Biodiversity, the Environment, Animal Welfare and Human Well-being 79Some have used the term ‘compassionate conservation’ to refer to com-
bining the considerations of animal welfare and conservation. The ultimate
aim is to use knowledge and techniques from animal welfare science to in-
form and refine conservation practices. This aims for a reduction in the suf-
fering of individual wild animals, aiming to improve conservation outcomes
and to improve stakeholder collaboration and support (Compassionate
Conservation, 2017).
Consideration of animal welfare in a conservation context can lead to better
conservation outcomes, while engendering increased stakeholder support.
One example that highlights practical conflicts is that as part of con-
servation strategies animals can be subjected to culling, captivity, reloca-
tion and other kinds of constraints on their welfare to support biodiversity.
While at times some of these animal welfare issues might be unavoidable
for a particular species to survive, or to preserve biodiversity in a particular
area, it would be good to identify whether more can be done to improve the
welfare of affected animals, acknowledging that animal welfare – including
their physical, psychological and social aspects – is critical to preserve
biodiversity.
This topic also raises interesting ethical discussions where there might be
conflicts between animal and environmental ethicists in considering whether
the environments, animals or humans have different values, and whether
more effort and care should be taken for one at the expense of others. One
Welfare encourages a holistic approach, considering all, and aims to find so-
lutions that provide the best available well-being option for all.
Fig. 5.1. Word cloud of factors that impact One Welfare Section 5.