Wolf reintroduction programmes across Europe and North America represent major conservation achievements, but the welfare of individual reintroduced animals requires careful attention through capture, transport, release and establishment phases.
Individual wolves in reintroduction programmes experience multiple stressors across the translocation process: capture involves physical restraint and chemical immobilisation with associated risks of hyperthermia, injury and aspiration. Transport in confined conditions is stressful for highly mobile, socially complex animals. Release into unfamiliar territory requires rapid learning of new landscape features, prey distribution and human activity patterns. Animals that come into conflict with livestock face a high risk of lethal control. Soft-release strategies, where wolves are held in large enclosures in the release area before being freed, reduce establishment stress and improve survival outcomes. Monitoring welfare indicators post-release improves programme success.