DISEASE IN WILDLIFE OR EXOTIC SPECIES Clinical Pathology of the Critically Endangered Gough Bunting (Rowettia goughensis) M. P. Dagleish * , P. G. Ryan † , S. Girling ‡ and A. L. Bond x * Moredun Research Institute, Pentlands Science Park, Bush Loan, Penicuik, Scotland, UK, † Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, DST-NRF Centre of Excellence, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa, ‡ Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, Edinburgh Zoo, 134 Corstorphine Road, Edinburgh, Scotland and x RSPB Centre for Conservation Science, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, The Lodge, Sandy, Bedfordshire, England, UK Summary The Gough bunting (Rowettia goughensis) is indigenous to Gough Island and critically endangered due to pre- dation by invasive house mice (Mus musculus). A planned ecosystem restoration by eradication of house mice via aerially delivered rodenticide requires a reproductively balanced population of Gough buntings being held in captivity to avoid primary and secondary poisoning. To aid disease detection during the period of captivity, Gough buntings (n ¼ 25; five adult females, 15 adult males and five juveniles) were captured, measured and sampled to determine reference ranges for routine haematological and biochemical parameters and to identify any faecal bacterial species and intestinal and haemoparasites. Adult females had significantly higher blood glucose (P ¼ 0.02 and 0.05 for different analyzers) and globulins (P ¼ 0.02) than adult males or juveniles, and juveniles had consistently higher, although not significant, concentrations of creatine kinase. Juveniles had significantly (P ¼ 0.007) more heterophils than adults; eosinophils were rare in adults and absent in juve- niles and azurophils were absent from all individuals sampled. No parasite eggs were found in the faeces and no haemoparasites were found in blood smears. Several faecal bacterial species were recorded including Entero- coccus spp. (n ¼ 12), Klebsiella spp. (n ¼ 7), Staphylococcus aureus (n ¼ 6), Staphylococcus intermedius (n ¼ 1), Escher- ichia coli (n ¼ 1) and Pseudomonas spp. (n ¼ 1). No overt clinical or subclinical disease was found in any of the birds examined, which suggests they are suitable for short-term captivity during ecosystem restoration and the data will provide key haematological and biochemical reference ranges for monitoring their health. However, the capture of a reproductively balanced population may require significant effort due to the relative difficulty with which females were caught. Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Gough bunting; haematology; parasitology; plasma biochemistry Introduction The Gough bunting (Rowettia goughensis) is endemic to Gough Island (40.3  S, 9.9  W), which is part of the UK Overseas Territory of Tristan de Cunha in the central South Atlantic Ocean and is approximately 65 km 2 (Ryan, 2007; Ryan et al., 2007; Ryan and Cuthbert, 2008). Genetic studies suggest that the Gough bunting is related to the tanager finches (Thraupidae) of South America, having crossed 3,000 km of ocean to colonize the island, probably soon after it became habitable (Ryan et al., 2013). The population has decreased by 50% between the early 1990s and 2007 to approximately 1,000 individ- uals and continues to decline, apparently due to pre- dation by house mice (Mus musculus), which were introduced to the island during the 19th century (Ryan and Cuthbert, 2008; Gray et al., 2014). Due to the precipitous population decline and its J. Comp. Path. 2017, Vol. 156, 264e274 Available online at www.sciencedirect.com ScienceDirect www.elsevier.com/locate/jcpa Correspondence to: M. P. Dagleish (e-mail: mark.dagleish@moredun.ac.uk). 0021-9975/$ - see front matter Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcpa.2017.01.002