Meet our grantees
Wild Animal Initiative funds academic research on high-priority questions in wild animal welfare.
The goal of our grants program is to fund research that deepens scientific knowledge of the welfare of wild animals in order to better understand how to improve the welfare of as many wild animals as possible, regardless of what causes the threats to their well-being.
We showcase our grantees and their projects here and continuously update this page as new projects are added.
Swan Lake: Assessing the welfare of urban mute swans
Grantee: Irena Uzelac
Institution: Animal Rescue Serbia
Project summary
This project investigates how human-provided food, environmental conditions, and injuries affect the welfare of mute swans in urban Belgrade. The project will assess welfare using indicators such as body condition, visible deformities, injury rates, and behavior patterns like foraging and aggression. By comparing sites with different levels of human feeding and variations in temperature, the project aims to understand how these factors shape swan health and behavior. Reproductive success and juvenile survival will also be monitored to evaluate long-term welfare outcomes. A mix of behavioral observation, environmental monitoring, and welfare scoring will be used, integrating both natural and anthropogenic stressors. The ultimate goal is to develop ecologically valid welfare indicators that reflect real-world challenges faced by urban wildlife.
Grantee: Irena Uzelac
Institution: Animal Rescue Serbia, Serbia
Grant amount: $10,000
Grant type: Seed grants
Focal species: Mute swan (Cygnus olor)
Conservation status: Least concern
Disciplines: Ornithology, animal behavior, physiology
Research locations: Serbia
Project summary
This project investigates how human-provided food, environmental conditions, and injuries affect the welfare of mute swans (Cygnus olor) in urban Belgrade. The project will assess welfare using indicators such as body condition, visible deformities (e.g., angel wing), injury rates, and behavior patterns like foraging and aggression. By comparing sites with different levels of human feeding and variations in temperature, the project aims to understand how these factors shape swan health and behavior. Reproductive success and juvenile survival will also be monitored to evaluate long-term welfare outcomes. A mix of behavioral observation, environmental monitoring, and welfare scoring will be used, integrating both natural and anthropogenic stressors. The ultimate goal is to develop ecologically valid welfare indicators that reflect real-world challenges faced by urban wildlife.
Why we funded this project
This project will help address the question of how food from humans and urban environmental stressors affect the health and welfare of wild birds by applying practical welfare indicators in a free-living, urban population of mute swans. While this question has been longstanding, most research has been limited to narrower health (disease) or demographic impacts. We hope that this project will provide information on when and how anthropogenic food might be a welfare threat or opportunity.