Applying the Resist-Accept-Direct Framework to Wildlife Health Management

Abstract

Wildlife diseases can have substantial impacts on wildlife health as well as human and domestic animal health and well-being. As a result, many agencies share a goal of reducing wildlife disease spread and impacts. In practice, however, reducing wildlife disease burden is complicated by a scarcity of effective interventions, competition for funds, and conflicting priorities. Agencies are unlikely to successfully avoid the impacts of wildlife disease in all contexts and instead need to evaluate where resisting disease is most feasible and beneficial. The resist-accept-direct (RAD) framework is a tool that assists natural resource managers in exploring and communicating about management interventions, including in situations where resisting ecological changes may not be possible. The RAD framework has gained traction in climate adaptation planning but has not yet been applied to wildlife health management issues. Here, we illustrate how the RAD framework could be adapted to wildlife disease contexts to address several outstanding challenges in wildlife health management.