Golden jackals are expanding their range across Europe, creating new coexistence challenges in regions unfamiliar with this adaptable canid — and welfare questions about how new populations are managed.
Expanding jackal populations create coexistence challenges similar to those accompanying wolf recovery: a new apex predator enters a landscape and farmers experience real or perceived livestock pressure. The welfare dimension includes the jackals themselves — lethal control causes individual suffering and, by disrupting family group territories, may increase rather than reduce conflict. Non-lethal deterrence and secure livestock housing are the most welfare-positive management approaches. Understanding jackal behavior — territorial, family-oriented, adaptable — informs responses that reduce conflict sustainably without the continuous welfare cost of culling programs.