Wild animals experience immense suffering from predation, disease, starvation, and parasitism. Wild animal suffering ethics explores what responsibilities humans have to intervene.
Wild animal suffering presents one of the most philosophically complex areas of animal ethics. The scale of suffering through predation, parasitism, and starvation that occurs independent of human action dwarfs domesticated animal suffering by orders of magnitude. The emerging field of wild animal welfare research seeks evidence-based approaches to reducing wild animal suffering that account for ecological complexity. Simple interventions including wildlife rehabilitation, disease treatment, and population management through contraception represent feasible first steps toward acknowledging our responsibility toward wild animal wellbeing beyond merely protecting species from extinction.