Rewilding projects restore ecosystems but raise complex welfare questions about individual animals.
Rewilding creates complex welfare trade-offs. Natural predation causes individual suffering that was absent in farmed or managed landscapes. However, the aggregate welfare of thriving wild populations in functional ecosystems may be higher than degraded or absent populations. Welfare-conscious rewilding pays attention to translocation stress, predator-prey dynamics, and management interventions for individual animals in distress.