L6: Wild animal welfare

Wild animal welfare

the welfare of individual wild animals including their affective (mental/emotional) state and how they experience their environment (e.g. a bird experiencing stress due to human disturbance)

Human impact on wild animal welfare

welfare issues arise when human activities affect the wellbeing of wild animals (e.g. urbanisation causing stress in animals)

Welfare vs conservation

welfare focuses on individuals while conservation focuses on populations or species

Welfare–conservation conflict

actions that benefit populations may negatively affect individual welfare (e.g. translocating animals may stress individuals but help species survival)

Behaviour as indicator of welfare

changes in normal behaviour reflect changes in welfare and underlying affective state (e.g. increased vigilance indicates fear)

Motivation–behaviour link (Theme 1)

behaviour changes occur because external factors alter the strength of motivations (e.g. birds stop feeding and become vigilant due to fear of humans)

Movement (welfare indicator)

changes in movement patterns indicate disturbance or stress (e.g. birds flying away more often due to human presence)

Vigilance (welfare indicator)

increased alert behaviour reflects fear and perceived predation risk (e.g. animals constantly scanning when humans are nearby)

Habitat choice (welfare indicator)

animals avoiding certain areas indicates environmental stress or disturbance (e.g. avoiding noisy urban habitats)

Foraging behaviour (welfare indicator)

reduced feeding behaviour indicates stress or disruption of normal activity (e.g. birds feeding less due to disturbance)

Learning (welfare indicator)

disruption of learning processes reflects welfare problems (e.g. noise affecting song learning in birds)

Social organisation (welfare indicator)

disruption of group structure indicates stress or poor adaptation (e.g. animals separated due to habitat fragmentation)

Reproductive success (welfare indicator)

reduced breeding success indicates poor welfare or environmental stress (e.g. fewer offspring due to disturbance)

Predation risk (welfare context)

increased perceived predation risk affects behaviour and welfare (e.g. animals acting as if humans are predators)

Anthropogenic stressors

human-induced factors such as noise

Noise as stressor

noise negatively affects behaviour

Noise effect on behaviour

noise increases stress and alters parental care and communication (e.g. birds changing care behaviour under noise)

Light at night (welfare)

artificial light disrupts biological rhythms and activity patterns (e.g. turtles disoriented by light on beaches)

Light effects nuance

environmental changes can have both negative and sometimes positive effects depending on context (e.g. more insects under light benefiting bats but disrupting ecosystems)

Fishing welfare impact

fish experience multiple stressors such as hypoxia

Cumulative stress

multiple stressors acting together increase welfare problems (e.g. fish experiencing stress from capture

Translocation (welfare)

moving animals can cause stress and must be evaluated using behavioural indicators (e.g. birds moved to new habitat)

Translocation welfare assessment

normal behaviour after relocation suggests minimal welfare issues (e.g. translocated beavers behaving like resident ones)

Invasive species welfare

all animals including invasive species have the capacity to suffer and should be considered in welfare decisions (e.g. eradication methods causing stress)

Trade-offs in welfare

human interventions can have both positive and negative effects on welfare (e.g. landfills provide food but cause poisoning risks)

Landfills and sewage ponds (welfare)

provide feeding opportunities but also health risks and pollution exposure (e.g. birds feeding at sewage ponds but ingesting toxins)

Hunting and poaching (welfare)

direct human activities causing stress

Research impact on welfare

scientific activities such as capturing and tagging animals can act as stressors (e.g. GPS tags affecting movement or energy use)

Behavioural indicators (Theme 4)

welfare in wild animals is assessed using observable indicators such as behaviour

Multiple indicators principle

welfare must be assessed using several indicators rather than one single measure (e.g. combining behaviour and reproduction data)

Identify–understand–manage framework

behaviour is used to identify welfare issues

Motivation–environment interaction

external stressors change motivation priorities

Welfare measurement challenge

welfare in wild animals is difficult to measure directly and must be inferred from indirect indicators (e.g. using behaviour instead of direct emotion measurement)

Main message wild animal welfare

wild animal welfare matters