Urban environments create unique and often overlooked welfare challenges for wildlife. Understanding the harms of urbanization helps people minimize their environmental footprint on urban wildlife.
Urban environments are significant sources of wildlife welfare harm that are largely invisible to urban residents. Billions of animals suffer painful deaths or chronic stress from human urban infrastructure and activities annually. The scale of this suffering rivals other major animal welfare concerns yet receives far less attention. The welfare opportunity is significant - individual behavioral changes (keeping cats indoors, using bird-safe window treatments, reducing artificial lighting at night) compound across millions of urban residents into major welfare improvements for urban wildlife.