Wildlife translocation — moving animals from one location to another for conservation purposes — must be carefully managed to minimise welfare harm during capture, transport and release.
Translocation welfare begins with capture method selection — trapping protocols should minimise time to capture, reduce injury risk and allow rapid processing. Transport conditions including temperature, humidity, noise levels and space allocation directly affect welfare during transit. Post-release monitoring using radio and satellite telemetry provides welfare data on survival, movement and social integration. Animals that fail to integrate into new social groups may experience welfare harm from exclusion and harassment. A welfare-first translocation protocol considers every stage from pre-capture conditioning through to long-term monitoring of released individuals.