The suffering caused by natural predation represents an enormous volume of animal welfare harm, raising philosophical questions about human obligations toward wild animal suffering.
Wild animal suffering from predation, disease, parasitism and starvation represents a welfare reality of almost incomprehensible scale. Acknowledging this does not require immediate intervention but does challenge the romantic notion that nature is benign. The appropriate policy response ranges from targeted interventions (wildlife medicine, contraception) to continued focus on the human-caused harms we are most able to address.