Invertebrate Welfare in the Garden: The Animals We Walk Past Daily

Gardens and green spaces are home to billions of invertebrates whose capacity to suffer is increasingly recognised by science, raising practical and ethical questions about how we manage our immediate outdoor environments.

Key Facts

UK gardens collectively cover an area larger than all national nature reserves combined, making private gardens a major invertebrate habitat
Earthworms, slugs, bees, beetles, and centipedes are among the most abundant garden invertebrates, and all show avoidance behaviour and nociceptive responses
Pesticide use in domestic gardens — including neonicotinoids and slug pellets containing metaldehyde — causes mass invertebrate mortality
Metaldehyde slug pellets cause a slow, dehydrating death in molluscs — a process that involves prolonged suffering before death
Bee populations have declined dramatically in many countries, with domestic garden habitat playing an important role in supporting remaining populations
Earthworms are critical ecosystem engineers whose welfare-relevant capacity to detect and respond to noxious stimuli is well-documented
The shift to more wildlife-friendly gardening practices can support billions of invertebrates at essentially no cost to the gardener

Welfare Considerations

The welfare of garden invertebrates sits at the frontier of moral consideration — their capacity to suffer is contested but growing in scientific credibility, and the scale on which they are harmed by common garden practices is enormous. A single application of pesticide can kill thousands of invertebrates in a small garden. Whether or not earthworms and slugs have morally relevant experiences, the precautionary principle, combined with the ecological importance of invertebrate communities, supports moving toward garden management practices that reduce unnecessary invertebrate mortality.

What You Can Do

Stop using neonicotinoid-based insecticides in your garden — they kill bees and other pollinators
Switch to iron phosphate-based slug pellets or physical barriers rather than metaldehyde products
Create a compost heap and leave areas of long grass and leaf litter to support invertebrate habitat
Plant native wildflowers and flowering herbs to support bee and pollinator welfare
Avoid digging and tilling soil unnecessarily to protect earthworm populations and soil ecology
Install a wildlife pond — even a small container pond supports enormous invertebrate diversity
Learn to identify garden invertebrates to develop a relationship with the animals sharing your outdoor space