Insect populations have declined dramatically in recent decades. This collapse harms both individual insects and the ecosystem services that support animal welfare at every level of the food web.
Insect decline raises welfare concerns at two levels. First, there is growing scientific evidence that many insects — particularly bees, flies, and beetles — have sufficient neural complexity to experience negative states including pain, fear, and stress. The scale of insect mortality from pesticides, vehicle strikes, and habitat loss is almost incomprehensible. Second, insect decline cascades through ecosystems in ways that harm vertebrate welfare: insectivorous birds lose food sources; bats that depend on flying insects decline; reptiles and amphibians lose key prey; plant-pollinator relationships collapse. Farmland bird declines across Europe are directly attributable to insect loss. Wild animal welfare is inseparable from the ecological systems that sustain them, making insect conservation one of the highest-leverage interventions for broad-scale animal welfare improvement.