Welfare Science

Wild Animal Welfare Research Priorities

Identifying the highest-priority research questions for wild animal welfare science requires balancing scientific tractability, scale of potential impact, and neglect relative to current research.

Key Facts

Wild animal welfare research is severely underfunded relative to farmed animal welfare
Wild invertebrate welfare is among the most neglected areas given the scale of invertebrate populations
r-selected species producing many offspring may experience high juvenile mortality causing suffering at scale
Disease, predation, and starvation are the primary causes of wild animal suffering
Targeted interventions including wildlife vaccination and lead removal have clear welfare benefit

Welfare Considerations

Wild animal welfare research priorities should focus on tractable interventions with large scale impact. Lead poisoning prevention, wildlife disease vaccination, and human-caused mortality reduction are near-term opportunities. The philosophical and scientific frameworks for wild animal welfare are developing.

What You Can Do

Support Wild Animal Initiative and similar organisations identifying research priorities
Engage with wild animal welfare research literature as an emerging welfare frontier
Advocate for research funding in neglected wild animal welfare areas