Tiger salamanders are sold as fishing bait across North America, raising welfare concerns about handling stress, disease transmission, and the release of infected animals into native salamander habitats.
Salamanders held in bait containers experience hypoxic stress, skin abrasion from contact with container walls and each other, and osmotic stress from inappropriate water chemistry. ATV infection causes haemorrhagic skin disease and mass mortality. Animals used as live bait experience hook insertion — a procedure causing pain responses. Release of infected bait animals has caused catastrophic declines in native tiger salamander populations, affecting the welfare of entire population cohorts through disease transmission. Better alternatives to live salamander bait are available and effective.