BLOG |
by Margaret Waters One of the green sea turtles living at the Minnesota Zoo Photo by Bryan Wilkins In the Minnesota Zoo's Discovery Bay and Tropical Reef center, three sea turtles swim lazily about next to tropical fish, white-tip reef sharks, and a green moray eel. Two are green sea turtles, while the third is a Kemps-Ridley sea turtle named Mardi. All three were once wild sea turtles, with the same story: they collided with boats while swimming. The two green sea turtles sustained shell injuries, and Mardi had a bad head injury. After intense treatment at The Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans, Mardi came to the Minnesota Zoo for long-term care. (Note: while the Minnesota Zoo houses many nonhuman animals in need of care or who cannot be released, some species are there for breeding or protection programs). Unfortunately, the bad news continued: because of his head injury, Mardi was a bad candidate for rerelease, and will most likely spend the rest of his life at the zoo. Mardi's story isn't strange. The Minnesota Zoo, along with many other rehabilitation centers across the state and the nation, have to make tough decisions when they receive animals who have been injured. Caretakers and veterinarians do their best to insure rerelease into the wild is possible, but sometimes that cannot be the case. Two eastern gray squirrels, Chester and Hayes, sleeping together in a box. Photo by Carol Vinzant Rehabilitation StrategiesRehabilitation of non-domesticated animals has been debated over and over again by people concerned about the ethics and morality of possibly sustaining a life despite suffering or natural death. However, a main argument for the practice is “to counter the negative actions of man on species demographics and individual animal welfare” (Mullineux, 2014). This type of thought leads large-scale operations, like helping clean up, heal, and re-home animals hurt by oil spills and wildfires, as well as small-scale ones. Wildlife centers in towns and cities take in orphaned or injured non-human animals found by the public or police, care for them, or they are taken somewhere where proper care can be administered. Before release, each non-human animal is taken to a proper facility like the Austin Wildlife Rescue, where there are veterinarians on hand to provide medical care for most small native species like birds, turtles, deer and squirrels. Most of the individuals that come in are juveniles: 50% of bird and 54% of mammal admissions were immature according to a British Wildlife Rehabilitation Council survey.Many of those are orphans. For the other admitted individuals, most have had some sort of trauma, and need medical treatment. Common injuries are sustained by car collisions, encounters with domesticated cats or dogs, human habitat interference like oil spills, or even territorial disputes with other non-domesticated animals. At the Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Center in Houston, 8,000 non-human animals a year are brought in for care or shelter. Other small-scale rehabilitation centers usually house less. A swan being cared for after coming in contact with an oil spill Photo by USFWSmidwest Once care has begun for an individual, measures are taken to prevent inhibiting their ability to be re-released. For small non-human animals, this involves avoiding any sort of imprinting or dependence, and making sure young ones are able to find food and fend for themselves. For some birds, pre-release flight training can even be provided, with efforts put in to mirroring natural conditions (Mullineux, 2014). For bigger or more unusual non-human animals like bears or bobcats, the process is similar, but human contact is further limited by providing outdoor enclosures, feeding through tubes with live prey to assess fitness, and monitoring them with cameras. For non-human animals that need certain release conditions, like turtles, long-term housing and care is provided until the time is right. Once a patient is healthy and able to fend for themselves, he or she can be re-released. Releasing strategies and guidelinesThere are two different types of releases according to E. Mullineaux: hard releases and soft releases (2014). Soft releases involve providing an individual with temporary food and shelter at the release site, where they can rest and get used to their return to the wild before venturing out on their own. A hard release, usually involving older, more experienced, and less serious cases, is simply releasing the individual to the wild near where they were found, and allowing them to return to their lives. This ensures that the individuals can go back to their normal behaviors. A tagged California Condor living in the Grand Canyon Photo by Michael Quinn and the Grand Canyon National Park For some species, usually endangered or of-interest species like big cats or wolves, individuals who are cared for get released with some sort of identification (Mullineux, 2014). The identification can be a small radio-signaler, a tag, or a clip – whatever is chosen is done so to make sure the individual has as little interference from the object as possible. These tags are then used to monitor the success of the release, and make sure the individual remains safe. It can also be used to identify individuals who have been hurt or found before, as well as monitor their health. Some methods of monitoring are controversial, like collars on larger non-human animals, as they can become caught on things before their system tells them to fall off. Things like this are slowly being phased out in favor of nan-invasive monitoring methods like DNA sampling or track identification. Individuals released back into the wild have varied success rates. Multiple studies have been done trying to calculate percentages of success for certain species, but limited sample sizes and difficult tracking procedures have made it difficult. However, what little data there is supports the practice , showing that many of the rehabilitated animals do return to their natural lives (Mullineux, 2014). When they can't be released – what then?Like Mardi, the Kemps-Ridley sea turtle, some individuals cannot be released. One of the biggest groups is non-human animals that have been domesticated in some way. These individuals can sometimes be re-taught to fend for themselves, but are usually too dependent on humans to be able to live on their own in the wild. They are often captive-bred individuals, or individuals who have spent too much time in captivity. Their lessened fear of humans, as well as poorer hunting skills and social instincts with other nonhuman animals in the wild are disadvantages, especially for predators like tigers and wolves. Their likelihood for death is also much higher than other nonhuman animals in the wild, as this lack of skill leaves them vulnerable to both other predators and humans. Some have been injured to the point of being unable to hunt for themselves, or even defend themselves from predators or competitors. Others like Mardi are too injured to survive alone. For these individuals, re-homing is necessary. Vista, a bengal tiger rescued from life as a pet, wanders her enclosure at Out of Africa Wildlife Park Photo by Margaret Waters Most facilities do their best to bring unreleasable animals to sanctuaries, where they can be cared for in a place that mimics a sort of natural habitat. If a facility has a non-human animal that cannot be released, the state wildlife commission is contacted, and a suitable and proper home is found for them. These homes are incredibly diverse, and vary in their human contact. The Minnesota Zoo is one such place: the sea turtles, a pack of orphaned gray wolves called the Funny River Five, and two orphaned puma kittens who are still being treated have all found sanctuary there. Another similar home is Out of Africa Wildlife Park in Camp Verde, Arizona, where Vista, a bengal tiger (shown in picture) was placed after being rescued from life as a pet. Some places like the Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation facility near San Antonio have their own sanctuaries, and these ones are often not available for guests to see. The sanctuaries remain private areas where human disturbance is kept incredibly limited, as opposed to safari parks where tourists can ride out and see the nonhuman animals living there in their 'natural' homes. Places like this are focused on the welfare of their residents instead of on humans, and on giving them as full lives as possible. ConclusionRescue and rehabilitation of non-domesticated animals is done with the hope of release back into the wild, with every possible measure taken to ensure an individual is not made dependent on their human caretakers. However, some individuals just cannot be released, whether it be because of health, injuries, or being too young. With sanctuaries and wildlife refugee centers, unreleasable nonhuman animals can be cared for without severe interference, and care can be provided long-term to ensure that they are not in pain or at risk. For them, this is the best option: releasing them would be a death sentence, and the only other option would be euthanasia. A great effort is put into giving them homes where they can live out the rest of their lives happily, despite being cut off from the wild. References - Animal Rescue Archives. (2016). Retrieved February 20, 2017, from http://mnzoo.org/blog/category/animal-rescue/ - Magan, C. (2015, October 27). Injured turtles benefit from Minnesota Zoo partnership. Retrieved March 01, 2017, from http://www.twincities.com/2014/12/04/injured-turtles-benefit-from-minnesota-zoo-partnership/ - Middleton, R. (2011, December). Injured Animals Get a Second Chance at Wildlife Rehab Centers. Retrieved February 27, 2017, from http://tpwmagazine.com/archive/2011/dec/ed_3_animalrescue/index.phtml - Mullineaux, E. (2014). Veterinary treatment and rehabilitation of indigenous wildlife. Journal of Small Animal Practice, 55(6), 293-300. doi:10.1111/jsap.12213 - Out of Africa Wildlife Park. (n.d.). Exotic Animal Rescue & Conservation. Retrieved March 22, 2017, from http://outofafricapark.com/educate-conserve2/animal-rescue-conservation/ - Owen, J. (2008, January 23). Most Captive-Born Predators Die If Released. Retrieved March 22, 2017, from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/01/080123-carnivores-wild.html - Singer, J. (2013, December 11). How Big Cat Rescue Decides if They Can Release an Animal into the Wild. Retrieved February 25, 2017, from http://www.vetstreet.com/our-pet-experts/how-big-cat-rescue-decides-if-they-can-release-an-animal-into-the-wild - Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation, Inc. (2016). Retrieved February 27, 2017, from http://wildlife-rescue.org/ AUTHOR BIOMargaret Waters is studying to receive a Biology degree with an emphasis in Zoology from the Minnesota State University in Mankato, MN. An avid reader and outdoorswoman with a penchant towards cliff-diving, she has worked with both the Minnesota Zoo and locally-owned facilities in education on animal rescue and rehabilitation. Comments are closed.
|
ABOUT
This is a website about nonhuman animals, written by human animals taking a Society and Animals class at Minnesota State University, Mankato. Archives
April 2024
Categories
All
|