This book covers many aspects of wild animal welfare and wellbeing, a topic that has been historically neglected and undervalued in scientific research and in comprehensive publications, particularly for free living wild animals. The volume offers key contributions from international scientific experts that address wild animal wellbeing from dimensions of behavior, cognition, sociology, physiology, psychology, ethics, and ecology. Topics covered in the book that are relevant to wild animal wellbeing include:

o    One Health, pandemics, and natural disasters
o    urban wildlands
o    ecotourism
o    conservation and hybridization
o    wildlife farming and trafficking
o    zoos and sanctuaries, as well as rewilding
o    field methods in wildlife research - this Open Access chapter is published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which means that you have free and unlimited access.

To meet the needs and challenges of our 21st century landscape, this work serves as a next step in the evolution of our relationship with animals and in the science of wild animal welfare. The contributions collectively explore the argument advanced that understanding animal lives requires centering their agency, their knowledge, and their capacity for autonomous expression.

As a distinctive collection of essays, the present volume should be of value within and beyond academia. The individual chapters and the book as a whole will be of interest to lay readers, to advanced undergraduate and graduate students, and to researchers and practitioners in related fields.

Liv Baker is an expert in wild animal wellbeing and animal behavior. She has worked with nonhuman animals - from arachnids to elephants - in various conservation-related interventions, such as translocations, rewilding, sanctuaries, and non-lethal management. In addition to North America Liv Baker has conducted conservation research in Australia and South Africa. She currently collaborates with indigenous communities in Thailand, to transform the lives of Asian elephants.