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Species, causes, and outcomes of wildlife rehabilitation in New York State

Wildlife rehabilitation is a publicly popular practice, though not without controversy. State wildlife agencies frequently debate the ecological impact of rehabilitation. By analyzing case records, we can clarify and quantify the causes for rehabilitation, species involved, and treatment outcomes. T...

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Autores principales: Hanson, Melissa, Hollingshead, Nicholas, Schuler, Krysten, Siemer, William F., Martin, Patrick, Bunting, Elizabeth M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8454955/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34547048
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0257675
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author Hanson, Melissa
Hollingshead, Nicholas
Schuler, Krysten
Siemer, William F.
Martin, Patrick
Bunting, Elizabeth M.
author_facet Hanson, Melissa
Hollingshead, Nicholas
Schuler, Krysten
Siemer, William F.
Martin, Patrick
Bunting, Elizabeth M.
author_sort Hanson, Melissa
collection PubMed
description Wildlife rehabilitation is a publicly popular practice, though not without controversy. State wildlife agencies frequently debate the ecological impact of rehabilitation. By analyzing case records, we can clarify and quantify the causes for rehabilitation, species involved, and treatment outcomes. This data would aid regulatory agencies and rehabilitators in making informed decisions, as well as gaining insight into causes of species mortality. In New York State, the Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) has licensed rehabilitators since 1980 and annual reporting is required. In this study, we analyzed 58,185 individual wildlife cases that were attended by New York rehabilitators between 2012 and 2014. These encompassed 30,182 (51.9%) birds, 25,447 (43.7%) mammals, 2,421 (4.2%) reptiles, and 75 (0.1%) amphibians. We identified patterns among taxonomic representation, reasons for presentation to a rehabilitation center, and animal disposition. Major causes of presentation were trauma (n = 22,156; 38.1%) and orphaning (n = 21,679; 37.3%), with habitat loss (n = 3,937; 6.8%), infectious disease (n = 1,824; 3.1%), and poisoning or toxin exposure (n = 806; 1.4%) playing lesser roles. The overall release rate for animals receiving care was 50.2% while 45.3% died or were euthanized during the rehabilitation process. A relatively small number (0.3%) were permanently non-releasable and placed in captivity; 4.1% had unknown outcomes. A comparable evaluation in 1989 revealed that wildlife submissions have increased (annual mean 12,583 vs 19,395), and are accompanied by a significant improvement in release (50.2% in the study period vs 44.4% in 1989) (χ(2)(1) = 90.43, p < 0.0001). In this manuscript, we aim to describe the rehabilitator community in New York State, and present the causes and outcomes for rehabilitation over a three-year period.
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spelling pubmed-84549552021-09-22 Species, causes, and outcomes of wildlife rehabilitation in New York State Hanson, Melissa Hollingshead, Nicholas Schuler, Krysten Siemer, William F. Martin, Patrick Bunting, Elizabeth M. PLoS One Research Article Wildlife rehabilitation is a publicly popular practice, though not without controversy. State wildlife agencies frequently debate the ecological impact of rehabilitation. By analyzing case records, we can clarify and quantify the causes for rehabilitation, species involved, and treatment outcomes. This data would aid regulatory agencies and rehabilitators in making informed decisions, as well as gaining insight into causes of species mortality. In New York State, the Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) has licensed rehabilitators since 1980 and annual reporting is required. In this study, we analyzed 58,185 individual wildlife cases that were attended by New York rehabilitators between 2012 and 2014. These encompassed 30,182 (51.9%) birds, 25,447 (43.7%) mammals, 2,421 (4.2%) reptiles, and 75 (0.1%) amphibians. We identified patterns among taxonomic representation, reasons for presentation to a rehabilitation center, and animal disposition. Major causes of presentation were trauma (n = 22,156; 38.1%) and orphaning (n = 21,679; 37.3%), with habitat loss (n = 3,937; 6.8%), infectious disease (n = 1,824; 3.1%), and poisoning or toxin exposure (n = 806; 1.4%) playing lesser roles. The overall release rate for animals receiving care was 50.2% while 45.3% died or were euthanized during the rehabilitation process. A relatively small number (0.3%) were permanently non-releasable and placed in captivity; 4.1% had unknown outcomes. A comparable evaluation in 1989 revealed that wildlife submissions have increased (annual mean 12,583 vs 19,395), and are accompanied by a significant improvement in release (50.2% in the study period vs 44.4% in 1989) (χ(2)(1) = 90.43, p < 0.0001). In this manuscript, we aim to describe the rehabilitator community in New York State, and present the causes and outcomes for rehabilitation over a three-year period. Public Library of Science 2021-09-21 /pmc/articles/PMC8454955/ /pubmed/34547048 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0257675 Text en © 2021 Hanson et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Hanson, Melissa
Hollingshead, Nicholas
Schuler, Krysten
Siemer, William F.
Martin, Patrick
Bunting, Elizabeth M.
Species, causes, and outcomes of wildlife rehabilitation in New York State
title Species, causes, and outcomes of wildlife rehabilitation in New York State
title_full Species, causes, and outcomes of wildlife rehabilitation in New York State
title_fullStr Species, causes, and outcomes of wildlife rehabilitation in New York State
title_full_unstemmed Species, causes, and outcomes of wildlife rehabilitation in New York State
title_short Species, causes, and outcomes of wildlife rehabilitation in New York State
title_sort species, causes, and outcomes of wildlife rehabilitation in new york state
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8454955/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34547048
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0257675
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