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Much progress has been made toward assessing and improving animal welfare in conservation. However, several glaring knowledge gaps remain where animal‐welfare concerns exist but animal‐welfare studies have not been performed in politically sensitive contexts. Based on contemporary issues in Australia, we identified 4 topics that require more research: animal‐welfare oversight for operations designated as management (as opposed to research); animal‐welfare impacts of biological agents used to control invasive animals; welfare of animals hunted recreationally; and animal‐welfare impacts associated with indigenous wildlife use. Animal‐welfare science may be applied to these sensitive topics through simple quantitative studies (e.g., quantifying the frequency of adverse animal‐welfare events). Several such studies have effectively addressed animal‐welfare concerns in similarly contentious contexts, including feral camel (Camelus dromedarius) culling in Australia, recreational hunting in Scandinavia, and indigenous whale hunting in the United States. For discussions of animal welfare in conservation to be evidence‐based, courageous research is required in the 4 key areas we identified. Article impact statement: Politically sensitive animal‐welfare issues in conservation need to be addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]