Wildlife disease management at the livestock-wildlife interface creates welfare tensions. The bovine tuberculosis-badger controversy illustrates the complex tradeoffs involved.
The bovine tuberculosis-badger interface illustrates the welfare tensions inherent in wildlife disease management. Infected cattle experience chronic disease and are slaughtered under compulsory programs, causing significant welfare harm. Badgers, as wildlife reservoirs, face lethal culling that raises welfare concerns about capture methods, shooting accuracy, and perturbation effects. The scientific debate about cull effectiveness remains unresolved. Vaccination — using BCG for both cattle and badgers — offers a potentially more effective and welfare-compatible solution that avoids mass killing of a protected wildlife species. Advocacy for vaccination programs over lethal control combines welfare improvement for badgers with potentially more effective disease management.