NYU Launches the Wildlife Inclusive Local Development (WILD) Lab

New York University has launched the Wildlife Inclusive Local Development (WILD) Lab, a research and outreach initiative aimed at improving the welfare of wild animals in urban environments through scientific research, policy development, and public engagement.

"Wild animals are everywhere, including in cities," says Jeff Sebo, the lab's principal investigator and a professor in NYU's Department of Environmental Studies. "Yet we often overlook their presence and fail to consider how our development policies and practices affect their well-being. The WILD Lab seeks to change that by helping us understand and improve our interactions with the animals we share our urban spaces with."

Housed within the Department of Environmental Studies' Wild Animal Welfare Program, the WILD Lab will be the first of its kind dedicated specifically to the study of urban wild animal welfare. Using the New York City landscape as an urban laboratory, it will conduct cutting-edge research on how development, infrastructure, and land-use practices affect the lives of wild animals in cities-and how local governments and communities can respond to improve outcomes for all.

The WILD Lab builds on NYU's widely recognized growing leadership in the study of wild animal welfare.

"New York City is well-known for its urban character, but our city is home to countless wild animals as well," says Cecil Scheib, chief sustainability officer at NYU. "In studying NYU's surroundings as a habitat, the WILD Lab will involve faculty and students in the science, and in the joy, we experience when we interact with nature-even in New York City."

Mal Graham, postdoctoral associate at the Wild Animal Welfare Program, will serve as the WILD Lab's science coordinator, and Adalene Minelli, senior fellow at NYU School of Law's Guarini Center on Environmental, Energy and Land Use Law and NYU's Center for Environmental and Animal Protection (CEAP), as its policy coordinator. The Guarini Center and CEAP will support the lab as key partners, alongside the NYU Office of Sustainability and Wild Animal Initiative.

The lab's collaborative approach reflects a growing movement to bring wild animal welfare into mainstream conversations about urban sustainability.

"Urban wild animals face unique challenges and opportunities, and we have the power to make their lives better," says Alexandra Silver, director of the New York City Mayor's Office of Animal Welfare. "We are excited to see the results of the WILD Lab's work and to explore how city governments can promote coexistence in a thoughtful, responsible way."

A $200,000 grant from the New York Community Trust will support the lab's first two years.

"The WILD Lab is tackling a vital but often overlooked dimension of urban sustainability-our relationship with the wild animals who live among us," says Arturo Garcia-Costas, program director for the local, national, and international environment at the New York Community Trust. "We are pleased to support this pioneering work, which will help decision-makers better understand how buildings, green spaces, and other aspects of the built environment in cities could be adapted to better serve the needs of both humans and wild animals."