How climate change is creating new animal welfare challenges and what adaptation looks like.
Climate change represents an emerging animal welfare threat that operates at multiple scales simultaneously. Individual animals experience more frequent heat stress events; populations face habitat disruption from extreme weather; and entire farming systems face adaptation challenges as temperature and precipitation patterns shift. The welfare response to climate change requires proactive adaptation — heat abatement infrastructure, disease surveillance for emerging pathogens, emergency response planning for extreme weather events, and feed security planning. The farm animal welfare community increasingly recognizes that addressing climate change and improving animal welfare are complementary goals: reducing livestock numbers while improving welfare standards per animal simultaneously reduces climate impact and welfare burden.