Wild boar are highly intelligent, social animals whose welfare in managed and hunted populations is often overlooked despite evidence of complex social and emotional lives.
Wild boar are often managed primarily as a game species or pest, with welfare considerations secondary to population control objectives. Yet their complex social lives mean that common management practices have welfare consequences beyond the individual killed. Targeting lactating sows leaves dependent young to die; disrupting sounders through intensive hunting may increase stress and alter population social dynamics. From a welfare perspective, management approaches that minimize suffering during death and avoid disrupting complex social groups are preferable. Selective culling of younger males rather than socially important sows, use of trap-and-remove rather than driven hunts in sensitive areas, and attention to wounding rates in hunting can improve welfare outcomes.