The feed used to produce farmed animal products drives major environmental impacts that affect wild animal welfare at scale. Understanding these connections informs more holistic welfare thinking.
The welfare implications of farmed animal feed extend far beyond the animals being fed. Soy cultivation for broiler and pig feed drives Amazon deforestation that destroys habitat for jaguars, giant anteaters, tapirs, and billions of insects and small animals. The wildlife killed during forest clearing — by machinery, fire, and displacement — represents an enormous hidden welfare cost of animal product consumption. Wild fish caught for fishmeal may experience crowding, asphyxiation, and crushing during commercial fishing. Choosing animal products from producers certified to responsible soy sourcing and reduced-fishmeal aquaculture diets reduces these indirect welfare impacts. The most welfare-effective dietary choices consider both the direct welfare of farmed animals and the indirect welfare of wild animals displaced or killed to produce their feed.