Big cats in zoo settings face welfare challenges from space requirements, social complexity, and the difficulty of providing adequate environmental enrichment for large obligate carnivores.
Big cat welfare in zoos requires honest assessment of what captive environments can provide for animals adapted to wide-ranging hunting behaviour. Leading zoos invest in large, complex enclosures with varied substrate and enrichment that engages predatory motivation. Pacing stereotypy is a welfare indicator seen in big cats denied adequate environmental complexity. The welfare case for captive big cats is strongest where conservation breeding programmes contribute to species survival in the wild.