Wild animals experience substantial suffering from predation, disease, parasites and starvation, raising difficult questions about human obligations to reduce this suffering.
Wild animal welfare is a philosophically challenging but morally important area. If animals can suffer, then the vast amount of suffering that occurs in natural ecosystems deserves moral consideration. This does not necessarily mean intervening in predator-prey dynamics, but it does support efforts like wildlife disease management, humane pest control that minimizes suffering, habitat design that reduces conflict, and research into understanding and reducing major sources of wild animal suffering where intervention is feasible and likely beneficial.