Snakebite affects hundreds of thousands of people annually while snakes face widespread retaliatory killing, creating human-wildlife conflict with welfare implications for both species.
Human-snake conflict creates welfare harms on both sides of the interaction. Snakes killed retaliatorily experience the suffering of human-caused death. Humans who die or are permanently disabled from snakebite experience catastrophic harm. The welfare of snakes rarely enters into conflict discussions, yet snakes are sentient animals capable of experiencing fear, pain, and stress. Indiscriminate killing of all snakes including non-venomous species out of fear is a welfare harm that education can prevent. The welfare framework for human-snake conflict involves reducing snakebite risk through education and protective gear while simultaneously reducing retaliatory snake killing through better identification knowledge. Antivenom access improvements address human welfare urgently while reducing the fear that drives snake killing.