Welfare Science

Wild Animal Welfare Research Funding

Wild animal welfare research is chronically underfunded relative to its welfare significance. Strategic funding allocation dramatically expands knowledge of wild animal suffering and intervention.

Key Facts

Wild animal welfare research funding is a small fraction of companion animal and farm welfare research
Key research priorities include disease management, population welfare monitoring, and intervention feasibility
Effective altruist analysis identifies wild animal welfare as one of the most tractable high-impact cause areas
Open Philanthropy and Wild Animal Initiative are primary funders of wild animal welfare research
Cross-disciplinary research combining ecology and welfare science is producing novel welfare insights

Welfare Considerations

Wild animal welfare research underfunding represents a significant opportunity cost - the suffering of wild animals vastly exceeds human-caused welfare harms numerically, yet receives minimal research attention. Strategic funding of wild animal welfare research produces knowledge that could inform interventions affecting the welfare of billions of individual animals. Prioritizing this research area is one of the highest-leverage welfare advocacy investments available.

What You Can Do

Donate to Wild Animal Initiative and similar organizations funding wild animal welfare research
Support effective altruist analysis of wild animal welfare as a cause area
Advocate for wildlife research funding bodies to include welfare research as a funding priority
Share wild animal welfare research with others to build interest in this underappreciated cause area