Humans, animals and disease. They're all inter-related, so why do we keep ignoring the elephant in the room?

It's well known that Covid-19 may have come from a bat, but diseases are often transmitted in the other direction too. Humans have passed diseases to animals countless times through history, and it's the cross-currents of this relationship between humans, animals and disease that are explored by Liz Kalaugher in The Elephant in the Room.

Taking the reader on a globe-trotting journey through time, Kalaugher presents a series of fascinating case histories of human-related wildlife diseases. Among the stories featured here are the early humans who may have carried pathogens responsible for the extinction of Neanderthals, the native birds of Hawaii that have been devasted by human-introduced disease, and the Tasmanian tiger that has been lost to the sands of time.

Examining these tales and drawing on first-hand accounts from experts around the world, The Elephant in the Room is both a tragic history and an inspirational call to arms. It doesn't have to be this way. By learning from the past, it's possible to create a better, healthier environment for ourselves, our wildlife and our planet.

"Kalaugher provides a fascinating dive into the complex nexus of disease and conservation, a topic that behooves us all to sit up and pay attention. If you don't give a zebra's stripe about sick animals, you should still read this book, if only to preserve your own hide." - Kate MacCord, author of How Does Germline Regenerate?

"The Elephant in the Room is the story of pathogen pollution and our role in forcing it on the world, told through an absorbing mix of cutting-edge science, intelligent analysis, and clear warnings from the field." - Ross D. E. MacPhee, author of End of the Megafauna: The Fate of the World’s Hugest, Fiercest, and Strangest Animals

"This is an entertaining read as much as it is enlightening. We are in the midst of the 'pandemicene,' and it's imperative that we all understand how our health as humans is inextricably linked to the health of other animals and the environment. We simultaneously face other existential threats from climate change and loss of biodiversity. Anyone who reads this book will come away with an understanding that these are all symptoms of a planet in distress, but that it's not too late to act. We have the tools we need to fight back, and there is hope to be found in the pages of this wonderful book." - Neil Vora, Conservation International

"'This book shines a timely and powerful spotlight into the consequences of the way we live for our own health and that of our domestic and wild animals and, even more important, how the two are inextricably linked. Full of curiosity, anecdote and evidence and written with a delightfully gentle touch, The Elephant in the Room should be required reading for anyone with even the vaguest interest in avoiding future pandemics." - Roger Morgan-Grenville, author of The Restless Coast