Most animal suffering occurs in wild populations from predation, starvation, disease, and parasitism, raising difficult questions about human responsibility to intervene.
Wild animal suffering at scale is one of the most philosophically and practically challenging areas of animal welfare. The aggregate amount of suffering in natural ecosystems vastly exceeds that caused by human activities like farming, yet it receives almost no policy attention. This is partly because natural suffering has always existed and feels beyond human responsibility, and partly because interventions to reduce it risk significant unintended ecological consequences. Nevertheless, some interventions are already practised: wildlife vaccination programmes, habitat management to reduce starvation during extreme weather, and rescue of injured animals all represent forms of welfare intervention in wild populations. The emerging field of welfare biology seeks to develop principled, ecologically informed approaches to reducing wild animal suffering where possible without causing greater harms.