Ethical Considerations for Wildlife Reintroductions and Rewilding

Area of Science:

• Ecology and Conservation Biology
• Wildlife Management
• Environmental Ethics

Background:

• Large carnivore and herbivore populations are recovering in Europe and North America.
• Wildlife recovery offers ecosystem services like hunting, ecotourism, and landscape engineering.
• The concept of rewilding aims to restore wilderness through species reintroduction or supplementary releases.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe wildlife recovery trends in Europe and North America.
• To elaborate on ethical considerations regarding wildlife use and reintroduction.
• To propose guidelines for ethical wildlife translocation and wilderness restoration.

Main Methods:

• Review of wildlife recovery in Europe and North America.
• Analysis of ethical challenges in wildlife management and reintroduction.
• Development of management guidelines based on ethical considerations.

Main Results:

• Wildlife recovery presents both opportunities (ecosystem services) and challenges (human-wildlife conflicts, animal welfare).
• Translocation and reintroduction initiatives raise ethical dilemmas concerning individual animal suffering versus ecological benefits.
• Ethical conflicts arise from differing human interests and the welfare of translocated animals.

Conclusions:

• Finding ways forward requires balancing human needs and wildlife welfare.
• 10 guidelines are proposed for ethical management of wildlife translocation and rewilding efforts.
• Acceptable solutions must consider both animal and human stakeholders.