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Am I suspicious of some wildlife rehabs, yes, I was involved in gathering evidence of criminal behaviour by two. Both were men who made money under false pretences, both were convicted for wildlife and welfare crimes. Both were fraudsters, one was a violent criminal.
Not everybody is honest, some wildlife rehabbers are honest and capable, highly skilled, some are lifestyle businesses, some are people with an animal hoarding habitat destroying their own lives overwhelmed by a sense of disaster in the face of demand.
It is questionable as to value, questionable what it does to individuals, and in a few rare cases involves questionable people with dishonest motivations. At which point does it become a strange sad little zoo, a roadside tourist sideshow?
Animals die, in big numbers, get used to it, it may give somebody a purpose to ‘help’ but if that purpose overwhelms their resources they are not helping themselves. If what they do has no conservation value why do it?
Well if it makes people feel good and it satisfies some desire they have then the real questions are, is it diverting donation money from a good use? is it fair on animals welfare? what is outcome, captivity? a menagerie? Does it damage life of a person or neighbours?
Is charitable status justified? what legal regime allows this? why? what is the point? You can answer disease risk, behaviour change risk, it can be professionalised, but the what is the point needs data to show value, survival, recruitment to breeding population.
Value of expensive rehab compared to habitat provision, and the many other conservation activities which need funding. If these wild animals are taken into captivity what justification exists? Welfare makes no sense, wild animals die everyday, it is natural, why do the few people
notice get taken to be patched up if possible and released? what possible reason? Well if they are very rare I guess an individual matters, an individual Californian condor matters. Most animals handled by rehabs I doubt any data shows it is of any value.
I guess it is a human need to emote with an animal, in which case should we, it seems to be more about people and their needs than animals.
I feel much the same about zoos, lots of claims of good but mainly seems like a tourist business using animals with very few exceptions. I feel hugely indifferent to zoos surviving. Which says something about zoos failure to convince me, as I am not an animal rights person.
