Wildlife living in or near volcanic and geothermal areas face unique welfare challenges from toxic gases, extreme temperatures, and unpredictable eruptions that require specialized consideration.
Volcanic environment wildlife welfare involves natural hazards that humans can do little to mitigate directly. Eruptions kill wildlife through lava flows, pyroclastic surges, and ash deposition that destroys habitat and food sources. Chronic volcanic gas emissions cause respiratory disease in susceptible species. The welfare calculus here differs from human-caused welfare harms — natural volcanic events are not preventable. However, human activities that increase wildlife vulnerability to volcanic events — by fragmenting habitats, reducing population sizes, and eliminating alternative ranges — reduce the resilience of wildlife to survive volcanic disruption. Conservation that maintains large, connected wildlife populations maximizes resilience to natural catastrophic events.