On the need for rigorous welfare and methodological reporting for the live capture of large carnivores: A response to de Araujo et al. (2021)

Caravaggi, Anthony; Amado, Talita Ferreira; Brook, Ryan K.; Ciuti, Simone; Darimont, Chris T.; Drouilly, Marine; English, Holly M.; Field, Kate A.; Iossa, Graziella; Martin, Jessica; McElligott, Alan G.; Mohammadi, Alireza; Nayeri, Danial; O’Neill, Helen M. K.; Paquet, Paul C.; Périquet, Stéphanie; Proulx, Gilbert; Rabaiotti, Daniella; Recio, Mariano R.; Soulsbury, Carl D.; Tadich, Tamara; Wynn‐Grant, Rae

doi:10.1111/2041-210x.13664

Cited by 4 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 70 publications

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“…We understand and share the same concerns raised by Caravaggi et al. (2021), since we are all scientists, and we take scientific rigour seriously in our work. The paper published by Araujo et al.…”

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Answer to Caravaggi et al. (2021)

et al. 2021

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“…We look forward to the opportunity of MEE to present this data in full, as our right of reply to Caravaggi et al (2021) is limited to 3,000 characters.…”

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Answer to Caravaggi et al. (2021)

et al. 2021

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“…To analyse connectivity, it is essential to collect dispersal data using telemetry collars, genetic samples, or camera traps; however, these approaches require the capture, containment, or monitoring of individuals (Caravaggi et al 2021) and can be logistically complicated and expensive (Michalski et al 2007), so researchers in developed countries are more likely to use them (Waldron et al 2013, Lindsey et al 2017). North American countries had the highest percentages of studies with telemetry data, genetic samples, and camera traps, while in the countries of Central and South America, the most commons tools and techniques are species presence records derived from camera traps and interviews (Zeller et al 2011, Paviolo et al 2016).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Another method used to model connectivity is circuit theory (CT;McRae & Beier 2007, McRae et al 2008). The use of CT is recommended when it is assumed that individuals on the move have limited knowledge of the surrounding landscape.…”

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Biases and information gaps in the study of habitat connectivity in the Carnivora in the Americas

2023

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1. Habitat connectivity is essential to mitigate the effects of fragmentation by maintaining ecological processes, exchange of individuals, and gene flow among isolated populations. In the last two decades, the importance of habitat connectivity has been highlighted and the number of studies that address this issue has increased. 2. We review and describe the habitat-connectivity studies for the Carnivora in the Americas to identify taxonomic, geographic, and methodological biases, and we examine the number of publications on habitat connectivity and their relationship with country-level parameters. 3. We reviewed habitat-connectivity studies published between 2000 and 2020.We quantified studies by region, country, family, and species. We identified information gaps and analysed each country based on the proportion of land modified by humans, species richness, percentage of carnivoran species that are at risk of extinction, and the percentage of territory that is within Protected Areas. G-tests were performed to verify if the number of published connectivity studies differed based on these variables. 4. There is an increasing trend in the number of studies; however, this increasing is not proportional among countries, among families, or among carnivoran species. We identified that there is a regional bias, since more than 75% of the studies were carried out in North America, in addition, taxonomic bias indicates that the studies focused on large carnivorans. Regarding the methodological bias, the least-cost path was the most used approach. 5. There are fewer studies on habitat connectivity in countries with higher fragmentation rates, higher percentages of species that are at risk of extinction and less percentage of land in Protected Areas. The capability of countries to invest in research, the study focused on large charismatic species and the difficulty to obtaining dispersion data are factors that have influenced in the study of habitat connectivity.

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“…Understanding the behaviour of animals in human care can ensure effective welfare measures are in place under the 3Rs of reduction, re nement, and replacement framework (Russell and Burch 1959;Flecknell 2002), particularly regarding re nement. Note that while the 3Rs framework was initially developed for laboratory animal experiments, the framework is increasingly being applied to other contexts and there are mounting calls to consider this framework for wildlife, particularly in studies which manipulate animals such as those involving trapping and tagging (Field et al, 2019, Caravaggi et al, 2021. Logging data from captive animals can also aid behavioural interpretation of data from wild animals (Williams et al, 2014, English 2018, Ladds et al, 2018, Studd et al, 2019, Rast et al, 2020, allowing re nements to data collection and analysis methods before deployment on wild animals.…”

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confidence: 99%

Multi-sensor biologgers and innovative training allow data collection with high conservation and welfare value in zoos

English

Harvey

Wilson

et al. 2023

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Zoos are valuable resources for research, providing scientists with access to rare and elusive species in an easy to observe environment. Animal-attached loggers (aka biologgers) offer profound insight into animal behaviour. Their use in zoos has high yet largely untapped potential to collect data relevant for wild animal research and conservation but also welfare and enrichment monitoring of the zoo animals themselves. However, affixing biologgers to study animals can be problematic in captive settings, limiting the accessibility of this technology for use on zoo species which ordinarily need to be sedated for the fitting of such devices, including large carnivores. Here we show that biologging collars and crate-training allow collection of novel datasets on captive animals with high welfare and conservation value, using endangered African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) tagged with tri-axial accelerometer and tri-axial magnetometer loggers, as a case study. These methods are used to describe immediate recovery from anaesthesia (where used), investigate whether activity levels are higher on days with carcass feeds as opposed to feeds of meat pieces given using tongs, and explore refinements to the dead-reckoning analysis procedure through studying animals in a known, enclosed area. Two yearling female wild dogs were fitted with biologging collars while sedated in preparation for translocation from London to Whipsnade Zoo, with data collected for 10-26 hours until collar detachment. Two adult male wild dogs at London Zoo were trained to accept collars in a modified crate in exchange for a food reward, which allowed fitting and detaching the collars without sedation, with data collected for 28 days. First, we show how accelerometer and magnetometer data allow detection of fine-scale individual differences in the recovery from sedation as well as within- and between-individual variation in activity patterns in relation to the type of food received (tong-feeding meat pieces vs rabbit and pony carcass). Using the vectorial dynamic body acceleration metric (VeDBA), a proxy for movement-related energy expenditure, further shows that daily energy expenditure was higher on days with partial pony carcass feeds compared to rabbit feeds but varied considerably between days where flesh pieces were fed with tongs. Using the dead-reckoning method allowed reconstruction of fine-scale (1 Hz locations) movement paths within enclosures, indoors and outdoors, allowing visualisation and quantification of fine-scale movement and space use differences between individuals and over time, for example in response to different enrichment methods. Using multi-sensor biologgers, combined with training captive animals to accept collars without the use of anaesthetic, can enable flexible, experimental approaches to data collection with minimal impact on study animals, providing novel understanding of relevance for both zoo and wild animals.

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On the need for rigorous welfare and methodological reporting for the live capture of large carnivores: A response to de Araujo et al. (2021)

Abstract: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creat ive Commo ns Attri butio n-NonCo mmerc ial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

Cited by 4 publications

References 70 publications

Answer to Caravaggi et al. (2021)

Answer to Caravaggi et al. (2021)

Biases and information gaps in the study of habitat connectivity in the Carnivora in the Americas

Multi-sensor biologgers and innovative training allow data collection with high conservation and welfare value in zoos

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