Although nowadays the intentional poisoning of domestic and wild animals is a crime in EU, in the past the poison was used in rural areas of a number of European countries to kill animals that were considered harmful for human activities. In Spain evidences indicate that intentional poisonings continue to occur throughout the entire country nowadays. This situation seems to be of particular concern in the Canary Islands (Spain), where this study was performed. Our results confirmed that 225 animals were poisoned by pesticides over the study period (32 months; 2010-2013). The intentionality of the poisoning was confirmed in 117 cases. It has to be highlighted that the other 108 animals also died by pesticide poisoning, although the intentionality was only suspected. This incidence is currently the highest reported in any region from European Union. The pesticides carbofuran, bromadiolone, brodifacoum and aldicarb were the most frequently detected involved. Among the affected species, it has to be highlighted that endangered species are frequently affected in poisoning incidents. Notably, chemicals banned in the EU (carbofuran and aldicarb) were identified in approximately 75% of cases, and in almost 100% of baits, which suggests that these pesticides are still available to the population. Several circumstances may explain these results. Firstly, little control over the sale and possession of pesticide products, and the potential existence of an illegal market of pesticides banned in the European Union in the neighbouring African continent. In addition, the limited awareness of the population about the dangerousness of these compounds, for the environment, animals, or even people, make the situation very worrying in these islands. Stronger regulations, control of legal and illegal pesticide use, development of educational programs and legal action in poisoning incidents are needed to decrease the impact of pesticide misuse on wildlife and domestic animals.

1. Long-lived avian scavengers are threatened worldwide and thus, are common targets of conservation plans. However, scientific evidence of both the factors limiting populations and effectiveness of management actions are greatly needed in order to develop more efficient and successful conservation strategies.2. We assessed the effectiveness of conservation actions applied within a LIFE-Nature project aimed at improving the long-term survival of the critically endangered Canarian Egyptian vulture: including education campaigns for public awareness and control of illegal poisoning and the modification of power lines to reduce the risk of accidents. We formulated a multievent capture-mark-recapture model to obtain estimates of survival for juvenile, subadult and adult birds accounting for probabilities of resight, recovery and losses of metal and colour rings.3. Models supported a substantial enhancement in survival for subadult and adult birds and a moderate improvement for juveniles after the implementation of LIFE actions. Ring loss probabilities became notably high in the middle to long term. 4. Poisoning events became very rare after LIFE was implemented, suggesting a positive effect of environmental education and awareness campaigns. Entanglements and collisions in power lines were also efficiently mitigated. Instead, electrocutions became the most identified cause of death in the post-LIFE stage. Synthesis and applications.Our results highlight the improvement of survival in a threatened island vulture population after the implementation of a European LIFE conservation project. On small islands, with small human populations and few stakeholders, education and awareness campaigns can be especially effective for biodiversity conservation. We also demonstrate the need to complement conservation programmes with long-term monitoring, which is essential to evaluate the effectiveness of actions, especially for long-lived species.

Exposure to AR in reptiles, mammals and non-raptor birds is mainly related to intentional poisoning.• AR exposure appears as a threat for the conservation of the critically endangered Canary raven. • Incidence of AR in raptors almost reach 60%, with the highest values detected in common kestrels • First report of AR residues in Barbary Falcon and Eleonora's Falcon • Raptors that live near livestock intensive farms are significantly more exposed to AR.

Antimicrobial resistance among isolates from wild animals is increasingly reported. Extended‐spectrum beta‐lactamase (ESBL)‐producing Enterobacteriaceae, and particularly Escherichia coli, have spread worldwide as one of the most common multidrug‐resistant organisms. The aim of this study was to determine the carriage rate of ESBL‐producing E. coli isolates and their genetic characteristics in wild vultures from the Canary Islands. Faecal samples were collected from 22 apparently healthy free‐ranging (wild) vulture chicks from Lanzarote and Fuerteventura (Canary Islands) during July 2019. They were seeded in MacConkey agar supplemented with cefotaxime (2 μg ml−1). Colonies with typical morphology of E. coli were identified by MALDI‐TOF‐MS. Antimicrobial susceptibility was done by disk diffusion. Phenotypic detection of ESBL was performed by double‐disk tests. The presence of blaCTX‐M, blaSHV, blaTEM, blaKPC and blaOXA‐48 genes, as well as mcr‐1 (colistin resistance), tetA/tetB and int1 gene, was tested by PCR/sequencing. Phylogenetic groups and multilocus sequence typing (MLST) were determined by PCR/sequencing. ESBL‐producing E. coli isolates were detected in 5/22 tested animals (22.7%), and all isolates (one/animal) carried blaCTX‐M genes: blaCTX‐M‐15 (n = 3) and blaCTX‐M‐55 (n = 2). ESBL‐positive isolates were ascribed to phylogenetic group D (two isolates), B1 (two isolates) and A (one isolate), and five sequence types were detected (ST/phylogenetic‐group/ESBL): ST515/B1/CTX‐M‐15, ST1290/A/CTX‐M‐15, ST38/D/CTX‐M‐15, ST457/D/CTX‐M‐55 and ST6448/B1/CTX‐M‐55; this suggests a genetic diversity among these isolates. Three CTX‐M‐15‐producing isolates contained the blaTEM gene and one the tetA gene. To our knowledge, this appears to be the first report of ESBL‐producing E. coli in vulture chicks from the Canary Islands.

The presence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) Escherichia coli in cloacal samples from Canarian Egyptian vultures was investigated. Samples were obtained from chicks (n = 65) and from adults and immature birds (n = 38). Antimicrobial susceptibility to 16 antibiotics included in 12 different categories was determined for 103 E. coli isolates. MDR was defined as acquired non-susceptibility to at least one agent in three or more antimicrobial categories. Forty-seven different resistance phenotypes were detected: 31 MDR (41 isolates) and 16 non-MDR (62 isolates). One isolate was resistant to all 12 antimicrobial categories and 2 phenotypes included resistance to 9 antimicrobial categories. Imipenem resistance was included in five MDR phenotypes, corresponding to five different isolates. Statistically significant differences in prevalence of MDR-phenotypes were found between chicks in nests and the rest of the animals, probably due to the shorter exposure time of chicks to antimicrobials. The main risk derived from MDR bacteria in scavengers is that it threatens the treatment of wild animals in rescue centres and could be transferred to other animals in the facilities. In addition to this, it could pose a health risk to veterinarians or other staff involved in wildlife protection programmes.