Disease outbreaks requiring mass culling create acute welfare crises for farm animals, with methods and protocols significantly affecting the welfare of affected animals.
Biosecurity emergencies create acute welfare crises in which speed requirements and resource constraints can compromise slaughter welfare. The welfare costs of mass culling operations - particularly pre-emptive culling of healthy animals - are enormous and often underacknowledged in disease management planning. Vaccination-to-live policies, when scientifically appropriate, represent a welfare-sparing alternative that merits consideration in national biosecurity strategies.