Predator-prey relationships involve welfare harm at the individual level but are necessary components of healthy ecosystems whose overall management requires nuanced thinking.
Predator-prey dynamics present genuine ethical complexity for animal welfare thinking. Individual prey animals suffer fear and physical harm during predation. The ecosystem services provided by predator populations support biodiversity that benefits the welfare of many other species. Understanding predation as a natural welfare harm that maintains ecosystem balance rather than treating it as simply negative enables more nuanced engagement with wildlife management and rewilding debates.