Wildlife rehabilitation aims to return injured and orphaned animals to the wild, but release standards vary widely and welfare outcomes depend on pre-release preparation quality.
Wildlife rehabilitation exists at a difficult intersection between welfare and conservation. Animals that survive rehabilitation but cannot survive in the wild face a difficult ethical situation: permanent captivity for highly mobile wild species causes chronic welfare compromise, but release of unfit animals leads to starvation or injury. Transparent assessment of release fitness, with euthanasia as an option for non-releasable animals, is essential for honest welfare practice.