Badgers in the UK are at the center of a contentious bovine TB debate involving culling programs that impose significant welfare costs without clear scientific justification.
The UK badger cull creates profound individual welfare harms through wounding injuries. Free-shooting of badgers causes a documented proportion of non-lethal injuries where animals escape and survive with wounds of unknown severity and duration. Scientific reviews of the cull's effectiveness in reducing bovine TB in cattle have been critical of the evidence base. The existence of vaccination as an alternative that protects badger welfare and contributes to bovine TB control without lethal intervention makes the welfare costs of culling particularly difficult to justify. Advocacy for vaccination programs is both welfare-positive and scientifically grounded.