Pest control methods cause significant animal welfare harm that is rarely considered when making decisions about rodent, insect, or bird management.
Pest control welfare is an area where significant harm occurs without ethical scrutiny because the animals involved are classified as nuisances rather than patients. Rodents die slowly from internal bleeding after eating anticoagulant rodenticides — a death that can take days. Glue trap victims may live for days in agony from self-inflicted injuries before dying of dehydration. These welfare harms are not inevitable: non-lethal exclusion, snap traps for rapid death, and CO2 chambers represent progressively better welfare options that pest management professionals can recommend and individuals can choose.