Flamingos depend on highly specific alkaline lake habitats that are threatened by climate change, water diversion, and pollution; colony welfare is tied to habitat integrity.
Flamingo welfare is inseparable from the specific chemical conditions of their lake habitats. Changes in pH, salinity, or cyanobacterial composition through pollution or water diversion can eliminate feeding opportunities for millions of birds simultaneously. Individual flamingos caught in avian botulism outbreaks experience progressive paralysis before death - a significant welfare harm at potentially enormous scale.