Wildlife - British Wildlife Species, Habitats and Rehabilitation

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What is the aim of rehabilitation?

  • the goal of rehabilitation is:
    • to provide professional care to sick, injured, and orphaned wild animals so ultimately they can be returned to their natural habitat
  • seriously ill animals that cannot be returned to the wild are usually euthanised
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Rehabilitation

  • not an attempt to turn wild animals into pets
  • patients are held in captivity only until they are able to live independtly in the wild
    • fear of humans is a necessary survival trait
    • often wildlife rehab is complicated and time-consuming
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Key Points When Designing a Rehab Plan

  • once an injured or sick animal is captured it needs to be assessed (initial assessment)
  • your rehab plan needs to be specifically designed for your animal and its injuries
  • 1. species - some species do better than others during rehabilitation
  • 2. age
  • 3. injuries - mild/moderate/severe
    • depending on injury how much contact will the animal have to have with humans
    • this can impact release
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Accommodation Requirements Part 1

  • Three main areas in a rehab centre depending on injuries
    • intensive care - constant monitoring for life threatening conditions
    • hospital ward - animal requiring medical treatment but not life threatening
    • recovery enclosures - animals that are nearly ready for release
      • monitor heath, fitness and mental state
  • things to consider
    • size
      • depends on the size of the animal and its health status
    • material
      • what should the accommodation be made of?
      • think of cleanliness
    • security
      • double doors?
    • ways to reduce human contact
      • covering over windows
      • ways of feeding without humans being seen
      • observation area accessible
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Accommodation Requirements Part 2

    • furnishings
      • what should be inside?
      • natural substrates, branches, plants, logs and rocks
    • enrichment
      • in order to keep wild behaviours
      • e.g., scatter feeds, hiding food
    • temperature
    • ventilation
    • light
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Intensive Care/Hospital Ward Enclosures

  • Keep the animal in confined spaces to restrict movement
  • The area should be quiet, extremely clean, have dimmed lights and be warm
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Recovery Enclosures

  • More like smaller zoo enclosures
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Should animals be isolated?

  • Reasons to isolate an animal include:
    • species
    • disease/injuries
    • monitoring behaviour/health
    • administering medication
    • relaxed environment
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Does an animal need to be hand-reared?

  • a person to feed and care for a young animal until it is fully grown
  • why might an animal need to be hand-reared?
    • loss of parents/habitat
    • injury/medical conditions
  • advantages of hand-rearing
    • re-release
    • increase population
  • disadvantages
    • birds - imprinting
    • dependent
    • little fear of humans
    • time and money
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Fostering

  • only if appropriate
  • benefits
    • cheaper
    • animal learns natural behaviours
      • cheaper
      • less time consuming
      • animals learns natural behaviour
      • social skills
      • less dependent
    • promote the growth and development of an individual
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Feeding

The species and age of the individual determines what they are fed and how they are fed.

Young animals are usually bottle-fed suitable milk, in a sterile environment. They need high protein diets once weaned. They need weaning and a frequency of feeding needs to be determined.

In adult animals we need to determine whether the animal is a herbivore or a carnivore. The frequency of feeding needs to be determined as well as a suitable balanced diet. A weight-gain programme can be implemented for emaciated animals. Scatter feeding can provide a form of enrichment and stimulate natural feeding behaviour.

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Enrichment

  • to ensure the animal retains natural behaviours
    • such as foraging and nest building
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Imprinting

Imprinting refers to a critical period of time early in an animal’s life when it forms attachments and develops a concept of its own identity.

Birds and mammals are born with a pre-programmed drive to imprint onto their mother.

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Habituation

Habituation is an extremely simple form of learning, in which an animal, after a period of exposure to a stimulus, stops responding.

This will impact survival after release.

Habituation can be reduced by limiting human contact, not speaking, wearing masks and hats to disguise and using hand puppets where possible.

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Husbandry: Accommodation

  • when planning accommodation, we need to take into account
    • enclosure size
    • security
    • construction materials
    • furnishings
    • substrate
    • shelter
      • nest boxes or dens
    • internal/external areas
    • ventilation
    • light
    • temperature
    • enrichment
    • ways to reduce human contact
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Husbandry: Feeding

  • Wildlife diets vary massively and we must known what the inpatient eats in order to provide a suitable diet
  • Imperative that you know the natural foods of the species you are rehabilating, their feeding behaviour and their age
  • we need to think about whether the animal:
    • needs to be hand-reared
    • are a carnivore, herbivore or omnivore
    • has any certain feeding behaviours
      • e.g., foraging
    • feeds as a group or individual
  • Feeding in captivity does have restrictions. No live vertebrates can be fed in captivity as it is agains the law
  • knowing what the animal eats and how they eat gives you some idea of what and how you should be feeding the patient. This is particularly important in recovery enclosures.
  • Common foods in rehab centres include:
    • milk supplements for young animals, e.g., goats milk
    • carnivores are fed chicks, mice, rats, rabbits and insects
    • herbivores are fed a concentrated diet which depends on the specific animal and seeds 
      • e.g., deer and birds
    • omnivores are fed fruits and berries as well as a range of vegetables, insects and seeds
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Husbandry: Hygiene

  • Hygiene will differ with the type of enclosure.
  • Intensive care wards and hospital ward enclosure require an extensive cleaning regime
    • remove all decorations
    • clean, rinse and disinfect water bowls (or bottles) and food bowls
    • bag and discard bedding and litter
    • clean all cage surfaces with disinfectant and hot wter, and rinse well
    • loosen tough spots with a toothbrush, or putty knife
    • wash and disinfect cage accessories, such as climbing shelves, dens or beds
    • rinse thoroughly and dry well
    • allow the cage and accessories to dry thoroughly before reassembling to reduce the possibility of mould
    • provide the appropriate amount of bedding and litter and re-install accessories
  • recovery enclosure require cleaning but less extensively
    • internal areas as previous, however external requires more poo picking, raking and sweeping
  • disinfectants
    • surfaces - can be used on metal, plastic and wood
    • dilution - in rate of 1 cap to 4 litres of water
    • time - how long should the disinfectant stay on the surface for
    • temperature - hot, warm or cold
    • species specific - is it suitable to use with your animal?
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