Immunocontraceptive vaccines offer a humane alternative to lethal culling for managing overabundant wildlife populations, with growing evidence of effectiveness.
Lethal population control causes direct welfare harm through the stress of capture, the experience of death, and the disruption of social bonds among surviving animals. Where populations genuinely need management, contraception offers a pathway that avoids these harms. Social cohesion in elephant herds and horse bands provides welfare benefits that culling destroys. Contraception programs also generate public acceptance that lethal programs often fail to achieve.