David Waltner‐Toews

David Waltner-Toews

@doft.bsky.social

1.4K followers 1.2K following 710 posts

Founding Pres, Vets without Borders-Canada; Veterinary epidemiologist. Writer >20 books poetry fiction nonfiction On Pandemics,The Origin of Feces. Officer, Order of Canada.
https://davidwaltnertoews.wordpress.com/

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David Waltner-Toews is a Canadian epidemiologist, essayist, poet, fiction writer, veterinarian, and a specialist in the epidemiology of food and waterborne diseases, zoonoses and ecosystem health. He is best known for his work on animal and human infectious diseases in relation to complexity. He lives in Kitchener, Ontario. .. more

Public Health 25%

Agriculture 17%

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David Waltner-Toews @doft.bsky.social · Jul 3

Spirit Bear scanning River in Great Bear Rainforest. Photo by my friend & colleague Barry Stemshorn. Presented to me at my OC investiture by Barry & my other friend, Enid Stiles.

David Waltner-Toews @doft.bsky.social · 1d

It should all be Osage, or Navajo, or Cherokee. None of this English-Spanish-French babbling

David Waltner-Toews @doft.bsky.social · 5d

It is a remarkable work of art (and could stand alone, even without the book).

David Waltner-Toews @doft.bsky.social · 10d

davidwaltnertoews.wordpress.com/2026/01/30/n...

Nipah Virus January 2026

Jan 28, 2026: Nipah Virus In India: What Is Actually Going On? Timeline Explained India has confirmed two Nipah virus cases in West Bengal since December, with health authorities containing the sit…

davidwaltnertoews.wordpress.com

David Waltner-Toews @doft.bsky.social · 11d

My Australian granddaughter says a no that sounds "something like" noiuer. A sounds I cannot immitate.

David Waltner-Toews @doft.bsky.social · 12d

Good to know we have at least one version of God on our side.

David Waltner-Toews @doft.bsky.social · 13d

You might be able to sell it for enough to subsidise your writing addiction.

David Waltner-Toews @doft.bsky.social · 14d

But being palantirs, they can see the future and are indestructable

David Waltner-Toews @doft.bsky.social · 14d

A little good news www.reuters.com/business/hea...

California joins UN health network following US departure from WHO

California said on Friday it will become the first U.S. state to join the World Health Organization's global outbreak response network following the Trump administration's decision to pull Washington ...

www.reuters.com

David Waltner-Toews @doft.bsky.social · 18d

So, if doctors morally object to MAGA supporters, can they refuse to treat them?

David Waltner-Toews @doft.bsky.social · 19d

Is the Lousiana Purchase a precedent for buying Greenland? What about Alaska?

David Waltner-Toews @doft.bsky.social · 19d

Without mad king George there would be no United States.

David Waltner-Toews @doft.bsky.social · 20d

LOL

David Waltner-Toews @doft.bsky.social · 20d

The American War of Independence and Revolution happened under the reign of "mad" King George. We now need a global revolution to free us from another Mad King....

David Waltner-Toews @doft.bsky.social · 20d

Ken Kesey's train...

David Waltner-Toews @doft.bsky.social · 20d

The key word there is "lies."

David Waltner-Toews @doft.bsky.social · 20d

Friends? Allies? LOL

Reposted by Anna O. Law, John R. Hutchinson, Aaron Sojourner , and 9 more Anna O. Law, John R. Hutchinson, Aaron Sojourner, Erica Weintraub Austin, Patrick Meier, Hisham Zerriffi, David Waltner‐Toews, Olivier Mannoni, Manisha Sinha, Nathan P. Kalmoe, Virginia Sapiro, David Darmofal

Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · 21d

I wrote about how concentration camp regimes evolve and why it's not too late to stop this, even though we are deep in it now.

Into the abyss

The correct response to Dachau was not better training for the guards.

degenerateart.beehiiv.com

David Waltner-Toews @doft.bsky.social · 21d

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Dogs with a large vocabulary of object labels learn new labels by overhearing like 1.5-year-old infants

Children as young as 18 months can acquire novel words by overhearing third-party interactions. Demonstrating similar learning processes in nonhuman species would indicate that the social-cognitive sk...

www.science.org

David Waltner-Toews @doft.bsky.social · 22d

Will the Cabbage Patch dolls return, bearing pots of sauerkraut?

David Waltner-Toews @doft.bsky.social · 22d

Your best, IMO

David Waltner-Toews @doft.bsky.social · 22d

Don’t think so. Small ruminants are in their own class, but after that it gets complicated. Micro-livestock and mini-livestock have been used both for small animals like rabbits, as well as for insects raised for food.

David Waltner-Toews @doft.bsky.social · 22d

And Legos!

David Waltner-Toews @doft.bsky.social · 24d

In the 1990s,vets in India gave diclofenac, an NSAID in the same family as aspirin & paracetamol, to cattle in pain. When the cows died, the vultures who fed on them got kidney failure & visceral gout. Millions died (99% declines in some species). If the vultures are coming for you, take aspirin.