Journal article
BASELINE HEALTH AND DISEASE ASSESSMENT OF FOUNDER EASTERN QUOLLS (DASYURUS VIVERRINUS) DURING A CONSERVATION TRANSLOCATION TO MAINLAND AUSTRALIA
Timothy J Portas, Maldwyn J Evans, David Spratt, Paola K Vaz, Joanne M Devlin, Amanda Duarte Barbosa, Belinda A Wilson, Annette Rypalski, Claire Wimpenny, Don Fletcher, Iain J Gordon, Jenny Newport, Adrian D Manning
Journal of Wildlife Diseases | WILDLIFE DISEASE ASSOC, INC | Published : 2020
DOI: 10.7589/2019-05-120
Abstract
We evaluated the health of 31 (eight males, 23 females) founder eastern quolls (Dasyurus viverrinus), translocated to a fenced reserve in the Australian Capital Territory between February 2016 and July 2017. Quolls were wild caught in Tasmania (16 animals) or captive bred at Mount Rothwell Biodiversity Interpretation Centre, Victoria (15 animals). Quolls were assessed for the presence of selected potential pathogens (Toxoplasma gondii, herpesviruses, Salmonella serovars, hemoprotozoa, and ectoparasites). We assessed the relationships among sex, provenance (captive or free ranging), T. gondii or herpesvirus infection, weight, and hematologic and biochemical variables. Six of 21 quolls (29%) t..
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Awarded by Australian Research Council Linkage Grant
Funding Acknowledgements
Translocations were carried out under licenses from the Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment (permits TFA 16025 and 17091, export licenses 12818/16 and 13528/17), Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (permit 14505167), and Australian Capital Territory, Territory and Municipal Services (import license L120161261). We thank Andrew Crane, Annika Everaardt, Claire Hawkins, and Robbie Gallney of Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment for their assistance and support. The reintroduction procedures were approved by the Australian National University Animal Experimentation Ethics Committee (protocol A2016/02). B.A.W. was supported by a PhD scholarship funded by the Australian National University, the Australian Capital Territory Government, and an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant (LP140100209). This work was conducted as part of the Mulligans FlatGoorooyarroo Woodland Experiment (www.mfgowoodlandexperiment.org.au).We thank Catherine Ross, Daniel Iglesias, Dave Whitfield, Dean Heinze, Greg Hosking, Helen Crisp, Jelena Vukcevic, Joel Patterson, John Lawler, Kate Grarock, Katherine Jenkins, Katherine Moseby, Kristi Lee, Loren Howell, Lyall Marshall, Margaret Kitchin, Melissa Snape, Michelle White, Corin Pennock, Nick Mooney, Sam Reid, and many more for their assistance during the project. We thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable feedback.