Eurasian Beaver (Castor Fiber)
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See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/349031376 Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) health surveillance in Britain: Assessing a disjunctive reintroduced population Article in The Veterinary record · February 2021 DOI: 10.1002/vetr.84 CITATIONS READS 0 29 12 authors, including: Róisín Campbell-Palmer Frank Rosell Self-employed University of South-Eastern Norway 52 PUBLICATIONS 326 CITATIONS 182 PUBLICATIONS 3,529 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE Adam Naylor Georgina Cole Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) 16 PUBLICATIONS 16 CITATIONS 13 PUBLICATIONS 87 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: BVR Project - Beavers.Voyageurs.Research. View project Species Action Framework View project All content following this page was uploaded by Frank Rosell on 11 February 2021. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. Received: 28 April 2020 Revised: 20 December 2020 Accepted: 10 January 2021 DOI: 10.1002/vetr.84 ORIGINAL RESEARCH Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) health surveillance in Britain: Assessing a disjunctive reintroduced population Róisín Campbell-Palmer1 Frank Rosell2 Adam Naylor3 Georgina Cole3 Stephanie Mota3 Donna Brown3 Mary Fraser4 Romain Pizzi3 Mark Elliott5 Kelsey Wilson6 Martin Gaywood7 Simon Girling3 1 Independent Consultant, Edinburgh, UK Abstract 2 Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Department of Background: Numerous translocations of Eurasian beavers have occurred Environmental Health Studies, University of with little implementation of standardised health screening. Pre-release Southeast Norway, Bø, Norway health screening enables the selection of individuals with the best survival 3 Veterinary Department, Royal Zoological prospects and reduces potential health risks, but this is by-passed during Society of Scotland, Scotland, UK unofficial releases. Beaver reintroduction to Britain has been haphazard and 4 G&F Academy, Perthshire, UK currently disjunctive populations of varying status exist. 5 Devon Wildlife Trust, Exeter, UK Methods: This observational cross section study investigated the health sta- 6 Independent Consultant, Kinloch Rannoch, tus of three beaver populations, with 90 live beavers tested for a range of UK pathogens comprising 56 from Tayside (unofficially released Scotland), nine 7 NatureScot, Great Glen House, Inverness, from Knapdale (officially released Scotland) and 25 from Devon (unofficially UK released England). In addition, a further 32 cadavers were screened (25 from Tayside and seven from Knapdale). Correspondence R. Campbell-Palmer, Independent Consul- Results: All beavers were in good physical condition, did not harbour any tant, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. non-native disease or parasites of concern and demonstrated remarkably low Email: [email protected] levels of any disease or parasite exposure. Conclusion: Beavers are establishing and adapting well to British landscapes and are not acting as reservoirs of significant zoonotic diseases. Official, licensed reintroduction programmes may appear overly convoluted; how- ever, reputational damage of unofficial releases should be considered, along with the health and welfare of the animals involved and collateral damage to other wildlife, domestic animals and humans. KEYWORDS beaver, reintroduction, retrospective survey, wildlife disease INTRODUCTION England7 and Eurasian beaver in Belgium8). In unplanned or unauthorised reintroductions, or those The importance of animal health in conservation pro- founded through escapes, baseline data (on the ani- grammes is increasingly recognised as the success mals involved or ecological baselines on which they of any translocation or reintroduction can be signifi- may impact) are lacking and so can present sig- cantly affected by disease. Despite this, the implemen- nificant issues when attempting to assess either tation and development of pre-reintroduction (e.g. the suitability of founders or their environmental robust disease risk analysis) and post-release (e.g. impacts. wildlife surveillance programmes) veterinary health Unofficial releases and potential escapees by-pass programmes tend to receive less investment com- medical health assessments. In the normal course pared to other project aspects.1 Although success- of events, pre-release health screening is essential ful projects are well documented, many conserva- to enable the selection of individuals with the best tion reintroductions have failed (defined as lack of survival prospects and reduce potential health risks self-sustaining population establishment and/or fail- associated with any conservation translocation.9 ure to meet conservation objectives) for a variety Along with the prevention of disease and parasite of reasons.2–6 Species reintroductions have occurred introduction at release sites, pre-release health checks through uncoordinated releases or escapes from ensure that any individual potentially unlikely to captive collections (e.g. wild boar, Sus scrofa,in survive or to experience welfare challenges on release, Vet Rec. 2021;e84. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/vetr © 2021 British Veterinary Association 1of9 https://doi.org/10.1002/vetr.84 2of9 Veterinary Record is identified.10 Unofficial releases should still be animals.17,18 Outside of this official trial, a significant assessed, health-wise, to determine whether they population (∼114 active territories19) of wild-living are coping with their release habitat and to assess beavers is also resident throughout the River Tay and whether they are carriers for significant pathogens Earn catchment, Perthshire, east Scotland (referred to for other animals and humans. The establishment of in this publication as ‘Tayside’). baseline species-specific health parameters and rou- Two families of breeding beavers were reported on tine analyses of diagnostic samples allows informed the River Otter, Devon, in February 2014 (referred to decision-making and improvement in animal health in this publication as ‘Devon’). After a successful pub- and welfare.11 lic campaign to see them remain in place, Natural The range of pathogens that can be harboured by England granted a 5-year licence to Devon Wildlife the Eurasian beaver has been previously reviewed Trust in 2015. The River Otter Beaver Trial is a sci- along with pre-release health screening recommenda- entifically monitored trial reintroduction of Eurasian tions for beaver importation to Scotland.10,20 Beavers beavers and will conclude in March 2020. The Tay- can carry host-specific parasites that were previously side and Devon populations have established outside present in Britain, but which died out with their of statutory procedures, through unlicensed releases demise, which include the beaver beetle Platypsyllus and/or accidental escapees, therefore not subject to castoris, a stomach nematode Travassosius rufus and IUCN reintroduction guidelines and formal disease a specialised trematode or intestinal fluke Stichorchis risk analysis.20 Therefore, they are of unknown ori- subtriquetrus. These species have now all been gin and health status with no baseline data collected recorded in wild beavers in Scotland.10,21,22 Other par- on the originally released individuals. The aim of asites such as Giardia spp. and Cryptosporidium spp. this study is to determine health status in free living are already present in British wildlife and domestic beavers in Britain. animals , therefore it is likely that beavers may also The data presented in this paper help to further our act as carriers. Like all other rodents, beavers may understanding of the potential disease risk of Eurasian harbour common European rodent pathogens.10,20 beaver reintroduction to Britain. For any beavers of unknown origin, the presence of Echinococcus multilocularis and Francisella tularensis (the causative agent of tularaemia) would be of con- METHODS cern as these are notifiable diseases under EU law, significant zoonoses, not currently present in the UK Following the Strobe guidelines,26 an observational and have been reported in Eurasian beavers in con- cross section study was undertaken. Data were exam- tinental Europe.20,23,24 Other significant diseases and ined from that collected from 2013 to 2019 in Tay- parasites associated with beaver reintroduction (i.e. side, Knapdale and Devon populations. A convenience those which are Notifiable under EU Animal Health sampling method was taken as detailed below. legislation and/or are likely to result in significant dis- ease to domestic animals and humans) according to DEFRA (the UK Government’s Department for Envi- Study areas ronment, Food and Rural Affairs) are considered to be Cryptosporidium spp., Giardia spp., Leptospira spp., The ‘Tayside’ beavers include those found within Mycobacterium bovis (bovine mycobacteriosis) and the River Tay and Earn catchment that covers over Salmonella spp., which is supported by a recent peer- 5000 km2 (main River Tay ∼193 km long), rising at Ben reviewed Eurasian beaver disease risk assessment.20 Lui, in Argyll, west Scotland, flowing into the North Sea Comparison of blood parameters measuring haema- at the Firth of Tay, Dundee, east Scotland.27 The main tological and biochemical values for healthy beavers land-use in the lowland part of the catchment area is can also be valuable in assessing health status prior intensive agriculture. Although unverified,28 beavers and after release.25 From a health and