Wetland waterbirds depend on healthy freshwater ecosystems that are declining globally. Understanding their welfare needs informs habitat conservation priorities and management decisions.
Wetland waterbird welfare is inextricably linked to wetland ecosystem health. These birds evolved to exploit the productivity and diversity of freshwater systems; as wetlands degrade, waterbirds experience reduced food availability, increased contaminant exposure, and habitat loss that causes chronic welfare stress. Lead poisoning from historic and ongoing hunting practice represents an acute welfare harm that persists in wetland sediments for decades after lead shot use ends. Non-toxic shot mandates have demonstrably improved waterfowl welfare by reducing this preventable mortality. Wetland conservation through rewetting degraded areas, controlling drainage, and maintaining water quality is both a conservation and welfare intervention that benefits the hundreds of species that depend on these ecosystems.