Traditional pest control methods cause significant animal suffering. Welfare-positive alternatives achieve effective control while minimizing harm to target and non-target species.
Pest control involves genuine human-wildlife conflict where the welfare of pest animals must be weighed against legitimate human safety and health concerns. The welfare-positive approach seeks effective pest management through methods that minimize animal suffering: exclusion as the primary strategy, quick-kill methods when lethal control is necessary, and avoidance of methods causing prolonged suffering (glue boards, SGARs). The suffering caused by glue boards — animals stuck in adhesive struggling for hours before dying of dehydration, injury, or hypothermia — is indefensible when effective alternatives exist. Rodenticide secondary poisoning kills owls, hawks, foxes, and other predators through accumulated toxin from prey consumption — an invisible welfare cost of poor rodenticide choices. Integrated pest management that prioritizes prevention, monitoring, and targeted intervention minimizes both pest populations and welfare harms.