Floods, wildfires, heatwaves, and blizzards cause enormous livestock welfare emergencies that are increasing in frequency and severity with climate change, requiring better preparedness and response.
Extreme weather events cause some of the most severe acute welfare emergencies for farmed animals. Animals trapped in floods drown slowly over hours. Animals in wildfires suffer burn injuries, smoke inhalation, and heat damage before death. Livestock in heatwaves without adequate shade and water die from heat stroke in large numbers. The increasing frequency of such events with climate change means that historical emergency planning assumptions are no longer adequate. Welfare-conscious emergency preparedness requires farm-level contingency plans, community emergency response networks, pre-registered specialist livestock evacuation resources, and industry-wide protocols that are tested before they are needed.