Caracals are medium-sized wild cats whose adaptability has led them into increasing conflict with small livestock farmers across Africa and the Middle East, threatening their welfare through retaliatory killing.
Caracal persecution involves lethal control methods that cause significant welfare harm. Gin traps (leg-hold traps) used for caracal capture cause acute pain and can hold animals for days before a farmer inspects. Poison bait causes slow death through internal hemorrhage or convulsions depending on the poison used. Shooting of caracals caught in or near livestock areas may be accurate and rapid but is often retaliatory and untargeted — killing animals that may not have been responsible for specific depredation events. Non-lethal alternatives including livestock guardian dogs, predator-proof kraals, and night penning are effective and economically rational, yet farmer awareness and adoption remains patchy.