Many wildlife pest control situations can be addressed through non-lethal exclusion and deterrence methods that are more effective long-term than killing and cause no welfare harm.
Most wildlife pest situations in domestic and commercial contexts can be resolved without killing through exclusion, deterrence, and addressing the attractants that draw animals to human spaces. Killing individuals creates a population vacuum that is filled by immigration from surrounding areas, making lethal control repeatedly necessary and ultimately ineffective. Exclusion that prevents access addresses the problem permanently and causes no welfare harm. The welfare of wildlife in pest contexts matters: a squirrel trapped in a cage trap experiencing fear and physiological stress, or a mole killed in a spring trap, experiences genuine suffering for what is often an easily preventable intrusion.