Pest control involving rodents, birds, and other animals raises significant welfare concerns around the humaneness of killing methods, while non-lethal alternatives offer effective solutions with substantially lower welfare costs.
Pest control creates welfare tradeoffs between the welfare of pest species and the prevention of damage to human property and food supplies. Inhumane methods including glue traps and slow-acting rodenticides cause prolonged suffering that is ethically unjustifiable when more humane alternatives exist. The welfare harm extends beyond target species to non-target wildlife including birds of prey that consume poisoned rodents. Integrated pest management approaches that combine exclusion, habitat modification, and humane control methods minimize welfare harm while effectively managing pest populations.