Animal translocations aren’t always a quick and easy conservation fix

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2023-12-18 03:00

New Zealand

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NZ researchers looked at the history of translocating birds, bats, reptiles, and bugs in Aotearoa to reduce extinction risk and restore ecosystems. They say there's a common perception that translocations are relatively easy and that their success is always assured, but that the evidence both here and abroad doesn’t back that. In fact, the author team writes that the quality of proposals to translocate species varies a lot, with some being poorly thought out or just a bad idea for the species in question. The authors want to see more successful translocations here, and propose six considerations they think will help in achieving that success.