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Deathly Silent: Exploring the Global Lack of Data Relating to Stranded Cetacean Euthanasia

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Cetacean strandings are frequent in occurrence and are likely to become even more common globally because of the effects of escalating anthropogenic activities. Due to the compromised state of stranded animals, euthanasia is often recommended or required. However, current knowledge a...

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Autores principales: Boys, Rebecca M., Beausoleil, Ngaio J., Betty, Emma L., Stockin, Karen A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8161157/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34069749
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani11051460
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author Boys, Rebecca M.
Beausoleil, Ngaio J.
Betty, Emma L.
Stockin, Karen A.
author_facet Boys, Rebecca M.
Beausoleil, Ngaio J.
Betty, Emma L.
Stockin, Karen A.
author_sort Boys, Rebecca M.
collection PubMed
description SIMPLE SUMMARY: Cetacean strandings are frequent in occurrence and are likely to become even more common globally because of the effects of escalating anthropogenic activities. Due to the compromised state of stranded animals, euthanasia is often recommended or required. However, current knowledge and implementation of euthanasia methods remain highly variable, with limited data on the practicalities and welfare impacts of procedures. This study sought to evaluate the available published data on cetacean euthanasia in order to highlight significant knowledge gaps and provide direction to improve the welfare of stranded cetaceans. Data from the peer-reviewed literature and published reports were analysed, and significant knowledge gaps highlighted. Two main euthanasia methods, chemical and ballistics, were reported, with few details provided on the specific application of these. Few data were available about time to death/insensibility, parameters commonly required to assess the welfare impacts of killing methods. Overall, the findings highlight the lack of available information on cetacean euthanasia and suggest avenues for future work to improve welfare through the use of appropriate methods and increased data collection. ABSTRACT: The compromised state of stranded cetaceans means that euthanasia is often required. However, current knowledge and implementation of euthanasia methods remain highly variable, with limited data on the practicalities and welfare impacts of procedures. This study evaluated the available published data on cetacean euthanasia, highlighting knowledge gaps and providing direction to improve stranded cetacean welfare. A total of 2147 peer-reviewed articles describing marine mammal euthanasia were examined. Of these 3.1% provided details on the method used, with 91% employing chemical methods. Two countries, the United Kingdom (UK) and New Zealand (NZ), provided euthanasia reports to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) between 2007 and 2020. Methods employed were reported for 78.3% and 100% of individual cetaceans euthanised in the UK and NZ, respectively. In the UK, chemical euthanasia was most common (52%), whilst in NZ only ballistics methods were used. Few data were available about time to death/insensibility (TTD); 0.5% of peer-reviewed articles provided TTD, whilst TTD was reported for 35% of individuals in the UK and for 98% in NZ. However, IWC reports lacked detail on how death/insensibility were assessed, with multiple individuals “presumed instantly” killed. Overall, the findings highlight the lack of available information on cetacean euthanasia, and suggest increased data collection and the application of appropriate methods to improve welfare.
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spelling pubmed-81611572021-05-29 Deathly Silent: Exploring the Global Lack of Data Relating to Stranded Cetacean Euthanasia Boys, Rebecca M. Beausoleil, Ngaio J. Betty, Emma L. Stockin, Karen A. Animals (Basel) Article SIMPLE SUMMARY: Cetacean strandings are frequent in occurrence and are likely to become even more common globally because of the effects of escalating anthropogenic activities. Due to the compromised state of stranded animals, euthanasia is often recommended or required. However, current knowledge and implementation of euthanasia methods remain highly variable, with limited data on the practicalities and welfare impacts of procedures. This study sought to evaluate the available published data on cetacean euthanasia in order to highlight significant knowledge gaps and provide direction to improve the welfare of stranded cetaceans. Data from the peer-reviewed literature and published reports were analysed, and significant knowledge gaps highlighted. Two main euthanasia methods, chemical and ballistics, were reported, with few details provided on the specific application of these. Few data were available about time to death/insensibility, parameters commonly required to assess the welfare impacts of killing methods. Overall, the findings highlight the lack of available information on cetacean euthanasia and suggest avenues for future work to improve welfare through the use of appropriate methods and increased data collection. ABSTRACT: The compromised state of stranded cetaceans means that euthanasia is often required. However, current knowledge and implementation of euthanasia methods remain highly variable, with limited data on the practicalities and welfare impacts of procedures. This study evaluated the available published data on cetacean euthanasia, highlighting knowledge gaps and providing direction to improve stranded cetacean welfare. A total of 2147 peer-reviewed articles describing marine mammal euthanasia were examined. Of these 3.1% provided details on the method used, with 91% employing chemical methods. Two countries, the United Kingdom (UK) and New Zealand (NZ), provided euthanasia reports to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) between 2007 and 2020. Methods employed were reported for 78.3% and 100% of individual cetaceans euthanised in the UK and NZ, respectively. In the UK, chemical euthanasia was most common (52%), whilst in NZ only ballistics methods were used. Few data were available about time to death/insensibility (TTD); 0.5% of peer-reviewed articles provided TTD, whilst TTD was reported for 35% of individuals in the UK and for 98% in NZ. However, IWC reports lacked detail on how death/insensibility were assessed, with multiple individuals “presumed instantly” killed. Overall, the findings highlight the lack of available information on cetacean euthanasia, and suggest increased data collection and the application of appropriate methods to improve welfare. MDPI 2021-05-19 /pmc/articles/PMC8161157/ /pubmed/34069749 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani11051460 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Boys, Rebecca M.
Beausoleil, Ngaio J.
Betty, Emma L.
Stockin, Karen A.
Deathly Silent: Exploring the Global Lack of Data Relating to Stranded Cetacean Euthanasia
title Deathly Silent: Exploring the Global Lack of Data Relating to Stranded Cetacean Euthanasia
title_full Deathly Silent: Exploring the Global Lack of Data Relating to Stranded Cetacean Euthanasia
title_fullStr Deathly Silent: Exploring the Global Lack of Data Relating to Stranded Cetacean Euthanasia
title_full_unstemmed Deathly Silent: Exploring the Global Lack of Data Relating to Stranded Cetacean Euthanasia
title_short Deathly Silent: Exploring the Global Lack of Data Relating to Stranded Cetacean Euthanasia
title_sort deathly silent: exploring the global lack of data relating to stranded cetacean euthanasia
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8161157/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34069749
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani11051460
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