Tracking down the trackers

I am part-way through collecting data for a project looking at ethics and welfare in wildlife marking and monitoring (leg rings, satellite trackers etc.). The use of ‘tagging’ in wildlife research is increasingly common and is seen by many to be essential for studying at risk species, particularly those which migrate across human borders. However, tagging may result in welfare consequences for individual animals. My aim is to focus attention on the individual, in a field where the primary purpose is protection of whole species. Click the title to keep reading.

Staying Grounded with Coffee Beans: Conducting Multi-Sited and Multi-Species Research in a Global Pandemic

It’s a bright beautiful morning as I stand outside a local coffee roaster off the cobbled high street in the Sussex town of Lewes. It’s my first visit to this café which has been suggested to me by a friend who only recently moved back to the area from travelling abroad. Quite unassuming from the outside, I peer through the window where I immediately see a hustle and bustle of activity. Groups of friends, solo visitors, and couples occupy each table, and multiple floor spaces and laps are taken by four legged friends. As I step through the threshold, I find my senses are awash with smells and sounds of my new surroundings. My hearing adjusts, there is comfort in the blend of background noises, the mechanical grinding of beans, the steaming of milk and the chatter of conversation. I inhale deeply as the scent of coffee envelopes my nostrils. It’s like entering another world. A world which is oddly familiar for a first encounter.
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