An Ethical Assessment Tool (ETHAS) to Evaluate the Application of Assisted Reproductive Technologies in Mammals' Conservation: The Case of the Northern White Rhinoceros ( Ceratotherium simum cottoni )

• Published in: Animals (Basel) Vol. 11; no. 2; p. 312
• Main Authors: de Mori, Barbara, Spiriti, Maria Michela, Pollastri, Ilaria, Normando, Simona, Biasetti, Pierfrancesco, Florio, Daniela, Andreucci, Francesco, Colleoni, Silvia, Galli, Cesare, Göritz, Frank, Hermes, Robert, Holtze, Susanne, Lazzari, Giovanna, Seet, Steven, Zwilling, Jan, Stejskal, Jan, Mutisya, Samuel, Ndeereh, David, Ngulu, Stephen, Vigne, Richard, Hildebrandt, Thomas B
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 26-01-2021; MDPI
• Subjects: Acceptability; Animal welfare; assisted reproductive technologies; Biodiversity; Ceratotherium simum; Ceratotherium simum cottoni; Check lists; Conservation; conservation ethics; Endangered & extinct species; Endangered species; ethical risk assessment; ethical self-assessment; Ethical standards; Ethics; Evaluation; In vitro fertilization; Laboratory animals; Livestock; northern white rhinoceros; Pain; Project evaluation; Rectum; Reproductive technologies; Risk assessment; Self-assessment; Species extinction; Wildlife conservation; ethical risk assessment; animal welfare; ethical self-assessment; conservation ethics; ethical review process; northern white rhinoceros; assisted reproductive technologies
• ISSN: 2076-2615; 2076-2615
• DOI: 10.3390/ani11020312

Assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) can make a difference in biodiversity conservation. Their application, however, can create risks and raise ethical issues that need addressing. Unfortunately, there is a lack of attention to the topic in the scientific literature and, to our knowledge, there is no tool for the ethical assessment of ARTs in the context of conservation that has been described. This paper reports the first applications of the Ethical Assessment Tool (ETHAS) to trans-rectal ovum pick-up (OPU) and in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures used in a northern white rhinoceros (
) conservation project. The ETHAS consists of two checklists, the Ethical Evaluation Sheet and the Ethical Risk Assessment, and is specifically customized for each ART procedure. It provides an integrated, multilevel and standardized self-assessment of the procedure under scrutiny, generating an ethical acceptability ranking (totally, partially, not acceptable) and a risk rank (low, medium, high), and, hence, allows for implementing measures to address or manage issues beforehand. The application of the ETHAS to the procedures performed on the northern white rhinoceros was effective in ensuring a high standard of procedures, contributing to the acceptability and improved communication among the project's partners. In turn, the tool itself was also refined through an iterative consultation process between experts and stakeholders.