Conservation and the four Rs, which are rescue, rehabilitation, release, and research

Vertebrate animals can be injured or threatened with injury through human activities, thus warranting their ‘rescue’. Details of wildlife Rescue, Rehabilitation, Release, and associated Research (our 4 R's) are often recorded in large databases, resulting in a wealth of information. This information has huge research potential and can contribute to our understanding of animal biology, anthropogenic impacts on wildlife, and species conservation. However, such databases have been little used, few studies have evaluated factors influencing success of rehabilitation and/or release, recommended actions to conserve threatened species have rarely arisen, and direct benefits for species conservation are yet to be demonstrated. We therefore recommend additional research based on rescue, rehabilitation and release of animals, broader in scope than previously carried out, which would also maintain support from the general human community.