Saiga antelopes have experienced catastrophic population collapses from poaching and disease. Their welfare in these crisis conditions raises urgent conservation and animal wellbeing questions.
The 2015 saiga mass mortality event was one of the most acute wildlife welfare disasters in recorded history — 200,000 animals dying in agonising respiratory distress within days across the Kazakh steppe. The die-off was triggered by Pasteurella bacteria that normally live harmlessly in saiga nasal passages becoming virulent under unusual warm, humid climate conditions. Individual animals showed severe respiratory distress before dying. The welfare implications of such events extend beyond individuals — the social disruption of entire herds, the deaths of nursing females leaving calves to starve, and the destruction of hard-won population recovery all represent profound welfare costs at scale.