Importance of taxonomic group, life stage and circumstance of rescue upon wildlife rehabilitation in Ontario, Canada
Importance of taxonomic group, life stage and circumstance of rescue upon wildlife rehabilitation in Ontario, Canada
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DOI：
10.1016/j.jnc.2020.125897
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发表时间：
2020-10-01
影响因子：
2
通讯作者：
delBarco-Trillo, Javier
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Kelly, Gillian;delBarco-Trillo, Javier
野生动物康复是一项日益重要的全球实践，旨在提高动物福利和物种保护。虽然关于野生动物康复的益处和局限性的讨论仍在继续，但就野生动物康复在改善野生动物福利和确定对野生动物的威胁方面的重要性达成了普遍共识。确定哪些因素导致康复的成功结果，可以使野生动物康复中心能够最好地集中资源，使动物受益，成功放生的机会最大。在本研究中，评估了三个影响康复成功的因素：分类群、生命阶段和救援环境。我们使用了一个大型数据库，其中包括来自加拿大安大略省沙松野生动物中心的患者记录(来自198个物种的9561只动物)，研究时间为三年(从2015年到2018年)。我们发现，与哺乳动物(42.1%)和鸟类(48.3%)相比，爬行动物的释放率(63.6%)更高，尽管放生的爬行动物比鸟类和哺乳动物在中心停留的时间更长。与状况良好的动物相比，状况不佳的动物到达中心后不太可能得到康复，在中心停留的时间也更长。总体而言，成年前儿童比成年人更有可能获释，尽管在该中心度过的天数并不因生命阶段而异。遭受主动损伤(如“碰撞”和“抛射”)的动物比遭受被动损伤(如作为“孤儿”或由于“栖息地被破坏”而到达中心)的动物更不可能康复；然而，如果只考虑那些离开中心的动物，遭受被动或主动损伤的动物在中心停留的天数没有差别。对患者记录的分析可以向康复人员提供有关影响康复工作的因素的相关信息，这些信息可用于在有限资源的情况下实施最大化释放率的策略。
Wildlife rehabilitation is an increasingly important and global practice, aiming towards advancements in animal welfare and species conservation. Although there are ongoing discussions on the benefits and limitations of wildlife rehabilitation, there is a general agreement on the importance of wildlife rehabilitation on improving the welfare of wild animals and identifying threats to wildlife. Determining which factors lead to a successful outcome of rehabilitation can allow wildlife rehabilitation centres to best focus their resources to benefit animals with the greatest chance of a successful release. In this study, three factors affecting the success of rehabilitation were evaluated: taxonomic group, life stage and circumstance of rescue. We used a large database of patients' records (9561 animals from 198 species) from Sandy Pines Wildlife Centre (Ontario, Canada) over a three year study period (from 2015 to 2018). We found that reptiles had a higher rate of release (63.6 %), compared with mammals (42.1 %) and birds (48.3 %), although released reptiles spent longer in the centre than birds and mammals. Animals arriving to the centre in poor condition were less likely to be rehabilitated and spent longer in the centre than animals arriving in good condition. Overall, preadults were more likely to be released than adults, although the number of days spent at the centre did not differ by life stage. Animals suffering active damage (e.g. 'collision' and 'projectile') were less likely to be rehabilitated than animals suffering passive damage (e.g. arriving to the centre as 'orphan' or due to 'habitat destruction'); however, when only considering those animals that left the centre, the number of days spent at the centre did not differ between animals suffering passive or active damage. The analysis of patients' records can provide relevant information to rehabilitators about factors influencing rehabilitation efforts, which can be used to implement strategies that maximise release rates, given limited resources.