Reintroducing large herbivores including bison, aurochs descendants, and horses restores ecological processes. The welfare of reintroduced animals during establishment is a significant consideration.
Large herbivore rewilding welfare involves the welfare of individual reintroduced animals alongside the ecosystem benefits their presence provides. Animals translocated from one environment to another face significant adjustment challenges - unfamiliar predators, different vegetation, new social groupings. The philosophical question of whether to intervene if rewilded animals face starvation or severe winter conditions is genuinely contested: some programs commit to non-intervention to allow natural processes, while others provide supplementary feeding as a welfare backstop. Neither extreme is universally right - the appropriate response depends on the purpose of the project, the vulnerability of the animals, and the ecological context.