Ibises are colonial waterbirds whose welfare depends on stable wetland habitats for nesting and foraging, with wetland drainage, pollution, and human disturbance posing major threats to breeding success and population viability.
Ibis welfare is heavily tied to wetland quality. Pollution that reduces invertebrate prey availability forces longer foraging trips and increases nutritional stress during breeding. Disturbance at colonial nest sites during the breeding season can cause mass abandonment, resulting in the death of eggs and chicks at scale. Habitat protection and restoration of the shallow wetlands and mudflats that ibises depend on is the most impactful intervention for wild ibis welfare. Captive breeding programmes for the Bald Ibis have had conservation success, but reintroduction requires safe wintering sites in sub-Saharan Africa that are also under pressure.