Svalbard barnacle geese represent one of conservation's great successes, with welfare implications from their compressed wintering range in the Solway.
Svalbard barnacle goose welfare benefits enormously from legal protection that enabled recovery from near-extinction. The concentrated wintering population is vulnerable to disease outbreaks and disturbance events. Maintaining undisturbed wintering habitat in the Solway protects the welfare of the entire world population of this subspecies.