Lethal and non-lethal predator control methods used in farming and conservation contexts have significant welfare implications for target and non-target species.
Predator control is a persistent source of welfare harm across both agricultural and conservation contexts. Lethal methods including poisons, traps, and shooting cause acute suffering and often affect non-target species including protected wildlife. The welfare costs of predator control are rarely acknowledged in cost-benefit discussions that focus on agricultural losses prevented. Non-lethal alternatives are available for most predator management challenges and in many cases achieve better long-term outcomes by managing attractants and using exclusion rather than suppression. Welfare-conscious land management increasingly looks to these alternatives, though economic pressures and cultural traditions make transition slow. Greater investment in non-lethal predator management research and economic support for farmers adopting these methods is needed.