Rehabilitating sea otters: Feeling good versus being effective
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Abstract
This chapter examines the complexities of assessing the merits and drawbacks of wildlife rehabilitation. Wildlife rehabilitation is often costly, and the resulting benefits differ depending on whether one’s interest is in the welfare of individual animals or conserving populations. Two examples of this dilemma include the rehabilitation of oiled sea otters following the Exxon Valdez spill in Prince William Sound, Alaska, and the rehabilitation of stranded sea otter pups in central California. In the first example, substantial financial investment resulted in little or no benefits for population conservation. In the second example, the potential for population-level benefits is context dependent: in populations near carrying capacity the conservation impacts are negligible, whereas in isolated, low-density populations rehabilitation and release can be an effective conservation tool. Wildlife rehabilitation is valued by people for various reasons, but recognizing and acknowledging the difference between individual and population welfare is an important step toward effective wildlife conservation.
| Publication type | Book chapter |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Book Chapter |
| Title | Rehabilitating sea otters: Feeling good versus being effective |
| Chapter | 20 |
| ISBN | 9780198808978 |
| DOI | 10.1093/oso/9780198808978.003.0020 |
| Year Published | 2017 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press |
| Contributing office(s) | Western Ecological Research Center |
| Larger Work Type | Book |
| Larger Work Title | Effective conservation science: Data not dogma |
| Google Analytic Metrics | Metrics page |