Impacts of Natural and Man-Made Disasters on Wildlife: Planning, Protection and Outcomes

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal Welfare".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 12111

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
1. Adjunct Senior Lecturer, School of Veterinary & Life Sciences, Murdoch University, Western Australia, Australia
2. Veterinary Director Animals Australia, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Interests: animal welfare; ethics, regulatory process; one health; climate crisis; Australian wildlife; conservation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The Australian bushfires of 2019-20 razed huge tracts of land, killed more than 30 people, and destroyed some 6000 homes. It has also been conservatively estimated that 1 billion native animals were lost including threatened and iconic species, with this figure excluding invertebrates.

While all these losses were deeply shocking to the Australian psyche and to people worldwide, media images of injured, burnt wildlife has led to a major shift in how many Australians view wild animals. There was anger and shock that, unlike livestock, there was largely an absence of plans and sufficient resourcing to deal with the suffering of wildlife.  Only one Australian jurisdiction, South Australia, has a state emergency response that incorporates a formal veterinary response plan that includes wildlife, and that was activated in the recent megafires.

The gap between the conservation of animals at a species level, and individual animal welfare has never been clearer. Given the predicted increase in frequency and severity of extreme weather events and natural hazards due to climate change, and Environmental pollution is becoming more and more serious, a more integrated multi-disciplinary approach is urgently needed.

The aim of this Special Edition is to help bridge this gap by building on the existing animals in emergencies’ literature, but with a strong collaborative focus. We welcome manuscripts from multidisciplinary fields including veterinary science, conservation biology, human psychology, and occupational health and safety. We especially invite researchers, clinicians, emergency managers and others who Engaged in animal protection, behavioral research  to submit their learnings from the field.

Dr. Jennifer Hood
Guest Editor

 

Keywords

  • Wildlife
  • Bushfires
  • Emergency response
  • Conservation
  • Animal welfare
  • Threatened species

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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22 pages, 1519 KiB  
Commentary
Emergency Response to Australia’s Black Summer 2019–2020: The Role of a Zoo-Based Conservation Organisation in Wildlife Triage, Rescue, and Resilience for the Future
by Marissa L. Parrott, Leanne V. Wicker, Amanda Lamont, Chris Banks, Michelle Lang, Michael Lynch, Bonnie McMeekin, Kimberly A. Miller, Fiona Ryan, Katherine E. Selwood, Sally L. Sherwen and Craig Whiteford
Animals 2021, 11(6), 1515; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11061515 - 23 May 2021
Cited by 31 | Viewed by 10235
Abstract
Modern zoos are increasingly taking a leading role in emergency management and wildlife recovery. In the face of climate change and the predicted increase in frequency and magnitude of catastrophic events, zoos provide specialised expertise to assist wildlife welfare and endangered species recovery. [...] Read more.
Modern zoos are increasingly taking a leading role in emergency management and wildlife recovery. In the face of climate change and the predicted increase in frequency and magnitude of catastrophic events, zoos provide specialised expertise to assist wildlife welfare and endangered species recovery. In the 2019–2020 Australian bushfire season, now called Australia’s Black Summer, a state government-directed response was developed, assembling specialised individuals and organisations from government, non-government organisations, research institutions, and others. Here, we detail the role of Zoos Victoria staff in wildlife triage and welfare, threatened species evacuation and recovery, media and communications, and fundraising during and after the fires. We share strategies for future resilience, readiness, and the ability to mobilise quickly in catastrophic events. The development of triage protocols, emergency response kits, emergency enclosures, and expanded and new captive breeding programs is underway, as are programs for care of staff mental health and nature-based community healing for people directly affected by the fires. We hope this account of our response to one of the greatest recent threats to Australia’s biodiversity, and steps to prepare for the future will assist other zoos and wildlife organisations around the world in preparations to help wildlife before, during, and after catastrophic events. Full article
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