Welcome to the
Veterinary Association
for Wildlife Management

The British and Irish countryside has been changed irrevocably by human habitation, farming, and numerous damaging activities. Biodiversity is being lost. Once-common species have become vulnerable. Loss of apex predators has left mesopredator populations to flourish, to the detriment of their prey species. It has left browsing herbivores to damage what should be species-rich woodlands. One mesopredator, the badger, has become a fountain of disease that has crippled cattle farming and driven some farmers to suicide.

Only wildlife management can mitigate the changes man has wrought and deal with these problems. The Veterinary Association for Wildlife Management (VAWM) exists to promote it, with good practice. As veterinary surgeons, our first priority is animal welfare. We use the latest research and veterinary science as the basis of what we recommend for effective and humane wildlife management.

The Veterinary Association for Wildlife Management is a membership organization for veterinary surgeons in the UK and Ireland with an interest in wildlife management. Its members include practitioners, academics, and vets in industry.

Effective wildlife management protects:

  • Biodiversity and vulnerable species
  • The health and welfare of livestock and pets
  • The livelihood of farmers and other guardians of the physical environment
  • Public health