The relationship between hedgehog population decline and badger predation creates difficult welfare trade-offs that conservation policy must carefully navigate.
The welfare considerations in this conflict are complex: hedgehogs experience predation stress and population-level welfare harm from badger predation, while badgers are individually sentient animals whose welfare would be harmed by any culling approach. Creating hedgehog refuge areas through targeted habitat management, and ensuring badger territories are supported while hedgehog populations are protected in focused areas, offers a welfare-positive approach that avoids lethal intervention against either species.