While managing endangered species wildlife mangers often resort to food supplementation. Even though it has the potential for delivering immediate benefits there could be hidden dangers. This has been proved by recent research on Spanish Imperial Eagle, Aquila adalberti,
Spanish Imperial Eagle, Aquila adalberti, is one of the most endangered birds of prey in the world. For two decades, intensive food supplementation has been used in attempting to improve the breeding productivity of the bird.
The researchers examined the impact of this intensive management action on nestling health, including contamination, immunodepression, and acquisition of disease agents derived from supplementation techniques and provisioned food.
The researchers found that fed individuals were often inadvertently “medicated” with pharmaceuticals (antibiotics and antiparasitics) contained in supplementary food (domestic rabbits). Individuals fed with medicated rabbits showed a depressed immune system and a high prevalence and richness of pathogens as against those with no or safe supplementary feeding using non-medicated wild rabbits. A higher presence of antibiotics (fluoroquinolones) was found in sick when compared to healthy individuals among eaglets with supplementary feeding. This in turn points directly toward a causal effect of these drugs in disease and other health impairments.
The researchers sign off with the following words” This study represents a telling example of well-meaning management strategies not based on sound scientific evidence becoming a “contraindicated” action with detrimental repercussions undermining possible beneficial effects by increasing the impact of stochastic factors on extinction risk of endangered wildlife.
Journal reference
When conservation management becomes contraindicated: impact of food supplementation on health of endangered wildlife
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Ecological Applications
Volume 21, Issue 7 (October 2011) pp. 2469-2477
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