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.
Are we making urban wildlife sick?
Grantee: Carl Soulsbury
Institution: University of Lincoln
Project summary
The goal of this project is to test whether differences in welfare among individual red foxes and individual European hedgehogs are explained by specific environmental stressors arising from urbanization (e.g., increased human population density, noise pollution, or reduced habitat heterogeneity). Notably, on a population level, foxes appear to have fared well alongside humans, while hedgehogs have struggled to cope with urbanization. The study will confirm whether this contrast is also seen at the level of individual welfare, and offers a unique opportunity to identify common environmental stressors that may be impacting the health and welfare of urban wildlife more generally. To assess welfare, the project will perform cognitive judgment bias and novel object tests and combine them with non-invasive indicators of physiological stress (fecal glucocorticoids and eye/ear temperature) and health (pathogen load).
Grantee: Carl Soulsbury
Institutions: University of Lincoln, United Kingdom
Grant amount: $148,741.43
Grant type: Challenge grant
Focal species: Red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and European hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus)
Conservation status: Least concern
Disciplines: Animal welfare science, animal behavior, physiology
Research location: United Kingdom
Project summary
Urbanisation causes profound changes to biodiversity. For many species living in urban areas, there is evidence that urban living leads to greater disease prevalence. It is unclear, however, (a) what factors drive this higher disease prevalence and (b) whether this leads to poorer wild animal welfare. We propose a study to compare two urban-dwelling species, red foxes and Eurasian hedgehogs, where we will characterize pathogen prevalence, load, and diversity across an urban-rural gradient. This study will be carried out at two scales: firstly, we will link pathogen loads, faecal glucocortoicoids and habitat at the landscape level, allowing us to broadly understand if urbanisation is associated with increased pathogen loads. We will then carry out a second, more detailed data collection where we will combine pathogen data with measures of stress (infra-red thermography, faecal glucocorticoids) and behavioural measures of affective valence (novel object and judgement bias tests). Here, we will link together pathogen loads and different measures of welfare at the individual level. Ultimately, our aim is to test, within each species, whether population differences in health and welfare are explained by environmental stressors arising from urbanisation (e.g., increased human population density and reduced habitat heterogeneity).
Why we funded this project
We appreciate that this project considers specific characteristics of urban environments, as opposed to simply comparing urban environments with rural ones. This way, it has more potential to inform near-term interventions. Plus, the project design humanely allows for animals’ voluntary participation. In addition to using an effective suite of welfare indicators to investigate the impact of different parasite loads on welfare, the combination of cognitive bias testing with non-invasive physiological stress metrics will provide information on the validity of those metrics, which are being used concurrently in other projects.
Find Carl’s other project, studying wild insects, here.
Developing an automated cognitive bias task for wild squirrels
Grantees: Vikki Neville, Lisa Leaver
Institutions: University of Bristol, University of Exeter
Project summary
The goal of this project is to develop a cognitive judgment bias test for use in wild gray squirrels that capitalizes on their innate behavior, avoiding the need for the extensive type of training that is usually part of cognitive judgment bias tests in captive settings. By making use of the widely available Raspberry Pi platform, the test should be relatively easy for other researchers to replicate and adapt for use in other species. To validate the test itself, the research team will also assess how measurement of cognitive judgment bias varies with factors assumed to affect the valence of animals participating in the test, such as distance from cover and levels of food provisioning in the environment, as well as how the test results correlate with other potential non-invasive behavioral and physiological indicators of welfare, such as the distance at which a squirrel flees from approaching humans, hair cortisol concentration, and real-time fluctuations in eye temperature in response to stimuli during the the test.
Grantees: Vikki Neville and Lisa Leaver
Institutions: University of Bristol, University of Exeter, United Kingdom
Grant amount: $157,049
Grant type: Challenge grant
Focal species: Grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis)
Conservation status: Least concern
Disciplines: Animal welfare science, physiology, animal behavior
Research location: United Kingdom
Project summary
The development of the cognitive judgment bias (CJB) task for non-human animals revolutionised the field of animal welfare. The CJB task: (a) is thought to measure both relatively better and relatively poorer welfare across the full spectrum of possible welfare states, (b) is non-invasive, and (c) has been validated using a meta-analytic approach. Moreover, the theoretical basis of the predictions for the CJB task should be applicable across taxa and, accordingly, it has been used successfully in many species. However, to date, its use has largely been in captive species and there are a dearth of examples in wild animals. A key barrier to implementation is that it is difficult to train animals to associate stimuli with particular outcomes: the time needed to do so makes these studies unsuccessful or infeasible in non-captive populations of animals. We propose that this could be overcome by capitalising on the natural behaviour of a species to reduce training time and by using equipment that allows automation of stimulus presentation and data collection.
The main aim of our proposed project is to develop a CJB task for use in wild animals, in particular wild squirrels. Our key objectives are to develop a task for collecting CJB data from grey squirrels which: (1) capitalises on their innate behaviour, obviating the need for extensive training, and (2) makes use of Raspberry Pi equipment so that the task can be easily implemented by other researchers and straightforwardly adapted for use across species to measure welfare and validate novel potential measures of welfare.
To assess that our task works as anticipated, secondary objectives will be to: (1) assess how CJB varies with task manipulations designed to alter affective valence (the distance of the equipment from cover, and levels of food provisioning in the environment), and (2) assess how CJB correlates with other potential non-invasive indicators of welfare (e.g. flight distance in response to humans, QBA scores, retrapability, social status, hair cortisol concentration, and fluctuations in eye temperature following positive and negative stimuli on the judgement bias test measured using infrared thermal cameras).
Why we funded this project
As noted above, cognitive bias tests are generally considered to be exceptionally robust welfare indicators, while gray squirrels are an abundant species and a prime target for near-term interventions. Therefore, we are excited to support the development of a cognitive judgment bias test for use on free-living gray squirrels, which will also help to assess the validity of simpler indicators, such as eye temperature and flight initiation distance.
Validating the use of cognitive bias to assess affective valence in wild bird populations.
Grantee: Oliver Burman
Institution: University of Lincoln
Project summary
The goal of this project is to develop and validate a cognitive bias test for assessing the welfare of woodland birds that does not require any training stage, and instead takes advantage of innate attraction and aversion to stimuli that resemble preferred or noxious prey (with a range of likeness accuracy, based on the principle of imperfect Batesian mimicry). Continuing the theme of exploiting natural variation, the project will use spatial variation in numerous components of habitat preferability that can be assumed to directionally affect welfare — such as food abundance and shelter — as natural experiments to validate their cognitive bias tests.
Grantees: Oliver Burman
Institutions: University of Lincoln, United Kingdom
Grant amount: $193,684.17
Grant type: Challenge grant
Focal species: Free-living wild birds, including (but not limited to): blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus), great tits (Parus major), wrens (Troglodytes troglodytes), coal tits (Poecile ater), European robins (Erithacus rubecula), chaffinches (Fringilla coelebs), greenfinches (Chloris chloris), starlings (Sturnus vulgaris), blackbirds (Turdus merula) and Eurasian jays (Garrulus glandarius).
Conservation status: Least concern
Disciplines: Animal welfare science, ornithology, animal behavior
Research location: United Kingdom
Project summary
Cognitive bias is a robust and validated measure of affective valence effective in a wide variety of animal species. However, this valuable approach has been primarily focused on the welfare assessment of captive animals and has not yet been demonstrated in wild free-living animal populations. This goal is crucial for addressing urgent contemporary issues such as the impact of anthropogenic and climatic change on wild animal welfare and to tackle key conservation challenges. In the first attempt to apply a cognitive judgement bias task in a free-living wild animal population, we found that wild birds struggled to complete the necessary training (discrimination) stage of the cognitive bias task. In the proposed project, our aim is therefore to validate two novel cognitive approaches to assessing affective valence in wild animals that do not require training, in conjunction with established behavioural and physiological indicators of welfare. Firstly, we will investigate a modified cognitive judgement bias task based on the innate avoidance of naturally occurring aversive prey, using the principle of imperfect Batesian mimicry. Secondly, we will modify and validate a cognitive attention bias task that relies on a spontaneous response to a potential threat. Both tasks will be assessed in populations of wild birds using natural variation in affective valence. Our anticipated outcomes are the development of an effective, validated measure of affective valence applicable to wild birds without the need for capture/restraint that can be translated across species; an invaluable tool in the assessment of wild animal welfare in response to a wide variety of environmental challenges.
Why we funded this project
This project’s results are intended to be generalizable to numerous woodland bird species (e.g., tits, wrens, starlings). We also appreciate its creatively humane approach to validation, using innate preferences and natural variation in affective valence, rather than training and experimental manipulation. Plus, the project considers both presumably positive (e.g., food, shelter) and presumably negative (e.g., predator abundance) welfare factors, which further strengthens the validation.
Measuring health and frailty in wild insects
Grantee: Jelle Boonekamp
Institutions: University of Glasgow
Project summary
The aim of this project is to develop a non-invasive frailty index that measures the health of individual insects in their natural habitat and can be applied across species. Using traits applicable to many different insect species, it will develop an insect frailty index, validating it against mortality and fitness data in an insect population by testing whether frail individuals have increased mortality risk and reduced fitness. The project will use data from a long-term field study of a natural population of crickets, which recorded adult crickets from their emergence to death using a network of 140 video cameras. Fitness was measured by genotyping and counting the number of surviving genetic descendants in the following year.
Grantee: Jelle Boonekamp
Institutions: University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
Grant amount: $63,536
Grant type: Ad hoc
Focal species: Field cricket (Gryllinae)
Conservation status: Least concern
Disciplines: Physiology, entomology
Research location: United Kingdom
Project summary
From an evolutionary perspective, health and well-being is best expressed in terms of fitness variation, the logic being that animals who are optimally adapted to their local environment should be healthy. Hence, health and fitness are intimately entwined on a conceptual level. Morphological, behavioral, and physiological traits that are predictive of fitness could provide potential biomarkers of health, and such approaches have been developed for many different wild vertebrate species. However, due to their small size and mobility, it has proven exceedingly challenging to follow individual insects longitudinally in the wild, let alone their descendants, to measure individual performance and fitness. Consequently, there is a paucity of literature on wild insect health and well-being.
The aim of this project is to address this knowledge gap by developing a non-invasive frailty index that measures the health of individual insects in their natural habitat and that can be applied across species. Analogizing to frailty indices used in human patients, this project will develop an insect frailty index using relevant traits applicable to many different insect species. In humans, the frailty index is highly predictive of morbidity and remaining life expectancy. Similarly, this project seeks to validate the insect frailty index against mortality and fitness data in an insect population by testing whether “frail” individuals have increased mortality risk and reduced fitness.
This project is made possible by the work that we have done to establish a long-term field study of a natural population of crickets (WildCrickets.org). Using a network of 140 video cameras, all the adults in the population are longitudinally monitored from their emergence in early spring to their natural death in late summer. All their movements, reproductive behaviors, fights, and predation events are recorded, and fitness is measured by genotyping and counting the number of surviving genetic descendants in the next year.
Why we funded this project
Willingness to investigate the welfare of insects is somewhat rare, as are creative ways to assess their welfare. This project both proposed a potentially usable metric, and has access to an unusually useful resource through the WildCrickets.org project. While any particular approach to assessing welfare in insects is unlikely to work, we are hoping to seed enough approaches and strategies that others take up the call, eventually drawing in enough different approaches to produce usable strategies for assessing insect welfare in the wild. Finally, because many of the project resources were already acquired through other sources, we were to fund exclusively the welfare-focused aspects of the project.
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Improving the welfare of wild and captive animals with integrated in-situ and ex-situ behavioural monitoring
Grantee: Sarah Richdon
Institution: Bristol Zoological Society
Project summary
This project will investigate the welfare impacts of translocating captive-bred white-clawed crayfish (Austropotamobius pallipes) into an existing wild population. Both resident and introduced individuals will be fitted with transponders and marked for behavioral monitoring. To evaluate welfare, the researchers will observe social interactions (e.g. aggressive interactions), behavioral diversity, and the animals’ use of their habitat. For example, emigration of native individuals from the focal habitat may be indicative of intraspecific competition intensified by the translocation. Body condition will also be scored as a metric of health and resource access.
Grantee: Sarah Richdon
Institutions: Bristol Zoological Society, United Kingdom
Grant amount: $30,000
Grant type: Seed grants
Focal species: White clawed crayfish (Austropotamobius pallipes)
Conservation status: Endangered
Disciplines: Animal welfare science, marine biology
Research location: United Kingdom
Project summary
This project will investigate the welfare impacts of translocating captive-bred white-clawed crayfish (Austropotamobius pallipes) into an existing wild population. Both resident and introduced individuals will be fitted with transponders and marked for behavioral monitoring. To evaluate welfare, the researchers will observe social interactions (e.g. aggressive interactions), behavioral diversity, and the animals’ use of their habitat. For example, emigration of native individuals from the focal habitat may be indicative of intraspecific competition intensified by the translocation. Body condition will also be scored as a metric of health and resource access.
Why we funded this project
We are excited to fund a project focused on the welfare of invertebrates, in this case an aquatic crustacean. The monitoring methods and some findings of this project may also be applicable to other aquatic taxa. Translocation is already a commonly used intervention in conservation, yet its welfare implications are poorly understood. By learning about these, translocation strategies could potentially be improved, and we might gain insights that could be applied to other welfare-motivated interventions.
How do human activities impair the welfare of highly social fish?
Grantee: Joachim Frommen
Institution: Manchester Metropolitan University
Project summary
This project will investigate the welfare of a common fish species in Lake Tanganyika, the princess cichlid, as they are exposed to varying levels of human activity. Across eight populations representing a range of distances to human settlements and shipping routes, the researchers will monitor behaviors indicative of stress or aggression and measure body condition and the brain tissue expression of five genes involved in stress physiology (glucocorticoid response pathway; crf, cyp11b, gr1, gr2, mr). These welfare indicators will be compared with environmental characteristics including boat noise, water visibility (sedimentary and algal load), human fishing intensity, temperature stress, and structural complexity of the local environment.
Grantee: Joachim Frommen
Institutions: Manchester Metropolitan University, United Kingdom
Grant amount: $28,960
Grant type: Seed grants
Focal species: The princess of Zambia (Neolamprologus pulcher)
Conservation status: Least concern
Disciplines: Ichthyology, physiology, genetics/genomics
Research location: United Kingdom, Zambia
Project summary
This project will investigate the welfare of a common fish species in Lake Tanganyika, the princess cichlid (Neolamprologus pulcher), as they are exposed to varying levels of human activity. Across eight populations representing a range of distances to human settlements and shipping routes, the researchers will monitor behaviors indicative of stress or aggression, and measure body condition and the brain tissue expression of five genes involved in stress physiology (glucocorticoid response pathway; crf, cyp11b, gr1, gr2, mr). These welfare indicators will be compared with specific environmental characteristics, including boat noise, water visibility (sedimentary and algal load), human fishing intensity, temperature stress, and structural complexity of the local environment.
Why we funded this project
By focusing on an established model system (cichlids), this project is able to benefit from background knowledge of the species’ ecology and behavior and proceed to more neglected welfare questions, as well as potentially engaging a ready audience of cichlid researchers. An especially interesting component of this project is its investigation of brain gene expression to potentially better understand how stress physiology relates to an animal’s subjective experience.
Predicting density dependence of welfare of wild animal populations based on resource access linked to habitat availability and usage
Grantee: Ross MacLeod
Institution: Liverpool John Moores University
Project summary
This project seeks to adapt a habitat and population model to incorporate welfare and apply it to the study of an abundant and widespread avian species, the house sparrow (Passer domesticus). The researchers propose to utilize a variety of welfare metrics to validate model assumptions, which will then allow them to test assumptions related to the welfare implications of density-dependent population dynamics.
Grantee: Ross MacLeod
Institutions: Liverpool John Moores University, United Kingdom
Grant amount: $159,744
Grant type: Challenge grants
Focal species: House sparrow (Passer domesticus)
Conservation status: Least concern
Disciplines: Ecological modeling, population ecology, animal welfare science
Research location: United Kingdom
Project summary
This project seeks to adapt a habitat and population model to incorporate welfare and apply it to the study of an abundant and widespread avian species, the house sparrow (Passer domesticus). The researchers propose to utilize a variety of welfare metrics to validate model assumptions, which will then allow them to test assumptions related to the welfare implications of density-dependent population dynamics.
Why we funded this project
We funded this project because it addresses our proposal request very closely and proposes to investigate a key wild animal welfare question using a modeling framework. They are also planning to address their question using an abundant avian species. The project has high potential to inform future work focused on modeling total welfare in a population (i.e., combining both individual welfare and population size), and to create a model that can be replicated in other systems.
Find Ross’ other project, studying wild birds, here.
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Empirical assessment of welfare in wild American mink and Eurasian otters: the effects of intra- and inter-specific population density
Grantees: Lauren A Harrington, Maria Diez Leon
Institution: Oxford University
Project summary
This project seeks to determine whether the welfare of American mink is negatively impacted in the presence of high densities of Eurasian otters, whether both species’ welfare is compromised at relatively higher densities of conspecifics, and whether there is a seasonality to welfare impacts. The project will also assess whether behavioral time budget shifts in mink are associated with higher chronic stress levels as a proxy for negative impact on mink welfare. These questions will be addressed by measuring welfare through several different domains, including behavioral (exploratory behavior, vocalizations), physical (body condition, ectoparasite load), and physiological (telomere length, fecal glucocorticoid metabolites and hair cortisol) metrics.
Grantees: Lauren A. Harrington, Maria Diez Leon
Institutions: Oxford University, United Kingdom
Grant amount: $162,257
Grant type: Challenge grants
Focal species: American mink (Neovison vison), Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra)
Conservation status: Near threatened
Disciplines: Animal welfare science, community ecology, wildlife management
Research location: United Kingdom
Project summary
This project seeks to determine whether the welfare of American mink (Neovison vison) is negatively impacted in the presence of high densities of Eurasian otters (Lutra lutra), whether both species’ welfare is compromised at relatively higher densities of conspecifics, and whether there is a seasonality to welfare impacts. The project will also assess whether behavioral time budget shifts in mink are associated with higher chronic stress levels, as a proxy for negative impact on mink welfare. These questions will be addressed by measuring welfare through several different domains, including behavioral (exploratory behavior, vocalizations), physical (body condition, ectoparasite load), and physiological (telomere length, fecal glucocorticoid metabolites and hair cortisol) metrics.
Why we funded this project
This project has the potential to contribute significant information to the understanding of intra-specific density-dependent welfare and to the understanding of network effects among predator-prey and competitor interactions of wild animals. Its unusually diverse set of welfare metrics will allow for cross-validation, strengthening both this project and other projects applying the same metrics. The investigators each have a strong background in animal welfare and have made efforts to better align their work with Wild Animal Initiative’s priorities for wild animal welfare, which makes them good candidates to carry forward the validation of these welfare indicators (particularly telomere attrition, which is still relatively immature in its use as a welfare indicator).
Find Maria’s other project, studying European minks, here.
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Social connections and their welfare implications in the wild
Grantee: Alex Thornton
Institutions: University of Exeter, University of Bristol
Project summary
This project seeks to understand the relationship between welfare and social interactions in wild bird populations. Using historical data, the researchers will also seek insight into how welfare varies among individuals in relation to the social system, early-life experiences, and interactions among individuals. They will also investigate whether social systems might play a role in helping to mitigate some of the negative anthropogenic impacts on welfare.
Grantee: Alex Thornton
Institutions: University of Exeter, University of Bristol, United Kingdom
Grant amount: $157,962
Grant type: Challenge grants
Focal species: Jackdaws (Coloeus sp.)
Conservation status: Least concern
Disciplines: Animal behavior, ornithology, animal welfare science
Research location: United Kingdom
Publications
Hahn, L. G., McDowall, J., Vanhussel, M., Mendl, M., & Thornton, A. (2026). Social information about others' affective states in a human-altered world. Journal of Animal Ecology, 00, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.70208
Project summary
This project seeks to understand the relationship between welfare and social interactions in wild bird populations. Using historical data, the researchers will also seek insight into how welfare varies among individuals in relation to the social system, early-life experiences, and interactions among individuals. They will also investigate whether social systems might play a role in helping to mitigate some of the negative anthropogenic impacts on welfare.
Why we funded this project
We funded this project because it addresses a fundamental question important for understanding wild animal welfare: how welfare relates to social interactions. The project could provide valuable insights into positive welfare and which interventions might be possible to enhance positive experiences in the wild. The project could provide data to accelerate the development of interventions to promote positive welfare in wild animals, possibly resulting in viable near-term interventions. The researchers will also use diverse metrics to assess welfare, and as such, the project also offers the potential to advance the measurement of welfare.
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Validation and efficacy of faecal glucocorticoid metabolites as indicators of animal welfare
Grantee: Miriam Zemanova
Institutions: University of Fribourg, Animalfree Research, Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics
Project summary
Fecal glucocorticoid metabolites (FGM) may be a suitable non-invasive alternative to blood analysis in animal welfare studies. While there have been several reviews of fecal glucocorticoids, no systematic review of their validity as an animal welfare indicator has been done. Through a systematic review process, this project seeks to provide an evidence base for the efficacy of non-invasive measurement of stress levels in wild animals using fecal glucocorticoids. Evidence will be compiled from studies that have assessed the correlation between fecal glucocorticoids and at least one other credible animal welfare indicator or factor that may be assumed to lead to impaired welfare. The project also aims to compare the performances of blood and fecal samples to assess stress levels.
Grantee: Miriam Zemanova
Institution: University of Fribourg, Animalfree Research, Switzerland, Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, United Kingdom
Grant amount: $28,500
Grant type: Small grants
Disciplines: Physiology, animal welfare science
Research location: Switzerland, United Kingdom
Project summary
One of the central components of the stress response is the production of glucocorticoids (GC). The measurement of glucocorticoid levels in blood serum is therefore often used in animal welfare studies. However, it is not always apparent how valuable these measurements are for understanding stress reactions and their relationship to animal welfare. Moreover, blood sampling causes discomfort and is impossible without restraint or immobilization, which can be harmful to the animal and distort the experimental results. Fecal glucocorticoid metabolites (FGM) may be a suitable non-invasive alternative to blood analysis. While there have been several reviews written on fecal glucocorticoids, no systematic review of their validity as an animal welfare indicator is currently available. Therefore, through a systematic review process, this project seeks to provide an evidence base for the efficacy of non-invasive measurement of stress levels in wild animals using fecal glucocorticoids. Evidence will be compiled from studies that have assessed the correlation between fecal glucocorticoids and at least one other credible animal welfare indicator or factor that may be assumed to lead to impaired welfare. The project also aims to compare the performances of blood and fecal samples to assess stress levels.
Why we funded this project
This study will review the evidence base for the validity and efficacy of non-invasively obtained glucocorticoid measurements and identify both challenges and best practices for working with fecal samples across multiple animal taxa. This is important because WAI is supporting multiple projects utilizing FGM as a physiological welfare indicator. Invasive measurements of stress, such as blood-based GCs, are disadvantageous because, without proper strategy and training, the stress induced by the sampling procedure can influence the measurement. Therefore, non-invasive measurement techniques are not only better for the animals, but may make the science less expensive and more reliable. Another reason we are supporting this study is that it will help to address a general need for better validation of the link between glucocorticoids and animal welfare, which is related to but conceptually distinct from physiological stress.
