Rewilding programs that restore natural ecosystems and reintroduce species raise important questions about the welfare of animals in rewilded landscapes.
Rewilding creates complex welfare tradeoffs that are rarely discussed in conservation contexts. Reintroducing predators improves ecosystem function and is generally beneficial for ecosystem-level welfare metrics, but increases fear and predation for individual prey animals. Whether this represents a welfare improvement over alternatives — disease, starvation, or lethal culling — depends on framework and values. The emerging field of welfare biology is developing tools to assess these tradeoffs rigorously. Rewilding advocates would benefit from engaging with welfare considerations rather than treating ecosystem health and individual animal welfare as separate concerns.