PhD student Jonathan Choquette (co-supervised by Dr. Litzgus and Dr. Pitcher) recently published a systematic review regarding tactics used in snake translocations (see link and pics below)
Summary: Conservation translocations are the intentional movements of wildlife by people to bolster or reintroduce declining populations - an increasingly important tool in the midst of global biodiversity declines. When it comes to certain groups of animals, however, such as snakes, translocations aren't always effective. Many snake translocations in the past have failed because of unnaturally high levels of mortality or dispersal from the release site shortly after release (termed "postrelease effects"). In an effort to better understand why some translocations succeed while others fail, a team of researchers from Laurentian University, Wildlife Preservation Canada and University of Windsor conducted a systematic literature review of snake translocations conducted over the past 50 years. The team analyzed 130 different translocations, and investigated which of 15 different factors were causing the translocation problems, ranging from the origins of the animals, to the time of year they were released. In the end, the researchers were successful in demonstrating that 8 factors were linked to the success of snake translocations - results that may very well improve the outcomes of future translocations.
The published article can be accessed via this link and is open access: http://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.14016.
