Advances in Methods of Biochemical Assessment and Diagnosis of Animal Welfare in Wildlife

Animal health and welfare are fundamental premises from both a social and a scientific point of view. This extends to both free-roaming wild animals and those in conservation centers, where the management of these populations is vital to prevent stress and other health issues that compromise their quality of life. Stress-related factors can interfere with various aspects of animal physiology, such as reproduction, leading to infertility, especially in endangered species. Additionally, stress can affect the immune system, making animals more susceptible to zoonotic diseases, which not only pose a direct threat to public health but also undermine biodiversity conservation efforts. Therefore, there is a pressing need for the development of rapid and precise methods to identify altered behavioral patterns and biochemical markers indicative of factors affecting the health and welfare of wild animals.

This Research Topic aims to highlight the need for improved methods to identify health and welfare issues in wild animals. The main objective is the development and validation of new diagnostic methods from different matrices (blood, saliva, urine, faeces, hair, or tissues) for the early identification of stress and other stress-related health issues. This approach will be crucial in predicting early alterations in animal welfare, preventing its decline, or at least reducing the degree of discomfort, by applying environmental enrichment techniques that promote high welfare standards. All these topics are highly relevant to improving and guaranteeing animal welfare and health in wildlife species.

To gather further insights into the health and welfare of wildlife, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:

• Development and implementation of the Grimace scale adapted to different wild species
• Use of -omics techniques in the early identification of stress biomarkers
• Use of -omics techniques in the early identification of biomarkers of health loss related to stress
• Development of new methods/assays and analytical validations in the identification of biochemical markers as indicator parameters of alteration of animal welfare
• Identification of biochemical markers of stress or pain in samples obtained through non-invasive or minimally invasive methods
• Development and implementation of new environmental enrichment techniques adapted to wildlife
• Studies on the influence of stress on reproduction and implications for biodiversity
• Studies on the impact of animal welfare on the appearance of emerging zoonoses.
• Studies on the evaluation of animal welfare in free-living animals in breeding and recovery centers or zoos.