Pangolins are critically threatened by illegal trade and notoriously difficult to maintain in captivity. Understanding their welfare needs is essential for the few facilities attempting conservation breeding.
Pangolin welfare in captivity is among the most challenging problems in zoo medicine. Their highly specialist diet, extreme stress sensitivity, and solitary nocturnal nature make almost every standard zoo practice potentially harmful. Insufficient dietary variety causes malnutrition; social housing causes chronic stress; bright daytime exhibits prevent natural behaviour. The high mortality in captive pangolins has led some experts to conclude that captive facilities should not hold pangolins unless they can provide the extraordinary specialist conditions required. Conservation effort is most effectively directed at anti-trafficking enforcement and habitat protection. The welfare case for holding pangolins in substandard conditions — even for conservation motivation — is weak.