Fertility control is an increasingly viable alternative to lethal population management for deer, horses, elephants, and other wildlife — reducing suffering while managing populations.
Lethal wildlife population control causes suffering through the killing process and frequently orphans dependent young. Fertility control prevents population growth without these welfare costs. For individual animals, vaccination involves brief handling stress rather than death. For dependent young, contraception avoids the welfare catastrophe of maternal death. Where technically and logistically feasible, contraception represents a morally preferable alternative to lethal control.