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

这个项目的目标是了解人类和动物在美国城市的共同生活。过去处理城市动物的方法强调摆脱它们（通过杀死或转移它们），但在上个世纪，许多美国城市开发了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？他们是否给了动物比过去更多的权利，从而影响了他们被对待的方式？这些问题很重要，因为对动物行为了解得越多——动物能做什么，它们有什么感觉，它们如何在城市中生活——政府机构（各级）就越有机会在城市中更好、更安全地与非人类动物生活在一起。为了理解这一点，有必要了解生态学和动物行为学如何改变了人们对城市动物的认识，以及政府机构（例如动物管理机构或鱼类和野生动物部门）如何利用这些知识。有关动物行为的知识不仅来自大学或实验室，也来自政府机构、非营利组织、美洲土著部落、社区团体和每天与动物打交道的私人公司。来自这些不同组织和机构的利益相关者将与团队合作，了解如何管理动物的历史以及法律和社会方面。研究包括访谈、对动物治理的观察、寻找历史文献、探索替代方法以及参与产生有关该主题知识的社区。调查结果将通过网站、文章、播客、纪录片以及学术出版物和书籍公布。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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 Research includes interviews, observations of animal governance, looking for historical documents, exploring alternative approaches, and engaging communities that produce knowledge about this topic.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.