Captive Breeding- All that cracked up to be?
When dealing with endangered species there are many techniques that managers have developed over the years. One technique which has recently become more popular is captive breeding. Captive breeding takes individuals from wild, declining populations and rears them in captivity. This method is generally well-liked due to success stories such as the California Condor, Mauritius Kestrel, the black-footed ferret, the Guam Rail, and the Nene. Immediate extinction is prolonged and there is great ethical and financial support from politicians and the public for these programs. However captive breeding isn’t as shiny as it seems up close.
There are many problems associated with this conservation method. A review of captive breeding and reintroduction programs done by Snyder et al. (1996) reveals many of these issues. He highlights that although captive breeding certainly does play a critical role in the conservation of some species, it should only be used as a last resort. It is necessary to recognize its limitations in order to be successful. This analysis sheds some light on some key problems inherent in captive breeding:
1. Establishing a self-sufficient captive population
2. Poor success of reintroduction
3. Expensive
4. Domestication
5. Preemption of other recovery techniques
6. Disease outbreaks
7. Maintaining administrative continuity
The Nene is a good candidate to illustrate some of these problems. The Nene were once thought to be native to all of the Hawaiian Islands. However by the 1940s the Nene became extinct on all islands except for in higher elevations on the Big Island. This was mainly due to exploitation by humans, conversion of habitat to meet the demands of tourism and agriculture, and introduced predators. In 1949 the first recovery programs began. The early focus of the program was to establish a captive bred population and reintroduce it to the wild to establish a self-sustaining wild population. Although this is an admirable goal it is now 2013 and managers are still striving to reach their goal.
This has been a very expensive project (8 sanctuaries total have been created in Maui, Hawaii and Kauai). Despite the fact that the program has been successful in producing a fair amount of individuals to release into the wild (2150 between 1960 and 1993) the survival of released geese is low, resulting in the failure to establish a self-sustaining population. The Nene Recovery Initiative analyzed current and past captive breeding and reintroduction techniques which revealed several important aspects that were overlooked. Many limiting factors of the Nene’s were still existent. Kleiman et al. (1994) recommended that in order for reintroduction or translocation of an endangered species to be deemed appropriate 13 feasibility criteria needed to be met. Managers failed to meet all of these criteria for reintroduction, although at the time it may have appeared that they had (Table 1).
The take-home message of this evaluation is that the Nene population may not be ready for captive breeding programs according to the criteria recommendations. In order to be successful the causes of population decline also needs to be addressed before turning to captive breeding. Improvement of habitat, predator removal and maximal genetic diversity is necessary first and foremost.
However, with over 60 years in recovery efforts with little success some may question the continued precedence of the Nene over other endangered species in Hawaii. Other species are more at risk of extinction than the Nene and it may be worthwhile to consider placing emphasis on other species instead of the Nene. However with so many years of dedication it would be a shame to give up now. We continue to learn from our mistakes in wildlife conservation and can use these lessons for future management.
Table 1. Criteria for reintroduction or translocation of Nene evaluation from the perspective in 1960’s and 1990’s (1 poor, 5 best).
There are many problems associated with this conservation method. A review of captive breeding and reintroduction programs done by Snyder et al. (1996) reveals many of these issues. He highlights that although captive breeding certainly does play a critical role in the conservation of some species, it should only be used as a last resort. It is necessary to recognize its limitations in order to be successful. This analysis sheds some light on some key problems inherent in captive breeding:
1. Establishing a self-sufficient captive population
2. Poor success of reintroduction
3. Expensive
4. Domestication
5. Preemption of other recovery techniques
6. Disease outbreaks
7. Maintaining administrative continuity
The Nene is a good candidate to illustrate some of these problems. The Nene were once thought to be native to all of the Hawaiian Islands. However by the 1940s the Nene became extinct on all islands except for in higher elevations on the Big Island. This was mainly due to exploitation by humans, conversion of habitat to meet the demands of tourism and agriculture, and introduced predators. In 1949 the first recovery programs began. The early focus of the program was to establish a captive bred population and reintroduce it to the wild to establish a self-sustaining wild population. Although this is an admirable goal it is now 2013 and managers are still striving to reach their goal.
This has been a very expensive project (8 sanctuaries total have been created in Maui, Hawaii and Kauai). Despite the fact that the program has been successful in producing a fair amount of individuals to release into the wild (2150 between 1960 and 1993) the survival of released geese is low, resulting in the failure to establish a self-sustaining population. The Nene Recovery Initiative analyzed current and past captive breeding and reintroduction techniques which revealed several important aspects that were overlooked. Many limiting factors of the Nene’s were still existent. Kleiman et al. (1994) recommended that in order for reintroduction or translocation of an endangered species to be deemed appropriate 13 feasibility criteria needed to be met. Managers failed to meet all of these criteria for reintroduction, although at the time it may have appeared that they had (Table 1).
The take-home message of this evaluation is that the Nene population may not be ready for captive breeding programs according to the criteria recommendations. In order to be successful the causes of population decline also needs to be addressed before turning to captive breeding. Improvement of habitat, predator removal and maximal genetic diversity is necessary first and foremost.
However, with over 60 years in recovery efforts with little success some may question the continued precedence of the Nene over other endangered species in Hawaii. Other species are more at risk of extinction than the Nene and it may be worthwhile to consider placing emphasis on other species instead of the Nene. However with so many years of dedication it would be a shame to give up now. We continue to learn from our mistakes in wildlife conservation and can use these lessons for future management.
Table 1. Criteria for reintroduction or translocation of Nene evaluation from the perspective in 1960’s and 1990’s (1 poor, 5 best).