Wild boar populations are expanding across Europe and North America, with welfare implications for animals living at urban-agricultural interfaces, subject to hunting pressure, and increasingly affected by disease.
Wild boar welfare at the urban-agricultural interface involves complex trade-offs. Animals in these environments face vehicle strike mortality, shooting during control operations, snare and trap injuries, and disease. African swine fever causes prolonged illness and death in affected populations. At the same time, expanding wild boar populations demonstrate the resilience of animals freed from historical persecution pressure. Welfare-positive management approaches prioritize rapid lethal methods over prolonged suffering through snares or wounding, disease monitoring to enable population-level intervention, and habitat planning that reduces conflict while allowing viable wild populations in appropriate areas.