Ostrich farming produces meat, leather, and feathers, but these large, cognitively complex birds face welfare challenges unique to their species in commercial settings.
Ostriches are rarely included in animal welfare discourse despite their cognitive complexity and emotional responsiveness. They are known to form pair bonds, show signs of distress when separated from conspecifics, and can experience fear severe enough to cause fatal myopathy from handling stress. Feather plucking from live birds is inherently aversive and poorly regulated. The ostrich leather industry drives farming practices that often prioritize hide quality over bird welfare. As a relatively new farmed species without the decades of welfare research that exists for pigs or poultry, ostriches remain underprotected.