Wild boar populations are expanding across Europe and North America, creating human-wildlife conflicts that require welfare-conscious management approaches.
Wild boar management involves difficult welfare trade-offs between the welfare of managed wild animals and agricultural, public safety, and livestock disease concerns. Lethal culling is effective but causes welfare costs through injury, social disruption, and orphaning of young animals. Driven shoots and poorly placed shots cause wounding without immediate death. Welfare-conscious management seeks to minimize suffering through use of trained hunters, high standards for shot placement, and approaches that minimize population disruption while achieving management goals.