Mass poisonings of the Vulnerable Andean condor prompt national strategy against the use of toxic baits in Argentina

Massive deaths of Andean condors (Vultur gryphus) prompted a National Strategy Against the Use of Toxic Baits in Argentina, based on 6 lines of action: 1) delivery of kits and unified intervention protocols in cases of wildlife poisoning, 2) community education programs, 3) surveys of rural people, 4) training courses and participatory construction workshops, 5) toxicology studies, and 6) an academic-scientific committee made up of specialists in toxicology. The strategy was developed in the 14 provinces of the country where the Andean condor is distributed. 554 people from 166 institutions have participated in the trainings and workshops, reporting 200 poisoning events involving more than 21000 individuals from 61 species. Birds and mammals were the groups most affected, and further, human victims show the impact on public health. 19 toxic substances were identified, mainly insecticides. This study proved that carbofuran is the toxic most used. Analysis of bait types suggests a significant conflict with carnivores. 195 surveys revealed that almost half of the farmers know people who use toxic baits and that the negative perception towards some species could determine their use. The strategy began to address the problem of the use of toxic baits in Argentina in a strategic, participatory and regional way, through the management of public policies and scientific research. We propose actions to work on the causes that lead to the application of this dangerous practice. Given its extensive use, we believe that this strategy can be adapted and applied in other countries in the region.Fil: Jácome, N. Luis. Fundación Bioandina Argentina; ArgentinaFil: Abarzua, Gabriela. Ministerio de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sostenible; ArgentinaFil: Astore, Vanesa. Ecoparque de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Fundación Bioandina Argentina; ArgentinaFil: Estrada Pacheco, Rayén. Fundación Bioandina Argentina; Argentina. Provincia de Entre Ríos. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción. Universidad Autónoma de Entre Ríos. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción; Argentin

Pesticides: The most threat to the conservation of the Andean condor (Vultur gryphus)

Within human-wildlife conflicts, the use of poisoned carcasses to control predators has worried the international scientific and conservation community, due to the serious consequences it has on natural populations and their ecosystems. In many countries it is illegal and there is evidence that it affects a large number of non-target species (Mateo-Tomás et al., 2012; Woodroffe et al., 2005). Among the species most susceptible to this practice are the vultures, because they are specialized scavengers being more susceptible to consuming poisoned carcasses (Márquez et al., 2012). This, altogether with other threats, is declining the natural populations of vultures in almost all the world (Buechley and Şekercioğlu, 2016; McClure et al., 2018; Ogada et al., 2016). There is a great deal of evidence of this threat and its effect on wildlife in Europe, Asia and Africa (Cano et al., 2016; Loveridge et al., 2018; Murn and Botha, 2017). However, there are no studies about vulture poisoning or their effect they may have on natural populations in South America.Fil: Estrada Pacheco, Rayén. Provincia de Entre Ríos. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción. Universidad Autónoma de Entre Ríos. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción; Argentina. Fundacion Bioandina; ArgentinaFil: Jacome, Norberto Luis. Fundacion Bioandina; ArgentinaFil: Astore, Vanesa. Fundacion Bioandina; Argentina. Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Ecoparque; ArgentinaFil: Borghi, Carlos Eduardo. Fundacion Bioandina; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan. Centro de Investigaciones de la Geosfera y Biosfera. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Centro de Investigaciones de la Geosfera y Biosfera; ArgentinaFil: Piña, Carlos Ignacio. Provincia de Entre Ríos. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción. Universidad Autónoma de Entre Ríos. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción; Argentin

Response to: “Acknowledging Andean Condor predation on livestock, a first step in addressing the human-condor conflict: A commentary to Estrada Pacheco et al 2020”

We are aware that “Andean Condors occasionally depart from their scavenging habits to injure or kill young livestock” (Zuluaga et al., 2020). This behaviour can generate a conflict with ranchers and trigger actions that threaten their survival. We understand that this conflict is one of the threats faced by this species, that is why we are continuously working on the diffusion of its ecological and cultural role as recommended for conflicts with both vultures and predators (O'Bryan et al., 2018). However, perceptions of the damage caused by wildlife may not agree with the actual damage caused by these species (Dickman, 2010), so studies of the causes, level of damage, and frequency of these attacks are especially necessary, as also suggested by Zuluaga et al. (2020). Those studies should be done in different areas, since depredation impact is possibly heterogeneous throughout its South American distribution.Fil: Estrada Pacheco, Rayén. Fundación Bioandina Argentina; Argentina. Provincia de Entre Ríos. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción. Universidad Autónoma de Entre Ríos. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción; ArgentinaFil: Jacome, Norberto Luis. Fundación Bioandina Argentina; ArgentinaFil: Astore, Vanesa. Fundación Bioandina Argentina; Argentina. Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Ecoparque; ArgentinaFil: Borghi, Carlos Eduardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan. Centro de Investigaciones de la Geosfera y Biosfera. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Centro de Investigaciones de la Geosfera y Biosfera; ArgentinaFil: Piña, Carlos Ignacio. Provincia de Entre Ríos. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción. Universidad Autónoma de Entre Ríos. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción; Argentin

Effect of thawing procedure on cryosurvival of deer spermatozoa: Work in progress

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of the thawing procedure on deer semen freezability. Frozen semen from the Genetic Resource Bank (GRB) of the Zoological Park of Buenos Aires (Argentina) was used. Seven mature stags (two red deer, two Père David’s deer and three fallow deer) were used as semen donors. Semen was diluted with a TRIS-egg yolk medium, packed in 0.25 ml straws and frozen in nitrogen vapour. For thawing, the frozen straws were subjected to the following procedures: (I) 70 °C, 5 s; (II) 50 °C, 8 s and (III) 37 °C, 10 s. Freeze-thaw motility percentage (FMP) and spermatozoa rating (FMR) were determined subjectively. Viability and acrosome integrity (NAR) were also assessed and the hypo-osmotic swelling test (HOST) was used to assess membrane integrity. Freeze-thaw motility percentage, FMR and NAR were assessed after an incubation of 1 h in citrate-yolk at 42 °C, and FMP and FMR after 2 h of incubation under the same conditions. The thawing procedure did not have an effect on the seminal characteristics evaluated immediately after this process. However, differences in FMP after 2 h of incubation (P<0.05) were found between the procedures, with the best overall recovery rates after freezing and thawing found with the use of protocols II (intermediate thawing) and III (slow thawing). Therefore, thawing protocols II and III, those that provide intermediate and slow thawing rates, were the most beneficial for semen thawing of the different cervid species analysed in this study.This study was sponsored by research funds of the Ministerio Español de Ciencia y Tecnologı́a (AGL2000-0671) and by Grant 190/PA-35 from the Consejerı́a de Agricultura y Medio Ambiente of the Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha (Spain). The authors thank ALGAR SA for lending us the Père David’s deer stags, and Ma Dolores Pérez-Guzmán, for her help during the analysis of the data. Ana J. Soler is the recipient of a scholarship from the Consejerı́a de Ciencia y Tecnologı́a de la Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha.Peer reviewe

Repeated conservation threats across the Americas: High levels of blood and bone lead in the Andean Condor widen the problem to a continental scale

Wildlife lead exposure is an increasing conservation threat that is being widely investigated. However, for some areas of the world (e.g., South America) and certain species, research on this subject is still scarce or only local information is available. We analyzed the extent and intensity of lead exposure for a widely distributed threatened species, the Andean Condor (Vultur gryphus). We conducted the study at two different scales: 1) sampling of birds received for rehabilitation or necropsy in Argentina, and 2) bibliographic review and extensive survey considering exposure event for the species' distribution in South America. Wild condors from Argentina (n = 76) presented high lead levels consistent with both recent and previous exposure (up to 104 μg/dL blood level, mean 15.47 ± 21.21 μg/dL and up to 148.20 ppm bone level, mean 23.08 ± 31.39 ppm). In contrast, captive bred individuals -not exposed to lead contamination- had much lower lead levels (mean blood level 5.63 ± 3.08 μg/dL, and mean bone level 2.76 ± 3.06 ppm). Condors were exposed to lead throughout their entire range in continental Argentina, which represents almost sixty percent (>4000 km) of their geographical distribution. We also present evidence of lead exposure events in Chile, Ecuador, and Peru. Lead poisoning is a widespread major conservation threat for the Andean Condor, and probably other sympatric carnivores from South America. The high number and wide range of Andean Condors with lead values complement the results for the California Condor and other scavengers in North America suggesting lead poisoning is a continental threat. Urgent actions are needed to reduce this poison in the wild.Fil: Wiemeyer, Guillermo. Jardín Zoológico de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias; Argentina. The Peregrine Fund; Estados Unidos. Fundación Cabure-í; ArgentinaFil: Pérez, Miguel A.. Jardín Zoológico de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Torres Bianchini, Laura. Jardín Zoológico de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias; ArgentinaFil: Sampietro, Luciano. Jardín Zoológico de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias; ArgentinaFil: Bravo, Guillermo F.. Jardín Zoológico de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Jacome, Norberto Luis. Fundación Bioandina Argentina; ArgentinaFil: Astore, Vanesa. Jardín Zoológico de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Fundación Bioandina Argentina; ArgentinaFil: Lambertucci, Sergio Agustin. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Centro Regional Universidad Bariloche. Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente; Argentin