Rewilding projects reintroduce lost species to restored ecosystems. The welfare implications for reintroduced animals span from the stress of release to the quality of life in restored habitats.
Rewilding creates a welfare calculus that requires weighing short-term costs against long-term benefits for both individual animals and ecological systems. The capture, translocation, and release of animals involves genuine welfare costs — physiological stress, risk of capture myopathy, and disorientation in unfamiliar environments. Post-release mortality concentrates welfare costs on the individuals who do not survive. Against these short-term costs, the welfare benefits for survivors who establish in functionally restored ecosystems include expression of their full behavioral repertoire, access to natural prey and social partners, and the quality of life that wild living provides for animals adapted to it. The ethical weight falls on ensuring that reintroduction programs are designed with welfare minimization at each stage while accepting that some cost is inherent in restoring natural systems.