The badger cull in England and Wales is one of the most controversial wildlife management policies, with significant welfare implications for badgers and ongoing debate about its effectiveness.
Badger culling raises profound welfare concerns for individual badgers, a protected species under UK law. Free shooting in the field results in wounding rates that are difficult to verify. Cage trapping causes significant stress to a claustrophobic, nocturnal animal. The perturbation effect means culling may cause additional badger deaths by disrupting stable populations. Vaccination offers a welfare-compatible alternative - less effective in the short term but without mass killing of a protected, sentient species.