​​​​​​​Veterinary medicine doctoral student Amanda Crofton is helping animals and people—and advancing global education for all—right in our own backyard.

A 2018 survey shows that mountain gorilla numbers have increased in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda, and Sarambwe Reserve, DR Congo, according to the Uganda Wildlife Authority. From July 2018 to July 2019, in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park alone, Gorilla Doctors conducted 126 health checks and performed 23 veterinary interventions to treat ill or injured gorillas.

Detection dogs trained to sniff out the scat of an endangered lizard in California’s San Joaquin Valley, combined with genetic species identification, could represent a new, noninvasive sampling technique for lizard conservation worldwide.

UC Davis professor of medicine and epidemiology, John Madigan has a habit of going where others wouldn’t dare, often traveling in a helicopter; but it is on these adventures, to help rescue animals in distress.