Wildlife rehabilitation, defined as “providing temporary care to injured, ill and orphaned wild animals with the goal of releasing them back into their natural habitat”, developed in response to the increase in human population and urbanisation. Widllife rehabilitation centres developed to deal with casualties from man-made hazards; and because rehabilitation involves human emotions of empathy and compassion, the activity has not tended to be the domain of wildlife specialists, but of concerned members of the public. This has caused concerns for wildlife specialists over the welfare of animals being rehabilitated, because making decisions based on emotions may result in an animal being kept alive under unethical conditions, instead of being euthansed. Furthermore, there may be negative impacts on conservation, as it could divert money away from habitat protection and may place wild populations at risk from disease and genetic pollution. This dichotomy in opinion is most often seen between rehabilitators, who focus on the individual animal, and government wildlife officials, who grant them permits, and who focus on the security of entire communities. Although the value of wildlife rehabilitation cannot be underestimated, in terms of its service to wildlife and the public, there is a need to evaluate whether wildlife rehabilitation may result in more rather than less animal suffering and have a detrimental impact on the existing wild populations. I thus set out to determine the efficacy of wildlife rehabilitation, particularly in South Africa. In the first assessment of rehabilitation centres in South Africa, 65% known centres (n = 63) from all nine provinces returned questionnaires. Several thousand injured, diseased and orphaned animals pass through these centres each year, clearly showing the need for rehabilitation centres in South Africa. However, due to lack of scientific research on the efficacy of rehabilitation methods of care and release, and minimal post-release monitoring, I found that experience and intuition drove most rehabilitation practices. Additionally, because personnel from most centres cited lack of finance as a main impediment to the goal of rehabilitation, the result of rehabilitation may include negative affects on individual animal welfare and survival, as well as on conservation efforts for wildlife communities. Thus, I suggested wildlife rehabilitation be centralised to a provincial or national government. Furthermore, I suggested that guidelines of minimum standards should be developed in consultation with experienced rehabilitators, veterinarians and conservation scientists; to be enforced by trained and dedicated conservation officials. To gain further insight into the need for wildlife rehabilitation in a community in South Africa, I decided to examine four-years of intake records from a large rehabilitation centre in the KwaZulu-Natal Province for trends. Animal intake rate was high (2701 ± 94 per annum). Most of the intake (90%) was birds, with few mammals (8%) and reptiles (2%), and most of these were of locally common species (eg doves, pigeons). This reflects the findings of other studies, namely that species living in close association with humans are the most frequently admitted to rehabilitation centres. In total, most of the animals admitted (43%) were juveniles, which were assumed to be abandoned or orphaned. The implications of then rehabilitating these juveniles, which were largely uninjured, is whether humans should be interfering with nature if the cause was not human-related; can each juvenile (especially in these large numbers) be adequately prepared to survive and thrive when released into the wild; and is there space in the environment for them, without causing harm to others already in the environment. I suggest that the large numbers of animals currently being admitted to the centre may be reduced, possibly through increased public education particularly to leave uninjured juveniles in the wild. Furthermore, improvements in the centre’s recording system may allow for use in funding requests and for various research opportunities. There is a general lack of post-release monitoring in wildlife rehabilitation, and the IUCN advises that confiscated and orphaned animals should be euthanased or placed in life-time captivity. I thus decided to document the post-release fate of rehabilitated vervet monkeys and leopard tortoises, two species commonly admitted to a rehabilitation centre, and rock hyrax (Procavia capensis), as a further case study, even though individuals were not from a rehabilitation centre. Success of releasing rehabilitated animals cannot be judged on whether it results in a self-sustaining population, as in reintroductions, as it is to improve the welfare of that particular animal, independent of its species’ status. Survival is thus the most basic indicator of a successful rehabilitation release. Other aspects, such as behaving similarly to a wild animal, are additional success factors, as they likely influence survival. Although after one year post-release, the two troops (T1 = 35, T2 = 24) of vervet monkeys (including an infant) survived, were independent of human food provision and companionship, had established in an area, and had births in the breeding season following release; low known survival (T1 = 11%, T2 = 50%) make it difficult to designate these releases as successful. However, it was clear that the two groups of rock hyrax released were not successful. The group of rock hyrax that had previously been in captivity for 16 months (n = 17) did not have site fidelity after release, and after three months could not be found. All wild rock hyrax (n = 9), except one whose fate is unknown, were found dead, mostly predated, within 18 days. The release likely failed due to predation. For both vervet monkeys and rock hyrax, a lack of social cohesion was suggested as causing the group to dissolve or split upon release, which in turn would increase their vulnerability to predation. Recommendations are provided for considerations in future releases of captive vervet monkeys and rock hyrax. Movements of two groups of tortoises (ten and seven individuals) released at two different sites were monitored over a year, using radio-telemetry. In total, one tortoise was returned to captivity because of disease, four were killed intentionally or accidentally by humans, three others died due to a combination of disease, starvation and/or dehydration, and the fate of six were unknown. Since only two out of seven tortoises survived 13 months after release and only one out of ten tortoises were known to have survived 25 months after release, rehabilitated leopard tortoises were not successfully released into the wild. Recommendations to improve the success of future releases are provided. The occurrence of disease in the tortoise release was a worrying result, and must be addressed before any further releases are allowed. To summarise, there is a dichotomy between wildlife rehabilitation and conservation throughout the world, but this study highlighted the situation in South Africa. The IUCN guidelines for the reintroduction, introduction and supplementation of animals make it clear that there are many threats to the individual animal, to the release environment and to the conservation of species when transporting and releasing animals, especially if they had been in captivity. I believe that I have presented enough evidence in the thesis to suggest that wildlife rehabilitation may result in negative consequences to the welfare of the individual being rehabilitated and to the wild conspecifics or to other species in the release site. I suggest that wildlife rehabilitation needs to move away from being an emotional-based “animal-rights” organisation, to being objectively managed, such that no harm is caused to conservation by these efforts. This may require them to change their constitution so they are aligned with the IUCN guidelines, where more consideration is given to the possible risks involved in releasing animals. However, the applicability of the IUCN guidelines will vary slightly according to the species and situation, and they require input from the local conservation authorities (as was the case in the studies documented in this thesis). I suggest that the public be educated as to the risks that wildlife rehabilitated animals can pose to the safety of the environment as a whole, and that rehabilitated animals do not necessarily survive or thrive in the wild when released, and thus they have to understand that rehabilitation centres will sometimes have to prioritise casualties for treatment, and euthanase exotic species. In conclusion, implementing further research in ensuring long-term post-release survival of rehabilitated animals; developing and enforcing practical guidelines/minimum standards by dedicated and qualified governmental wildlife conservation officials; and having examinations in order to qualify as a wildlife rehabilitator, will ensure humans are “making amends” instead of having an additional negative impact on conservation and animal welfare. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2009

The state of the populations of many insects is critical in the Czech Republic, other species have already extinct. Among the species balancing at the limit of survival is myrmecophilus Alcon Blue (Phengaris alcon), especially its ecological form (P. alcon f. alcon), which is associated with the Marsh Gentian (Gentiana pneumonanthe) during the early larval stages. The general aim of my work was to evaluate the current distribution of the Alcon Blue butterfly (P. alcon f. alcon) in the Czech Republic, to estimate the size of the remaining populations and to propose a practical action plan for conservation of the species in the Czech Republic. The analysis of the databases showed that the species survives theoretically in 11 localities. The field survey in 2016 revealed, however, that at five other sites a species in the recent past was extinct. The remaining 6 localities are concentrated in Southwestern Bohemia on a total area of only 20 hectares. Two population is however close to extinction. The cause of local extinction of Alcon Blues was the extinction of host plants. The main factors influencing the size of butterfly populations in the last localities were the abundace and vitality of host plants (number of fertile shoots, height). Part of my work was an attempt to reintroduce Alcon Blue to a...

The middle spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos medius) became extinct in Sweden in 1982. The last population inhabited a fragmented area of 300 km2 and were for a long time a characteristic species for the oak stands of Sturefors and Bjärka­Säby, south of Linköping. The reason why the species got extinct depends mostly on habitat fragmentation. Also, the extinction got hasten by harsh wintering conditions. The purpose of this study is to evaluate which of current populations of Dendrocopos medius could best serve as source of founders for a possible reintroduction of the species in Linköping. Populations from Poland, Germany, Latvia and Lithuania were considered, taking their ecology, phylogeny and genetic diversity into account. The population’s abiotic conditions, in combination with their ability to adapt to different habitat was also considered crucial to conduce a successful reintroduction of middle spotted woodpecker in Linköping. Populations from Bialowieza and Krotoszyn in Poland, Wolfsburg in Germany and Kaunas and Marijampole in Lithuania were considered most suitable to contribute with founders. Since the middle spotted woodpecker could work as a flagship species for old and open oak stands, a reintroduction of the species could turn up the awareness for nature conservation, species conservation and biodiversity.

Notions of ‘wildness' are increasingly relevant to upland management discussions in the Scottish Highlands as several conservation-focused estates embrace a ‘wildland management ethos'. However, while a range of wildland conservation initiatives have embarked upon pathways towards ‘rewilding', this research demonstrates that, although members of this creative conservation movement are widely perceived to share a common vision, they prioritise markedly different wildland qualities. Through a series of triangulated phases, this research explores this ‘spectrum of wildness' and examines the conceptual coherence of wildland restoration discourses. Twenty semi-structured scoping interviews with key stakeholders associated with Scotland's wildest places provide the foundations for an adapted Delphi model, incorporating a Q-methodology study, which utilises insights from seventeen large upland land-holdings to interrogate the disparate discourses associated with Scotland's emergent wildland movement. A taxonomy of management approaches is presented based upon (i) different conceptions of ‘wildness', (ii) differing degrees of concern for ecological and cultural integrity, (iii) conflicting beliefs about the degree of management intervention appropriate and (iv) fundamentally divergent underlying environmental ideologies. A further twenty-three semi-structured interviews exploring wilderness restoration frameworks in the USA, New Zealand and parts of Europe provide an international perspective on Scotland's distinctive approach to wildland management and demonstrate the challenges of multi-dimensional wilderness frameworks which grow out of conflicting mandates; most notably, a critical faultline exists between restoring ‘wildness' (focussed on processes) and naturalness (focussed on endpoints). Given that practical tensions can arise from these different ideological perspectives, understanding and accommodating the social and cultural dimensions which shape multiple (re)wilding discourses is considered critical. As such, place-specific and endogenous social representations are called for, in which wild land is both a physical place and a cultural ideal, and in which (re)wilding comprises a heterogeneous mix of different wilds. This research also critically reflects upon how cultural landscapes with wild qualities present opportunities for rethinking the historical and cultural dimensions of established wilderness values. By exploring the framing of ‘wild' in Scotland's wildland initiatives, a postmodern wildlands narrative which negotiates the conceptual challenges of (re)wilding in a storied, cultural landscape is presented.

Submitted by Sandra Pereira (srpereira@ufrrj.br) on 2018-08-20T12:17:43Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2010 - Diogo Joffily.pdf: 993690 bytes, checksum: c5e8df7300d4f2e09eb55e7f60f4f1a9 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-20T12:17:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2010 - Diogo Joffily.pdf: 993690 bytes, checksum: c5e8df7300d4f2e09eb55e7f60f4f1a9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-09-17 / The state of Rio de Janeiro is in the national and international route of the traffic of wild animals. The numbers of apprehensions in this state are raised and the CETAS-RJ receives a great number of animals per year. Projects of release and reintroduction of wild animals combined with scientific research must gain space so that destination of these animals to the natural environment can occur in an objective way. The objective of the study was to develop procedures for release, with individuals of Aratinga leucophthalma species, taking in consideration behavior characteristics, the social structure, the alimentary habits and to accomplish the monitoring of the animals during the release and the post-release, looking for results that come to aid in future projects. The work was accomplished at three different places: the CETAS-RJ, ocurred the handling before the release and the study of the feeding in captivity; the campus of the UFRRJ, where field work related with the feeding in free life was don; and in the RPPN S?o Benedito Farm in Rio Claro-RJ, where the release and the post-release monitoring ocurred. The work was accomplished between September 2008 and July 2010. The handling before the release was done by the preparation of a nursery to house 30 animals. The animals were grouped by flight capacity and domestication level. This stage was also composed by the accomplishment of clinical and labs exams, individual demarcation of the animals through rings and sexing exam. Of the selected animals there was prevalence of males. According to the clinical exams was not verified any aspect to make unfeasible the work. The study of the feeding in captivity was made through analysis of the supplied food and the amount of leftovers, verifying the preference through the alimentary behavior. Preference of the birds was revealed by the sunflower seed and the need of the maintenance and elaboration of new balanced diets appropriated to release programs. The field work tried to describe the alimentary items of species from the Psittacidae family. The importance of exotic vegetable species was revealed as food source for birds of the Psittacidae family in the campus. From the ten alimentary items observed only three were from native species. The release was accomplished by the model of soft release, after a period of acclimatization in the release area, which preceded the opening of the nursery. After the opening of the nursery a food support was maintained inside and outside of the nursery and the monitoring was accomplished collecting data in daily accomp. The birds went increasing gradually the distance traveled after the release and they were incorporating themselves to groups from the area. The soft release model used in this work guaranteed the success in the process of rehabilitation of these birds. The food supports maintained after the opening of the nursery were extremely important to guarantee the nutrition of the birds during the first days after the release, and to give them strength for recognition of the area and to look for new food sources. / O Rio de Janeiro est? na rota nacional e internacional do tr?fico de animais silvestres. S?o elevados os n?meros de apreens?es realizadas nesse estado e o CETAS-RJ recebe um grande n?mero de animais por ano. Projetos de soltura e reintrodu??o de animais silvestres, aliados a pesquisas cient?ficas devem ganhar espa?o nesse cen?rio para que o retorno desses animais ? natureza ocorra de forma objetiva e segura. O objetivo do estudo foi desenvolver procedimentos para soltura, atrav?s de experimentos com indiv?duos da esp?cie Aratinga leucophthalma, levando em considera??o suas caracter?sticas comportamentais, estrutura social, h?bitos alimentares e ainda, realizar o monitoramento dos animais durante a soltura e o per?odo p?s-soltura, buscando resultados que venham auxiliar futuros projetos. O trabalho foi realizado em tr?s locais diferentes sendo eles: o CETAS-RJ, onde ocorreu o manejo antes da soltura e o estudo da alimenta??o em cativeiro; o campus da UFRRJ, onde foi feito o trabalho de campo relacionado com a alimenta??o em vida livre; e a RPPN Fazenda S?o Benedito em Rio Claro-RJ, onde ocorreu a soltura e o monitoramento p?s-soltura. O per?odo de desenvolvimento do projeto foi entre setembro de 2008 e julho de 2010. O manejo pr?soltura foi constitu?do pelo preparo de um viveiro para alojar 30 indiv?duos de A. leucophthalma. Os animais foram selecionados de acordo com sua capacidade de v?o e o n?vel de domestica??o. Esta etapa foi composta ainda pela realiza??o de exames cl?nicos e laboratoriais, pela marca??o individual dos animais atrav?s de anilhas e a sexagem. Dos animais selecionados, houve predom?nio de machos em rela??o a f?meas. No tocante a exames cl?nicos realizados, n?o foi constatado nenhum aspecto que pudesse inviabilizar o trabalho. O estudo da alimenta??o em cativeiro foi feito atrav?s da an?lise do alimento fornecido e a quantidade de sobra, verificando a prefer?ncia atrav?s do comportamento alimentar. Foi revelada prefer?ncia das aves pela semente de girassol e a necessidade da manuten??o e elabora??o de novas dietas balanceadas, voltadas para programas de soltura. O trabalho de campo buscou descrever os itens alimentares de esp?cies da fam?lia Psittacidae. Foi revelada a import?ncia de esp?cies vegetais ex?ticas como fonte de alimento para aves da fam?lia Psittacidae no campus da UFRRJ. Dos dez itens alimentares observados apenas tr?s eram provenientes de esp?cies nativas. A soltura foi realizada pelo modelo de soltura branda, ap?s um per?odo de aclimata??o na ?rea de soltura, que antecederam a abertura do viveiro. Foram mantidos suportes alimentares dentro e fora do viveiro durante a soltura e o monitoramento, que foi realizado atrav?s de acompanhamento di?rio e coleta de dados. As aves foram gradualmente aumentando as dist?ncias percorridas ap?s a soltura e foram se incorporando a bandos da regi?o. O modelo de soltura branda, utilizado neste trabalho, garantiu sucesso no processo de reintrodu??o dessas aves. Os suportes alimentares mantidos ap?s a abertura do viveiro foram de fundamental import?ncia para garantir a nutri??o das aves nos primeiros dias ap?s a soltura, dar-lhes for?as para reconhecimento da ?rea em que foram soltas bem como buscar novas fontes de alimento.

The American marten (Martes americana) is an endangered species in Vermont and a Regional Species of Greatest Conservation Need in the northeastern United States. Though historically widespread in northeastern forests, their range presumably contracted to northern Maine and the High Peaks region of the Adirondacks by the early 1900s. Regionally, populations appear to be in recovery. Natural recolonization is believed to have occurred in New Hampshire, northeastern Vermont and the western Adirondacks. A reintroduction effort in southern Vermont that was originally declared unsuccessful is now believed to be the source of a recently detected population in the area. However, our current knowledge of distribution, population history and population connectivity relies primarily on occurrence data from harvest records, which are limited in scope and resolution. In Vermont, where population size is estimated to be extremely low, more robust estimates of population status may be critical to continued recovery. I genotyped individuals from Maine, New York, New Hampshire, northeastern Vermont and southern Vermont at ten microsatellite loci and amplified a 320 base pair segment of the control region of mtDNA to estimate the source(s) of the two Vermont populations using statistical tests of genetic differentiation. I also used Bayesian and stochastic genetic clustering methods to estimate population genetic structure in the northeastern United States. Genetic structure exists at multiple scales in the region as a result of natural barriers to gene flow, human-mediated gene flow, and lineage sorting in relic populations. My results suggest that New Hampshire is a major source of colonization of northeastern Vermont and the population in southern Vermont is either a remnant of the reintroduction or a pre-reintroduction relic that has experienced introgression from the reintroduction stock. I identified three regions where relic populations perceived to be extirpated in the 1900s may have persisted. I also developed an occupancy model for American marten in the northeastern United States using mixed-effects logistic regression based on expert opinion data. Eighteen experts from Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York with backgrounds in trapping, wildlife management, and wildlife science participated in the survey. Experts were asked to estimate the probability of marten occupancy at 30 sites in the northeastern United States. Three top models described the data. Habitat covariates in those models were 1) percent canopy cover, 2) percent spruce-fir forest cover, 3) winter temperature, 4) elevation, and 5) road density. An AIC-weighted average of these three models had significant predictive ability (area under an ROC curve = 0.88) with respect to occurrence records in the northeastern United States. In addition, the model predicted that high quality habitat existed patchily along the central and northern Green Mountain spine in Vermont – where no occurrence records exist for at least a century. Top-scoring movement corridors between southern Vermont and nearby populations in northeastern Vermont/New Hampshire and New York occurred in the northern and central Green Mountains and across high resistance movement barriers in the Champlain valley. Corridors to New York were considered strong movement barriers and are unlikely to facilitate gene flow.

Wildlife in captivity has a long history of benefiting global conservation goals. Captive animals can raise awareness and appreciation for the conservation of endangered species. Additionally, captive animals can be used as source populations to reintroduce animals back to the wild or to supplement existing wild populations. The rapid increase in amphibian species threatened with imminent extinction has necessitated the creation of dozens of captive-breeding programs. The focus of this dissertation has integrated topics across the spectrum of animals in captivity and the wild, and the results provide useful recommendations for conservation action. First, I describe how market pressures over a 28-year period are causing meteoric increases in the prices of amphibians sold in the pet trade, indicating a high risk of overexploitation. Pet amphibians may facilitate greater understanding and appreciation of amphibians, but the pet trade must be sustainable. Improving amphibian husbandry will increase the number of captive-bred animals available in the pet trade, and it will allow greater production of threatened species for reintroductions. Secondly, by performing a systematic review of husbandry for 289 amphibian species native to the US, I identified a critical lack in taxon-specific husbandry and developed husbandry research prioritizations. Next, I used a combination of laboratory and field studies to examine domestication processes in amphibians by comparing defensive behaviors in two species of captive-bred and wild poison frog. Captive-bred amphibians had significantly reduced defensive behaviors compared to wild conspecifics, likely resulting from habitation processes related to their husbandry. Finally, I performed three reintroductions of the critically endangered Wyoming Toad (Anaxyrus baxteri) in Wyoming, US. I demonstrated how providing a transitionary period, called a soft-release, to captive-bred toads moving to a novel, wild environment can improve reintroduction success. My work illustrates how improving our understanding of the nexus between captivity and the wild can improve conservation action for endangered species.

Abstract The wild forest reindeer is a subspecies of the reindeer. Wild forest reindeer earlier had a wide distribution range in Sweden, but it was extinct in the middle of the 19:th century because of extensive hunting. In Finland, the w.f.reindeer was extinct a few decades later by similar reasons. Later they migrated back to the eastern parts of Finland in the middle of the 20: th century. Around 1980, the w.f.reindeer was actively rentroduced to western Finland, and there the population has had a positive development. In eastern Finland though, the population have declined fast during the last years. This is partly due to an increased abundance of large predators, particularly wolf. In this study I investigated the possibilities for, and attitudes towards, a reintroduction of w.f.reindeer in parts of Sweden. My result indicates that the environmental possibilities for a reintroduction of w.f. reindeer to parts of Sweden probably are fairly good to good. The attitudes towards the w.f.reindeer is both positive and negative, much depending if you ask a hunter or an owner of semi-domestic reindeer. Many persons in my study can see several benefits with a reintroduction of w.f. reindeer, e.g. increase of hunting and recreational value of the nature. A problem that a reintroduction of w.f.reindeer in Sweden could cause, is that the w.f.reindeer can be mixed with the herds of semi-domestic reindeer. Experiences from Finland show that the reindeermanagement is disturbed when this happens. This is an important problem, or challenge, to solve if a reintroduction should be possible in the future.

In this study, zoo visitor response to live prey feeding and jaguar response to dead fish feeding were analyzed. Four hundred visitors at Zoo Atlanta and four hundred visitors at Palm Beach Zoo were asked about their attitudes toward feeding live prey to zoo carnivores. Agreement rates were found to be high. Agreement rates at Zoo Atlanta and Palm Beach Zoo were both significantly higher for feeding live fish to penguins than at Edinburgh Zoo as reported in Ings et al. (1997). Zoo Atlanta also had a higher agreement rate for feeding live rabbits to cheetahs in view than Edinburgh Zoo. Both Zoo Atlanta and Palm Beach Zoo had lower agreement rates for feeding live insects to lizards out of view than Edinburgh Zoo. Agreement rates for visitors at Palm Beach Zoo that saw a dead fish to jaguar introduction did not differ significantly from visitors that had not seen the introduction. However, at both US Zoos, agreement rate was higher for visitors that had seen a live prey introduction at a zoo or aquarium in the past. Agreement rate was significantly greater for feeding live fish to jaguars, mice to hawks, and rabbits to cheetahs in view. For Palm Beach Zoo agreement rate was also higher for feeding live rabbits to cheetahs out of view. Stay time did not differ significantly between visitors at Palm Beach Zoo that saw and did not see a dead fish to jaguar introduction. Jaguar activity level, behavioral diversity, fecal corticoids, visibility, and percent time spent in water did not significantly differ between fish introduction and baseline.

In this thesis the demography, home range and habitat selection of a reintroduced population of Anatolian mouflon (Ovis gmelinii anatolica), which had a single remaining population, was studied to evaluate the reintroduction success and determine the conservation management interventions. For this purpose among 104 individuals reintroduced in Sariyar Wildlife Protection Area (Ankara, Turkey), 40 adults were radio-collared and 28 juvenile were ear-tagged and monitored from 2005 to 2009. The survival of the population according to the age groups (females, 0: 0.5423, 1: 0.60, 2: 0.5316, 3: 0.6637, 3+: 0.6728) and the fecundity of adult females (2: 0.2260, 3: 0.2034, 3+: 0.2034) are estimated. A population viability analysis was performed and the persistence of the population within the next 20 years was estimated. Increasing the survival rate of adult female through conservation or restocking the population with at least six adult females every year decreased the risk of extinction in the near future considerably. The year-round home ranges of the individuals ranged between 805 &ndash / 3435 ha. (Mean &plusmn / SE: 1934 &plusmn / 140 ha). The movements of the tracked individuals followed seasonal patterns: centers of activities changed according to seasons in 80% of the adult mouflon. Reintroduced mouflon selected southern aspects (p=0.001), increasing slopes &ndash / especially medium to high slope terrain &ndash / (slope &gt / 30&deg / , p=0.002), and distant locations to villages and roads. Results indicate that appropriate protective measures should be implemented immediately to mitigate the causes of juvenile mortality. Restocking the population for the next 10 years with adult females would have a stabilizing effect on the declining population and will act as a buffering mechanism during the adaptation period to the new area.