Head-start, translocate or reintroduce animals into secured habitat
#00359
Raise or move threatened animals under a documented conservation plan, then release them into habitat where the original threats are controlled and outcomes can be monitored.
Parent issue
#00346 Small isolated populations suffer genetic and demographic decline
Sustainable Development Goals
Location
Description
Use head-starting, reinforcement, reintroduction or conservation translocation when demographic analysis shows that moving animals can materially improve recovery. Before release, address the threats that caused decline, assess genetics and disease, select suitable founders and sites, define welfare safeguards and plan long-term monitoring.
The IUCN Guidelines for Reintroductions and Other Conservation Translocations require clear objectives, risk assessment, feasibility analysis and post-release evaluation. Moving animals without secure habitat or adequate follow-up can waste scarce founders or create ecological and welfare harms.
This intervention should report survival, reproduction, recruitment and population viability, not only the number of animals released.
Sub-issues
0Case studies
5- Albemarle Peninsula, North Carolina, United States · U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Red Wolf SAFE partnersPartial
- Teuchitlán River, Jalisco, Mexico · Michoacán University of Mexico, Goodeid Working Group, Re:wild and local partnersOngoing
- Palmyra Atoll, United States Minor Outlying Islands · Sihek Recovery Program, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, The Nature Conservancy and zoological partnersOngoing