Whales face multiple anthropogenic welfare threats — entanglement, ship strikes, noise pollution, and climate change — requiring coordinated international protection.
Whale welfare encompasses some of the most significant individual welfare harms in wildlife: entanglement in fishing gear causes prolonged struggling and drowning over hours or days; ship strikes cause traumatic injury and death; and noise pollution from sonar causes disorientation severe enough to drive mass strandings. The scale of these harms — hundreds of thousands of deaths annually — makes whale welfare among the most significant wildlife welfare challenges globally. Regulatory responses — speed limits in shipping lanes, mandatory gear modifications, seismic survey restrictions — are available but inconsistently implemented.