Welfare biology is an emerging field that takes seriously the immense scale of wild animal suffering from predation, disease, starvation and parasitism - it explores what science can tell us about improving wild welfare.
Welfare biology asks difficult but important questions about our moral relationship to wild animal suffering. If suffering matters regardless of cause, wild animal welfare represents an immense moral consideration given population sizes. However, intervention in wild systems carries significant ecological risks. Welfare biologists propose a research agenda focused on understanding wild suffering better, identifying low-risk interventions and developing governance frameworks. Near-term tractable interventions include wildlife disease control and contraception programs. Longer-term, the field may identify scalable approaches to reducing r-strategist juvenile mortality. Engaging seriously with this field is essential for comprehensive animal welfare advocacy.