Camera trapping is a minimally invasive wildlife monitoring technique but raises welfare considerations around placement, bait use, and individual recognition.
Camera trapping welfare considerations are relatively modest compared to other wildlife monitoring techniques, but are worth incorporating into best practice. Flash disturbance to nocturnal animals can cause disorientation and flight responses that temporarily disrupt natural activity patterns. White-flash cameras cause measurably more behavioural disturbance than infrared passive cameras, and should be the secondary choice where infrared provides adequate image quality. Baiting cameras with food to attract rare species creates reliable detection opportunities but may alter animal behaviour, reduce natural foraging patterns, and in rare cases create conditions for habituation or food-conditioned conflict behaviour. The welfare case for minimising these effects is consistent with scientific best practice — methodologically clean research minimises confounding variables from disturbance alongside minimising welfare impact.