Christine Stevens Wildlife Awards

The deadline for 2013 applications has passed. If you would like to be notified about the next application opportunity, please send your contact information to D.J. Schubert at dj@awionline.org.

A grant program to fund innovative strategies for humane, non-lethal wildlife conflict management

Habitat destruction and degradation, urban and suburban sprawl, and ongoing challenges posed by invasive species make conflicts between wildlife and humans inevitable. Homeowners, property managers, and biologists need effective strategies to deal with conflicts—whether the encounter involves coyotes, deer, Canada geese, bears, exotic species, or a host of other animals. Though improved techniques to address some situations have been developed, more are needed.

The Christine Stevens Wildlife Award is a grant program—named in honor of the organization’s late founder and president for over 50 years—created to stimulate and support efforts to devise new, non-lethal techniques and strategies and test existing products for the purpose of humanely remedying wildlife conflicts. Each year, the program provides grants of up to $10,000 to award recipients to help spur innovative and creative research to help develop such wildlife conflict management techniques and strategies. With this grant program we aim to honor Mrs. Stevens’ legacy and inspire a new generation of compassionate wildlife scientists, managers and advocates.

Christine Stevens

Christine Stevens has long been called the “Mother of the Animal Protection Movement” in America. For over half a century, she dedicated her life to reducing animal suffering both here and abroad. In the words of Dr. Jane Goodall: “Christine Stevens was a giant voice for animal welfare. Passionate, yet always reasoned, she took up one cause after another and she never gave up. Millions of animals are better off because of Christine’s quiet and very effective advocacy.”

Mrs. Stevens founded the Animal Welfare Institute to end the cruel treatment of animals in experimental laboratories. Inevitably, her work expanded to take on other animal welfare causes, including: preventing animal extinctions and reforming methods used to raise animals for food, banning steel-jaw leghold traps, ending commercial whaling, and much more. Mrs. Stevens supported wildlife management programs that were "win-win" situations—such as highway underpasses to facilitate wildlife movements, wildlife birth control, beaver bafflers to minimize or prevent beaver-caused flooding, and perching platforms that protect raptors from electrocution.

Additional Information

If you have questions about the Christine Stevens Wildlife Awards, please contact D.J. Schubert at (609) 601-2875 or by email at dj@awionline.org.

Winning Proposals from 2012

Michael Callahan of Beaver Solutions LLC Enable salmon passage at beaver water control devices;

Dr. Joshua Miller of the Florida Museum of Natural History Antlers of the arctic refuge: revealing historical caribou calving grounds from bones on the tundra;

Dr. Maureen Murray of Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University Rodenticides in four species of birds of prey: assessing results of recent EPA action;

Dr. Jooke Robbins of Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies Humpback whale entanglement rates in relation to management initiatives;

Laurel Klein Serieys of the University of California, Los Angeles The sublethal consequences of anticoagulant exposure in bobcats.

Examples of Winning Proposals from 2011

Developing Techniques to Recover and Analyze DNA from Processed Pangolin Products for Combating Illegal Wildlife Trade

Biofence: A Novel, Non-Lethal Tool for Deterring Wolf/Livestock Conflicts

Developing a Non-Invasive Technique for Estimating Bobcat Populations: Implications for Imperiled Felids