Badgers in the UK and Ireland are caught in a highly contentious policy conflict over bovine tuberculosis control, facing culling programs whose welfare and effectiveness are widely disputed.
Badgers caught in cage traps for culling experience prolonged stress over multiple hours before killing. Free-shooting badger culling methods carry risk of non-lethal wounding. The scientific controversy over the effectiveness of culling means that badgers are suffering welfare harm for an intervention with uncertain benefit. Vaccination programs achieve similar or better TB outcomes with far lower welfare impact. The welfare case for transitioning from lethal culling to vaccination is strong on both humanitarian and scientific grounds.