Wildlife Pathology Fellow The occurrence of unusual or mass mortality events in wildlife is increasing and threatens species conservation and ecosystem integrity. Examples of such events include the sudden mass mortality of approximately 200,000 saiga antelope in Kazakhstan in 2015, attributed to Pasteurella multocida type B triggered by a climatic anomaly. Elsewhere, fatal septicemia associated with an obscure Pasteurella multocida-like bacterium called Bisgaard taxon 45 caused the deaths of 34 elephants in Zimbabwe in 2020 and may explain the deaths of 350 more in neighboring Botswana in the same year. Many more mortality events remain unexplained, including the increase in mortalities a