Reintroducing Eurasian and Iberian lynx to historical habitats is one of Europe's most ambitious rewilding projects. The welfare of individual lynx during capture, translocation, and post-release adaptation requires rigorous protocols.
Reintroduction welfare is a distinct discipline: it concerns animals who have never experienced their natural habitat (captive-bred individuals) or who must adjust from one wild population to an unfamiliar landscape. Soft-release protocols — temporary acclimatisation enclosures at the release site — reduce post-release mortality and allow animals to orient before full freedom. Monitoring mortality causes (starvation, vehicle strikes, illegal killing) helps identify welfare hotspots in the release landscape. Minimising capture duration and providing pre-release veterinary care are the most immediate welfare interventions. Long-term, the welfare of reintroduced lynx is served by landscape management that maintains prey populations and reduces road and illegal killing mortality.