Natalie Jacewicz, "Incorporating Individual Animal Wellbeing Into Wildlife Management"

This talk took place online on October 22, 2024 and was hosted by the NYU Wild Animal Welfare Program.
About the talk
American environmental law has an animal problem. It lacks an account of whether and how animals’ interests matter. Case in point: The agencies tasked with protecting wild animals can’t stop killing them. NOAA Fisheries permits slaying sea lions to reduce predation on endangered salmon. The Fish and Wildlife Service shoots barred owls to curb competition with northern spotted owls. These widespread “removals” reflect a tension between protecting ecological collectives, such as species and ecosystems, and protecting individual animals. In her talk, Jacewicz explains how laws create ethical conundrums for wildlife management and how federal agencies weigh traditional conservationist values against more recent concerns for individual animals' wellbeing. To improve on the status quo, she suggests ways to better incorporate individual animal wellbeing into wildlife management decisions in the removal context. Finally, she discusses ongoing research about how technological advances in geotracking, camera surveillance, and other methods could further individualize wildlife management.
About the speaker
Natalie Jacewicz is an assistant professor of environmental law at the University of San Diego School of Law. Her recent scholarship has focused on the intersection of environmental law, administrative law, and animal welfare. Prior to entering academia, Jacewicz was a Furman Fellow at NYU School of Law and a legal fellow at the Institute for Policy Integrity. She clerked for the Honorable Judge Moss of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and the Honorable Judge Tatel of the D.C. Circuit. Jacewicz holds a J.D. from NYU, a science journalism degree from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a bachelor's degree in evolutionary biology from Harvard, where she spent most of her time thinking about lizards.
About the NYU Wild Animal Welfare Program
The NYU Wild Animal Welfare Program aims to advance understanding about what wild animals are like, how humans and wild animals interact, and how humans can improve our interactions with wild animals at scale. We pursue this goal through foundational research in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences, as well as through outreach to academics, advocates, policymakers, and the general public.