Length of stay in rehabilitation influences magnitude of the acute stress response in birds of prey
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53607/wrb.v42.274Keywords:
rehabilitation, raptor, corticosterone, habituation, heterophil, lymphocyteAbstract
Wild animals are occasionally injured or become ill as a result of natural causes
or human activity. As a way to remediate the damage imposed by humans on
wildlife populations, these animals may be taken in for rehabilitation. Federal
laws for rehabilitators set limits for the length of time a bird can remain in
rehabilitation before a final decision on release or euthanasia is made. Little is
known about the consequences of longer stays in captivity within that limited
window with regard to stress physiology of the animals. The authors hypothesised
that length of stay in rehabilitation would influence the ability of raptors
to mount a full stress response upon release from rehabilitation. Blood samples
were taken from each bird upon admission for rehabilitation and immediately
prior to their release, a process by which the animals are exposed to a significant,
acute stressor of capture, handling, and examination. A blood sample
was collected for analysis of heterophil to lymphocyte ratios (H:L), which
are indicative of long-term baseline stress. The authors found that as length of
stay increased, the difference in corticosterone levels reached during an acute
stressor from admission samples to release samples decreased. Baseline stress,
as indicated by H:L, was not significantly affected by length of stay. The results
suggest that birds of prey in rehabilitation habituate to captivity the longer
they stay in captivity and may lose some degree of natural responsiveness to
stressors.
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Copyright (c) 2024 Naomi Klingbeil, Jacques T. Nuzzo, D. Jane Seitz, Beth Chan, Travis E. Wilcoxen
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