Amphibians are the most threatened vertebrate class on Earth, with chytrid fungus, habitat loss, and climate change driving population collapses that represent both conservation and welfare crises.
Amphibian decline is both a conservation crisis and a welfare crisis of enormous scale. Chytrid infection causes a physiologically distressing death through disruption of the electrolyte balance that amphibian skin manages continuously. The deaths of hundreds of millions of individual amphibians from this single disease represent a welfare catastrophe that receives far less attention than more visible wildlife suffering. Biosecurity measures that prevent pathogen spread and captive insurance populations for most threatened species are urgent priorities.