The dangers of reintroducing wilderness to urban settings

Any one who has owned a wild pet has probably thought about setting it free because it became unmanageable or just got tired of looking after it. We know of cases where people have acted irresponsibly by releasing their boa pet that grew beyond expectations, or an exotic fish from the aquarium into a river or sea. The negative consequences of such acts have been widely studied, and include threats to human health and to other native species. 

Now, reintroducing native wildlife into areas where it got extinct, makes a bit more sense, however is a controversial topic. Some people claim that once the causes that brought the species into extinction have disappeared, some individuals may be reintroduced and closely monitored in hope of bringing a stable population back in place. In some cases the costs, or the suffering of these individuals, are so high that is only fair to question the necessity for reintroducing species. Who would not love to see more native wildlife thriving in urban ecosystems? 

For such cases a clear guideline is necessary and that is exactly what the researcher Julian Monge-Najera has provided in one of his most recent publications. Based on a literature review, he proposes the following 10 guidelines:

1. No predators capable of killing children will be reintroduced to urban areas.
2. There will be no introduction of species that significantly threaten human health, pets, crops or property.
3. Reintroduction will not be done when it implies significant suffering to the organisms being reintroduced, for example stress from capture or captivity.
4. Organisms that carry pathogens will not be reintroduced.
5. Organisms whose genes threaten the genetic pool of other organisms in the urban area will not be reintroduced.
6. Organisms will only be reintroduced when scientific data support a reasonable chance of long term survival (if funds are insufficient for the long term effort, reintroduction will not be attempted).
7. Reintroduced organisms will receive food supplementation and veterinary assistance as needed.
8. Reintroduction will be done in both experimental and control areas to produce reliable assessments (monitoring must continue afterwards to trigger interventions if necessary).
9. Reintroduction must be done in several places and repeated over several years to buffer for stochastic events.
10. People in the areas affected must participate in the decision process, and will receive education to make reintroduction sustainable (but final decisions must be based on objective information gathered according to scientific standards).

Releasing wildlife should be practiced only by professionals of this field, even when it is a native species, and no matter if it is an urban setting or a natural ecosystem. Remember that pets can bring pathogens into a healthy wild population, so what may seem a good nature act, may bring suffering into the bigger picture. In short, leave it to the professionals, and hopefully the species that are capable of surviving can be brought back into some cities for the enjoyment of the urban dwellers.

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Image Source: Associated Press