Rewilding projects that reintroduce apex predators including wolves and lynx create welfare impacts for both the reintroduced animals and the prey and livestock populations they encounter.
Rewilding predator reintroduction involves genuine welfare trade-offs that enthusiastic rewilding advocates sometimes understate. Reintroduced predators face high initial mortality in unfamiliar landscapes; livestock killed by wolves or lynx suffer real welfare harm; the fear responses in prey species to novel predators are measurable physiological stressors. Against these costs, predator presence creates trophic cascades that improve ecosystem health and the long-term welfare of many species. Welfare-sensitive rewilding accounts for these costs rather than dismissing them: compensation for livestock losses, translocation welfare standards, and monitoring of prey species stress responses are all part of responsible implementation.