Wildlife rehabilitation records reveal impacts of anthropogenic activities on wildlife health

Wildlife faces many threats from anthropogenic activities and human-driven climate change. In this article, we use data from wildlife rehabilitation (rehab) centers, which admit and treat injured and sick wildlife, to understand the prevalence, patterns, and impacts of these threats and prioritize wildlife conservation efforts. Past studies have generally been more limited in geographic and taxonomic scope. We analyzed 674,320 digitized records from 94 wildlife rehab centers across the U.S. and Canada to learn about threats to over 1000 animal species. We identified key threats by examining conditions causing animals to be brought to centers. Overall, the largest proportion of wildlife injury and sickness were accounted for by human activities, including vehicle collisions, fishing-related incidents, and window or building collisions. Seasonal patterns in lead and pesticide exposure highlighted threats posed by hunting with lead ammunition and rodenticide use. We identified threats to iconic and threatened species such as bald eagles, brown pelicans, big brown bats, and common loons. We found that more animals arrived at rehab centers in the week after extreme weather events compared to the week before, for certain weather events in certain locations: e.g., hurricanes and floods in southern Florida. Across all species, wildlife rehabilitators were able to return about a third of treated animals back to the wild. These findings point to possible interventions to conserve wildlife populations and improve wildlife health, such as additional wildlife road crossings, improved regulations relating to fishing, hunting, and pesticide use, and incorporating wildlife into disaster management plans.