Soy production for animal feed is a major driver of deforestation in South America, affecting wild animal welfare through habitat loss. Understanding the welfare dimensions of the soy-livestock supply chain informs effective advocacy.
The welfare dimension of soy-driven deforestation connects to individual wild animals losing habitat, facing increased predation, starvation, and human conflict as forest fragments and disappears. While deforestation is primarily discussed as a conservation and climate issue, its welfare implications — billions of individual animals experiencing suffering from habitat loss — deserve recognition alongside population-level impacts. The connection from consumer food choices to wild animal welfare through soy supply chains is real but indirect: reducing consumption of animal products raised on conventional soy feed, or choosing products with verified deforestation-free supply chains, reduces demand pressure that drives soy expansion. The welfare and conservation cases for addressing soy-driven deforestation are inseparable.