Featured Scientist

Brandon Munk performs an ultrasound exam on a black bear to determine pregnancy. CDFW photo: Travis VanZant.


Brandon Munk moves an anesthetized bear club to an exam table. CDFW photo Travis VanZant.


Brandon Munk tends to a deer which was tranquilized and treated after its antlers became snagged in a plastic fence. CDFW photo: Steve Torres.

CDFW Veterinarian Brandon Munk joined CDFW’s Wildlife Investigations Laboratory as the veterinary lead for the deer, bear and restricted species programs just over two years ago. Currently, he is acting as the veterinary lead for all big game species. The Wildlife Investigations Laboratory was established in 1941 to conduct wildlife disease investigations. Over the years, its responsibilities have increased to include: the statewide investigation of wildlife mortality events; wildlife disease surveillance and research; wildlife health monitoring and research; prevention of wildlife diseases; wildlife project and capture support; wildlife rehabilitation; injured and nuisance wildlife; wildlife handling and safety training; the statewide pesticides in wildlife program; wildlife conflict and human dimensions programs; wolf and lion species programs; biometrics; and wildlife conservation genetics.

Brandon completed a Master’s of Science in behavioral ecology at the University of Wyoming prior to pursing his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) at Colorado State University. After receiving his DVM, Brandon began his career as a wildlife veterinarian by spending three years as a Post-Doctoral Research Associate at the University of Georgia’s Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study (SCWDS) working as a wildlife diagnostician, wildlife disease specialist, and chronic wasting disease coordinator. While at SCWDS Brandon honed his skills and expertise in pathology, diagnostics and wildlife diseases by providing support to state and federal wildlife agencies. Brandon also spent time as a small animal and exotic animal clinician before finally landing a wildlife veterinarian’s dream job at CDFW.

What prompted your choosing a career as a veterinarian?

I have always held a keen interest in medicine and have always been passionate about animals, particularly wildlife, and the outdoors. However, I had always thought academia was the only path for someone with such interests. It was not until I was well into my 20s that I met some fairly non-traditional science professionals and began exploring a career in veterinary medicine. I spent time volunteering at veterinary clinics and fell in love with the diversity of veterinary medicine. I pursued my Masters while exploring vet schools and consider myself very fortunate to have been able to participate in and complete both programs, gaining very different experiences and training from each.

You joined CDFW fairly recently. What attracted you to the department?

The field of wildlife medicine is still fairly new and quite small, with few opportunities to mentor under or collaborate directly with other wildlife veterinarians. The department provided a very unique opportunity to do both with three wildlife veterinarians at the WIL, a fourth with the Office of Spill Prevention and Response, and others working for Fisheries. There are exceedingly few wildlife agencies with this number and diversity of veterinarians. This was truly a unique opportunity!

What is a typical day like for you at work?

Hard to predict. While at the office I may be: performing necropsies (animal autopsies) as part of a mortality investigation; immobilizing injured or conflict bears for exams or transfer; training department staff on wildlife disease investigations, wildlife restraint or chemical immobilizations; fielding phone calls from biologists about sick, injured, conflict or research animals; working with biologists to initiate and support wildlife capture activities; coordinating statewide wildlife disease surveillance activities; coordinating with other state or federal animal or public health agencies on disease of mutual concern; and the list goes on. My days spent in the field, somewhat surprisingly, tend to be a little more predictable. On game captures I am responsible for the safety and welfare of the animals captured, whether it’s treating wounds, providing prophylactic treatments, ensuring animals are as comfortable as possible while being handled, or training new staff in some of these key animal welfare duties.

What is the most rewarding project that you have worked on thus far at CDFW?

The Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep recovery project. The species has such a storied history and a very dedicated conservation following. I have been the primary veterinarian on that project for the last year, involved with captures and disease surveillance. The people involved with the recovery project, both department staff and volunteers, are amazing and intensely dedicated to the effort. 

What aspect of working in the Wildlife Investigations Lab is unique?

The diversity in expertise, from veterinarians to geneticists, ecologists, disease biologists and toxicologists. There is a ton of expertise here, it’s quite amazing!

What is your favorite species to interact with or study?

I like them all, but interact most frequently with deer and bear. I like deer because they may be the most important herbivores on the landscape and as such fill an important ecological role. From a wildlife health perspective, we know more about deer then many of the other species we work with, which means I have a broader knowledge base to work from. Bighorn sheep are an equally interesting species from a wildlife health perspective because there are a few well-documented and important disease issues to consider. Sheep are also one of the more forgiving species to actually handle – they tend to be more calm and tractable while in hand, relative to our other game species at least. Bear are interesting from a wildlife health perspective because there is very little known about the diseases affecting them. Plus, bears are just pretty darn cool critters in general. Elk are a majestic species and in many ways similar to deer but with some very different peculiarities. Antelope offer some very unique challenges, as they tend to be difficult to capture and to work with safely, but are amazingly adapted animals. Pigs are extremely adaptive animals that can act as reservoir hosts for various diseases of wildlife, livestock and public health concerns, and as such offer some unique challenges. However, if the question is what are my favorite animals to actually have in hand and work with, I would have to say deer. 

Which species is the most difficult to work on and why?

In the broadest sense, I’d have to say that some of our sheep species are the most difficult to work on. Not so much because of difficulties while in hand, but more so because of their remoteness and the logistics of their capture. It takes massive group efforts to safely and successfully capture bighorn sheep.

If you had free reign and unlimited funding, what scientific project would you most like to do?

Determining the ecological health significance, if any, of micronutrient deficiencies, specifically selenium and copper, in deer and other free-ranging ungulates. Selenium and copper deficiencies are fairly common findings in deer throughout California. Indeed, selenium and copper deficiencies are also important diseases in domestic ungulates throughout much of California. Both selenium and copper are important for normal immune function and deficient animals may be more susceptible to infectious diseases or other conditions. Empirical evidence suggests that low selenium may decrease fecundity (fertility) and fawn recruitment, at least at the individual animal level. I’d like to study whether there are measurable population health effects, and if so, what management practices might increase the bioavailability of copper and selenium for these species.

Any advice for people considering careers in science or natural resources?

Love what you do, because it is rarely easy.

CDFW Photos. Top Photo: Brandon Munk completes a physical exam on an anesthetized bear cub. The black bear was captured by CDFW wildlife officers due to human-wildlife conflict and was later placed at the Oakland Zoo. 

Senior Environmental Scientist Kent Laudon is a wolf specialist with CDFW’s Northern Region, based in Redding. As gray wolves recolonize northern California, he is working to conserve and manage them and to work collaboratively with many citizens representing diverse interests. Laudon monitors California’s small wolf population by conducting ground surveys, as well as trapping and collaring wolves. He works with livestock producers on the ground to help deter conflicts, communicates important information about wolves to the public and strives to develop relationships with people and communities that have an interest in wolves.

Laudon earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Wildlife, Biology and Resource Management from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. He has worked as a field biologist for 28 years with several state, federal and tribal agencies throughout the western United States, including studying wolves specifically for the last 21 years in Idaho, Montana, Arizona and New Mexico. He started his current position with CDFW about a year ago.

What inspired you to become a scientist?

I was fortunate enough to grow up in Wisconsin in a conservation-minded family that camped, hiked, hunted and fished. Both of my parents were active in conservation organizations. Not surprisingly, I grew up running through the forests, meadows and creeks, for adventure and to learn. It was little wonder that I ended up pursuing a degree in Wildlife and Natural Resources, and while in college, I began to enjoy the more technical aspects of the field. Because of all that, somehow, someway, I have had an amazing career – one I could not have dreamt up in a million years!

What is a typical work day like for you?

While I have been extraordinarily lucky to spend most of my 28-year wildlife career in the field, my career evolution has gravitated more toward working with people in recent years. A lot of the effort and time goes towards building a new wolf management program for CDFW and implementing the Conservation Plan for Gray Wolves in California. Besides creating the administrative “infrastructure,” including processes and protocols for data, public relations, etc., it includes a ton of relationship building. Relationships really begin with reducing barriers and trying to find a place where I may fit within the various communities of wolf stakeholders around California. Because of the high profile and controversial nature of wolves, and especially when the subject is new to people, the work can be extraordinarily difficult. Therefore, I spend a lot of time learning “who’s who” in areas with or likely to have wolves and then meeting and developing relationships with those individuals. Ultimately, deep, long-lasting conservation happens best through people who live and work amongst wolves. That is the long answer for, “I talk to people a lot!”

What is the most interesting aspect of working with wolves?

While the people component is the most important aspect of making wolf conservation work, the wolves themselves are the more interesting aspect. A lot of biologists get into the field because we like the outdoors, and we want to pursue the wildlife adventure to both learn and feel free. Now for me, acquiring data that helps to understand the ecology of the species on a given landscape is what I find most interesting. In addition, there are also necessary steps to that process that are interesting in and of themselves – for example, population surveys in remote mountainous landscapes that includes finding pups to document reproduction, and trapping adults to attach radio collars. All of this takes a methodical process often over 200-mile (or more) areas, and each component of the effort is technically complex.

How do you address the concerns of members of the public who worry that wolves might attack their livestock or pets?

Presently, wolves are new to people in California. All that people really have to refer to is what they read in the newspapers. While newspapers can do a great job of reporting the basic facts of livestock depredation events, they generally do not place those events into a context that includes depredation rates, statistical chances of depredation, and other depredation risk levels under different scenarios. Therefore, I try to give some context to help people better understand the risk of their livestock being attacked by wolves. The other part of that equation is that members of the public teach me about their livestock and their own management practices that work for them. Through such conversations, I hope that together we come to creative solutions to help reduce risk. Pet dogs are a different matter. I just let people know how I manage my own dog in wolf country. My scenario is a little extreme as my dog has worked in the field with me for years in Montana and Idaho – that part can get tricky as I may occasionally have the need to get close to wolf pup-rearing areas and wolves are territorial towards other canids.

Now that wolves have returned to California, how are they interacting with another apex predator, the mountain lion?

It is too early to tell in California how one species may influence the population of the other. However, we know that the two predators at times interact directly by killing each other, and indirectly where, for instance, wolves (like bears) can take over mountain lion kills to scavenge them. One advantage for mountain lions is they are able to climb trees to get out of harm’s way, while wolves cannot.

What is most challenging aspect of your job?

I really see components of the position as a dichotomy: people and wolves. Both are challenging, but of course in very different ways. The sociopolitical aspect is complicated and much of it is about the nuance. On top of that, there really is no “one size fits all” as every community has its own mix of personalities and politics. On the wolf side of things, wolf biologists are typically working in incredibly large landscapes monitoring packs that hold territories covering hundreds of square miles. That means a lot of “needle in a haystack” kind of work. This can be physically challenging, but it is an incredibly interesting pursuit. Either way, whether it is developing relationships and friendships, or finding the wolf in the haystack (I mean needle), both are profoundly rewarding!

If you had free reign and unlimited funding, what scientific project would you most like to do?

Easy. I would conduct research to better understand wolf/livestock conflicts and, ultimately, to better deter them. While there has been a good amount of effort directed toward this over the years, it falls far short compared to scientific efforts towards understanding wolf/native ungulate relationships. If we can figure out how to do a better job to reduce wolf damage to private property through the use of a series of deterrent tools and husbandry practices, a lot of us, despite our diversified interests, should be able to get behind both wolves and livestock and maybe finally behind each other. This includes research on various range-rider techniques (a method of riding the range to check on cattle for problems, and potentially moving or working with herds to achieve different objectives including reducing conflicts with wolves), livestock-stocking regimes, creative deterrent tools, and pasture and allotment management. Further, a study of the efficacy of the methods and their economic impacts is also important. I would like to keep everybody moving forward, creating, measuring, analyzing and evolving.

Do you have any advice for people considering careers in science or natural resources?

First off, people should understand that it is a challenge to successfully achieve a career in fish and wildlife because the competition is stiff. Secondly, while wolves may be an extreme case, often wildlife work is really a lot of people work. Talk to many professionals from a diverse array of positions to get their perspective to help guide your path. It will take a lot of work to get to where you wish to go. Along the way, I believe it imperative to remember that we work for the citizens as managers of the public trust of our remarkable and rich natural resources.

CDFW Photo. Top Photo: The breeding female of the Lassen Pack.

Erin gets some hands-on experience working with a San Joaquin kit fox.

Tiny radio collars are affixed to blunt-nosed leopard lizards as part of CDFW’s research into the lizards’ habitat preferences on several San Joaquin Valley ecological reserves where they are found.

Kayaking near Pismo Beach.

Erin participated in a 2014 CDFW Kern County women’s pheasant hunt as part of her ongoing effort to develop her hunting skills.

Erin and her husband, John Wang, enjoy a hike on Santa Cruz Island off the Southern California coast.

CDFW Environmental Scientist Erin Tennant lives and works out of her hometown of Bakersfield. She is assigned to CDFW’s Lands Program, where she assists CDFW’s Central Region in the management of tens of thousands of acres of wildlife habitat in 12 counties in the middle of the state.

Erin holds a bachelor’s degree in biology and environmental studies from Whitman College in Washington and a master’s degree in biology from California State University, Bakersfield, where she studied the Tipton kangaroo rat for her graduate thesis.

What prompted your interest in science and the outdoors?

I became interested just by being young and inquisitive about the natural world. I grew up in suburbia, but I spent a lot of time as a kid working in the garden with my mom. My mom was a second-grade teacher and used to take her classes on annual trips to visit spring wildflowers and, of course, I would join. I also was a horse-crazy kid and thought for a long time that I wanted to be a veterinarian. From about age 10 on, you could definitely find me at the horse barn after school and on weekends. I rode competitively, but I’d also just go out on rides with all my friends through the agricultural fields. I just loved being outside. I had no idea “wildlife biologist” was a career until I entered college and started taking environmental studies courses.

Who or what brought you to CDFW?

I got my start as a biologist when I was home on spring break from college and had a dentist appointment. I was in the waiting room and there was this Smithsonian magazine with a big feature story on the San Joaquin kit fox and all the research work a group called the Endangered Species Recovery Program was doing in Bakersfield. I was just shocked. That was exactly the kind of work I wanted to do and it was happening right here in my hometown. I started Googling all the people in the article and started e-mailing them and asking about internships and other opportunities to just volunteer and help out. It worked. I spent two summers working as an intern for the Endangered Species Recovery Program in Bakersfield and made all kinds of great connections and relationships as a result.

When I graduated from college and eventually returned to Bakersfield, Ellen Cypher, a former CDFW botanist in Fresno, was looking for a scientific aide. She hired me in 2006. I was working for CDFW and at the Endangered Species Recovery Program at the same time until I got a contract position with CDFW in 2007. I was hired permanently as an environmental scientist for the Lands Program in 2011. 

What do you like best about your job?

I really like the diversity. No day is really the same. We’re always working on new projects and have focused on research the last few years. I like to say that our Lands Program in the Central Region straddles many different department priorities – land management, threatened and endangered species conservation, non-game species conservation and even habitat conservation planning. There are endless opportunities available for restoration, research, outreach and even recreation on ecological reserves, which means that there are endless opportunities for professional growth, too. Plus, our unit is always trying to be innovative and adaptive in how we do things. With very limited budgets and personnel and a huge area to cover, this often requires a lot of creativity.

What interesting projects are you working on currently?

One project I have been working on the last three years is the blunt-nosed leopard lizard, which is a federally listed and state listed endangered species. We’re looking at their population size, demographics and space use on our ecological reserves to try to figure out how to better manage the reserves for them.

I have met lots of people who do not like lizards – maybe they think they are ugly and spiny – but blunt-nosed leopard lizards are very charismatic, beautiful lizards. In total length they can be over a foot long and they are active during the day. They especially like the early mornings in the Valley before it gets too hot. They’re really striking in their full breeding colors. Females have bright orange spots and males turn a salmon color throughout their bodies. They’re really fun to watch during the breeding season. 

I also have been working on a statewide Swainson’s hawk survey. We’re gearing up for a big survey year and I’m helping to lead the San Joaquin Valley effort.

What should we know about the Swainson’s hawk?

They’re a state-threatened species, and we’re conducting the first formal population survey in 10 years. It’s a team effort, and we are collaborating with Region 2 and our statewide raptor coordinator, Carie Battistone, to complete the survey. At least in the San Joaquin Valley, it seems like we are seeing more Swainson’s hawks, but we need data to determine if our suspicions are accurate. 

They’re fascinating because they breed throughout Central Valley but they spend their winters in South America, primarily in Argentina. They are readily able to use some of the agricultural areas around the San Joaquin Valley to find food, breed and rear their young. Then they make an incredible migration – they are one of the few raptors to migrate so far. They form these huge groups, called kettles, in the fall, especially in the agricultural fields like alfalfa, and there will be hundreds of these hawks flocking and foraging together in preparation for their migration. It’s amazing to watch.

It sounds like there may be more wildlife and habitat around Bakersfield than the average Californian realizes.

I grew up in Bakersfield, and one of the reasons I wanted to come back here was because I felt drawn to contribute to the conservation of local wildlife around my hometown. Growing up here, you hear a lot about agriculture and how this area is one of the top-producing agricultural areas in the world. But you don’t learn much in school – at least I didn’t – about the native wildlife and their habitats. One thing that struck me during my environmental studies field courses in college was that very few biologists stay in one place long enough to know and understand that place. After going away to college and traveling a ton after graduation, I was ready to come back to Bakersfield and contribute to environmental conservation in my hometown.

I think what’s unique about this area is that it really is a desert and, because of our geography, we have many endemic species. When you get down to the habitats, you see that all the species found here are desert-adapted. We have species such as the Bakersfield cactus, kangaroo rats, blunt-nosed leopard lizards and kit foxes. These are all species also found in places like the Mojave Desert. Desert ecosystems are very fragile and there are so few places around Bakersfield where you can see really what would’ve been – what the San Joaquin Valley would have looked like without development and without agriculture – that I think protecting those places and learning about those places and encouraging other people to get to know those places is really important.

Can you point us to a place where someone might see what the San Joaquin Valley looked like long ago?

One place that I always recommend to visit is the Carrizo Plains – both the Carrizo Plains National Monument and the Carrizo Plains Ecological Reserve. It is a great place to get a glimpse of what the San Joaquin Valley might have looked like historically. It’s a really beautiful place, especially in the spring. In wet years, there are lots of wildflowers to see. There are several overlooks in the area, and I love to go where you can stare down on the valley floor below and imagine what the San Joaquin Valley looked like before agriculture. It’s great to have that area protected.

Tell us something about yourself many people would be surprised to learn.

Most people are surprised to learn that I lived in China for two years. After I finished my undergraduate degree, I joined an exchange program through my college and taught English at Northwest Polytechnical University in Xi’an, which is in the center of China. I met my husband there, and after a very long and winding journey, which involved many years of long-distance, we eventually landed in Bakersfield together two years ago. Our family grew this fall with the birth of our son, Kian.

Erin Tennant Photos. Top Photo: Erin holds a great horned owlet that was banded as part of a raptor research project in the Tehachapi Mountains.