Staff Senior Wildlife Veterinarian (Supervisor)
Dr. David A. Jessup has spent 30 years studying the diseases of California's wildlife, working on ways to better capture, sample and treat them and ultimately how to better manage them. David got a BS degree in Zoology from the University of Washington and a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from Washington State University. He was the first veterinary employee of the California Department of Fish and Game and has a masters degree in Preventive Veterinary Medicine from UC Davis. Dr. Jessup was the first person to earn board certification in the wildlife specialty of the American College of Zoological Medicine and is a TWS Certified Wildlife Biologist. Dave has faculty appointments at both U.C. Davis and U.C. Santa Cruz and has authored or co-authored over 225 scientific or popular articles, papers, book chapters and published letters. Dr. Jessup has served as an officer of several national and international professional organizations, on advisory boards of several NGO's and university programs, received a number of awards and has worked internationally. He lists his career highlights as helping re-establish new herds of elk, antelope and bighorn sheep, all of which were nearly extinct at some point in California; leading a research effort to learn how to manage the state’s 4,000 bighorn sheep; and, now, making sure that California sea otters will still be here when his daughter is grown.