Ostrich and emu farming for meat, leather and feathers raises welfare concerns specific to these large, intelligent, fast-moving birds kept in systems designed for other species.
Ratite welfare is underresearched relative to the scale of industry involvement. Ostriches are highly active animals adapted for wide-ranging behaviour in open savanna; their confinement in commercial farming systems denies the movement, space and social complexity that constitutes their natural behavioural repertoire. Their intelligence - which creates strong negative associations with poor handling experiences - means that welfare errors in early life create lasting fearfulness that compounds throughout the production period. Slaughter welfare requires species-specific knowledge that is not always available in facilities adapted from other livestock species.