Morbidity and Mortality of Reptiles Admitted to the Australian Wildlife Health Centre, Healesville Sanctuary, Australia, 2000–13

Scheelings, T. Franciscus

doi:10.7589/2014-09-230

Cited by 18 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Dog attacks were another CFA resulting in significant mortality, with reptiles highly represented in this category. This is in agreement with another Australian study that showed around 49.2-52.4% of admissions of bluetongue lizards, which are common in backyards, were admitted following dog attacks, and 70% of all dog attack admissions did not recover [8]. A study in Tennessee however, reported far fewer admissions (only 6.1%) of reptiles due to dog attacks, where "human-induced trauma" was listed as the most common CFA for reptiles [24].…”

Section: Human Activities Are Contributing To the Decline Of Australisupporting

confidence: 89%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The impact of human activities on Australian wildlife

Taylor-Brown

Booth

Gillett

et al. 2018

Preprint

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2Increasing human population size and the concomitant expansion of urbanisation 3 significantly impact natural ecosystems and native fauna globally. Successful conservation 4 management relies on precise information on the factors associated with wildlife population 5 decline, which are challenging to acquire from natural populations. Wildlife Rehabilitation 6 Centres (WRC) provide a rich source of this information. However, few researchers have 7 conducted large-scale longitudinal studies, with most focussing on narrow taxonomic ranges, 8 suggesting that WRC-associated data remains an underutilised resource, and may provide a 9 fuller understanding of the anthropogenic threats facing native fauna. 10We analysed admissions and outcomes data from a WRC in Queensland, Australia Zoo 11 Wildlife Hospital, to determine the major factors driving admissions and morbidity of native 12 animals in a region experiencing rapid and prolonged urban expansion. 13We studied 31,626 admissions of 83 different species of native birds, reptiles, 14 amphibians, marsupials and eutherian mammals from 2006 to 2017. While marsupial 15 admissions were highest (41.3%), admissions increased over time for all species and exhibited 16 seasonal variation (highest in Spring to Summer), consistent with known breeding seasons. 17Causes for admission typically associated with human influenced activities were 18 dominant and exhibited the highest mortality rates. Car strikes were the most common reason 19 for admission (34.7%), with dog attacks (9.2%), entanglements (7.2%), and cat attacks (5.3%) 20 also high. Admissions of orphaned young and overt signs of disease were significant at 24.6% 21 and 9.7%, respectively. Mortality rates were highest following dog attacks (72.7%) and car 22 strikes (69.1%) and lowest in orphaned animals (22.1%). 23Our results show that WRC databases offer rich opportunities for wildlife monitoring 24 and provide quantification of the negative impacts of human activities on ecosystem stability 3 25 and wildlife health. The imminent need for urgent, proactive conservation management to 26 ameliorate the negative impacts of human activities on wildlife is clearly evident from our 27 results. 28Introduction 29There is substantive evidence to suggest that anthropogenic factors are having 30 devastating consequences on native fauna, both in Australia [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] and internationally [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26].31 The stability of entire ecosystems is consistently compromised through the process of urban 32 expansion and global population growth, which continue to increase at unprecedented rates 33 [27]. The sustained acceleration in human population growth and resulting expansion in 34 anthropogenic activities appear to be the primary causes of an accelerated increase in extinction 35 rates globally [28][29][30][31][32]. 36Global population growth contributes to the destruction, modification and 37 fragmentation of wildlife habitat, reduced genetic diversity, threats fro...

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Section: Human Activities Are Contributing To the Decline Of Australisupporting

confidence: 89%

“…There is substantive evidence to suggest that anthropogenic factors are having devastating consequences on native fauna, both in Australia [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] and internationally [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of human activities on Australian wildlife

Taylor-Brown

Booth

Gillett

et al. 2018

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In part, the mission of these organizations is to treat injured and orphaned animals so that they might be returned with full function to the wild where they may continue to contribute to the population. Cat interaction is consistently a leading cause of patient admissions in the wildlife rehabilitation community (WILD‐ONe database, Wildlife Center of Virginia, Waynesboro, VA); however, incidence reporting in the peer‐reviewed literature is usually limited to specific time periods, number of individuals admitted (i.e., patients), and outcome or disposition (e.g., released, died, euthanized, permanent placement; Jessup , Schenk and Souza , Scheelings ). Although it is not appropriate to use these incident data to assess trends at the population level, they provide valuable insight into the species and life stages most affected, temporal and geospatial trends associated with free‐roaming cat interactions, and mortality associated with injuries.…”

Section: Summary Of Study Categories and Research Hypotheses Regardinmentioning

confidence: 99%

Free‐roaming cat interactions with wildlife admitted to a wildlife hospital

et al. 2016

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Free‐roaming domestic cats are a major anthropogenic source of morbidity and mortality to wild birds and mammals in the United States. Permitted wildlife rehabilitators routinely treat cat‐caused injuries. However, extent of these activities is under‐reported in the scientific literature. To determine incidence, age class, mortality, diversity and frequency of species affected, nature of injuries, time in care, and temporal and geospatial trends associated with interactions between free‐roaming cats and wildlife, we conducted a retrospective analysis on 20,921 records from small birds and mammals presented to the Wildlife Center of Virginia (WCV), USA between 2000 and 2010. Cat interaction was the second greatest cause of small‐mammal admissions (14.8%), fourth greatest cause of mammal mortality (70.8%), fourth greatest cause of bird admissions (13.7%), and second greatest cause of avian mortality (80.8%). Eighty‐three species were admitted following interactions with cats. Age of wildlife admitted following cat interaction varied by class; juvenile mammals were captured most frequently (40.5%), followed by neonates (34%), then adults (25.5%). However, adults were documented most frequently in birds (42.7%), followed by juveniles (37.2%), then nestlings (20.1%). Birds were more likely to have interactions with cats in rural areas, whereas degree of urbanization did not differ for mammals. Eighty‐eight percent of cat interactions occurred between April and September, indicating a strong seasonal trend. Our findings indicate that free‐roaming cats substantially contribute to admissions in a wildlife rehabilitation hospital and even with veterinary intervention, release potential is limited. Reducing the number of free‐roaming cats will reduce interactions with wildlife and decrease the need for medical assistance. © 2016 The Wildlife Society.

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“…Conception and implementation of effective conservation management strategies should be guided by a thorough understanding of the underlying causes of wildlife population decline [18, 19, 46–48]. Evaluation of longitudinal data from wildlife rehabilitation centres (WRC), including causes of admission and resultant outcomes, can be used to conduct general wildlife monitoring and investigate threats to local species [6–8, 13, 18, 19, 23, 24, 26, 47, 49–53], and may provide information about ecosystem health and stability [53, 54], quantify and delineate natural and anthropogenic elements that present potential hazards to wildlife survival.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous research using WRC admissions data has generally concentrated on either a single species or narrow taxonomic clusters [6–8, 15, 17, 20, 23, 50, 55, 56], with understandable foci on threatened taxa. Others have focused on particular threats, such as cat attacks, land clearing and emerging diseases [16, 21, 22, 25, 57], which have increased as human activities have encroached on wildlife habitat [26, 58].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of human activities on Australian wildlife

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Increasing human population size and the concomitant expansion of urbanisation significantly impact natural ecosystems and native fauna globally. Successful conservation management relies on precise information on the factors associated with wildlife population decline, which are challenging to acquire from natural populations. Wildlife Rehabilitation Centres (WRC) provide a rich source of this information. However, few researchers have conducted large-scale longitudinal studies, with most focussing on narrow taxonomic ranges, suggesting that WRC-associated data remains an underutilised resource, and may provide a fuller understanding of the anthropogenic threats facing native fauna. We analysed admissions and outcomes data from a WRC in Queensland, Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital, to determine the major factors driving admissions and morbidity of native animals in a region experiencing rapid and prolonged urban expansion. We studied 31,626 admissions of 83 different species of native birds, reptiles, amphibians, marsupials and eutherian mammals from 2006 to 2017. While marsupial admissions were highest (41.3%), admissions increased over time for all species and exhibited seasonal variation (highest in Spring to Summer), consistent with known breeding seasons. Causes for admission typically associated with human influenced activities were dominant and exhibited the highest mortality rates. Car strikes were the most common reason for admission (34.7%), with dog attacks (9.2%), entanglements (7.2%), and cat attacks (5.3%) also high. Admissions of orphaned young and overt signs of disease were significant at 24.6% and 9.7%, respectively. Mortality rates were highest following dog attacks (72.7%) and car strikes (69.1%) and lowest in orphaned animals (22.1%). Our results show that WRC databases offer rich opportunities for wildlife monitoring and provide quantification of the negative impacts of human activities on ecosystem stability and wildlife health. The imminent need for urgent, proactive conservation management to ameliorate the negative impacts of human activities on wildlife is clearly evident from our results.

show abstract

Morbidity and Mortality of Reptiles Admitted to the Australian Wildlife Health Centre, Healesville Sanctuary, Australia, 2000–13

Cited by 18 publications

References 10 publications

The impact of human activities on Australian wildlife

The impact of human activities on Australian wildlife

Free‐roaming cat interactions with wildlife admitted to a wildlife hospital

The impact of human activities on Australian wildlife

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