Why We Don't Recommend Donating to Wild Animal Initiative
Accurate as of: Jul 20, 2026
Wild Animal Initiative (WAI) is a charity that funds research projects related to the welfare of wild animals. We believe it is very unlikely that WAI's work will ever have any meaningful impact.
WAI's Research Projects
Each year, WAI spends millions of dollars on both internal and external research projects.
Ideally, WAI's research projects would produce high-quality papers with actionable insights. However, we believe WAI's research projects fall far short in this regard.
For example, below are the first three "Key Takeaways" listed in WAI's research paper "Biotelemetry provides insight into a wild eagle's death":
- Takeaway 1: "Biotelemetry can provide a high level of detail about wild animals' activities."
- Takeaway 2: "Real-time behavioral and physiological data can indicate how an animal might be feeling."
- Takeaway 3: "Location data can link welfare indicators to the animal's environmental context."
While these takeaways may sound technical, none of them actually provide any meaningful insight:
- Takeaway 1 can be made by opening a dictionary, which defines biotelemetry as "the remote detection and measurement of human or animal function, activity, or condition (such as heart rate or body temperature)."
- Takeaway 2 is common sense, as it is obvious that "Real-time behavioral and physiological data can indicate how an animal might be feeling."
- Takeaway 3 is common sense as well, since every location is an environmental context.
We think it is wasteful to fund research that results in low-quality papers like this, and we were similarly disappointed with WAI's other research projects.
WAI's Path to Impact
Another serious concern is that Wild Animal Initiative's research has no clear path to creating tangible improvements for animals. Instead, the goals of WAI's research program appear to be almost entirely academic. For example, on their Research Program webpage, WAI states:
"Wild Animal Initiative produces original research to guide our work and catalyze academic activity. We identify and spotlight research areas with high potential to advance the field. Our research informs our funding priorities and invites the broader scientific community to further investigate key questions about wild animal welfare."
It is unclear how any of these results will lead to wild animals being helped. This is problematic, since in order for research to ever have an impact, there must be a connection between the research and feasible real-world interventions.
For example, an American charity could produce amazing research on how to implement a fairer judicial system in North Korea. However, this research would be completely useless since there is no feasible way to get the North Korean government to apply the research's findings.
In short, regardless of the quality of WAI's research projects, there needs to be a clear path to implementation. This is especially important given that large-scale projects to help wild animals face significant legal and social obstacles.
Conclusion
We think it is very unlikely that Wild Animal Initiative's work will ever have any meaningful impact. Accordingly, we do not recommend donating to them.
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References
Note: part of Wild Animal Initiative's research budget is spent funding external research projects, and part of it is spent on their own research projects.