Assessing the health risks of reintroduction: The example of the Amur leopard, Panthera pardus orientalis

Abstract

Translocation of wildlife as a means of reintroducing or reinforcing threatened populations is an important conservation tool but carries health risks for the translocated animals and their progeny, as well as wildlife, domestic animals and humans in the release area. Disease risk analyses (DRA) are used to identify, prioritize and design mitigation strategies to address these threats. Here, we use a DRA undertaken for Amur leopards (Panthera pardus orientalis) to illustrate how specific methodology can optimize mitigation strategy design. A literature review identified a total of 98 infectious hazards and 28 non-infectious hazards. Separate analyses were undertaken for disease risks in leopards from hazards of source origin (captive zoo collections and the transit pathway to the Russian Far East), or of destination origin (in breeding enclosures and wider release areas); and for disease risks in other wildlife, domesticated species or humans, similarly from hazards of source or destination origin. Hazards were assessed and ranked as priority 1, priority 2, priority 3 or low priority in each of the defined scenarios. In addition, we undertook a generic assessment of stress on individual leopards. We use three examples to illustrate the process: Chlamydophila felis, canine distemper virus (CDV) and feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV). We found that many potentially expensive screening procedures could be performed prior to export of leopards, putting the onus of responsibility onto the zoo sector, for which access to diagnostic testing facilities is likely to be optimal. We discuss how our methods highlighted significant data gaps relating to pathogen prevalence in the Russian Far East and likely future unpredictability, in particular with respect to CDV. There was emphasis at all stages on record keeping, meticulous planning, design, staff training and enclosure management, which are relatively financially inexpensive. Actions to minimize stress featured at all time points in the strategy and also focussed on planning, design and management. S U PP O RTI N G I N FO R M ATI O N Additional supporting information may be found online in the Supporting Information section. How to cite this article: Lewis J, Tomlinson A, Gilbert M, et al. Assessing the health risks of reintroduction: The example of the Amur leopard, Panthera pardus orientalis. Transbound Emerg

Contributions of distemper control and habitat expansion to the Amur leopard viability

“…Conservation actions generally prioritize habitat protection and restoration 42 , which seems inconsistent with our results. The reason for this apparent inconsistency may be the fact that the Amur leopard population is facing many threats, such as a small initial population, inbreeding depression, and CDV 15 , which have resulted in the population size being maintained below the environmental capacity for long periods. Therefore, changes in carrying capacity may have a relatively weak effect on a population in such conditions.…”

“…Some studies suggest that the reintroduction or translocation of new individuals may be the best way to relieve the evident inbreeding pressure and genetic drift 44 – 46 . However, this method is quite controversial and faces challenges, such as the availability of captive-bred individuals and infectious and noninfectious hazards 15 , 27 , 47 ; it should be deemed a last resort and only considered after the failure of previous conservation strategies 48 . In addition, habitat expansion can also reduce inbreeding depression to some extent 49 .…”

“…Like many isolated populations, this population is also threatened by environmental stochasticity, inbreeding depression, infectious diseases, poaching, and other factors 15 . The canine distemper virus (CDV) is considered a new threat to the Amur leopard population.…”

“…CDV has been spreading within the Amur leopard population since 1993, and in 2015 a wild Amur leopard in Russia was diagnosed with a CDV infection 22 . The leopard can prey on various virus hosts (free-ranging domestic dogs and small sized carnivores such as the Asian badger Meles meles , red fox Vulpes vulpes , and leopard cat Prionailurus bengalensis ) that act as infection pools 15 .…”