Trends in Rescue and Rehabilitation of Marsupials Surviving the Australian 2019–2020 Bushfires
Abstract
:Simple Summary
Abstract
1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. NSW Wildlife Rehabilitation Data Collation
2.2. Data Analysis
2.2.1. Rates of Presentation and Fate during and before the 2019/20 Fires
2.2.2. Predictors of Fate for Fire-Affected Marsupials
2.2.3. Sex and Age of Fire-Affected Marsupials
2.2.4. Days since Fire Ignition When Reported
2.2.5. Length of Stay in Rehabilitation for 2019/20 Fire-Affected Marsupials
2.3. Spatial Analysis
2.4. NSW Baseline Species Density Data
2.5. NSW Marsupial Rehabilitation Records in Context
2.5.1. Completeness of NSW Fire Rescue Records
2.5.2. Marsupial and Fire Records in the Broader Context of All Species and Events
2.6. Comparison with Kangaroo Island 2019/20 Fires
2.6.1. Frequency of Rescues and Triage Outcomes
2.6.2. Baseline Population Densities
3. Results
3.1. Completeness of NSW Fire Rescue Records
3.2. Rates of Presentation and Fate during and before the 2019/20 Bushfires
3.2.1. Types of Injuries for Fire-Affected Marsupials
3.2.2. Predictors of Fate for Fire-Affected Marsupials
3.2.3. Sex and Age of Fire-Affected Marsupials
3.2.4. Days since Fire Ignition When Reported
3.2.5. Length of Stay in Rehabilitation for 2019/20 Fire-Affected Marsupials
3.2.6. Predictors of Length of Stay for Fire-Affected Marsupials
3.2.7. Location of Rescue in Relation to Fire Extent
3.2.8. Bioregion of Reported Fire-Affected Marsupials in 2019/20
3.3. Fire-Affected Marsupial Records in Context
3.3.1. Marsupial Records within the Context of All Species
3.3.2. Fire Records within the Context of All NSW Rescue Records
3.4. Comparison with Kangaroo Island 2019/20 Bushfires
3.4.1. Frequency of Rescues and Triage Outcomes from Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park Hospital
3.4.2. Pre-Fire Densities
4. Discussion
4.1. Relatively Few Marsupials Were Rescued following 2019/20 Bushfires
4.2. Some Marsupial Species Were Disproportionately Represented in 2019/20 Bushfire Rescue Statistics
4.3. Rescue and Rehabilitation Outcomes Varied between Species
4.4. Predictors of Survival to Release
4.5. Fires Only Account for a Small Fraction of Wildlife Rescues
4.6. Limitations
4.7. Management Implications
5. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Marsupial Group | Advice/Sighting/Transferred | Dead on Arrival | Euthanised/ Died in Care | Released/ Relocated | In Care | Unknown | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Macropods | 51 | 108 | 225 | 37 | 21 | 16 | 458 |
Koalas | 20 | 20 | 70 | 63 | 18 | 13 | 204 |
Possums and gliders | 7 | 13 | 61 | 68 | 9 | 4 | 162 |
Wombats | 7 | 4 | 8 | 2 | 21 | 1 | 43 |
Dasyurids | 1 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 13 |
Bandicoots | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
Unknown | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Bettongs and potoroos | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Total | 89 | 145 | 369 | 183 | 69 | 34 | 889 |
Released/Relocated | ||
---|---|---|
Macropods (n = 37) | Injury type | R2 = 0.55, F3,25 = 10.2, p < 0.001, Figure 7a |
Age | R2 = 0.15, F1,27 = 4.6, p = 0.041 | |
Koalas (n = 63) | Fire severity | R2 = 0.14, F4,56 = 3.83, p = 0.015, Figure 7b |
Injury type | R2 = 0.17, F4,51 = 2.5, p = 0.05, Figure 7c | |
Age | R2 = 0.19, F1,60 = 14.1, p < 0.001 | |
Sex | R2 = 0.07, F1,60 = 4.3, p = 0.04 | |
Fire site | R2 = 0.13, F8,52 = 2.2, p = 0.047 | |
Possums (n = 68) | Injury type | R2 = 0.22, F4,48 = 3.3, p = 0.018, Figure 7d |
Fire site | R2 = 0.60, F23,17 = 3.7, p = 0.004 | |
Euthanised/Died in Care | ||
Macropods (n = 333) | Injury type | R2 = 0.10, F3,194 = 7.2, p < 0.001, Figure 8a |
Age | R2 = 0.06, F1,181 = 11.8, p < 0.001, Figure 8b | |
Fire site | R2 = 0.28, F31,161 = 3.5, p < 0.001 | |
Koalas (n = 90) | Fire site | R2 = 0.24, F13,44 = 2.4, p = 0.017 |
Possums (n = 74) | N/A |
Marsupial Group | No Severity Data (%; Mean ± s.e.) | Nonburnt (%; Mean ± s.e) | Medium (%; Mean ± s.e) | High (%; Mean ± s.e) | Extreme (%; Mean ± s.e) | Total (n; Mean ± s.e) | No Spatial Data (n) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Koalas | 10 (0.4 ± 0.1) | 46 (0.4 ± 0.1) | 9 (0.3 ± 0.1) | 15 (0.4 ± 0.1) | 20 (0.7 ± 0.1) | 128 (0.5 ± 0.1) | 34 |
Macropods | 20 (0.1 ± 0) | 36 (0.1 ± 0.0) | 15 (0.0 ± 0) | 15 (0.1 ± 0.1) | 14 (0.1 ± 0) | 232 (0.1 ± 0.0) | 61 |
Possums | 5 (0.4 ± 0.2) | 64 (0.5 ± 0.1) | 10 (0.3 ± 0.1) | 12 (0.1 ± 0.1) | 10 (0.6 ± 0.1) | 110 (0.5 ± 0.1) | 30 |
Species | Records (n) | Triage Decision | Triage (n)/Fate |
---|---|---|---|
Koala | 517 | Hospitalise | n = 225 (87 = euthanised/died, 86 = released, 51 = not recorded, 1 = captivity) |
Euthanise | n = 18 | ||
Releasable | n = 67 (6 = died/euthanised, 50 = released, 11 = not recorded) | ||
Dead on arrival | n = 3 | ||
Not recorded | n = 204 | ||
Wallaby | 36 | Euthanise | n = 14 |
Not recorded | n = 22 | ||
Possum | 28 | Euthanise | n = 21 |
Not recorded | n = 7 | ||
Kangaroo | 15 | Euthanise | n = 7 |
Hospitalise | n = 1 (1 = permanent captivity) | ||
Not recorded | n = 7 | ||
Unknown | 22 | Not recorded | n = 22 |
Total | 618 |
Species | Population Density Estimate | Population Estimate | Number Rescued |
---|---|---|---|
Tammar wallaby | 0.16 per ha occupy 439,800 ha | 70,588 # [39] | 36 |
Western grey kangaroo | 0.15 per Ha [39] occupy 439,800 ha | 65,882 [39] | 15 |
Koala | 0.11 per Ha (across entire island) * | 48,506 ± 5976 ** [40] | 517 |
Brushtail possum | 0.1 per ha occupy 439,800 ha [4] | 43,980 | 28 |
Total | 618 |
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Cope, H.R.; McArthur, C.; Gray, R.; Newsome, T.M.; Dickman, C.R.; Sriram, A.; Haering, R.; Herbert, C.A. Trends in Rescue and Rehabilitation of Marsupials Surviving the Australian 2019–2020 Bushfires. Animals 2024, 14, 1019. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14071019
Cope HR, McArthur C, Gray R, Newsome TM, Dickman CR, Sriram A, Haering R, Herbert CA. Trends in Rescue and Rehabilitation of Marsupials Surviving the Australian 2019–2020 Bushfires. Animals. 2024; 14(7):1019. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14071019
Chicago/Turabian StyleCope, Holly R., Clare McArthur, Rachael Gray, Thomas M. Newsome, Christopher R. Dickman, Aditi Sriram, Ron Haering, and Catherine A. Herbert. 2024. "Trends in Rescue and Rehabilitation of Marsupials Surviving the Australian 2019–2020 Bushfires" Animals 14, no. 7: 1019. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14071019