Providing nutritionally complete and behaviourally appropriate diets to captive carnivores is a complex welfare challenge requiring species-specific expertise and feeding enrichment.
Carnivore nutrition in zoos involves both physiological and behavioural dimensions of welfare. Physiologically, captive carnivores receiving only muscle meat without bone, organ and gut content develop deficiencies that compromise health. Behaviourally, the simplified delivery of food in captivity removes much of the foraging, hunting and social negotiation that occupies wild carnivores for large parts of their waking lives. Whole prey feeding, feeding enrichment and variable feeding schedules all address the behavioural dimension. The welfare benefit of appropriate diet extends beyond physical health to the mental stimulation and expression of natural feeding behaviour that it allows. Zoos with strong carnivore nutrition programmes typically show lower rates of stereotypic behaviour in these animals.