The contraception-based approach to wildlife management is a humane and effective alternative to population control methods. Wildlife management only has a few conventional ways to control overpopulation, such as culling, translocation, poisoning, and allowing natural death. Nevertheless, these methods usually have short-term, lethal, and unethical effects. The present systematic review aims to review the knowledge on contraception reported in long-tailed macaques as an alternative to population control. We obtained 719 records from searching CABI, PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Scopus electronic databases. After the screening and selection process, according to PRISMA guidelines, 19 articles that met the eligibility criteria were chosen. Of the 19 articles, 15 were studies on female long-tailed macaque contraception methods (six (6) hormonal and nine (9) non-hormonal). We analyzed four (4) selected articles on male Cynomolgus monkey contraception methods (two (2) hormonal and two (2) non-hormonal). One of the nine (9) articles on female long-tailed macaque contraception reports negative results. Furthermore, only two (2) studies used free-ranging long-tailed macaques as test subjects, while seventeen (17) tested on captive ones. The challenges of long-tailed macaque contraception identified in this review were the effectiveness of the contraceptive, the administration route, the economic feasibility, the distinction between captive and free-ranging Cynomolgus macaques, the choice of permanent or reversible contraception, the capability of contraceptive use for population control, and the lack of studies on the free-ranging long-tailed macaque. Notwithstanding the literature gap on long-tailed macaque contraception for population control, long-tailed macaque contraception exhibits potential as an alternative method to culling long-tailed macaque. Future research should address these obstacles to support the long-tailed macaque contraception as an alternative population control method.

Canine Distemper Virus (CDV) is a highly contagious disease that affects a wide range of wildlife species, posing a serious threat to biodiversity and conservation efforts. Despite its ecological significance, the transmission dynamics of CDV in wildlife remain poorly understood, especially in tropical ecosystems. One of the main challenges in studying CDV transmission is the lack of reliable epidemiological data and the difficulty in capturing and monitoring wild animals for surveillance purposes. Thus, this study aims to develop a model to estimate the potential transmission of CDV in wildlife populations using spatial heat mapping and the basic reproduction number (R₀) as key indicators. A combination of field observation records, environmental data, and reported CDV cases were used to generate predictive heat maps and simulate disease spread across susceptible wildlife hosts. Results showed that certain environmental factors and animal density hotspots significantly contribute to higher transmission potential of CDV. Preliminary results suggest that high-risk zones can be identified based on overlapping wildlife movement corridors and human interface areas. This modeling approach offers a valuable tool to guide targeted monitoring, early detection and conservation strategies against CDV outbreaks in wildlife.

The One Health (OH) approach, which seeks to bring together human and animal health, is particularly suited to the effective management of zoonotic diseases across both sectors. To overcome professional silos, OH needs to be taught at the undergraduate level. Here, we describe a problem-based learning activity using the OH approach that was conducted outdoors for 3rd-year veterinary students in Malaysia. A total of 118 students, divided into two groups, completed the activity which spanned 1½ days at a deer park adjacent to a wilderness area. Students were asked to evaluate the activity using an online survey that had quantitative and qualitative components. Response rate was 69.5%. The activity was rated excellent by 69.5% and good by 30.4%. Levels of satisfaction were high on a range of criteria. 97.5% of students intended to take action in their studies as a result of what they had learned. Delivery of an outdoor problem-based learning activity using OH approach was very successful in terms of participation, knowledge delivery and understanding, and the willingness of students to integrate OH into their future practice. For the improvement of future programs, the involvement of other disciplines (such as Medical, Biology, Biotechnology, Biomedical, and Public Health) is being considered.

The involvement of veterinary medicine in wildlife research has played an important role in understanding the health status of various wildlife species. Health status is a very important aspect of species conservation. However, it requires a widely employed knowledge of veterinary clinical pathology, as a diagnostic tool in diagnosing the various disease conditions of wildlife species. Notwithstanding, a gap exists in the literature about the clinical pathology of the false gharial, due to the lack of normal reference values for hematological and serum biochemical analysis. The present study investigated the normal blood profile of 10 healthy false gharials, from two different zoos, and wildlife conservation centers located in three different states of Peninsular Malaysia. Blood samples were collected from the lateral caudal vein and divided into a vacutainer without anticoagulant for biochemical analysis, and a lithium heparin vacutainer (containing sodium heparin) for hematological studies. The results of the study indicated that the false gharial has a smaller erythrocyte dimension compared to other crocodilian species. At the same time the study revealed that the false gharial in a natural captive pond showed more leukocytes than false gharial kept in zoos, hence, habitat and environmental factors significantly affect hematological values. The biochemistry values also showed differences between the false gharial in different environmental conditions. Total protein, albumin (Alb), globulin (Glob), and Alb: Glob ratio were higher in false gharials kept in wildlife conservation centers than in false gharials kept in zoos. The values obtained in this study provide baseline data of hematological and serum biochemical values of the false gharial for future research and routine clinical diagnosis.

Understanding the reproductive behaviors of different wildlife species is essential to unravel their reproductive strategies, ecological adaptations, and conservation requirements. This study delved into the reproductive biology of the sambar deer (Rusa unicolor), with a focus on promoting assisted reproductive technology for wildlife conservation and investigating the reproductive behaviors of male and female sambar deer. The study was conducted at Pusat Konservasi Hidupan Liar (PKHL) Sungkai, Perak, Malaysia. The observation focused on one male and two female sambar deer. Direct observations of the deer were conducted for 14 days in September 2022. The direct observations were performed in the morning (Session 1= 8-10 am), afternoon (Session 2 = 10-12 pm), and evening (Session 3= 3-5 pm), using the instantaneous sampling method. A total of 75 behavior instances were recorded, in which male deer exhibited the most reproductive behavior at 58 instances (77.3% of the total reproductive behavior). Successful mating was observed on day 6, elucidating a crepuscular preference in the male animal in exhibiting reproductive behavior. The female’s reproductive behavior lasted for a short period, from 24 hours for Female 2 and 72 hours for Female 1. In conclusion, there was a distinct behavior between the male and female deer during the rutting season. Understanding the reproductive behavior to estimate the length of estrus can be useful as a non-invasive tool to detect heat and can be considered to improve breeding management and implement assisted reproductive technology.

Farms that are neighboring wildlife sanctuaries are at risk of spillover infection from wildlife, and the objective of this research is to examine the species diversity of Malaysian fruit bats in livestock farm in determining the possible risk of spill over infection to livestock