The Agencies of Animal Governance in Los Angeles: an historical and ethnographic inquiry

这个项目的目标是了解美国城市中人类和动物的共同生活。 过去处理城市动物的方法强调的是摆脱它们（通过杀死或移走它们），但在上个世纪，许多美国城市已经开发出与动物共存的新方法。这些方法如何改变城市对待动物的方式？ 这些方法会改变动物的行为吗？它们会改变人类的行为吗？他们是否给予动物比过去更多的权利，影响他们被对待的方式？这些问题很重要，因为对动物的行为了解得越多-动物能做什么，它们有什么感觉，它们如何在城市生活-政府机构就有更多的机会（在各个层面）都有更好和更安全的生活与非人类动物在城市。要理解这一点，有必要了解生态学和动物行为科学如何改变了对城市动物的理解，以及政府机构（例如，动物控制机构或鱼类和野生动物部门）如何使用这些知识。关于动物行为的知识不仅在大学或实验室中产生，而且还由政府机构，非营利组织，美洲原住民部落，社区团体和每天与动物打交道的私人公司产生。来自这些不同组织和机构的利益相关者将与团队合作，了解动物管理的历史以及法律的和社会方面。 研究包括访谈，动物治理的观察，寻找历史文献，探索替代方法，并参与产生有关此主题的知识的社区。 该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The goal of this project is to understand the co-habitation of humans and animals in American cities. Past approaches to urban animals have emphasized getting rid of them (by killing or removing them), but over the last century many American cities have developed new approaches to co-existing with animals. How are these approaches changing how cities deal with animals? Do these approaches change animal behavior? Do they change human behavior? Do they give animals more rights than they used to have, impacting the way they are treated? These questions are important because the more that is learned about animal behavior---what animals can do, what they feel, how they live in cities---the more opportunities government agencies (at all levels) have for living better and more safely with non-human animals in cities.To understand this, it is necessary to learn how the sciences of ecology and animal behavior have changed understandings about urban animals, and how that knowledge has been used by government agencies (for instance, animal control agencies or departments of fish and wildlife). Knowledge about animal behavior is produced not only in universities or labs, but also by government agencies, non-profit organizations, Native American tribes, community groups, and private firms that work with animals daily. Stakeholders from these different organizations and agencies will work the team to understand the history as well as the legal and social aspects of how animals are governed. Research includes interviews, observations of animal governance, looking for historical documents, exploring alternative approaches, and engaging communities that produce knowledge about this topic. The results will be made accessible through websites, articles, podcasts, documentaries, as well as scholarly publications and books.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.