UCalgary - Kutz Research Group

08/24/2026

Reasons for the drop in caribou populations are complicated. There is still some disagreement among scientific and Indigenous experts as to which factors are most important.

08/21/2026

This week, our postdoctoral associate Rachele Vada presented at the International Conference of Parasitology in Montreal, in the International Workshop of Arctic Parasitology.
She spoke to the scientific audience about our Community-Based Wildlife Health Surveillance Program and showed the filarioid outbreak as a case of successful management of the consequences of an emerging disease in barrenground caribou.

08/19/2026

Exciting news! A paper from Erica Suitor, a PhD candidate in the lab, was just published in Veterinary Pathology! The paper explores the different incisor pathologies we've been seeing in muskoxen in the Canadian Arctic through our community-based wildlife health surveillance program.

This study is the first comprehensive look at incisor abnormalities in muskoxen, using both visual examination and X-rays of the teeth. Of the 243 muskox jaws examined, more than half had severe incisor fractures that exposed the inner pulp of the tooth, and fractured teeth were much more likely to also show disease affecting the pulp and roots (endodontic disease).

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Dental lesions are often painful and can impair digestive efficiency and fitness in mammals, consequently leading to systemic health complications. Although den...

08/15/2026

It was a pleasure to have Enisha and Paige join our team as part of the Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) program.
Today they presented their respective projects on caribou health monitoring at the SURE Research Day at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine - University of Calgary - UCVM.
Huge congrats !

07/31/2026

Check out this article to learn more about important work happening in the Northwest Territories to help bat populations facing white-nose syndrome. One of our PhD students, Caide Wooten, was interning with the wildlife veterinarian for the Government of the NWT, Naima Jutha, at the time of the trip and was able to join for this meaningful wildlife health management work. See if you can spot him in the photos!

Cabin Radio spent two nights with researchers outside Kakisa as they work to protect bats from a fungus that has decimated populations across North America.

07/23/2026

This summer has brought some interesting fieldwork for us! Susan Kutz, Olivia Hee, and Will Justus, members of the Kutz Research Group, and Kelly Moon, a PhD student from Queens University Belfast, travelled to Aulavik National Park on Banks Island, NT to investigate historic die-offs of muskoxen and ancients pathogens. We were joined by Wendy Gilmour, our camp logistics expert, and Kyle Wolki, our fantastic wildlife monitor from the community of Sachs Harbour. Many thanks go to Parks Canada and the Polar Continental Shelf Program (PCSP) for their vital roles in making this fieldwork happen.

Our small group travelled by three canoes along the Thomsen River, camping as we went, and covered a lot of kilometers by foot to get to our sample sites. We are now busy in the lab analysing the samples and doing a lot of stretching to recover from "Banks Island Boot Camp," as the students were warm-heartedly calling it.

07/03/2026

Before joining the Kutz Research group to work with communities on the health of caribou, PhD candidate Amish Dua documented the struggles of shepherds in the Himalayan mountains.

Watch the awesome documentary :

Link to the trailer: https://youtu.be/BXmy4NK39hA

Link to the full documentary: https://youtu.be/nRZWYA0a4Kc

Fading FootstepsFading Footsteps is a documentary about the Palsi...