Mitigating Human Impacts on Wild Animal Welfare
Human activities negatively impact the welfare of wild vertebrates in many different contexts globally, and countless individual animals are affected. Growing concern for wild animal welfare, especially in relation to conservation, is evident. While research on wild animal welfare lags behind that focused on captive animals, minimising human-induced harm to wild animals is a key […]
The effectiveness of conditioned aversion in wolves: Insights from experimental tests
It has been suggested that conditioned food aversion (CFA) could be a potential non-lethal intervention by which to deter attacks on livestock by large carnivores. CFA occurs when an animal associates the characteristics of a food with an illness, thus rejecting that food in subsequent encounters. CFA can be associated with an artificial odour during […]
Using faecal glucocorticoid metabolite analyses to elucidate stressors of African wild dogs Lycaon pictus from South Africa
There are few stressful factors which have been investigated to affect adrenocortical function in the African wild dog (AWD) Lycaon pictus. Understanding what animals perceive as stressors is important for not only the implementation of management practices promoting general animal welfare in captivity, but also because a prolonged stress perception is known to disrupt reproduction, […]
Compassionate versus consequentialist conservation
Ethical treatment of wildlife and consideration of animal welfare have become important themes in conservation, but ethical perspectives on how best to protect wild animals and promote their welfare are diverse. There are advantages to the consequentialist harms ethical framework applied in managing wild herbivores for conservation purposes. To minimize harms while achieving conservation goals, […]
Strategic animal welfare issues: ethical and animal welfare issues arising from the killing of wildlife for disease control and environmental reasons
Ethical and animal welfare concerns about the destruction of free-living wildlife for disease control and environmental reasons have historically received little attention from animal welfare scientists, legislators or the public. Nevertheless, all vertebrates can experience pain and distress, regardless of whether they are unwanted pests or not. A wide range of methods is used to […]
Where the deer and the antelope play. A review of Exotics on the Range: The Texas Example
Where the deer and the antelope play. A review of Exotics on the Range: The Texas Example, by Elizabeth Cary Mungall and William J. Sheffield. College Station, Texas A&M University Press, 1994, 265 pp, $49.50, hardbound.
Captive breeding for wildlife conservation. A review of Creative Conservation: Interactive Management of Wild and Captive Animals
Captive breeding for wildlife conservation. A review of Creative Conservation: Interactive Management of Wild and Captive Animals, edited by P. J. S. Olney, G. M. Mace, and A. T. C. Feistner. London, Chapman & Hall, 1994, 517 pp., $94.95, hardbound.
A Non-Invasive System for Remotely Monitoring Heart Rate in Free-Ranging Ungulates
A new, external non-invasive telemetric heart rate (HR) monitoring system was evaluated on eight wapiti, Cervus elaphus canadensis, yearlings in July and August 1996. The assembly consisted of a leather girth strap, onto which a HR transmitter and a customized carriage bolt electrode system were fixed. To prevent the girth strap from rotating on the […]
Animal welfare and pest control: meeting both conservation and animal welfare goals
Vertebrate pest control is an area where conservation and animal welfare goals can be in direct conflict. Is it possible to meet goals in both areas in one pest control operation? Vertebrate pests, including unwanted or overabundant wildlife, are controlled for many reasons related to protecting the health, safety and comfort of humans, animals and […]
Trade-offs between welfare, conservation, utility and economics in wildlife management — a review of conflicts, compromises and regulation
In choosing among alternative wildlife management techniques, trade-offs between animal welfare and conservation, utility or economics are often apparent. This paper reviews the roles of science, scientists, regulators and educators in attempts to overcome this inter-dependence and to make simultaneous progress on all fronts. Illustrations are drawn in particular from trapping and pest population control. […]