How Britain's polecat recovered from near-extinction through legal protection and reduced persecution, and the welfare challenges that remain.
Polecat welfare reflects the general improvement that follows reduced persecution of native carnivores. Their recovery across England and Wales following legal protection demonstrates that wildlife welfare can improve dramatically when direct human killing is reduced. Current welfare challenges include road mortality as recovering populations expand into areas with no polecat tradition, and continued illegal persecution based on mistaken identity or old attitudes. Polecats play important ecological roles as mustelid predators of rabbits and rodents, supporting ecosystem welfare as well as their own.