Cheetahs are highly sensitive to stress in both captive and wild settings. Understanding their needs is critical for both zoo welfare and wild population management.
Cheetah welfare in captivity is among the most difficult to achieve among large felids. Their extreme sensitivity to social and environmental stressors means that zoo environments almost invariably cause chronic stress, evidenced by elevated glucocorticoids. Reproductive failure in captive cheetahs is largely stress-mediated. Wild cheetahs face welfare challenges from human-wildlife conflict and habitat compression. Coexistence programs using livestock guardian dogs and predator-proof kraals reduce retaliatory killing that injures and kills cheetahs and their families.