Adapting Precision Livestock Monitoring Tools to Assess Wildlife Stress in Free-Ranging Populations

Abstract

The integration of Precision Livestock Farming (PLF) technologies into the sphere of wildlife biology
provides a revolutionary path for measuring the health and stress levels of free-ranging animals in the
wild. Conventionally, the evaluation of stress in wild populations has been based on invasive sampling
or haphazard observations that do not usually reflect the dynamic behaviour of physiological responses
to sudden changes in the environment. The main issue of the study relates to the absence of non
invasive, constant monitoring systems that may allow estimating the effects of climate change and
human intrusion without increasing the suffering of animals. The research design is an
interdisciplinary redesign of sensor technologies that have been used to monitor physiological and
behavioral statuses of domestic ruminants in large-scale systems to monitor those of the wild. The
innovations in accelerometry, biometrics, and digital control technology will be incorporated to
develop a diversified platform for wildlife use. The analysis of the Five Freedoms in terms of the
precision data helps the study to identify the specific biomarkers that can be translated between the
domestic and the wild species. The findings suggest that high-fidelity data can be obtained using
repurposed sensors, e.g., virtual fencing collars and biometric ear tags, with behavioral classification
accuracies of (88-92.5%). Statistical comparison reveals that there is a significant correlation (r = 0.82
to 0.88) between thermal indications and physiological strain to detect small deviations due to stress,
even before the onset of physical symptoms. In summary, this study has shown that a process of
adaptation of the methods of PLF can offer a very strong data-driven roadmap to conservationists. The
adoption of these accuracy instruments will mean that welfare interventions will be proactive, as
opposed to reactive, to a large degree, improving the resilience of biodiversity in more disturbed
natural ecosystems.