Rising global temperatures are intensifying heat stress in livestock, with climate change projections indicating significantly worsening welfare impacts across all major production species in coming decades.
Heat stress represents an emerging welfare crisis that will intensify with climate change across all major livestock production regions. Current welfare problems from heat stress - reduced feed intake, behavioral changes, reproductive failure, and mortality in extreme events - are projected to worsen substantially as average temperatures rise and extreme heat events become more frequent and prolonged. The welfare imperative requires both short-term mitigation through cooling infrastructure and longer-term adaptation through breeding for heat tolerance, modified production systems, and geographical shifts in livestock production. Animals cannot advocate for themselves in the face of systemic climate-driven welfare deterioration.