Underaddressed animal-welfare issues in conservation.

Much progress has been made improving animal welfare in conservation over the past two decades. However, several glaring knowledge gaps remain where animal welfare concerns exist but animal welfare studies have not been performed in politically sensitive contexts. We use examples from Australia to identify four such issues lacking meaningful analysis; the absence of animal welfare oversight for operations designated as "management" (as opposed to research), the lack of consideration for the animal welfare impacts of biological agents that are used to control invasive animals, the paucity of studies to examine the welfare of animals that are hunted recreationally, and the scarcity of studies to examine the animal welfare impacts associated with Indigenous wildlife use. We suggest how animal welfare science may be applied to these sensitive topics and provide examples of studies that have effectively addressed animal welfare concerns in similarly contentious contexts. For discussions of animal welfare in conservation to be evidence-based, courageous research is required in the four key areas of missing science that we have identified. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.