Integrating GPS-Tracked Sentinel Species Into the Fight Against Wildlife Poisoning

The cryptic nature of wildlife crimes challenges the detection and implementation of effective prevention and prosecution measures. Allocating often limited resources will benefit from increasing detectability through evidence-informed integration of sentinel GPS-tracked species. We illustrate this...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Rodríguez-Pérez, Jorge, Bravo Chaparro, Elena, Fernández-García, María, González, José Carlos, Báguena, Gerardo, González Quirós, Pablo, López-Bao, José V., Mateo-Tomás, Patricia
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/384029
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/384029
https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85218828811
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Anti-poison canine units
Patrolling
Sentinel species
Strategic resource allocation
Wildlife crime
Wildlife poisoning
Descripción
Sumario:The cryptic nature of wildlife crimes challenges the detection and implementation of effective prevention and prosecution measures. Allocating often limited resources will benefit from increasing detectability through evidence-informed integration of sentinel GPS-tracked species. We illustrate this by analyzing the spatial use of 25 GPS-tracked griffons and 26 reintroduced bearded vultures with anti-poison canine unit patrols and a wildlife poisoning risk map in NW Spain. Vultures’ spatial use greatly correlated with high-risk areas, highlighting their role in detecting poisoning events and guiding preventive anti-poison patrolling, allowing us to approach a zonation scheme to optimize efforts in this regard. We identified poisoning hotspots where sentinel and anti-poison canine units should be reinforced and high-risk areas with low sentinel monitoring where on-ground efforts should be increased. While emphasizing the potential of GPS-tracked vultures as sentinels, our results offer an example of strategic integration to prioritize interventions and enhance their effectiveness against wildlife crimes.