Raptor rehabilitation involves complex welfare decisions about when and how to treat injured birds of prey, with growing evidence informing protocols that maximize both welfare and post-release survival.
Raptor rehabilitation represents a welfare intervention that requires balancing immediate suffering relief against long-term welfare outcomes and conservation value. The rehabilitation process itself involves welfare costs - handling, confinement, and medical treatment all cause stress to wild birds adapted to avoid human contact. The critical welfare question is whether these short-term costs are justified by the prospect of successful return to the wild. Advances in post-release tracking reveal that many rehabilitated raptors survive and reproduce successfully, validating the welfare-based decision to treat and release. However, raptors with chronic lead poisoning or severe injuries may be better served by humane euthanasia than extended unsuccessful treatment.