Armed conflict creates acute animal welfare emergencies affecting both companion animals and livestock, and the emerging field of conflict zone animal welfare is developing protocols and organisations to respond.
Conflict zone animal welfare is one of the most challenging and under-resourced areas of the field. Animals caught in conflict zones experience the full spectrum of welfare harms - acute trauma from violence, starvation from abandoned caretakers, disease from disrupted veterinary services, and psychological distress from chaos and separation. The Ukraine conflict brought unprecedented global attention to companion animal welfare in war, with millions following stories of evacuated pets. Building the organisational capacity and protocols for conflict animal welfare response - including pre-positioning of supplies, coordination with evacuation routes, and post-conflict rehabilitation - is an emerging welfare priority.