A systematic review of factors affecting wildlife survival during rehabilitation and release

Holly R Cope, Clare McArthur, Christopher R Dickman, Thomas M Newsome, Rachael Gray and Catherine A Herbert

PLOS ONE, 2022, vol. 17, issue 3, 1-24

Abstract: Millions of native animals around the world are rescued and rehabilitated each year by wildlife rehabilitators. Triage and rehabilitation protocols need to be robust and evidence-based, with outcomes consistently recorded, to promote animal welfare and better understand predictors of wildlife survival. We conducted a global systematic review and meta-analysis of 112 articles that reported survival rates of native mammals and birds during rehabilitation and after release to determine intrinsic and extrinsic factors associated with their survival. We assessed survival during rehabilitation and in the short- and long-term post-release, with the hypothesis that survival will vary as a function of species body size, diel activity pattern, trophic level and study location (region of the world). We aimed to determine the direction of effect of these factors on survival to assist in decision-making during triage and rehabilitation. Results showed that mammals and birds were equally likely to survive all stages of rehabilitation, and survival rates varied between locations. Birds in North America had the poorest survival rates post-release, particularly long-term, as did diurnal and carnivorous birds in the short-term post-release. Anthropogenic factors such as motor vehicle collisions and domestic or feral animal attack contributed to morbidity and post-release mortality in 45% (168 of 369) of instances. The reasons for rescue and associated severity of diagnosis were commonly reported to affect the likelihood of survival to release, but factors affecting survival were often species-specific, including bodyweight, age, and characteristics of the release location. Therefore, evidence-based, species-specific, and context-specific protocols need to be developed to ensure wildlife survival is maximised during rehabilitation and post-release. Such protocols are critical for enabling rapid, efficient rescue programs for wildlife following natural disasters and extreme weather events which are escalating globally, in part due to climate change.

Date: 2022
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0265514 (text/html)
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id= ... 65514&type=printable (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0265514

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0265514

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in PLOS ONE from Public Library of Science
Bibliographic data for series maintained by plosone ().