Sea otter recovery along the Pacific coast has restored kelp forest ecosystems, demonstrating how the welfare and conservation of one keystone species can cascade into improved conditions for thousands of other animals.
Sea otter recovery illustrates how protecting individual animal welfare and population conservation can generate cascading benefits for the welfare of entire ecosystems. The return of otters to kelp forests is not merely a conservation success story — it is a welfare improvement for the fish, invertebrates, and marine mammals that gained restored habitat and food resources as kelp forests recovered. Individual otter welfare is also directly worth protecting: these highly intelligent, socially complex animals with tool-use behaviors and pup-rearing bonds have clear welfare interests of their own. Protecting otters is simultaneously a welfare and ecosystem service investment.