Caracals are medium-sized wild cats found across Africa and Asia. Though adaptable, they face growing threats from habitat loss, retaliatory killing, and the illegal pet and fur trade.
Wild caracal welfare is most compromised by human-wildlife conflict: livestock predation leads to lethal control through trapping, poisoning, and shooting across much of their range. These methods cause significant suffering, often involving prolonged injury before death. Snares set for other species also catch caracals causing painful injuries. The illegal pet trade removes kittens from their mothers, causing psychological trauma and depriving them of appropriate socialization and skills. Caracals kept as pets or in poorly regulated facilities suffer from inability to express natural behaviors. Non-lethal predator management and coexistence programs offer welfare-positive alternatives to killing.