Wildlife health considerations in conservation translocations

A team of researchers, including Katie Beckmann, a PhD candidate at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC), have conducted a study into the health outcomes in wildlife reintroduction projects. Conservation translocations as they are formally termed are defined as population reinforcement, reintroduction, assisted colonisation or ecological replacement. They have become a widespread tool as part of efforts to restore wildlife populations and their wider ecosystems and have been vital in aiding the recovery of various endangered animal and plant populations, growing in popularity in recent decades. This trend is unlikely to change, particularly in light of current biodiversity declines and the pressures many species will face from climate change. Conservation translocations are challenging to undertake, expensive and time-consuming - and without guarantee that positive outcomes will be achieved. This new research reviewed reports of previous projects and builds the evidence base to learn from and inform future thinking and decision-making when planning new initiatives. The resulting paper, published in the journal, Ecological Solutions and Evidence , summarises information about disease and other biological problems self-reported in case studies of animal and plant conservation translocation published in the IUCN/SSC's 'Global Reintroduction Perspectives' series.