Badgers live in stable social groups centred on communal setts, and disruption of their social structure through culling or snaring causes significant welfare costs.
Badgers subject to culling show elevated stress markers and altered ranging behaviour. Snaring, even with legal snares, causes injury, prolonged distress and can kill non-target species. Social disruption from culling breaks family group cohesion, reducing the social buffering that normally reduces individual stress.