Live trapping of wild mammals for research, monitoring, translocation, and control is widely practiced; trap design, check frequency, and handling protocols significantly affect welfare outcomes.
Live trapping causes acute stress from confinement, handling, and exposure that must be minimised through appropriate trap design, frequent checking, and skilled handling at point of capture. The welfare cost is partially offset by the value of the data collected — population monitoring that informs conservation management — but this justification requires genuine minimisation of trap welfare costs rather than tokenism. Trap placement, bait selection, and checking schedules should be optimised for welfare alongside data collection efficiency.