The white-clawed crayfish is Britain's only native crayfish species and is critically threatened by invasive American signal crayfish and crayfish plague - conservation requires urgent intervention.
White-clawed crayfish welfare is threatened by both disease and direct competition with signal crayfish. Crayfish plague causes rapid death in affected populations within days of exposure. The welfare of captive breeding populations in ark sites requires appropriate water quality, habitat complexity and disease monitoring. Conservation translocations to establish new ark populations involve capture and transport welfare considerations. Signal crayfish control programs raise welfare questions about humane killing methods - boiling water or CO2 are commonly used. The conservation emergency requires rapid response to protect remaining populations before further habitat loss occurs.