Wild boar populations are expanding across Europe and North America, creating agricultural and safety conflicts managed through hunting and culling, with welfare implications for highly social and intelligent animals.
Wild boar are cognitively sophisticated animals with complex social bonds whose welfare in management contexts deserves consideration. Hunting wounds that cause slow death, trap-related injuries, and the disruption of family group social structures through selective culling all have welfare costs. Evidence-based management using non-lethal deterrents alongside targeted lethal control can reduce welfare impacts while managing conflict.