There are a few key facts omitted from this report, including the fate of the birds involved, who were all eventually killed after extended captivity. Dr. Lattin and a team of researchers from Yale University captured 21 wild birds in 2016 and subjected them to the trauma of long-term captivity. These highly social birds were housed alone in cages, restrained in cloth bags for thirty minutes at a time to induce acute stress, and held in captivity for eight weeks or more before being killed. Some of these birds were apparently used in multiple experiments. The main conclusion from this experiment was that wild birds do not habituate well to captivity, and wildlife should be studied in their habitat—a realization that is far from groundbreaking.

Birds are intelligent and highly attuned to their environment, and many species form close familiar and communal bonds.  Although birds experience many of the same emotions that we do, their physiology differs from ours and experimental results in birds do not mirror humans or other animal species. Additionally, birds themselves vary widely in their physiological responses, and findings in one bird species do not necessarily correlate with another species.

These experiments lack real-world applicability, and if Dr. Lattin and her team want to help wild birds, she should stop harming and killing them, and instead adopt noninvasive and observational studies that will truly benefit wild animals.