Urbanisation exposes avian wildlife to an array of environmental stressors that result in clinical admission and hospitalisation. The aim of this pilot study was to conduct a retrospective analysis of clinical data and characterise this based on categories of stress experienced by avian wildlife patients. The results from this study indicated that impact injuries (n = 33, 25%) and vehicle-related injuries (n = 33, 25%) were the most common occurring preliminary stressors that resulted in the hospitalisation of avian wildlife. The most common outcome of avian patients that suffered from vehicle-related injuries was euthanasia (n = 15, 45%), as was avian patients that suffered from impact injuries (n = 16, 48%). Immobility (n = 105, 61%) and abnormal behaviour (n = 24, 14%) were the most commonly occurring primary stressors of avian patients. Finally, trauma (n = 51, 32%) and fractures (n = 44, 27%) were the most common occurring secondary stressors in avian patients. The most common outcome of all these stressors was euthanasia. This study provided further evidence towards the notion that human- and urbanisation-related stressors are the main causes of hospitalisation of avian wildlife, but also indicated that birds admitted as a result of human-related stressors are more likely to be euthanised than released. This study also provided a categorisation system for the stressors identified in avian wildlife patients (preliminary, primary and secondary) that may be used to monitor the stress categories of wildlife patients and gain a deeper understanding of the complex notion of stress.

Animals display movement patterns that can be used as health indicators. The movement of dairy cattle can be characterized into three distinct cluster types. These are cluster type 1 (resting), cluster type 2 (traveling), and cluster type 3 (searching). This study aimed to analyze the movement patterns of healthy calves and assess the relationship between the variables that constitute the three cluster types. Eleven Holstein calves were fitted with GPS data loggers, which recorded their movement over a two week period during spring. The GPS data loggers captured longitude and latitude coordinates, distance, time and speed. It was found that the calves were most active during the afternoon and at night. Slight inconsistencies from previous studies were found in the cluster movements. Cluster type 2 (traveling) reported the fastest rate of movement, whereas cluster type 1 (resting) reported the slowest. These diverse movement patterns could be used to enhance the assessment of dairy animal health and welfare on farms.