'WILDLIFE REHABILITATION' AS A WILDLIFE CONSERVATION TOOL IN INDIA

摘要

Fragmentation, degradation, and destruction of India's wildlife habitats have reduced the living space for wild animals. Natural calamities like forest fires, floods and cyclones have further compounded their problems, hindering their movement to safer habitats. Animals succumb to such changes and pressures, or get displaced, injured or stranded, eventually ending up in over-crowded zoos or ill-equipped lifetime care centres. With many of India's endangered species occurring in discrete, fragmented populations, every loss means a further reduction in the effective population size. Examples would include the incidence of elephant calves, Asiatic Black Bear cubs and Greater Adjutant chicks. A concerted effort to save every possible individual animal through rehabilitation can make a significant contribution to the genetic diversity and the long-term survival of endangered species. Rehabilitation is a wildlife management practice, which can contribute significantly to wildlife conservation if focusedon the recovery of endangered species and their habitats. There is also immense potential for using rehabilitated animals in reintroduction programmes instead of individuals captured from the wild. As a conservation discipline, wildlife rehabilitation isstill in its infancy in India. There is an urgent need to prepare protocols on rehabilitation, monitor release of rehabilitated animals, build the capacity of wildlife rehabilitators through training, and establish rehabilitation centres across biogeographic regions of India. Rehabilitation centres can also reduce the pressure on zoos, one of the reasons why establishment of rescue centres have been encouraged by the Central Zoo Authority in India. This paper outlines the emerging problem of rescued and confiscated wildlife in India and the role of rehabilitation in mitigating these concerns.