The illegal ivory trade drives elephant poaching, causing violent deaths and severe social disruption in elephant herds, with major welfare implications.
Poached elephants are often killed with high-powered rifles, poisoned arrows, or cyanide — methods causing slow, painful death. Calves that survive the death of their mothers become orphans requiring years of intensive rehabilitation. Research shows elephants exhibit grief behaviours at the death of herd members. Herd disruption following matriarch loss causes elevated stress and abnormal behaviour in surviving individuals for years. The welfare impact of poaching extends far beyond the immediate death.