Pest control methods including rodenticides, trapping, and biological control involve billions of animals annually. The welfare implications of pest control are significant and often overlooked.
Pest control sits at the intersection of human interests and animal welfare in ways that are rarely examined carefully. The animals targeted are often not charismatic - rats, mice, pigeons - but their capacity for pain and suffering is equivalent to any other mammal or bird. Anticoagulant rodenticides cause death by slow internal bleeding, a process that involves suffering over many days and that also kills the non-target animals that consume poisoned rodents. Welfare-conscious pest management prioritizes exclusion and prevention over killing, and when killing is necessary, uses the most humane methods available.