Wolf reintroduction generates ecological restoration that improves welfare for multiple species through trophic cascade effects on vegetation, waterways, and prey population health.
Wolf ecosystem welfare illustrates how protecting a single keystone species generates welfare cascades benefiting dozens of other species. The multiple welfare pathways — improved prey health through selective predation, scavenger nutrition from carrion, small mammal recovery from coyote suppression, fish welfare from improved stream habitat — make wolf reintroduction one of the highest-welfare-multiplier conservation interventions available. The welfare benefits are empirically documented at Yellowstone and Isle Royale, providing the evidence base for extension to proposed reintroduction sites in other ecosystems.