Future Discourses - Neozoa: How do we deal with immigrated animal species, and how do we want to deal with them?

Project description

Neozoa are alien or non-native animal species, which were directly or indirectly introduced into a new habitat by humans. Intentional and unintentional introduction endanger biological diversity worldwide. The raccoon is a prominent example. It is a known issue in Germany and is taken into account in the Federal Nature Conservation Act for instance or in the national biodiversity strategy. However, it is often obscure how to deal with introduced animal species.

Prevention has got priority. The introduction and dispersal of neozoa needs to be prohibited.

Occasionally, animals are also removed and killed depending on the species and invasiveness assessment by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation. Here, a conflict between animal protection, species conservation and environmental protection is created. This problem has reached the public only partially yet, although animal-related topics are usually discussed very emotionally. Therefore, this area of conflict will be addressed in the course of this project and discussed with various interest groups. Two projects, which investigate the introduction of the nutria being native to South America actually, will be focused on at the Institute for Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research (ITAW) of the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation.