About
For over thirty years, Dr. Vint Virga has been a distinguished practitioner and leader in veterinary medicine, recognized for his insights into our relationships with animals. His expertise spans the animal kingdom encompassing all wild species from polar bears and leopards to gorillas and giraffes. As a veterinarian specialized in wild animal behavior, Dr. Virga works internationally as an advisor on wildlife conservation and welfare for nature preserves and refuges; zoological parks and gardens; animal stewardship foundations; and governmental agencies. He teaches as an invited lecturer at leading colleges and universities as well as animal, conservational, and environmental symposia.
Outside of clinical practice, he has served as an advisor to leading corporations and foundations, a veterinary liaison to the U.S. Congress, a climate leader with The Climate Reality Corps, and an expert on wildlife welfare and conservation legal issues. He has been profiled in The New York Times and featured on NPR Fresh Air, ABC World News, National Geographic Explorer, and PBS Nature. Across the different media, he portrays from his experience a rare awareness and compassion toward humans as well as animals.
Dr. Virga’s first book, The Soul of All Living Creatures, is a winner of the Silver Nautilus Award. As a writer, he posts a blog for Psychology Today and is an invited contributor to literary journals and consumer magazines. In recognition of his writing, he has been awarded three MacDowell Fellowships, a Brown Foundation Fellowship, an Eleanor Briggs Fellowship, a Hawthornden Fellowship, and literary residencies at The MacDowell Colony, Maison Dora Maar, Ucross Foundation, Yaddo, The Bloedel Reserve, Willapa Bay AiR, Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts, and The Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts & Sciences. From his life in the field intimately working with endangered creatures, he brings to readers and audiences a wholly unique viewpoint on our relationship with other species and our shared future on this planet.
Dr. Virga received his Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine from the University of California, Davis and completed his clinical residency in behavioral medicine at Cornell University. He is board-certified in veterinary behavior; a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists; a professional fellow of the American Association of Zoological Veterinarians; and a member of the American Association of Wildlife Veterinarians, Animal Behavior Management Alliance, and International Society of Applied Ethology.
Dr. Virga next book which he is currently writing takes readers along with him to the frontlines of extinction.
Featured Work
The Soul of All Living Creatures
Based on the author’s twenty-five years of experience as a veterinarian and veterinary behaviorist, The Soul of All Living Creatures delves into the inner lives of animals – from whales, wolves, and leopards to mice, dogs, and cats – and explores the relationships we forge with them.
As an emergency room clinician four years out of veterinary school, Dr. Vint Virga had a life-changing experience: he witnessed the power of simple human contact and compassion to affect the recovery of a dog struggling to survive after being hit by a car. Observing firsthand the remarkably strong connection between humans and animals inspired him to explore the world from the viewpoint of animals and taught him to respect the kinship that connects us.
With The Soul of All Living Creatures, Virga draws from his decades in veterinary practice to reveal how, by striving to perceive the world as animals do, we can enrich our own appreciation of life, enhance our character, nurture our relationships, improve our communication with others, reorder our values, and deepen our grasp of spirituality. Virga discerningly illuminates basic traits shared by both humans and animals and makes animal behavior meaningful, relevant, and easy to understand. Insightful and eloquent, The Soul of All Living Creatures offers an intimate journey into the lives of our fellow creatures and a thought-provoking promise of what we can learn from spending time with them.
Other Works
Awards and Recognition
- Silver Nautilus Award, MacDowell Fellowship, Brown Foundation Fellowship, Eleanor Briggs Fellowship, Hawthornden Fellowship
