Animal welfare and pest control: Where are we now?

We have come far in our concern for pest animal welfare – but have we done enough? Pest animals are as capable of experiencing pain and distress as a result of human intervention as domesticated species. Concern for their welfare used to be primarily the domain of animal welfare non-governmental organisations. While legislative coverage remains light relative to other animal welfare issues, there are several initiatives that should lead to improved pest welfare. Principles for ensuring pest control is humane (ie having the least possible negative impact on animal welfare) have been proposed in the past. It is timely to review these and consider how they might be further progressed and implemented. The improved gathering and sharing of information between countries on the animal welfare impacts of different control tools, and on ways to implement changes, we believe would be a particularly useful step forward