Prayer animal release: An understudied pathway for introduction of invasive aquatic species

Abstract

It is more cost effective to prevent invasions than to eradicate or control invasive species once they are established. We therefore need a thorough knowledge of the pathways by which invasive species are introduced. Prayer animal release is the mainly Buddhist and Taoist tradition of releasing captive animals to gain merit. Although it is assumed to benefit the animals being released as well as the practitioners, prayer release as it is currently practiced has negative impacts that are at odds with the intended compassion. Major impacts are the introduction of invasive species and enhancement of spread and establishment. In this overview, I detail what is currently known about prayer release for aquatic invasions and provide consensus views of the best ways to address any potential impacts. Prayer release is rarely investigated as a potential pathway for introduction of invasive species and there is a marked lack of research on the subject, especially in aquatic ecosystems. Invasion researchers urgently need to 1) conduct research to establish the extent and impacts of prayer release, 2) engage with faith-based groups to encourage alteration of the practice so that it maintains its spiritual intent while promoting ecological responsibility, and 3) recognize prayer release as a major pathway for the introduction of invasive species.

Applying the Convention on Biological Diversity Pathway Classification to alien species in Europe

“…The same considerations are relevant to the release of aquatic or terrestrial species for religious ceremonies. The release of captive animals to gain spiritual favour is a widespread religious practice, especially amongst Buddhists and Taoists (Wasserman et al 2019;Magellan 2019). For all these cases of pet/aquarium/terrarium species intentionally released in the wild, we suggest a new subcategory "Release in nature: Pet/aquarium/terrarium species" to be added under the "Release" pathway category.…”

Contemporizing island biogeography theory with anthropogenic drivers of species richness

“…5B). However, economic isolation for some clades and islands species groups may be idiosyncratic and based on historical context such as past pet trade or cultural practices (e.g., Agoramoorthy & Hsu 2007;García-Díaz et al 2015), which is even more critical for dispersal limited species (Gertzen et al 2008;Magellan 2019) and calls for alternate measure of economic isolation. Predictive models of how non-native species are introduced have been developed using trade networks (e.g., Seebens et al 2016), and these same trade networks can be used to develop economic isolation metrics based on network theory.…”

The Efficacy of Using SCB Guidelines to Facilitate Conservation Science-Faith Collaboration: Experiences in the Field

“…Following the principle of "doing no harm to any living thing" (Liu et al, 2013;Pu, 2014), practitioners believe they are helping the released animals, and by extension, the recipient ecosystems for which they gain "good karma" for themselves and their loved ones (Agoramoorthy and Hsu, 2005;Shiu and Stokes, 2008;Liu et al, 2013). However, mercy release results in the deaths of millions of animals through the capture and sale of wild animals (Shiu and Stokes, 2008;Awoyemi et al, 2012Awoyemi et al, , 2016 and their introduction as invasive species into native habitats (Liu et al, 2012(Liu et al, , 2013Magellan, 2019;Wasserman et al, 2019) that threaten to reduce biological diversity and destabilize ecosystems.…”

“…Another area in which this project has been successful is initiating dialogue about moving forward to address the mercy release issue. Publications (e.g., Magellan, 2019;Wasserman et al, 2019) and conference presentations (e.g., the 2019 International Congress for Conservation Biology on which this entry is based) have raised the profile of mercy release within the scientific community. Hopefully, these efforts will result in wider assessment of mercy release and more essential work.…”