Welfare Science

Wild Animal Welfare: The Scale of the Challenge

Wild animal welfare involves the largest number of sentient individuals on Earth, yet receives the least attention from welfare science, policy, and advocacy.

Key Facts

Estimates suggest there are hundreds of billions of wild vertebrates globally
Wild animals face endemic suffering from predation, disease, starvation, and parasitism
Wild animal welfare research is growing but represents a small fraction of total welfare science investment
Effective wild animal welfare interventions are being developed but require significant research investment

Welfare Considerations

The scale of wild animal welfare challenges our moral intuitions in profound ways. If wild animals suffer - and there is strong evidence that many do - then the question of what, if anything, we can and should do represents one of the deepest challenges in applied ethics and welfare science.

What You Can Do

Engage with the emerging field of wild animal welfare research and advocacy
Support organisations like Wild Animal Initiative funding research into wild animal welfare
Reflect on the implications of wild animal welfare for conservation and environmental policy