The garden tiger moth has declined by 92% in the UK since 1968, one of the steepest declines of any UK moth species. Loss of rough grassland habitats and climate change affecting larval timing are the primary drivers.
While moth sentience is uncertain, the catastrophic population decline represents enormous numbers of individual moths living shorter lives in depleted habitats. Caterpillars that succumb to fungal disease in warm wet winters experience a form of mortality that may involve suffering. At population level, the loss of 92% of individuals over decades represents a welfare tragedy even under significant uncertainty about individual moth experience.