Badger culling used to control bovine tuberculosis in the UK is controversial, with significant welfare concerns about wounding rates and perturbation effects.
Culling operations inflict welfare costs through the stress of trapping, handling, and killing. Free-shooting methods carry significant wounding risk, leaving badgers with non-fatal injuries to die slowly. Even cage-trapped badgers experience acute fear and stress before euthanasia. The perturbation effect, where surviving badgers spread out and potentially increase TB transmission, means culling may impose welfare costs without achieving its disease control objectives. Vaccination programs offer a welfare-superior alternative currently in expanded rollout.