterinarians and wildlife biologists are doing to intervene. We hope that as the years go on, the SSS will continue to inspire students to pursue careers that involve “special species” and help participants become climate conscious veterinarians.
Registration is now open for the Special Species Symposium, a weekend-long event bringing together students and professionals interested in veterinary medicine and animal management as it relates to so-called “special species,” including zoo animals, wildlife, exotics, and pocket pets. Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine and University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine host the event in alternating years. This year, our program will address how climate change is altering species survival, and what veterinarians are doing and can do to mitigate the negative effects of climate change.
