A study conducted in Guatemala, Peru, Cambodia, and Madagascar reveals that rangers are a strategic component for strengthening wildlife health monitoring.
The research, developed by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)—with the participation of Diego Montecino-Latorre from WCS’s Health Program; Luis Guerra (Mesoamerica); Sofía Rosales and Manfredo Martínez (Guatemala); Paulo Colchao-Claux and Jorge Luis Martínez (Peru), among other authors—focused on integrating rangers into wildlife health monitoring systems during their patrols in protected areas.
The study is framed within the One Health approach, which recognizes the interconnection between the health of ecosystems, animals, and people. From this perspective, changes in wildlife health can serve as early warning signals of potential health risks.
Through training and the use of the SMART for Health digital tool, rangers are able to identify and record health events during control and surveillance patrols. These events may include the presence of sick, injured, or dead animals, as well as the presence of healthy individuals and relevant environmental conditions at the same site. This approach allows for the identification of biological and environmental threats, including infectious diseases, poisoning, pollution, mortality events, and effects derived from interactions among wildlife, livestock, and humans.
In Guatemala, the work was carried out in key areas of the Maya Biosphere Reserve, including Tikal National Park, Laguna del Tigre National Park, Sierra del Lacandón National Park, Yaxhá-Nakum-Naranjo National Park, and Mirador-Río Azul National Park, as well as forest concessions and biotopes. Participating institutions included the National Council of Protected Areas (CONAP), WCS Guatemala, the Center for Conservation Studies (CECON) of the University of San Carlos of Guatemala, the Foundation for the Defense of Nature, and the Foundation for Ecodevelopment and Conservation (FUNDAECO).
In Peru, implementation began in Lachay National Reserve, the Ancón Reserved Zone, and the Pantanos de Villa Wildlife Refuge, under the leadership of the National Service of Natural Protected Areas (Sernanp) with support from WCS. However, following the arrival of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 in 2022, Sernanp expanded the recording of health events across the entire system of protected natural areas, training rangers in 39 of the 76 areas that make up the system. By the end of 2023, rangers had recorded more than 1,000 mortality or disease events, mainly in seabirds along the Peruvian coast, as well as in other species such as green turtles, vicuñas, and primates. This process has made it possible to document events that were not previously recorded systematically and to advance toward consolidating a national-scale monitoring system across more than 70 protected areas.
Globally, the initiative has trained more than 250 rangers in over 50 protected areas, generating information on the presence of sick, injured, or dead animals and the conditions under which these events occur. This makes it possible to identify patterns, risk areas, and potential outbreaks, especially in contexts where formal surveillance systems are limited.
The results show that integrating rangers into wildlife health monitoring is a viable, scalable, and low-cost strategy. It also contributes to strengthening biodiversity conservation and improving preparedness for emerging diseases.
In a global context where prevention is key, rangers—traditionally focused on territorial protection—are also emerging as key actors in the health surveillance of ecosystems.
👉 Read the full study here: https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cobi.70241