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Pre-emptive capture or translocation of wildlife during oil spills and prior to pest eradication poison applications are very specific conservation goals within the field of conservation translocation/reintroduction. Protection of wildlife from contamination events occurs during either planned operations such as pest eradication poison applications, or unplanned events such as pollution or oil spills. The aim in both incidences is to protect at-risk wildlife species, ensuring the survival of a threatened regional population or entire species, by excluding wildlife from entering affected areas and therefore preventing impacts on the protected wildlife. If pre-emptive capture does not occur, wildlife may unintentionally be affected and could either die or will need capture, cleaning, and/or medical care and rehabilitation before being released back into a cleared environment. This paper reviews information from pre-emptive captures and translocations of threatened wildlife undertaken during past oil spills and island pest eradications, to assess criteria for species captured, techniques used, outcomes of responses, and lessons learned. From these case studies, the considerations and planning needs for pre-emptive capture are described and recommendations made to allow better use and preparedness for pre-emptive capture as a preventative wildlife conservation tool.

Invasive rodents are one of the greatest threats to island biodiversity. Eradicating these species from islands has become increasingly practicable in recent decades, primarily using anticoagulant rodenticides. However, this approach also poses risks to native wildlife, and there has been corresponding development in the management of risks to non-target wildlife species. Here we review strategies and tactics used in operational management of non-target risk, using examples from rodent eradication projects conducted on 178 islands where non-target risk assessment and mitigation was a component of the rodent eradication campaign. We identified 17 different tactics within a framework of three strategic approaches: avoidance of risk, minimization of risk, and remediation of the impact of non-target wildlife mortality. We summarize these tactics in terms of their applicability, strengths, and weaknesses for rodent eradication projects in general, plus the potential interactions with achieving rodent eradication. There remains great potential for further innovation in reducing non-target wildlife risks from rodenticide used for invasive rodent eradications on islands, supporting advancement of the social acceptability of the toolset and biodiversity conservation.

Island rodent eradications are increasingly conducted to eliminate the negative impacts of invasive rodents. The success rate in the tropics has been lower than in temperate regions, triggering research and reviews. Environmental factors unique to the tropics (e.g., land crabs and year‐round rodent breeding) have been associated with eradication failure. Operational factors have also been important, but these have not been comprehensively assessed. The environmental and operational factors using global cases where rodent eradication initially failed and subsequent attempts occurred were compared. It was determined whether operational factors explained the initial failures, whether operational improvements explained subsequent successes, and whether re‐attempting eradication after failure was worthwhile. About 35 eradication attempts on 17 islands, each with 1–2 species from a total of 5 species (Mus musculus and 4 Rattus spp.) were identified. On 14 islands (82%), eradication was achieved on the second (86%) or third attempt (14%). On the remaining 3 islands, eradication was not achieved. Evidence of operational faults for all failed attempts was found (e.g., poor planning, low quality bait, and gaps during bait application). In some cases, operational faults were unequivocally the cause of failure, but in others, it was impossible to discriminate from confounding, environmental factors. Nonetheless, failures appeared to be mainly the result of not exposing all rodents to a lethal dose of toxin, violating a crucial eradication principle. This can cause operational failure on any temperate or tropical island. However, there may be less tolerance for errors such as gaps in bait coverage on tropical islands, mainly due to bait consumption by land crabs. The findings on factors leading to eradication success (e.g., expert reviewed plans, realistic funding and permits, high standard baiting operations) reflect current best practice recommendations. Strict adherence to best practice is expected to increase overall rates of eradication success.

House mice (Mus musculus; mice) are among the most widespread invasive species. On Gough Island (6,500 ha), mice preying on at least 19 bird species triggered a mouse eradication attempt. Gough Island is a volcanic island in the South Atlantic Ocean and part of Tristan da Cunha, a UK Overseas Territory. From June to August 2021, an expert team applied an anticoagulant rodenticide (active ingredient brodifacoum at a concentration 20 ppm) island-wide, predominantly via aerial broadcast using helicopters, as the island is mainly uninhabited. However, hand-baiting was also required because of the presence of a staffed meteorological station. The bait was hand broadcasted in and around buildings immediately after each of the 3 aerial applications in that area. Outdoor ground baiting covered the aerial exclusion zone (e.g., aviculture area, outside of buildings and surrounding shrubs; ~2 ha) using 8–10 kg ha−1 per application (i.e., matching aerial baiting rates), with kill-trapping for monitoring purposes occurring just prior to baiting (n = 123 traps). Baiting of buildings required bait to be placed under and inside all buildings, with 5 bait pellets placed in open trays (i.e., plastic petri dishes), and with at least 1 tray/room. Trays under buildings (n = 117) were set and baited the day after baiting first occurred outdoors. The following day, trays inside buildings (n = 135) were set and baited. Fresh bait was available under and inside buildings for 5 and 7 weeks, respectively. Trapping success was high (57%) the day before baiting began (June 12), and zero the following week and until baiting termination on August 12. Mice reappeared 6 months after the baiting operation began. However, this ground baiting approach may be useful for a future mouse eradication attempt at Gough Island or for similar projects.

Uses location data from feral Auckland Island pigs to estimate seasonal home-range sizes and habitat selection to inform management planning, particularly with regards to speculated seasonal coastal habitat use. Assesses annual selection by the pig population for landscape features except ‘distance to coast’, which was assessed seasonally. Quantifies selection for coast by estimating whether or not pigs moved towards or away from the coast at different times of the year. Source: National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, licensed by the Department of Internal Affairs for re-use under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 New Zealand Licence.

Animal telemetry is maturing into a viable method for observing the ocean as it can be used to monitor both environmental conditions and biological metrics along the movement trajectories of marine animals. As part of the Cormorant Oceanography Project, we have augmented a biologging tag with an external fast response temperature sensor to collect ocean temperature profiles from the backs of foraging marine birds. Cormorants dive between 50 and 250+ times a day to forage for prey so they can provide hard-to-match temporal and spatial coverage of coastal ocean conditions within their foraging areas. We process tag measurements to obtain fundamental oceanographic data (e.g., temperature profiles, bottom soundings, surface current measurements). Together, we have tracked 17 marine bird species (including two Spheniscus penguins spp. and a sea duck), originating from 17 countries and foraging along the edges of all major oceans. Tagged birds’ distribution included 191 MPAs in 26 countries, offering a unique ocean monitoring method to complement more widely used methods.