Research overview: inbreeding depression in small captive felid populations

Small, closed captive populations risk losing genetic diversity, raising the chance that deleterious recessive alleles pair up and reduce health, fertility and survival, a phenomenon known as inbreeding depression. This overview surveys evidence for inbreeding effects in captive felids, the cheetah's naturally low genetic diversity and its consequences for disease susceptibility and reproduction, and the use of studbooks, pedigree analysis and managed breeding to maintain diversity. It discusses how white-tiger and other novelty-driven breeding deliberately concentrates inbreeding, how genetic management and population viability analysis guide ethical breeding, and the welfare costs of poorly managed gene pools. The synthesis links conservation genetics to welfare, framing genetic management as essential to the long-term wellbeing of captive cat populations.