Rewilding projects restore ecosystems through species reintroduction and reduced human management. Their welfare implications — for reintroduced animals and those they affect — deserve careful consideration.
Rewilding raises genuine welfare questions: reintroduced animals experience the stress of translocation and the hardship of establishing themselves in unfamiliar landscapes. Prey animals targeted by reintroduced predators experience fear and mortality that are ecologically normal but welfare-relevant. The welfare framework for rewilding requires distinguishing between welfare costs that are inherent to natural ecological function and those that result from poor reintroduction practice. Well-managed reintroductions that use soft releases, provide adequate habitat, and include post-release monitoring minimize individual welfare costs. The long-term ecological benefit to the many species enabled by restored ecosystem function may justify short-term individual welfare costs when carefully weighed.