Urban-adapted raptors including peregrine falcons and red-tailed hawks face specific welfare challenges in city environments while providing ecological services.
Urban raptors demonstrate remarkable adaptive capacity but face chronic welfare threats that parallel those of other urban wildlife. Rodenticide bioaccumulation is the most significant chronic threat — birds that consume poisoned rodents accumulate anticoagulants that cause internal bleeding. Window collisions cause traumatic injury and death. Pollutant exposure through urban food chains affects reproductive success and immune function. The welfare case for urban raptor protection involves both individual bird welfare and the ecological services these species provide through rodent population control. Reducing rodenticide availability and requiring bird-safe glass are the most impactful interventions.