Brucellosis eradication programs in the UK, EU, and USA demonstrate that systematic testing and elimination can eliminate a major welfare and public health threat.
Brucellosis eradication programs represent some of the most successful large-scale animal welfare and public health interventions in agricultural history. By eliminating a disease that caused abortion, infertility, orchitis, and chronic ill-health in millions of cattle, eradication programs transformed the welfare of entire national cattle populations. The willingness of governments to fund compensation for slaughter of test-positive animals, combined with effective surveillance and movement control, demonstrates that systematic population-level welfare intervention is achievable when political will and resources are aligned. The remaining challenge of wildlife reservoir management in North America illustrates that eradication of zoonotic diseases at the livestock-wildlife interface requires integrated management strategies across species boundaries.