Red squirrels face extinction in most of England and Wales due to competition with greys and squirrelpox, with welfare dimensions in conservation management.
Grey squirrel control for red squirrel conservation creates a welfare conflict — individual grey squirrels are killed to protect a threatened species. Grey squirrels suffer during lethal control through trapping and shooting. The development of non-lethal fertility control would resolve this conflict by achieving population reduction without individual killing, but development and deployment require significant investment.