Measuring welfare in wild animal populations is methodologically challenging compared to farmed or companion animals. Understanding the available approaches helps conservation organisations incorporate welfare into their monitoring programmes.
Welfare measurement in wild populations is important for identifying where conservation and welfare interventions are most needed. Animals in declining populations may experience chronic nutritional stress, increased disease burden, or disrupted social structures that compromise welfare alongside conservation status. Developing reliable welfare monitoring tools for wild species allows conservation organisations to incorporate welfare into their decision-making and helps make the case for interventions that address welfare as well as population viability. The methodological challenges are real but increasingly surmountable through non-invasive techniques.