Wars and armed conflicts cause direct welfare harm to domestic, farm, and wild animals, with the effects of conflict on animal populations receiving growing attention from welfare advocates.
Conflict animal welfare is a humanitarian and welfare intersection that is slowly gaining recognition. Domestic animals bonded to displaced humans are separated and left behind, suffering acute social and physical deprivation. Zoo animals in cities under attack cannot flee and require extraordinary care from staff who may themselves be in danger. Farm animals abandoned when owners flee face slow starvation and untreated injury. The welfare scale of conflict on animals is enormous -- tens of millions of individual animals affected per major conflict -- yet receives a small fraction of the humanitarian attention given to human victims of the same events. Including animal welfare in conflict response planning and emergency humanitarian frameworks is an urgent welfare advocacy priority.