Great cormorants are colonial waterbirds that have increased significantly in the UK following legal protection. They face conflicts with fisheries that sometimes result in lethal management, raising welfare questions.
Cormorant welfare in the context of human-wildlife conflict illustrates the challenge of managing recovered protected species whose welfare had previously been the concern requiring protection. Individual cormorants killed in licensed control operations face acute welfare harm that is legally authorized but not necessarily welfare-optimal in its execution. The alternatives - non-lethal deterrence, scaring, and egg management - avoid lethal welfare harm but have variable effectiveness. The welfare case for preferring non-lethal management wherever it can achieve management goals is strong; the welfare case for requiring high shooting standards wherever lethal management is licensed is equally clear.