Dholes are highly social Asian wild dogs classified as Endangered, requiring sophisticated pack management and extensive social housing in zoo welfare programs.
Dhole welfare in zoo settings requires large-scale pack housing that replicates their highly cooperative social structure. Pack cohesion, cooperative feeding enrichment that simulates coordinated hunting behavior, and maintenance of appropriate pack hierarchy are all welfare essentials for this species. Their distinctive vocalizations serve critical social bonding functions and should be treated as positive social welfare indicators rather than noise concerns. The rarity of successful zoo dhole programs means each institution has significant responsibility for knowledge development and welfare standard setting that benefits the entire global managed population.