Tuesday evening’s event featured an engaging lecture co-
presented by Dr. Suzanne Kennedy-Stoskopf and Dr. Chris DePerno.
Their talk, entitled Changing Landscapes, Changing Populations,
Changing Values, Changing Disease Risks: What Is Happening to
Wildlife? covered the natural history of several North Carolina
wild animals and their potential to spread infectious disease.
Dr. Kennedy-Stoskopf, a research professor at NC State
University, began the presentation by discussing humanity’s
intrinsic connection to animals; she remembered, as many of use
do, being interested in animals from a young age. She reminded
the audience that in spite of this connection, animals do pose a
risk to human well being; 60.3% of emerging infectious diseases
are zoonosis, and 71.8% originate in wildlife. A lively
discussion ensued around what these numbers meant to audience
members—some of the more interesting points raised included
wondering what humans had done to provoke these statistics and
how it really represents a false barri