Cheetahs are uniquely challenging to keep in captivity due to their extraordinary speed requirements and chronic stress susceptibility. Understanding their needs guides ethical assessment.
Cheetah welfare in captivity presents one of the most challenging welfare-conservation calculations in zoo management. The species' requirement for sprint exercise, chronic susceptibility to stress, and poor reproductive success in captivity combine to suggest that most zoo cheetah populations provide poor welfare with limited conservation benefit. Institutions able to provide the space and management conditions for genuinely good cheetah welfare are rare. An honest conservation calculus suggests that resources directed toward in-situ cheetah conservation in Africa may deliver better conservation and welfare outcomes than expanding captive populations in small zoo enclosures.