Science for Wildlife Ltd, PO Box 5, Mount Victoria, NSW, 2786, Australia.
Department of Planning and Environment, National Parks and Wildlife Service, Locked Bag 5022, Parramatta, NSW, 2124, Australia.
Sci Rep. 2023 Apr 21;13(1):6542. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-33535-y.
Wildlife rehabilitation is a critical part of animal welfare that contributes to species conservation. Despite the resources that go into rehabilitation, how animals fare after release from care is unknown. This is particularly true for cryptic arboreal species where specialist diets in care and low detectability in the wild present challenges for both care and post-release monitoring. We evaluated post-release outcomes for koalas and assessed if koalas were fed appropriately while in care. We monitored 36 koalas that had experienced one of three categories of medical intervention (none, minor, major) during rehabilitation. We examined the drivers of (i) koala survival and (ii) movements post-release, and (iii) evaluated variation between the species of browse fed in care versus browse selected by koalas in-situ. Overall, the post release survival rate of koalas was 58.5%, with only koalas that received medical intervention experiencing mortality. A critical threshold for mortality occurred at two weeks post-release and mortality was related to the measurable indicators of low body condition and poor climbing ability at time of release. In the month following their release, animals translocated furthest from their capture point moved the furthest. There was poor overlap between the tree species that koalas were fed in care and those they utilized post-release. We provide recommendations to address critical gaps in rehabilitation practices, as well as priorities for monitoring animals post-release to improve outcomes for arboreal folivores.
野生动物康复是动物福利的一个重要组成部分，有助于物种保护。尽管康复投入了大量资源，但动物在离开护理后的情况却不得而知。对于隐蔽的树栖物种来说尤其如此，因为在护理中需要特殊的饮食，而在野外的低可见度则给护理和释放后监测带来了挑战。我们评估了考拉的释放后结果，并评估了它们在护理期间是否得到了适当的喂养。我们监测了 36 只在康复过程中经历了三种医疗干预（无、小、大）之一的考拉。我们研究了考拉（i）生存和（ii）释放后运动的驱动因素，并（iii）评估了护理中喂养的灌木种类与考拉在现场选择的灌木种类之间的差异。总体而言，考拉的释放后存活率为 58.5%，只有接受过医疗干预的考拉才会死亡。死亡率的一个关键阈值出现在释放后两周，死亡率与释放时身体状况不佳和攀爬能力差的可衡量指标有关。在释放后的一个月内，从捕获点转移最远的动物移动得最远。在护理中喂养的树木种类与释放后使用的树木种类之间存在很大的重叠。我们提供了一些建议，以解决康复实践中的关键差距，并为监测释放后动物的情况确定优先事项，以改善树栖食草动物的结果。
