A survey of current mammal rehabilitation and release practices
Tóm tắt
Mammal rehabilitation is carried out in hundreds of centres worldwide, requiring a large investment of time, personnel and funds. Although there are numerous published studies focusing on post-release outcomes, few have discussed the methods employed in rehabilitation. As an important first step toward addressing this, data were collected directly from rehabilitation centres about their aims, methods employed and assessment of outcomes. A survey of mammal rehabilitation centres was conducted with data collected in the form of responses to multiple-choice questions and written responses. Our results indicated a number of challenges, including: problems surrounding social group formation, lack of predator avoidance training, limited or no pre-release medical screening, release of animals exhibiting stereotypic behaviours, frequently short-term (<6 months) post-release monitoring, with only a third of centres assessing the success of releases. Although many factors may influence the success of rehabilitation, improvements to monitoring and assessment are needed before the effects of any changes to protocols could be determined. Extended post-release monitoring and thorough assessment should be a part of any future mammal rehabilitation projects. With a view to improving the rehabilitation phase, we have developed a decision tree to assist the assessment of mammals at each stage of the rehabilitation process. This could be easily adapted to create detailed species-specific models in the future.
Tài liệu tham khảo
Arnold K, Pohlner Y, Zuberbuhler K (2008) A forest monkey’s alarm call series to predator models. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 62:549–559
Baker LR (2002) Guidelines for nonhuman primate re-introductions. Re-introd News 21
Beck BB (1994) Reintroduction of captive-born animals. In: Olney PJS, Mace GM, Feistner ATC (eds) Creative conservation: interactive management of wild and captive animals. Chapman and Hall, London
Beck B, Walkup K, Rodrigues M, Unwin S, Travis D, Stoinski T (2007) Best practice guidelines for the re-introduction of great apes, Gland
Bowen-Jones E, Pendry S (1999) The threat to primates and other mammals from the bushmeat trade in Africa, and how this threat could be diminished. Oryx 33(3):233–246
Brown MM, Kreiter NA, Maple JT, Sinnott JM (1992) Silhouettes elicit alarm calls from captive vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops). J Comp Psychol 106(4):350–359
Cheyne SM (2006) Wildlife reintroduction: considerations of habitat quality at the release site. BMC Ecol. doi:10.1186/1472-6785-6-5
Cook M, Mineka S, Wolkenstein B, Laitsch K (1985) Observational conditioning of snake fear in unrelated rhesus monkeys. J Abnorm Psychol 94(4):591–610
Cowlishaw G, Dunbar R (eds) (2000) Primate conservation biology. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Csada RD, James PC, Espie RH (1996) The “File Drawer Problem” of non-significant results: does it apply to biological research? Oikos 76(3):591–593
Cunningham AA (1996) Disease risks of wildlife translocations. Conserv Biol 10(2):349–353
de Veer MW, van den Bos R (2000) Assessing the quality of relationships in rehabilitating lar gibbons (Hylobates lar). Anim Welf 9:223–224
Dodd CK, Seigel RA (1991) Relocation, repatriation and translocation of amphibians and reptiles: are they conservation strategies that work? Herpetologica 47(3):336–350
Emerson GB, Warne WJ, Wolf FM, Heckman JD, Brand RA, Leopold SS (2010) Testing for the presence of positive-outcome bias in peer review. Arch Int Med 170(21):1934–1939
Fischer J, Lindenmayer DB (2000) An assessment of the published results of animal relocations. Biol Conserv 96:1–11
Goossens B, Setchell JM, Tchidongo E, Dilambaka E, Vidal C, Ancrenaz M, Jamart A (2005) Survival, interactions with conspecifics and reproduction in 37 chimpanzees released into the wild. Biol Conserv 123:461–475
Guy AJ, Stone OML, Curnoe D (2011) The release of a troop of rehabilitated vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus aethiops) in KwaZulu-Natal South Africa: outcomes and assessment. Folia Primatol 82:308–320
Hauser MD (1988) How infant vervet monkeys learn to recognize starling alarm calls: the role of experience. Behaviour 105(3):187–201
IUCN (2002) IUCN guidelines for the placement of confiscated animals, Gland, Abu Dhabi
Karesh WB (1995) Wildlife rehabilitation: additional considerations for developing countries. J Zoo Wildl Med 26(1):2–9
Kleiman DG (1989) Reintroduction of captive mammals for conservation. Bioscience 39(3):152–161
Masataka N (1983) Categorical responses to natural and synthesized alarm calls in Goeldi’s monkeys (Callimico goeldii). Primates 24(1):40–51
Mason GJ (1991) Stereotypies: a critical review. Anim Behav 41:1015–1037
Mason G, Clubb R, Latham N, Vickery S (2007) Why and how should we use environmental enrichment to tackle stereotypic behaviour. Appl Anim Behav Sci 102:163–188
Mineka S, Cook M (1993) Mechanisms involved in the observational conditioning of fear. J Exp Psychol Gen 122(1):23–38
Mineka S, Keir R, Price V (1980) Fear of snakes in wild- and laboratory-reared rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta). Anim Learn Behav 8(4):653–663
Molony SE, Dowding CV, Baker PJ, Cuthill IC, Harris S (2006) The effect of translocation and temporary captivity on wildlife rehabilitation success: an experimental study using European hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus). Biol Conserv 130:530–537
Robertson HM (2007) Wildlife Conservation and Perth Zoo. In: National wildlife rehabilitation conference proceedings
Sabah Tourism Board (2011) Sabah Malaysia Best of Borneo. Kota Kinabalu, Sabah Malaysia: Sabah Tourism Board. www.sabahtourism.com/. Accessed 12 Dec 2012
Schneider E (1992) Woolly monkey rehabilitation project. Primate Eye 47:16–17
Seyfarth RM, Cheney DL, Marler P (1980) Vervet monkey alarm calls: semantic communication in a free-ranging primate. Anim Behav 28:1070–1094
Shier DM, Owings DH (2007) Effects of social learning on predator training and postrelease survival in juvenile black-tailed prairie dogs Cynomys ludovicianus. Anim Behav 73:567–577
Vale Wildlife Hospital & Rehabilitation Centre (2011) www.valewildlife.org.uk/. Accessed 5 Dec 2011
Wild Frontiers Uganda (2011) Ngamba Island Excursions—Wild Frontiers, Uganda Entebbe, Uganda: Wild Frontiers, Uganda. http://www.wildfrontiers.co.ug/ngambavisits.html. Accessed 10 Nov 2011
Wimberger K, Downs CT, Boyes RS (2010) A survey of wildlife rehabilitation in South Africa: is there a need for improved management? Anim Welf 19:481–499