Emerging infectious diseases pose severe welfare threats to wild animal populations, from bat white-nose syndrome to devil facial tumour disease, often with limited human ability to intervene effectively.
Wildlife disease causes suffering at massive scale, yet intervention options are extremely limited. Unlike domestic animal disease, population-level treatment is rarely feasible. Individual suffering - animals dying from white-nose syndrome, facial tumours, or viral haemorrhagic disease - is real but largely unaddressable except through captive assurance programmes and, occasionally, targeted local interventions. The most impactful responses focus on preventing disease introduction and spread, maintaining captive populations for eventual reintroduction, and addressing the underlying drivers (habitat fragmentation, climate change, wildlife trade) that facilitate disease emergence.