Grey squirrel management to protect red squirrel populations and woodland ecology involves complex welfare trade-offs that require ethical consideration.
Grey squirrel management involves irreducible welfare harm to individual grey squirrels to protect red squirrels and woodland ecosystems. The ethics require that lethal control uses the most humane available methods, minimises suffering through high-quality trapping and shooting, and is proportionate to conservation need. Non-lethal alternatives including contraception research should be supported as future welfare-positive alternatives.