Rewilding projects that restore predators and natural processes raise complex welfare questions about the suffering of prey animals and the tradeoffs between ecosystem and individual animal welfare.
Rewilding projects create genuine welfare tensions. Natural predation causes pain and fear in prey animals, and newly reintroduced animals face significant early mortality. From a wild animal welfare perspective, these are real costs. However, rewilding also reduces the scale of factory farming by enabling greater plant food production and reducing pressure for livestock farming on rewilded land. The welfare calculus is genuinely complex, requiring honest engagement with both the costs and benefits of restored natural processes.