Disease outbreaks in livestock populations trigger mass culling responses that cause enormous animal suffering. Understanding the welfare implications of current policies and alternatives shapes more humane outbreak management.
Mass culling during disease outbreaks represents a welfare catastrophe that is partly preventable through biosecurity and vaccination policy. The animals killed in outbreaks are the victims twice over -- first of production systems that create disease conditions, then of response measures that prioritise trade economics over welfare. The scale of culling in major outbreaks -- tens of millions of birds in a single influenza event -- represents a welfare burden that dwarfs most other agricultural welfare concerns. Advocates should engage with outbreak management policy as a welfare issue, pushing for humane methods, vaccination alternatives, and biosecurity standards that reduce outbreak probability.