Spotted hyenas have complex matriarchal social societies and face significant individual welfare challenges from within-clan competition, human conflict, and persecution across their African range.
Wild spotted hyenas experience welfare challenges from both within-clan competition and external human pressure. Within clans, subordinate individuals are excluded from kills and may experience chronic nutritional stress during lean periods. Human-wildlife conflict is a major welfare threat — hyenas caught in snares, shot, or poisoned suffer acutely. Livestock protection measures such as predator-proof enclosures and conflict mitigation training reduce lethal control without compromising human livelihoods. Despite their ecological importance, hyenas are often persecuted based on cultural mythology rather than evidence.