The ivory trade drives elephant poaching that kills tens of thousands of elephants annually, with catastrophic welfare consequences for individuals and the social disruption of surviving herds.
Elephant poaching welfare harms extend beyond the individual killed: poaching events leave calves orphaned, herd members traumatised, and social knowledge networks disrupted. Elephants demonstrate mourning behaviour at the bones of dead herd members and show stress responses to ivory and poachers long after single events. The killing of large-tusked individuals — disproportionately older females — removes the knowledge holders that guide herds to water and food during droughts, increasing starvation risk for survivors.