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.
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":
While these takeaways may sound technical, none of them actually provide any meaningful insight:
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.
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.
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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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.