[MARMAM] New publication - potassium chloride euthanasia of pinnipeds

[Emily Whitmer]

All –
We are pleased to announce a new publication regarding potassium chloride 
euthanasia of pinnipeds.  The manuscript is available open-access at: 
https://avmajournals.avma.org/doi/full/10.2460/javma.259.2.197

Whitmer, E. R., Trumbull, E. J., Harris, H. S., Whoriskey, S. T., & Field, C. 
L. (2021). Use of potassium chloride for low-residue euthanasia of anesthetized 
California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) and northern elephant seals 
(Mirounga angustirostris) with life-threatening injury or disease. Journal of 
the American Veterinary Medical Association, 259(2), 197-201.

OBJECTIVE To demonstrate the efficacy of potassium chloride (KCl) for 
low-residue euthanasia of anesthetized pinnipeds in field settings for which 
carcass retrieval for disposal is not feasible.
ANIMALS Stranded, free-ranging California sea lions (CSLs; Zalophus 
californianus; n = 17) and northern elephant seals (NESs; Mirounga 
angustirostris; 6) with lifethreatening injury or disease between May and 
August 2020.
PROCEDURES Each animal was anesthetized and then received a lethal dose of KCl 
solution administered by IV or intracardiac injection. The effective KCl dose; 
durations to cardiac arrest, respiratory arrest, and pupil dilation; and 
presence or absence of agonal breaths, muscle fasciculations, or skeletal 
movements were recorded. RESULTS Mean effective dose of KCl was 207.4 mg/kg 
(94.3 mg/lb) for the 17 CSLs and 209.1 mg/kg (95.0 mg/lb) for 5 of 6 NESs (1 
outlier NES was excluded). The range in duration from the beginning of KCl 
injection to cardiac arrest was 0 to 6 minutes, to pupil dilation was 0 to 5 
minutes, and to respiratory arrest was 0 to 5 minutes. Muscle fasciculations, 
skeletal movements, and agonal breaths were observed in both species during and 
after KCl administration.
CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE The use of KCl provides an effective, 
low-residue method of euthanasia in anesthetized CSLs and NESs. Our recommended 
dose for these species is 250 mg KCl/kg (113.6 mg KCl/lb) delivered by 
intracardiac injection. Compared with euthanasia by barbiturate overdose, the 
use of KCl reduces the potential for secondary intoxication of scavengers and 
is appropriate in field scenarios in which the carcass cannot be retrieved for 
disposal. (J Am Vet Med Assoc 2021;259:197–201)


Emily R. Whitmer, DVM
whitm...@tmmc.org

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[MARMAM] Fin whales in the Great Bear Rainforest (British Columbia, CA)

[Eric Keen]

Colleagues,

On behalf of my co-authors, and with special recognition of our
collaborators in the Gitga'at First Nation, I share news of this recent
publication:

Keen EM, Pilkington J, O’Mahony É, Thompson K-L, Hendricks B, Robinson N,
Alidina H, Meuter. H, Picard CR, Wray J. (2021) Fin whales of the Great
Bear Rainforest: *Balaenoptera physalus velifera* in a Canadian Pacific
fjord system. PLoS ONE 16(9): e0256815.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256815

Abstract
Fin whales (*Balaenoptera physalus*) are widely considered an offshore and
oceanic species, but certain populations also use coastal areas and
semi-enclosed seas. Based upon fifteen years of study, we report that
Canadian Pacific fin whales (*B*. *p*. *velifera*) have returned to the
Kitimat Fjord System (KFS) in the Great Bear Rainforest, and have
established a seasonally resident population in its intracoastal waters.
This is the only fjord system along this coast or elsewhere in which fin
whales are known to occur regularly with strong site fidelity. The KFS was
also the only Canadian Pacific fjord system in which fin whales were
commonly found and killed during commercial whaling, pointing to its
long-term importance. Traditional knowledge, whaling records, and citizen
science databases suggest that fin whales were extirpated from this area
prior to their return in 2005–2006. Visual surveys and mark-recapture
analysis documented their repopulation of the area, with 100–120 whales
using the fjord system in recent years, as well as the establishment of a
seasonally resident population with annual return rates higher than 70%.
Line transect surveys identified the central and outer channels of the KFS
as the primary fin whale habitat, with the greatest densities occurring in
Squally Channel and Caamaño Sound. Fin whales were observed in the KFS in
most months of the year. Vessel- and shore-based surveys (27,311 km and
6,572 hours of effort, respectively) indicated regular fin whale presence
(2,542 detections), including mother-calf pairs, from June to October and
peak abundance in late August–early September. Seasonal patterns were
variable year-to-year, and several lines of evidence indicated that fin
whales arrived and departed from the KFS repeatedly throughout the summer
and fall. Additionally, we report on the population’s social network and
morphometrics. These findings offer insights into the dynamics of
population recovery in an area where several marine shipping projects are
proposed. The fin whales of the Great Bear Rainforest represent a rare
exception to general patterns in this species’ natural history, and we
highlight the importance of their conservation.

A PDF of this paper is available open-source from PLoS ONE:
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0256815

Best wishes,

Eric Keen
ericmk...@gmail.com
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[MARMAM] Flukebook.org: Release v.2021-09-01

[Jason Holmberg]

We are pleased to announce the Wildbook software release v.2021-09-01,
which is reflected in the Flukebook.org platform for cetacean photo ID.

Wildbook DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5394255

Related WBIA DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4784646

For an overview of Flukebook's multi-species, multi-modal machine learning
for photo ID, please see:

https://docs.wildme.org/docs/researchers/ia_pipeline

Community support for Wildbook is provided at:

https://community.wildme.org


RELEASE NOTES FOR AUGUST AND JULY 2021


CHANGES

- Sighting/Occurrence search now sorts users alphabetically.

- Improved Sighting/Occurence comment import behavior from bulk import.
- Individual matching results correctly displays images that have been
corrected with an orientation network (theta rotation).

- Added additional metadata reports for bulk imports.

- Added fluke matching support for gray whales.


BUG FIXES

- WB-1772: Corrected thumbnail orientation, which impacted bounding boxes
on encounters.

- WB-1741: Collaborations were causing database connections to leak,
impacting memory.

- WB-1730: Sequential naming for marked individuals made more robust for
large catalogs.

- WB-1727: Multiple attributes can be edited on an individual and encounter.

- WB-1536: Button UX improved when managing the identity metadata on an
encounter.

- WB-1456: Merged names displaying as appropriate.

- WB-605: Search results highlight in red when you need to request access
to the object.


WILDBOOK IA (WBIA) MACHINE LEARNING CHANGES

The following updates were made to WBIA in July and August:

- SAGE-20: New CurvRank V2 and PIE V2 support for gray whales added to WBIA
and deployed in Flukebook

- SAGE-347: Fix GPU configuration error to enable bounding box orientation
(theta rotation).

- SAGE-320: Accept URL and detail fields on detection API calls.

- SAGE-319: Added detection status to REST API callback response.



Jason Holmberg (he/him/his)

Executive Director, Wild Me 

A.I. and humans combating extinction together.
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[MARMAM] New publicaiton

[Rachel Probert]

Dear Colleagues,

My co-authors and I are pleased to announce our recent publication.

Probert R, Bastian A, Elwen SH, James BS, Gridley T (2021) Vocal correlates
of arousal in bottlenose dolphins (*Tursiops* spp.) in human care. PLoS ONE
16(9): e0250913. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0250913


Abstract:

Human-controlled regimes can entrain behavioural responses and may impact
animal welfare. Therefore, understanding the influence of schedules on
animal behaviour can be a valuable tool to improve welfare, however
information on behaviour overnight and in the absence of husbandry staff
remains rare. Bottlenose dolphins (*Tursiops* spp.) are highly social
marine mammals and the most common cetacean found in captivity. They
communicate using frequency modulated signature whistles, a whistle type
that is individually distinctive and used as a contact call. We
investigated the vocalisations of ten dolphins housed in three social
groups at uShaka Sea World dolphinarium to determine how patterns in
acoustic behaviour link to dolphinarium routines. Investigation focused on
overnight behaviour, housing decisions, weekly patterns, and transitional
periods between the presence and absence of husbandry staff. Recordings
were made from 17h00 – 07h00 over 24 nights, spanning May to August 2018.
Whistle (including signature whistle) presence and production rate
decreased soon after husbandry staff left the facility, was low over night,
and increased upon staff arrival. Results indicated elevated arousal states
particularly associated with the morning feeding regime. Housing in the
pool configuration that allowed observation of staff activities from all
social groups was characterised by an increase in whistle presence and
rates. Heightened arousal associated with staff presence was reflected in
the structural characteristics of signature whistles, particularly maximum
frequency, frequency range and number of whistle loops. We identified
individual differences in both production rate and the structural
modification of signature whistles under different contexts. Overall, these
results revealed a link between scheduled activity and associated
behavioural responses, which can be used as a baseline for future welfare
monitoring where changes from normal behaviour may reflect shifts in
welfare state.


Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions:
rachelpr...@gmail.com


Best regards,

-- 
Rachel Probert
PhD candidate, Marine Biology, Bioacoustics
Sea Search Research and Conservation, Muizenberg, Cape Town
School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville

Cell: +27767831809

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/SeaSearch
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