Welfare considerations for wild boar in reintroduced and managed populations across Europe and their expanding range.
Wild boar welfare in managed populations sits at the intersection of conservation, agriculture, and public safety. As a reestablished species in many European landscapes, wild boar face both the welfare benefits of rewilding — expressing natural social and foraging behaviors in appropriate habitat — and welfare costs from human-wildlife conflict management. Population control hunting, when conducted humanely, can be a welfare-appropriate management tool if shots are clean and wounding rates are minimized. However, some population control methods including night shooting, organized drives, and snaring have significant welfare risks. The welfare of boar populations also includes considerations of disease — African Swine Fever poses severe welfare threats to affected wild boar populations — and the chronic stress of fragmented habitats with high road mortality.