Disease ecology examines how pathogens circulate in wild animal populations, with profound implications for animal welfare as wildlife diseases can cause mass mortality events and chronic suffering.
Wildlife disease events cause immense individual suffering at mass scale. Animals dying from chytridiomycosis, white-nose syndrome or rabbit haemorrhagic disease experience severe physical distress before death. These events are often perceived primarily through a conservation lens — species decline — rather than a welfare lens — individual suffering. A welfare perspective on disease ecology would prioritise understanding and reducing the suffering caused by wildlife disease, not only in endangered species but in abundant ones too. Vaccination programmes for wildlife, while complex to implement, represent a genuine welfare intervention in some disease systems.