Gharials are one of the world's most critically endangered crocodilians, reduced to a tiny fraction of their former population in South Asian rivers. Their welfare is threatened by fishing gear entanglement, habitat loss, and riparian development.
Gharial welfare is primarily impacted by human activities in their riparian habitat. Fishing net entanglement causes drowning deaths in a species that, despite being an aquatic reptile, requires regular air access. The duration and distress of drowning in a large, physiologically robust crocodilian is significant — gharials caught in gill nets may struggle for extended periods before death. Sand mining disrupts nesting beaches causing nest failure, and egg mortality from disturbed incubation represents reproductive welfare harm. The 2007-08 mass mortality event, which killed over 100 gharials and caused neurological signs before death, illustrated the catastrophic welfare consequences of environmental toxin exposure in a species with such a small remaining population. Conservation interventions including nest protection, hatchling release programmes, and fishing community engagement represent simultaneous welfare and conservation benefits at the individual and population level.