How spotted hyena social complexity creates welfare considerations and what conservation threats they face.
Spotted hyena welfare deserves more attention than their reputation as competitors for human livestock typically earns them. As cognitively sophisticated social animals with complex hierarchies and demonstrated problem-solving abilities, hyenas experience welfare challenges in meaningful ways. Persecution for livestock predation causes acute welfare harm through shooting, trapping, and poisoning. Snare injuries from bushmeat trapping cause prolonged suffering. Their ecological importance — controlling disease by removing sick animals, recycling nutrients, and maintaining prey population balance — means hyena welfare has ecosystem-level consequences. Better recognition of their ecological role is essential for reducing the persecution that drives their welfare challenges.