Consequences of massive bird releases for hunting purposes: mallard Anas platyrhynchos in the Camargue, Southern France

The release of captive-reared fish and game animals into the wild is a common management practice in Europe and North America. In Europe, millions of reared birds are released each year yet the consequences of these release programmes have received little attention. This paper describes the massive introduction of Mallard Anas platyrhynchos, a native migrant species released into the wild to increase the size of hunted populations. It provides the rationale for current and forthcoming experiments aimed at determining the effects of the augmentation of Mallard stocks on wild population genotype and survival rates.