The Challenges of the Camel Welfare in Western Countries

Camels are increasingly kept in Europe and other Western countries for tourism, leisure, sport, and production, raising questions about their acclimatization to environmental and husbandry conditions differing from traditional camel-rearing regions. This narrative review examines camel presence in Western countries, adaptations to desert environments, and conditions encountered in these new contexts. Potential welfare challenges are then discussed according to the four Welfare Quality^® principles, while management and human-animal interactions are considered as cross-cutting factors in accordance with the Five Domains Model. Camels possess remarkable physiological and behavioral adaptations to arid environments. Although some environmental stressors may be attenuated in Western contexts, these conditions do not necessarily translate into better welfare. Richer diets, altered grazing and browsing opportunities, reduced mobility, confinement, social restrictions, novel human-animal interactions, and different climatic and disease pressures may introduce new challenges affecting health, metabolism, and behavior. Ensuring camel welfare in Western environments requires a two-way process: the capacity of camels to acclimatize to these conditions and the ability of owners, caretakers, and veterinarians to recognize and meet their species-specific needs. Further research is needed to optimize husbandry and management practices in these new contexts.