Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2022L00195:reg:8:p8
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2022L00195
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 8 (pt 8/16)
Character Range: 149322–152247

to unreasonable suffering. Rehabilitation of Mahogany Gliders must be consistent with the Code. It is recommended that a protocol is developed for the care and rehabilitation of orphaned, injured or sick Mahogany Gliders that includes guidelines for the release of rehabilitated animals that is consistent with the Code.
Mahogany Gliders have been maintained in captivity since 1997, when they were first held by the David Fleay Wildlife Park in West Burleigh, Queensland and subsequently by several institutions including Currumbin Sanctuary, Dreamworld and the Native Wildlife Teaching and Research Facility at the Gatton campus of the University of Queensland. The Mahogany Glider has proved to be a relatively easy species to maintain in captivity, with its husbandry being similar to that required for other petaurid gliders, especially the Squirrel Glider (Jackson, 2003; Whiteford & Booth, 2007; Vogelnest & Woods, 2008; Muller et al., 2010). Several zoos and fauna parks in Queensland now house Mahogany Gliders as part of the breeding program and these act as education ambassadors. A detailed husbandry manual has been developed for this species by Jackson et al. (2018b) and growth and development data including growth curves for head length, ulna length, tail length and body weight have also been developed (Booth et al., 2019).
There are various issues associated with long-term breeding programs that include:
    * sourcing a viable population of unrelated stock when establishing the captive colony
    * maintaining high genetic diversity in captivity over the long term
    * genetic adaptation to the captive environment
    * domestication of captive animals
    * disease outbreaks
    * poor success in reintroductions
    * high costs of maintaining captive populations
    * maintaining administrative continuity (Snyder et al., 1996; Lynch & O'Hely, 2001; Frankham, 2008).
Any breeding program that proposes to release gliders needs to minimise the number of generations in captivity, in order to minimise the behavioural, genetic and phenotypic adaptation to captivity (sensu Frankham, 2008).
Currently, a captive breeding program for Mahogany Gliders is not recommended as a conservation outcome. There is no broad scale threat to the Mahogany Glider that would trigger the rapid and continual decline of the species, and there has been a limited loss in available habitat in recent years.
However, in an effort to ensure that prompt action can be taken in the event of a future broad scale threat emerging, triggers to inform the need to establish a captive breeding program need to be established. Any Mahogany Gliders that come into care and cannot be released, but do not require to be euthanised in accordance with the Code, must be referred to DES and will be considered for placement in the captive zoo population, to maintain the existing genetic diversity.

References
Asari, Y, Johnson,