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.
Street smarts and bold behaviors: How humans and urban environments influence the welfare of wild mesocarnivores
Grantee: Lauren Stanton
Institution: University of California, Berkeley
Project summary
This project will evaluate the welfare impacts of urban landscapes and human-wildlife conflict scenarios, focusing on environmental contamination and anthropogenic disturbance by assessing how they introduce poor diet and diseases that impact wild animals’ health and behavior, potentially increasing the likelihood of further conflict. It will use motion-activated infrared trail cameras, a novel method, to noninvasively assess and compare the behavior, cognition, and health of urban wildlife in relation to differences in environmental conditions, establishing an individual-based assessment of welfare. The project will also provide a welfare vulnerability assessment in relation to environmental characteristics, which will facilitate modeling and predicting welfare risk according to environmental variables, as well as identifying mitigation opportunities for reducing poor-welfare urban environments.
Grantee: Lauren Stanton
Institutions: University of California, Berkeley, United States
Grant amount: $255,000
Grant type: Fellowship
Focal species: Urban canine
Conservation status: Least concern
Research location: United States
Project summary
This project will evaluate the welfare impacts of both urban landscapes and human-wildlife conflict scenarios, focusing in particular on those of environmental contamination (e.g., pollution, anticoagulant rodenticides) and anthropogenic disturbance by assessing how they introduce poor diet and diseases that impact wild animals’ health and behavior, potentially increasing the likelihood of further conflict in a vicious cycle. The project will use a novel method to noninvasively assess and compare the behavior, cognition, and health of urban wildlife in relation to differences in environmental conditions. The study will use motion-activated infrared trail cameras to observe the behavior and evaluate the health and cognition of urban wildlife. By measuring important facets of each individual’s behavior (e.g., risk-taking), cognition (e.g., problem-solving), and health (e.g., body condition), the project will establish an individual-based assessment of welfare. The project will also provide a welfare vulnerability assessment in relation to environmental characteristics, which will facilitate modeling and predicting welfare risk according to environmental variables, as well as identifying mitigation opportunities for reducing poor-welfare urban environments. In addition to improving understanding of the drivers of welfare in urban wildlife, the project will develop and demonstrate a novel approach that can be further used to understand individual welfare and, in particular, address limitations in the current ability to assess subjective experiences by validating the use of relevant cognitive indicators.
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Identifying species traits underlying conservation translocation failure, to understand risk factors, help redesign procedures, and pre-emptively protect vulnerable wild animals
Grantee: Emma Mellor
Institution: University of Bristol
Project summary
This project uses survival as a welfare indicator in relation to life history characteristics using a database of animal translocations. Traits significantly relating to successful translocation (as indicated by post-release survival) will be identified as risk or protective factors for a variety of animals. The project aims to enable inferences about welfare risk factors for species beyond the datasets available by integrating a phylogenetic approach to understanding welfare. It could therefore provide insights into susceptibility or life history characteristics that provide greater resilience to welfare harms and thus help characterize and prioritize sources of welfare concern in the wild.
Grantee: Emma Mellor
Institutions: University of Bristol, United Kingdom
Grant amount: $226,987
Grant type: Fellowship
Focal species: Multi-species
Research location: United Kingdom
Project summary
This project focuses on using survival as an indicator of welfare in relation to life history characteristics using a database of animal translocations. Traits significantly relating to successful translocation (as indicated by post-release survival) would be identified as risk or protective factors for a variety of animals. The project aims to enable inferences about welfare risk factors for species beyond the datasets available by integrating a phylogenetic approach to understanding welfare. Therefore, the project could provide valuable insights into susceptibility or life history characteristics that provide greater resilience to welfare harms and thus help characterize and prioritize sources of welfare concern in the wild. The project could directly inform translocation practices while providing insights into potential welfare interventions supporting multiple animal groups based on their life history traits.
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Evaluating wild animal welfare in landscapes of fear at urban-wildland interfaces
Grantee: Dave Daversa
Institution: University of California, Los Angeles
Project summary
This project will investigate the lifetime welfare impacts of landscapes of fear, examining how they vary with respect to an animal’s life history strategy and exploring potential indirect, interactive system-level effects. The study will combine multiple lines of evidence of welfare (behavioral, hormonal, and epigenetic). In particular, it will use DNA methylation to understand the aging and health of individual animals, validating its potential to record cumulative stress over an animal’s lifetime. It will assess the components of the landscape leading to a fear response and resultant difference in welfare, and contribute to our understanding of how variation in life history strategies differentially interact with long-term welfare.
Grantee: Dave Daversa
Institutions: University of California, Los Angeles, United States
Grant amount: $253,956
Grant type: Fellowship
Focal species: Western fence lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis)
Conservation status: Least concern
Research location: United States
Project summary
This project will study a recognized but neglected area of animal welfare research, especially important for wild animals. Specifically, the project will investigate different landscapes of fear that wild animals are exposed to and their relative welfare impacts. In addition to elucidating the direct effects of fear on stress and welfare, the project aims to improve scientific understanding of potential indirect knock-on effects that fear can cause by assessing how the lifetime welfare effects of fear vary with respect to the animal’s life history strategy, as well as provide insights into some of the system-level effects.
Further, the project seeks to apply a cutting-edge approach to the study of welfare: cumulative stress across lifespans. This study’s approach (cumulative) and timespan (lifespan) are relatively novel elements for which much greater understanding is needed. The study proposes using DNA methylation to understand the aging and health of individual animals. Additional welfare indicators are always valuable to improve our ability to assess wild animals’ welfare. However, DNA methylation, if its link to welfare can be validated, holds special potential because, like telomeres and a small group of other biomarkers of biological age, it may record cumulative stress over an animal’s lifetime. Because it is DNA-based, it could be built in as a secondary objective to mainstream conservation genetics projects.
The study will combine multiple lines of evidence of welfare (behavioral, hormonal, and epigenetic) to investigate stress and welfare, and in so doing, would address important gaps in the knowledge of welfare in the wild: understanding the impact of fear on physiological stress and its impact on long-term welfare, assessing the components of the landscape leading to a fear response and resultant difference in welfare, and understanding how variation in life history strategies differentially interact with long-term welfare. The potential for indirect, interactive system-level effects is currently one of the most important unknowns impeding wild animal welfare-focused interventions. The project is ambitious but well-considered, and it is clear that Dave and his mentors have carefully designed the methods to achieve the stated objectives.
Find Dave’s other project, studying western toads, here.
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Determination of Fecal Tri-iodothyronine and Cortisol as Physiological Proxies of Animal Welfare
Grantees: Michael Cherry, Joe Hediger
Institutions: Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute, Texas A&M University, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
Project summary
Wild animals are susceptible to the effects of thermal stress imposed by a warming climate, including increased energetic costs to maintain a healthy body temperature, immune system impairment, changes in food availability, and increases in disease transmission. White-tailed deer in southern Texas are on the front lines of this challenge. This project aims to assess the reliability of fecal tri-iodothyronine (T3) and fecal glucocorticoids (FGC) as non-invasive physiological metrics for monitoring their health. The use of T3 as an indicator of wildlife health and welfare is relatively novel, and the researchers will attempt to refine it through controlled experiments, correlating the T3 measurements with a more widely used indicator in FGC. Both physiological indicators will be validated against behavioral observations.
Grantees: Michael Cherry, Joe Hediger
Institutions: Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute, Texas A&M University, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, United States
Grant amount: $25,860
Grant type: Small grants
Focal species: White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus)
Conservation status: Least concern
Disciplines: Physiology, animal welfare science
Research location: United States
Project summary
Wildlife are susceptible to both direct and indirect effects of thermal stress imposed by a warming climate. Direct effects include increased energetic costs to maintain a healthy body temperature and immune system impairment, while indirect effects include changes in food availability and increases in disease transmission. White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in southern Texas are on the front lines of this environmental challenge. This project aims to assess the reliability of fecal tri-iodothyronine (T3) and fecal glucocorticoids (FGC) as non-invasive physiological metrics for monitoring the health of white-tailed deer. The use of T3 as an indicator of wildlife health and welfare is relatively novel, and the researchers will attempt to refine the use of these metrics through controlled experiments, correlating the T3 measurements with a more widely used indicator in FGC. Both physiological indicators will also be validated against behavioral observations of the same deer that are thought to reflect their emotional state.
Why we funded this project
The study findings will help in understanding how wild animals cope with increasing temperatures and the impact of thermal stress on their welfare and health. Notably, previous work has suggested that T3 measurements in ungulates are especially sensitive to thermal stress, and so comparing T3 with other indicators based on different physiological pathways, such as glucocorticoids, could help researchers to diagnose the relative significance of different environmental stressors an animal is facing. The project’s behavioral metrics are also crucial for realizing that potential. A secondary reason for our interest in this project is that it has near-term policy implications, potentially highlighting the value of preserving or promoting specific landscape features for the ecosystem service they offer, in the form of shade, to wild ungulates.
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Novel epigenetic approaches to measure wild animal welfare and stress
Grantee: Dave Daversa
Institution: University of California, Los Angeles
Project summary
A challenge in wild animal welfare science is developing composite assays that consider the full breadth of factors collectively shaping subjective experiences. This project will demonstrate proof of concept for a DNA methylation (DNAm)-based model of wild animal welfare, characterizing DNAm in western toads. It will test the influence of infection with Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) on DNAm and its covariance with demographic factors such as age, sex, and body condition. Captive-reared toads will be sampled to characterize DNAm under controlled conditions, providing a standardized profile of DNAm rates over toad life stages. The researchers will then sample toads from wild populations experiencing starkly different levels of Bd infection, with accelerated biological aging signaling elevated stress and impaired welfare.
Grantee: Dave Daversa
Institution: University of California, Los Angeles, United States
Grant amount: $30,000
Grant type: Small grants
Focal species: Western toad (Anaxyrus boreas)
Conservation status: Least concern
Disciplines: Physiology, herpetology, animal welfare science, population ecology, genetics/genomics
Research location: United States
Project summary
A major challenge in wild animal welfare science lies in developing composite assays that consider the full breadth of factors collectively shaping the subjective experiences of animals. This project will apply epigenetic tools to develop minimally invasive and aggregate measures of wild animal welfare. Specifically, the researchers aim to demonstrate proof of concept for a DNA methylation (DNAm)-based model of wild animal welfare. DNAm joins other measurements such as telomere attrition as a biomarker of biological aging, because DNA becomes methylated as a function of both chronological age (time) and accumulated stress. This project will characterize DNAm in western toads (Anaxyrus boreas) from wild populations in southern California, testing the influence of infection with the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) on DNAm, and its covariance with demographic factors such as age and sex, as well as with body condition, a common metric of physical health in wild animals. Captive-reared toads representing all life stages will be sampled to characterize DNAm under controlled conditions, providing a standardized profile of DNAm rates over toad life stages. The researchers will then sample toads from wild populations experiencing starkly different levels of environmental stress (Bd infection), with accelerated biological aging signaling elevated stress and impaired welfare.
Project objectives
Objective 1: Determine the relationship between DNAm and basic risk factors linked to welfare: chronological age, sex, weight, and infection status.
Objective 2: Determine the effect of environmental stressors on epigenetic age.
Why we funded this project
We funded this project because we are interested in the potential for biological aging biomarkers to be used as very long-term, integrative metrics of animals’ lifetime welfare. DNAm is one such potential biomarker that has received relatively little attention in a welfare context. However, DNAm may potentially be easier to measure than more commonly discussed measures of biological age — or at least, be more familiar for mainstream ecological genetics researchers — because DNA methylation is already of interest for other reasons in biological science. We were particularly enthusiastic about this project because it focuses on a species belonging to a large species complex of amphibians, including both common and threatened species, offering broad transferability and potential impact. Amphibians are also relatively neglected in terms of welfare research. We appreciate that this project aims to establish baseline age-specific differences in biological aging rate in order to then assess age-specific differences attributable to different exposures (i.e., age-specific differences in welfare), which connects to the concept of “welfare expectancy” developed by Wild Animal Initiative researcher Luke Hecht.
Find Dave’s other project, studying western fence lizards, here.
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Pre- and Post-release Welfare Indicators for Recovery Programs
Grantee: Laney Hayward Nute
Institution: University of Mississippi
Project summary
Captive-raised animals translocated to the wild often suffer high mortality. This project seeks to identify a set of pre- and post-release indicators of welfare to target released Attwater’s prairie chickens for management interventions. Pre-release, the coping styles of birds will be identified during routine cage transfers and handling. Following release, the fine-scale movements of released birds will be traced using customized data loggers. Investigating the association of pre- and post-release behaviors with body condition, daily environment changes, and survival, will identify which birds from future releases will need special attention to aid their survival. The researchers hypothesize that individuals with a more proactive personality will disperse further post-release and suffer higher mortality rates compared to more reactive individuals.
Grantee: Laney Hayward Nute
Institution: University of Mississippi, United States
Grant amount: $30,000
Grant type: Small grants
Focal species: Attwater's Prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus cupido attwateri)
Conservation status: Endangered
Disciplines: Wildlife rehabilitation, animal behavior, ornithology
Research location: United States
Project summary
Captive-raised animals translocated to the wild often suffer high mortality; for example, Attwater’s prairie chickens have had a survival rate of only 17-18% post-release in recent years. The focus of many translocation programs is on investing resources to produce more individuals rather than to improve the welfare of released animals. This project seeks to reduce the stress and suffering of released Attwater's prairie chicken by identifying a set of pre- and post-release indicators of welfare to target individuals for management interventions. Pre-release, the coping styles of individual birds will be identified during routine cage transfers and handling. Following release, the fine-scale movements of released birds will be traced using customized data loggers. By investigating the association of pre- and post-release behaviors with the body condition, daily environment changes, and ultimate survival of these individuals, it will be possible to identify which birds from future releases will need special attention to aid their survival. The researchers hypothesize that individuals with a more proactive (“bold”) personality will disperse further post-release and suffer higher mortality rates compared to more reactive individuals.
Why we funded this project
Understanding of associations between coping style/personality and welfare outcomes/challenges could be used to predict at-risk individuals in need of interventions such as supplemental feeding, translocation, or medical treatment. For wildlife rehabilitation or “headstarting” programs, coping style associations could also be used to inform rearing protocols to promote resilient styles that result in improved individual welfare in the wild.
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Developing a consensus profile of wild animal welfare: integrating non-invasive monitoring of the gut microbiome with stress physiology and behavior
Grantee: Sam Sonnega
Institution: University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
Project summary
This project will characterize the gut microbiome of white-footed mice and investigate its relationship with their stress physiology and behavior. Mice will be trapped and fecal samples collected to measure glucocorticoid concentrations and gut microbiome composition. Concurrently, open-field trials will be conducted to assess individual variation in cognitive bias. Perception of predation risk will also be experimentally manipulated by exposing mice to playbacks of predator noises. By correlating the gut microbiome with behavioral and endocrine metrics, a consensus profile of the mice’s welfare will be developed that reflects the complexity of their responses to environmental perturbations, and how those responses can scale up to population and ecosystem level changes via the demographic effects of stress in a “landscape of fear.”
Grantee: Sam Sonnega
Institution: University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, United States
Grant amount: $29,130
Grant type: Small grants
Focal species: White-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus)
Conservation status: Least concern
Disciplines: Physiology, animal welfare science, animal behavior
Research location: United States
Publications
Sonnega, S. and Sheriff, M.J. (2024). Harnessing the gut microbiome: a potential biomarker for wild animal welfare. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2024.1474028
Project summary
This project will characterize the gut microbiome of wild white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus) and investigate its relationship with their stress physiology and behavior, including how it changes in response to ecological pressures. While a growing literature from lab-based studies has demonstrated the link between the gut microbiome and regulation of host physiology and behavior, the generality of these findings in ecological contexts remains largely untested. As part of this project, mice will be trapped during different seasons and fecal samples will be collected from which to measure both glucocorticoid concentrations and gut microbiome composition. Concurrently, open-field trials will be conducted to assess individual variation in cognitive bias towards optimism or pessimism (a well-established behavioral indicator of affective state). The mice’s perception of predation risk will also be experimentally manipulated by exposing free-living mice to playbacks of predator noises. By correlating the gut microbiome with both behavioral and endocrine metrics, a consensus profile of the mice’s welfare will be developed that reflects the complexity of their responses to both predictable and unpredictable environmental perturbations, and how those responses can scale up to population and ecosystem level changes via the demographic effects of stress in a so-called “landscape of fear.”
Why we funded this project
We are interested in the development and validation of the gut microbiome as a welfare indicator. Every additional indicator strengthens the interpretation of others, but understanding the gut microbiome may be especially important because it is part of the causal chain linking what is going on in the animal’s brain to fecal metabolites, which are often analyzed as a non-invasive and time-integrated record of physiological stress. This project also links and builds on other gut microbiome research we have funded (by Melissa Bateson, Pablo Capilla-Lasheras, and Davide Dominoni).
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Assessing the Welfare of Wild Olive Baboons (Papio anubis) at the Uaso Ngiro Baboon Project, Laikipia, Kenya
Grantee: Monica Wakefield
Institution: Northern Kentucky University and Iowa State University
Project summary
This project aims to assess the welfare of wild baboons using a holistic approach. The study takes advantage of almost 40 years of long-term ecological, demographic, health, and behavioral information on >170 individually known baboons, and will examine how various factors such as age, sex, and social rank correlate with individual welfare measures such as incidence of injury and disease, body mass, and pro-social or agonistic behaviors. The annual scale of the dataset will also enable the researchers to test how events such as droughts have affected welfare during specific periods, and how these effects may have varied according to individual animals’ demographic profiles and biographies.
Grantee: Monica Wakefield
Institutions: Northern Kentucky University and Iowa State University, United States
Grant amount: $29,800
Grant type: Small grants
Focal species: Wild olive baboon (Papio anubis)
Conservation status: Least concern
Disciplines: Animal welfare science, animal behavior, primatology
Research location: Kenya, United States
Project summary
This project aims to assess the welfare of wild baboons using a holistic approach. The study takes advantage of almost 40 years of long-term ecological, demographic, health, and behavioral information on >170 individually known baboons, and will examine how various factors such as age, sex, and social rank correlate with individual welfare measures such as incidence of injury and disease, body mass, and pro-social or agonistic behaviors. The annual scale of the dataset will also enable the researchers to test how events such as droughts have affected welfare during specific periods, and how these effects may have varied according to individual animals’ demographic profiles and biographies.
Why we funded this project
We are excited by this project’s analysis of a long-term longitudinal dataset because of the importance of understanding how wild animals’ welfare varies with demographic factors such as age and sex, as these groups often face different challenges and have different ecological and behavioral requirements, and negative welfare impacts that fall on young individuals may also have ripple effects throughout their lives. We also appreciate this project’s holistic approach. The long-term monitoring means it is possible to consider not only the usual downstream welfare indicators based on health and behavior, but also upstream factors that might influence them, such as social interactions and exposure to predators.
Assessing the anthropogenic impacts, long-term health, and welfare of elasmobranch species within San Francisco Bay, California
Grantee: Meghan Holst
Institution: University of California, Davis
Project summary
The San Francisco Bay Estuary is used by individuals belonging to several elasmobranch populations during critical periods of their life history. But it is also dredged, used as a major harbor for ships, and fished, with sharks and their prey targeted. This project will measure stress physiology and blood contaminants to evaluate whether the health and welfare of elasmobranchs is threatened within San Francisco Bay. It will also use stable isotope analysis to evaluate the dietary needs and sensitivities of San Francisco Bay’s elasmobranch species to determine whether individuals are threatened with hunger due to fishing, and to map relationships within the ecosystem.
Grantee: Meghan Holst
Institution: University of California, Davis, United States
Grant amount: $19,200
Grant type: Small grants
Focal species: Shark (Selachimorpha sp.)
Conservation status: Near threatened
Disciplines: Animal welfare science, population ecology, community ecology, marine biology, ichthyology
Research location: United States
Project summary
Individuals belonging to several elasmobranch populations use the San Francisco Bay Estuary during critical periods of their life history. For example, the broadnose sevengill shark (Notorynchus cepedianus) is an apex predator that visits seasonally to pup. Pups then appear to reside in the estuary for several years before they join the adult population that migrates from Alaska to Baja, California. The San Francisco Bay also serves as a major harbor for container and cruise ships. To allow these large vessels to enter the bay, dredging occurs continuously within San Francisco Bay in the primary channel where many of the adult elasmobranchs also reside, potentially increasing contaminant exposure. Additionally, both commercial and recreational fishing occurs on shark species and their preferred prey, posing direct physiological impacts on elasmobranchs and constraints to their prey availability. Little has been done to evaluate potential unrecognized consequences of these activities on the health and welfare of elasmobranch species and the San Francisco Bay ecosystem. To address this gap in knowledge, this project will measure stress physiology and blood contaminants to evaluate whether the health and welfare of elasmobranchs is threatened within San Francisco Bay, and evaluate dietary needs of elasmobranch species within San Francisco Bay to determine whether individuals are threatened with hunger/starvation due to fishing of their preferred prey. Stable isotope analysis of the sharks and potential prey will also be used to more precisely identify their dietary needs and sensitivities, and ultimately map ecological relationships within the ecosystem.
Why we funded this project
We funded this project primarily because it addresses our interest in understanding the welfare implications of ecological system dynamics. The project also focuses on lifestage-specific ecological differences within the focal species, focusing on juveniles, which are the most numerous and often neglected. Additionally, the lead researcher is a PhD student who has an interest in wild animal welfare and has already demonstrated an aptitude for coordinating scientific research projects. The ability to write a compelling proposal at such an early research stage is very promising for their future career prospects.
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Physiological and behavioral effects of nicarbazin on feral urban pigeons (Columba livia)
Grantee: Jessica X. Wright-Lichter
Institution: Tufts University
Project summary
The oral contraceptive Nicarbazin (NCZ) has been shown to be effective in urban pigeons. However, despite evidence that it may limit birds’ ability to cope with high heat, the side-effects of prolonged exposure to NCZ on pigeons have not been studied. In this project, feral pigeons will be treated with NCZ and exposed to increased ambient temperature to assess their responses. Changes in corticosterone levels will be used as a physiological proxy for welfare. The researchers will also look for behavioral correlations by measuring the onset and frequency of heat-mediating behaviors. The behavioral effects of NCZ treatment alone will also be assessed by quantifying impacts on affiliative and aggressive behaviors, social status, and access to feed at bait sites.
Grantee: Jessica X. Wright-Lichter
Institution: Tufts University, United States
Grant amount: $30,000
Grant type: Small grants
Focal species: Urban pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
Conservation status: Least concern
Disciplines: Physiology, ornithology, animal welfare science
Research location: United States
Project summary
Nicarbazin (NCZ) is an oral contraceptive that has been shown to be effective in feral urban pigeons (Columba livia). However, although it is EPA-approved and widely marketed, no published studies examine the impact of prolonged exposure to NCZ on the pigeons beyond the contraceptive effect. This is concerning because evidence from agricultural use of the compound (where it was originally developed as an antiparasitic drug) suggests that NCZ exposure may limit the ability of birds to cope with high heat.
To study the impact of NCZ treatment on pigeon welfare, especially as a function of heat exposure, feral pigeons will be treated with NCZ for three weeks before being exposed to increased ambient temperature for four hours to assess their physiological and behavioral responses compared to a control group. This project will use changes in levels of the hormone corticosterone as a physiological proxy for welfare in exposed pigeons. The researchers will also look for behavioral correlations by measuring the onset and frequency of heat-mediating behaviors (e.g., panting, wing-spreading). The behavioral (and plausibly welfare-relevant) effects of NCZ treatment alone will also be assessed by quantifying impacts on affiliative and aggressive behaviors, social status, and access to feed at bait sites.
Why we funded this project
We funded this project because we see wildlife fertility control — particularly applied to urban pigeons — as a highly promising near-term intervention. We are especially interested in indirect welfare effects of fertility control (e.g.,on juvenile welfare and survival), but we have also been concerned by the lack of research on direct welfare impacts. This study will focus on direct welfare impacts while also providing some of the first data on NCZ’s effects on pigeon social dynamics, which are likely to be very important determinants of overall welfare. These data could then be used to guide the application of NCZ contraceptives (e.g., their seasonal timing) to maximize pigeon well-being while successfully controlling urban pigeon populations.