Dholes are Asia's most endangered canid, facing persecution, habitat loss, and disease. Their complex pack social structure makes welfare assessment and conservation challenging.
Wild dholes suffer from persecution, snare injuries, and infectious disease at the human-wildlife interface. Animals injured in snares experience prolonged suffering before dying or being found. Disease outbreaks — particularly canine distemper — cause neurological deterioration and slow death in affected individuals and packs. Competition with tigers, leopards, and humans for prey creates chronic food stress in degraded habitats. Pack cohesion is critical to dhole survival, and the death of key individuals — particularly breeding females or experienced hunters — can destabilise entire packs and reduce hunting success, with cascading welfare consequences for remaining members. Mass vaccination of domestic dogs in buffer zones around protected areas has proven effective at reducing disease transmission to dholes and other wild carnivores.