Wildlife tracking technology enables important conservation insights but attaching devices to animals can cause welfare harm that must be systematically assessed.
Wildlife tracking creates a welfare tension: the data collected can inform conservation that benefits many animals, but the attachment process and the device itself cause welfare harm to individuals. Capture and anesthesia carry mortality risk. Tags that are too heavy alter flight patterns in birds, increase drag on fish, and cause skin lesions in turtles. Ethical frameworks for wildlife research are less rigorous than for laboratory animals, creating an accountability gap.