Emerging infectious diseases pose devastating welfare threats to wildlife populations — and management responses must carefully weigh animal welfare alongside ecological goals.
Wildlife disease management presents genuine ethical tensions. Population-level interventions that save species may require individual animal suffering through handling, treatment, or culling. The animals experiencing disease suffer real welfare harms — white-nose syndrome causes bats to arouse from hibernation repeatedly, burning through fat reserves until they starve; chytrid infection disrupts electrolyte balance through the skin, leading to cardiac arrest. Welfare-conscious disease management prioritizes the least invasive effective interventions, develops alternatives to lethal control, and incorporates welfare assessments into all management decisions. The goal should be preventing suffering at scale while respecting individual animal interests.