How zoo wolf pack management can better reflect natural social structure and behavior to improve captive wolf welfare.
Wolf welfare in zoos is significantly affected by social group composition and enclosure quality. Many zoo wolves are kept in groups of unrelated individuals that form artificial hierarchies with higher aggression than natural family packs. Progressive facilities are moving toward family group structures where possible and providing large, complex enclosures with terrain variation. Feeding enrichment that requires hunting-like effort — carcass manipulation, problem-solving feeders, and scent trails — engages predatory behavioral repertoires that cannot be expressed in traditional zoo settings.