Wildlife rehabilitation provides care for injured and orphaned wild animals with the goal of release, but ethical practice requires honest assessment of individual welfare and release viability.
Wildlife rehabilitation welfare requires honest assessment at two points: during care and at release decision. During care, animals experience captivity, handling and veterinary procedures that cause stress — this welfare cost is justified by the prospect of release to wild life. When release is not viable — because injuries preclude survival, because the animal is too habituated to humans, or because appropriate habitat is unavailable — the welfare calculation changes. Keeping an animal in captivity indefinitely as a welfare compromise requires that captive welfare is genuinely acceptable for the species. The ethics of rehabilitation also require honest communication with the public about realistic outcomes: not every rescued animal can be saved, and accepting this prevents prolonged suffering in animals that cannot recover sufficiently.