African lions are declining across their range. Their welfare is affected by human conflict, trophy hunting, canned lion hunting, and the disruption of pride structures that are central to their social lives.
Wild lion welfare is compromised by multiple intersecting threats. Human-wildlife conflict leads to retaliatory killing by farmers protecting livestock, often using poisons that cause prolonged suffering. Trophy hunting — when the animal is shot but not killed immediately — causes variable degrees of suffering depending on shot placement and time to death. Canned lion hunting involves lions that have been raised in captivity, often with tourist interaction as cubs, and then placed in enclosed areas for trophy killing — a practice that combines welfare harms across the animal's entire life. Pride disruption from the killing of dominant males causes social instability and often infanticide of cubs by new dominant males. Conservation programs that maintain pride integrity through anti-poaching and conflict mitigation protect both individual welfare and population health.