Supporting white stork chick welfare during development in wild nesting and reintroduction programs.
White stork chick welfare during the extended nest-based development period requires protection from disturbance, adequate prey availability, and freedom from contamination threats that increasingly affect agricultural landscapes. The reintroduction programs that have restored stork populations to many areas of Europe create welfare obligations for the captive-bred chicks released into novel environments where they must quickly develop survival skills. Lead contamination from agricultural pesticides and hunting activities represents an underappreciated welfare threat to a species recovering from historical persecution. Monitoring programs that track individual welfare outcomes from nest through first migration provide feedback that improves reintroduction welfare management.