UK and European butterfly populations have declined dramatically, with habitat loss, pesticide use, and climate change threatening both populations and individual insect welfare.
Pollinator welfare occupies an uncertain position in animal welfare science — the sentience of butterflies and bees remains debated, but growing evidence of nociception and complex behaviour suggests some welfare consideration is appropriate. The scale of insect population decline is itself a welfare signal at population level. Whether or not individual insects have morally relevant experiences, their ecosystem function supporting food webs, plant reproduction, and agricultural pollination has enormous indirect welfare consequences for sentient species. Protecting pollinator populations is both a conservation and potentially a direct welfare priority.