Amphibians are the most threatened vertebrate group on Earth. Disease, habitat loss, and climate change are driving mass extinctions with both conservation and welfare implications.
Wild amphibian decline represents a welfare emergency at both the individual and population level. Individual frogs, salamanders, and caecilians dying from chytridiomycosis experience a prolonged disease process involving skin dysfunction (amphibians breathe and regulate electrolytes through their skin), cardiac failure, and death — a process that likely involves significant suffering. At the population level, the elimination of entire species represents an irreversible loss of unique sentient life. Welfare and conservation are deeply intertwined for amphibians: preventing disease spread, restoring habitat, and regulating trade all simultaneously address individual suffering and population viability. Biosecurity in fieldwork and the pet trade is crucial to preventing further disease spread.