The controversial culling of badgers to control bovine tuberculosis in UK cattle raises major animal welfare concerns about shooting methods and the humaneness of large-scale wildlife management.
The welfare implications of large-scale badger culling are significant. Free-shooting at night of mobile animals creates conditions where wounding without clean kill is likely to occur in a proportion of individuals. Independent welfare assessments have documented wounding rates that are considered unacceptable by animal welfare scientists. Shot but not immediately killed badgers may suffer before dying. The ecological disruption of culling, known as perturbation, may actually spread disease further. The welfare case for vaccination as an alternative to lethal control is strong, and badger vaccination programmes have expanded. The ethical framework for wildlife management must weigh disease control benefits against individual animal welfare costs.