Wildlife vaccination programs represent one of the most direct ways humans can reduce wild animal suffering at population scale, with rabies and RHDV providing key case studies.
Wildlife vaccination programs are among the most clearly welfare-positive human interventions in wild animal populations. Eliminating fox rabies from Western Europe spared millions of foxes from a terrifying, progressive neurological death over decades. Each vaccinated animal is an individual whose life and suffering matter. The expansion of this model to Tasmanian devil tumor disease, black-footed ferret plague, and potentially other wildlife diseases demonstrates that acting to reduce wild animal suffering is both feasible and effective.