Invasive species cause enormous harm to native wildlife, and their management creates complex welfare dilemmas between harm to invasive individuals and protection of native ecosystems.
Invasive species management presents one of conservation biology most difficult welfare dilemmas: protecting native wildlife requires causing harm to individual invasive animals. The welfare calculus involves comparing the certain suffering of managed invasive individuals against the ongoing predation, competition, and extinction pressure experienced by native species. On islands, where invasive impacts are often total and alternatives are limited, eradications have delivered dramatic conservation gains that benefit thousands of native individuals. On continents, the ethical calculation is more complex and ongoing. Welfare-conscious conservation seeks to use the most humane available methods, minimize suffering during management operations, and invest in non-lethal alternatives where they are effective.