New Zealand's kiwi face extinction pressure from introduced predators, with predator control programs having direct welfare implications for both kiwi and the predators managed.
Kiwi conservation involves unavoidable welfare trade-offs: reducing predator populations through lethal control methods involves the deaths and suffering of stoats, rats, and possums - animals that are also sentient and experience pain. The welfare case for predator control rests on the scale of suffering prevented: without intervention, virtually all kiwi chick mortality is predation-related and adult populations decline toward extinction. 1080 poison has been the subject of ongoing welfare debate; studies suggest it causes moderate suffering in target species before death, though this is contested. The welfare mathematics favor conservation intervention when considered at the population level, but ongoing research into more humane predator control methods acknowledges the welfare costs of current approaches.