The Eurasian curlew faces catastrophic decline across its range, with habitat loss and predation pressure driving breeding failures that threaten population viability.
Beyond population-level conservation, individual curlew welfare matters. Failed breeding attempts cause significant stress to nesting pairs. Translocation and headstarting programmes expose individual birds to handling and novel environments. Predation pressure creates chronic anxiety in nesting birds on exposed ground. Conservation interventions must consider animal welfare alongside population metrics, ensuring birds experience positive welfare states during recovery programmes.