Capybaras, the world's largest rodents, face a range of welfare challenges in their native South American habitats, from habitat loss to hunting pressure and increasingly from stress caused by urban encroachment.
Wild capybara welfare is most severely compromised by habitat loss that eliminates safe water access and forces groups into fragmented landscapes. In urban fringe habitats, capybaras face novel stressors including road traffic, domestic dogs, and reduced group cohesion after vehicle-related deaths. Hunting for meat during Catholic holy periods — when capybara was historically classified as "fish" — exposes animals to methods with variable humaneness. Tick-control culls in some regions raise welfare concerns, as does the removal of animals for the pet trade, which disrupts social bonds and places highly social creatures into inappropriate solitary conditions. Conservation efforts that maintain wetland corridors benefit capybara welfare substantially.