Wildlife rehabilitation involves treating injured and orphaned wild animals with the goal of successful release, raising complex welfare questions about invasive treatment, captivity stress, and release success.
Wildlife rehabilitation involves unavoidable welfare trade-offs: the stress and suffering of captivity and treatment must be weighed against the prognosis for meaningful quality of life after release. Animals with poor release prognoses face difficult decisions about long-term captivity or euthanasia. Ethical rehabilitation frameworks require honest assessment of individual welfare prospects throughout the process.