African painted dogs are among the most endangered carnivores in Africa, and their highly cooperative pack social system means individual welfare is deeply connected to group integrity.
Painted dog welfare is profoundly social: the pack is the fundamental unit of welfare, not the individual. Losing key pack members to roads or snares disrupts the cooperative care system that allows pups to survive and ill or injured members to recover. Injured dogs that cannot hunt are fed by healthy pack members — this remarkable social welfare system can be undermined by the loss of too many healthy hunters. Conservation programs that reduce road mortality, remove snares, and vaccinate against canine distemper protect both population viability and the social welfare system painted dogs have evolved.