Can all wildlife professionals be TWS certified?
No. TWS’ current certification program is aimed primarily at what could be termed generalist wildlife biologists—those who have taken a full breadth of general courses on wildlife-related topics. However, TWS’ mission was recently changed to “represent and serve the professional community of scientists, managers, educators, technicians, planners, and others who work actively to study, manage, and conserve wildlife and its habitats worldwide.” Extreme specialists who have followed a more-focused course of study, such as wildlife nutritionists, geneticists, ecologists, behaviorists, or policy specialists, would not necessarily be eligible for certification under the current system without taking numerous additional courses. The fact that the wildlife profession has become more specialized and that today’s active wildlife professionals now come from a wide variety of different disciplines and backgrounds is a significant challenge for the certification program. If we have no place for spe
