Dennis P:
>>Rehabbing doesn't help animal populations or the environment in any
>>measurable way, shape, or form. I think this is incontrovertible.

and Peggi R:
>I don't think it's incontrovertible. You're right, it doesn't do a thing
>for the environment, but you cannot say that it does nothing for the animals
>in any measurable way because no one has done any tracking of released
>animals (the exception being the "high profile" animals like wolves).

Two parts to this:
Dennis says "populations" where Peggi says "animals". The occasional animal
that survives after release surely has done better due to a rehabber's
effort. But its re-entry into its population matters very little.

Part two:
Again, I find myself writing about a reference on a shelf too far away,
but last year's Ibis carried an article reporting that a small fraction of
oiled birds that are cleaned and released survive any meaningful length of
time, based on band returns.
I think the reason we know so little about this question, at least as it
relates to marine birds, is that "tracking" them is expensive and
time-consuming. Who has the money for transmitters for a reasonable sample
of rehabbed birds and another batch of transmitters for a control population
(if you could obtain one?). How are they to be tracked on the open ocean
during winter, if that's when the event occurs? Et cetera.
--
Scott Richardson
NE Seattle
salix at halcyon.com