The Nordic Wildlife Disease Association (nWDA) Conference

May 19–21, Samsø, Denmark

The 2025 biannual meeting of the Nordic Wildlife Disease Association (nWDA) brought together wildlife health professionals from across the Nordic region for three days of knowledge exchange, field visits, and collaborative discussions. Hosted partly on University of Copenhagen and on the island of Samsø, Denmark, the meeting focused on current challenges, research and surveillance of wildlife diseases in Fennoscandinavia.

The program began with a workshop held at the University of Copenhagen titled “Rewilding in a wildlife disease perspective – interfaces between wildlife and animals in rewilding and extensive production systems.” This agenda included presentations on disease risks related to the introduction of European bison, bluetongue virus (BTV) surveillance in wild ruminants, and parasite transmission linked to translocated animals. Participants also addressed the practical realities of rewilding from the perspective of field veterinarians and concluded with a broader discussion of surveillance needs, knowledge gaps, and opportunities for Nordic networking and collaboration.

Following the workshop, participants travelled to Samsø for the main conference. Over two days, they presented and discussed a wide range of wildlife health topics. Talks included updates on Echinococcus canadensis in moose, PCV2 in wild boar, lead exposure in brown bears, and the spread of fibropapillomatosis in deer. Sessions also featured updates from national surveillance programs from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland, and recent developments in research on chronic wasting disease (CWD), avian influenza in mammals, and health status in the Saimaa ringed seal in Finland.

The scientific program was complemented by field excursions on Samsø, including a guided walk at Issehoved, the northern tip of Samsø, where local nature managers work to control invasive species in collaboration with the Nature Agency.

The nWDA 2025 meeting reinforced the value of regional collaboration and interdisciplinary perspectives in wildlife health. The combination of field-based knowledge, scientific updates, and open discussion helped identify shared priorities, from improving pathogen surveillance and tissue archives, to investigating disease problems with a potentially complex disease aetiology, including mortality associated with diarrhea in moose and roe deer.

Images courtesy of Lars Folkman, Jørn Våge, Anne Sofie Hammer, Henrik Uhlhorn and Tim Kåre Jensen.