Fall 2023 Methods Workshop
In Fall 2023, Wild Animal Initiative hosted a five-part virtual workshop series on methods in wild animal welfare science. The program was free and covered an introduction to wild animal welfare, guidance on measuring wild animal welfare, guidance on creating and validating new measures, and a walkthrough exercise in which participants designed a wild animal welfare study. Selected talks from the workshops are shared here.
Workshop 1 | October 30, 2023Introduction to Wild Animal Welfare
In the initial workshop, Executive Director, Cameron Meyer Shorb, introduced participants to Wild Animal Initiative’s mission and priorities, and the importance of wild animal welfare science. Professor Don Broom provided an overview of traditional animal welfare science, emphasizing values and concepts that motivate the field and how it has developed in recent years. Dr. Heather Browning described the emerging field of wild animal welfare science, emphasizing its unique values and challenges. Lastly, Dr. Miriam Zemanova highlighted the need to apply the 3Rs for any research on wild animals and provided resources for doing so.
-
Cameron Meyer Shorb studied biology at Carleton College, where his research focused on tallgrass prairie ecology. Before Wild Animal Initiative, he worked on the policy and operations teams at the Good Food Institute, where he built coalitions with other nonprofits, lobbied state and federal legislators, and designed hiring and human resource processes.
-
Don Broom, Emeritus Professor of Animal Welfare at Cambridge University’s Department of Veterinary Medicine, works on the scientific assessment of animal welfare, cognitive abilities of animals, ethics, and sustainable farming. He has been the chairman or vice chairman of several committees on animal welfare in the European Union and has published on stress, the evolution of morality, animal sentience, and many other topics.
-
Dr. Heather Browning is a Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Southampton specializing in animal welfare, ethics, and consciousness. She has previously worked as a researcher in animal sentience and welfare at the London School of Economics as a part of the Foundations of Animal Sentience Project. Dr. Browning has published on measuring subjective experiences in wild animals, intelligence in welfare considerations, sentience research, and much more.
Miriam A. Zemanova
The Importance of Wild Animal Welfare: Applying the 3Rs to the Field
No recording or slides available.
-
Dr. Miriam Zemanova is a Research Associate at the University of Fribourg. She is also a scientific associate at the Animal Free Research Foundation. Previously, she was a postdoctoral research fellow in Philosophy at the University of Basel and at the University of Technology Sydney Centre for Compassionate Conservation. Dr. Zemanova is an ecologist whose research interests include wildlife welfare, conservation genetics, humane education, and animal ethics. She has published extensively on the use of wild animals in wildlife research, and on using the 3Rs principles in ecological research.
Additional information
Event Accessibility and Inclusivity Guide
Contact
Grey Fernandez, event coordinator
grey.fernandez@wildanimalinitiative.org