Abstract
Human-wildlife conflict is difficult to measure, but the analysis of records from wildlife rehabilitation facilities has shown potential as a technique for characterizing human impacts on wildlife. To examine the value of wildlife rehabilitation records for characterizing local human-wildlife conflicts and prevalence of select wildlife diseases, we reviewed 45,668 records representing over 280 species admitted to a wildlife rehabilitation facility over a 10-year period (2005–2014). We identified the most frequently recorded causes of admission for commonly admitted species, and evaluated how causes of admission may vary across taxa throughout the year. Our analyses support the value of wildlife rehabilitation facility data for characterizing some pressures from human-wildlife conflict and select disease trends for certain taxa, as well as utility for informing topics to emphasize in local conservation education efforts. For example, orphaned neonatal wildlife accounted for the largest proportion of admissions to this facility, and highlights a opportunity for conservation education regarding when wildlife is truly orphaned and requires professional intervention. Additionally, domestic dog attack cases accounted for a proportion of admissions comparable to that of domestic cat attacks, demonstrating a need for the conversation surrounding the impact of domestic pets on local wildlife to expand to include dogs in addition to cats.
Highlights
Interactions between humans and wildlife have become more frequent as a consequence of encroachment, resulting in an increase in the likelihood of human-wildlife conflict events and zoonotic disease transmission [1, 2]
The purpose of this study was to examine the value of wildlife rehabilitation facility admissions records for informing understanding of local human-wildlife conflicts and wildlife disease trends by 1) identifying the top reasons for admission to this facility, 2) examining how occurrences as measured by admitted cases may fluctuate monthly and across taxa, and 3) analyzing trends in commonly admitted disease cases
A total of 45,668 cases were admitted to this wildlife rehabilitation facility from 2005–2014, with a mean of 4,562.7 ± 226.51 cases admitted annually
Summary
Interactions between humans and wildlife have become more frequent as a consequence of encroachment, resulting in an increase in the likelihood of human-wildlife conflict events and zoonotic disease transmission [1, 2]. Human-wildlife conflicts—negative interactions between humans and wildlife that pose a real or perceived threat to either party [3]—are substantial causes of wildlife mortality and population decline, and manifest differently across taxa and anthropogenic contexts [4, 5]. Examples of conflicts demonstrated to significantly impact wildlife populations include vehicle strikes [6, 7], mid-flight collisions with windows [8], domestic cat predation [9], and anthropogenic sources of ecological contamination [10, 11].
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