Raptors in zoo settings face specific welfare challenges related to flight restriction. Providing flight opportunities through falconry-style management or large aviaries significantly improves raptor welfare.
Raptors present zoo welfare challenges because flight is so central to their behavioral identity. A raptor that cannot fly is being denied its primary locomotor and predatory behavior, which has profound welfare implications. The most welfare-positive approaches to raptor keeping either provide large aviaries that allow extensive flight, implement free-flight demonstration programs that give birds substantial daily flight exercise, or combine both approaches. Perch and substrate management prevents the painful foot conditions common in captive raptors kept on inappropriate surfaces. For some raptor species and individuals, particularly those that cannot be released to the wild, a well-managed falconry-based program may provide better welfare than traditional static zoo housing.