Rethinking wildlife telemetry: capture-free instrumentation for ethics, scale, and inference

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Abstract
Animal-borne telemetry has transformed wildlife ecology, but its implementation in terrestrial systems remains constrained by the invasive, logistically demanding need to physically capture and handle animals. This traditional framework favors long-duration monitoring of relatively few individuals at the expense of temporal resolution and population coverage. Here, I propose capture-free, autonomous instrumentation as the basis for a broader shift in how wildlife telemetry data are collected and interpreted. Drawing on and synthesizing earlier developments in autonomous marking of terrestrial mammals and complementing these with proof-of-concept GPS collar deployments in an ungulate and a canid, I demonstrate the operational feasibility of this approach. Decoupling device deployment from direct human–animal interaction enables a high-throughput telemetry framework characterized by shorter deployments, expanded population coverage, and finer temporal resolution. Crucially, eliminating capture-related disturbance advances animal welfare and lessens observer effects, thus strengthening the ethical foundation and scientific validity of wildlife telemetry.
Funding Information
  • Norges Forskningsråd (NFR360030)
  • Norwegian Environment Ministry (16S953E6)

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