Binturongs and other small arboreal carnivores have specific welfare needs including vertical space, olfactory complexity and solitary management that zoos often inadequately provide.
Binturong welfare in zoo settings is challenged by inadequate vertical habitat complexity and insufficient understanding of their specific needs. As an arboreal species spending most of their wild life in the forest canopy, ground-level enclosures represent a fundamentally inappropriate environment. Solitary management that prevents forced social contact is important, as is provision of scent-marking opportunities that allow normal olfactory communication behaviour. Zoos holding binturongs have welfare obligations that extend across the animal's potentially 20-year lifespan.