Translocation biology and the clear case for compassionate conservation

Abstract

Compassionate Conservation seeks to merge the protection of animals and nature for improved conservation outcomes. Although Compassionate Conservation has broad disciplinary scope, its emergence at the interface of animal welfare science and conservation biology remains formative. Translocation biology offers an important opportunity to showcase the compassionate conservation approach because translocations encompass direct care and management of individual animals along with concerns for population and species health. Historically, a one-size-fits-all approach to translocations has proven to be misguided. Current advances in the field offer an important opportunity to apply the methodological focus that animal welfare science has on individuals and social groups for improved conservation outcomes. In particular, the evolutionary and behavioural science insights into the personality of individual animals highlights that the welfare of individual animals and the variation among them are integral to population and species recovery. In a review of translocation biology, animal personality and with the inclusion of a translocation case study, I show that translocation biology offers a clear case for the application of Compassionate Conservation principles.