Welfare biology is a new scientific discipline that applies ecological and biological methods to understand and improve the wellbeing of animals in the wild. It challenges the traditional view that nature is self-regulating and broadly benign.
Welfare biology asks uncomfortable questions that traditional conservation has sidestepped: if we care about animal suffering, should we consider the vast quantity of suffering that occurs in natural ecosystems through predation, parasitism, and starvation? Most wild animals die in early life through painful processes. While the field does not advocate reckless large-scale interventions, it argues that the suffering of wild animals deserves moral consideration and scientific attention. Pilot programs such as vaccination of wild rabbit populations against myxomatosis and hemorrhagic disease demonstrate that some targeted interventions are feasible and beneficial.