Armed conflict causes catastrophic welfare harm to animals — wild, farmed, and companion — that receives minimal attention in humanitarian response frameworks. Understanding the scale and nature of these harms reveals opportunities for targeted welfare support.
Animals in conflict zones suffer a convergence of welfare harms: physical injury from munitions, starvation from disrupted supply chains, abandonment by owners who cannot safely remain, collapse of veterinary services, and increased exploitation through hunting and poaching. Zoo animals are particularly vulnerable — large carnivores that cannot be transported easily face the most acute risks when staff cannot maintain care. Companion animals left behind by displaced human populations starve, freeze, or are injured. Farmed animals starve when owners flee. The welfare response to conflict zones requires rapid deployment of emergency animal care alongside human humanitarian response. Organisations like Four Paws that have developed protocols for conflict zone animal rescue provide a model for integrating animal welfare into humanitarian frameworks.