Spotted hyenas are highly intelligent, socially complex carnivores that face persecution due to misunderstanding, conflict with livestock farmers, and use in traditional medicine.
Hyenas suffer from both direct persecution and indirect threats. Trapping, snaring, and poisoning kill hyenas defending territories or scavenging near human settlements. The traditional medicine trade involves live capture and removal of body parts from living animals, causing severe suffering. Hyena cubs are sometimes taken for use as bait or entertainment. As apex predators and scavengers, hyena welfare is also linked to prey availability and the intactness of the ecosystems they inhabit. Their complex social lives mean that disruption of clans through killing has cascading welfare impacts on survivors.