Leopards face significant welfare threats from illegal snaring, retaliatory killing and human-wildlife conflict across their vast range in Africa and Asia.
Leopards caught in snares often lose limbs or develop severe injuries that compromise their ability to hunt effectively. A leopard that cannot hunt prey at normal efficiency may turn to easier livestock targets, creating a cycle of livestock predation, retaliatory killing and further conflict. Snare injuries cause chronic pain from embedded wire and infection as wounds fail to heal in active working predators. Leopards killed in retaliation suffer welfare harm and represent the loss of experienced individuals that often have established territories and social relationships. Individual leopard welfare is inseparable from the community relationships and conflict contexts in which they live.