Pesticides cause welfare harms to a wide range of wildlife beyond the most studied bees. Understanding the full ecological footprint of agricultural pesticide use reveals a welfare crisis spanning insects, birds, mammals, and aquatic species.
Pesticide welfare harms occur at multiple biological levels. Acute poisoning events kill wildlife directly, with measurable suffering during neurological collapse. Sublethal effects impair navigation, foraging, reproduction, and immune function over longer periods — chronic welfare harms that may affect billions of individuals annually. The collapse of insect populations cascades through food webs: birds that lose insect prey starve or rear fewer chicks; bats that rely on insect prey face nutritional stress; fish that depend on aquatic invertebrates lose food resources. The welfare implications of pesticide use are therefore not limited to directly exposed individuals but extend across entire food webs. Reducing pesticide use in farming, maintaining wildflower margins, and banning the most harmful compounds are direct welfare interventions at ecosystem scale.