The Foundations of Wildlife Chemical Capture

The online Foundations of Wildlife Capture course was a fantastic! I highly recommend it for both those who want to be more knowledgeable and confident when assisting in field captures as well as those looking for a refresher. I really appreciated that the instruction was both technical as well as considerate of the ethical aspects. As Dr. Mark says in one of the lectures "There are ways of being and ways of doing". I think the course achieves both!

Along with the other reviews posted here, I too recommend ‘The Foundations of Wildlife Chemical Capture’ online course for a wide variety of professionals. Without repeating the previous positive comments, all of which resonate with my experience, it seems clear to me that the course has been very thoughtfully created and updated, striking a balance of instruction in theory, ethics, technical procedures, legal concerns, equipment, and more. There is a great mix of videos to demonstrate techniques and illustrate points being made along with complementary written text full of useful information. There is also no scarcity of extra resources (videos, scientific studies, diagrams, field forms) available to the student to further enlarge the scope of the learning as well as to back up claims made and encourage further research. As a veterinarian, even for those areas where I am quite confident (drug handling, dosages, calculations, blood draws, etc.) I was consistently presented with very helpful nuggets that will doubtless help me improve.

Dr. Mark brings his whole self to the course: respect for the animal, passion, knowledge, experience and all, and is reliably available for comments and questions. I am very glad to have found this course and I would gladly endorse it for anyone interested.

I fully recommend taking Dr. Mark's Foundations of Wildlife Chemical Capture course to anyone working with wildlife, or considering it in the future. This is a great online course which goes from absolute basics through to anesthetics and complications. Within the course there are great bits of advice in all components of wildlife capture. There is a lot of professional experience that is shared within and the tips, guides, and videos all excellently demonstrate how to confidently perform these procedures. Additionally, Dr. Mark always has time to discuss things and is such a great person to talk to. Whether you're completely new to wildlife chemical capture, or are looking for a good refresher, this is a course I would certainly recommend.

I took this course while in veterinary school in order to prepare for a career in wildlife and conservation medicine and it was so helpful! It reinforced many of the things I learned in school as well as gave detailed information on methods of chemical immobilization such as handling dart guns and syringe poles, how to efficiently work as a team for the safety of the animal and the people working, how to plan for an upcoming chemical capture and how to correctly document everything. The course is set up in an easy to use format starting with basic information and then gradually increasing in level to information on immobilization drugs, how to monitor the animal with medical knowledge, and specific steps to take when things go wrong. Dr. Mark Johnson is very quick to answer questions that are posted on the course forum and provide insightful and detailed answers! He also acted as an inspiring advisor to me when I had any questions related to veterinary medicine, the field of wildlife conservation, or how to move forward in a career focused on wildlife. I highly recommend this course to anyone interested in wildlife conservation!

I took this course while in veterinary school in order to prepare for a career in wildlife and conservation medicine and it was so helpful! It reinforced many of the things I learned in school as well as gave detailed information on methods of chemical immobilization such as handling dart guns and syringe poles, how to efficiently work as a team for the safety of the animal and the people working, how to plan for an upcoming chemical capture and how to correctly document everything. The course is set up in an easy to use format starting with basic information and then gradually increasing in level to information on immobilization drugs, how to monitor the animal with medical knowledge, and specific steps to take when things go wrong. Dr. Mark Johnson is very quick to answer questions that are posted on the course forum and provide insightful and detailed answers! He also acted as an inspiring advisor to me when I had any questions related to veterinary medicine, the field of wildlife conservation, or how to move forward in a career focused on wildlife. I highly recommend this course to anyone interested in wildlife conservation!

Dr. Mark's course provides a comprehensive overview of wildlife capture and chemical immobilization. I loved that the demonstration videos feature a range of species, effectively showcasing the variability of handling techniques. The course offers a complimentary balance of video and text-based content, which makes it accessible to both visual and auditory learners. I really appreciated Dr. Mark's engagement and the flexibility that the course allows. Throughout the course, I found myself excited and motivated to click through to the next lesson.

I recently took The Foundations of Wildlife Chemical Capture (wildlifecaptureandcare.com) to supplement previous chemical capture training (something we try to do on our field team every 3-4 years) and found it to be thorough yet easy to digest for any level of practitioner. There really is something for everyone whether it’s your first course, or your fifteenth.
Different from previous offerings, this course is all online, and students can work at their own pace to tackle it over a full calendar year which is really nice if you need to fit it around lots of other commitments. From audio transcripts, videos, supplemental readings, and a solid citations list, its pretty jam packed with resources and exercises for each lesson, and has a lot of updates that include more recent publications and findings for things like drug performance in the field (i.e. species specific BAM usage, etc). It also does a nice job at reminding us of the ethical considerations for chemically capturing wildlife and putting individual animal welfare and human health and safety at the top of mind.

I have some experience in the veterinary field (domestic animals) and also work as a wildlife biologist. I was impressed with the broad range of animals covered. The absolute best reason for me to recommend this course to others is the respect and care Dr. Mark conveys and requires we show to the animals, and the ethical questions he poses along the way. This course represents the highest standard of care.

This course is well laid out, thorough, and Dr. Mark is extremely accessible through out the entire process.

This is a fantastic course! I'm relatively new to wildlife capture and handling, and this course has given me the knowledge and skills to contribute confidently to my research team while keeping both the animals and my co-workers safe. If you have an opportunity to take this course, absolutely do it! Don't hesitate.