Rewilding — restoring natural processes and species to landscapes — has transformational potential for biodiversity. Its implications for animal welfare are complex, involving both the reintroduction of animals to novel environments and the restoration of predator-prey dynamics.
Rewilding creates welfare trade-offs that must be honestly evaluated. Animals reintroduced to habitats after long absence may face unfamiliar diseases, predators, or environmental conditions. Translocation itself causes stress and carries mortality risk. However, the alternative — continued absence from ecological roles in impoverished landscapes — also represents a form of welfare harm for the remaining populations in smaller, less connected habitats. Predator-prey dynamics restored through rewilding change the welfare calculus for prey animals: vigilance, predation risk, and occasional predation death are balanced against the ecological enrichment of a full community of species. The most defensible position is that carefully planned, monitored reintroductions with robust welfare protocols improve overall welfare while accepting that predation is part of natural ecosystems.