Feeding enrichment for zoo carnivores is among the highest-impact welfare interventions available, engaging predatory behavioral sequences that are inadequately expressed in conventional feeding.
Carnivore feeding enrichment addresses one of the most fundamental welfare deficits in zoo carnivores: the absence of the hunting and foraging behavioral sequences that occupy large portions of wild carnivore daily life. Wild big cats may spend 70-80% of active time in hunting behavior - zoo carnivores fed prepared meat from a keeper have no outlet for this fundamental behavioral motivation. Enrichment that engages the complete predatory behavioral sequence - locating prey by scent, stalking, capturing, manipulating, and consuming - provides cognitive engagement and physical activity that reduces stereotypic behavior and improves measurable welfare indicators.