African buffalo live in large, complex social herds and face welfare threats from trophy hunting, disease management culling, and habitat fragmentation across their range.
African buffalo face welfare harms primarily from disease management culling and trophy hunting. Bovine tuberculosis culling programs can involve killing entire herds, causing acute suffering and social disruption — the death of herd members is distressing to the social group. Trophy hunting poses welfare concerns when animals are wounded and not immediately killed — buffaloes that escape wounding are known for retaliatory aggression, meaning failed kills often result in prolonged suffering before recovery or death. Snaring for bushmeat catches buffalo as bycatch, causing severe injuries and slow death from wire wounds. Conservation approaches that focus on disease prevention through vaccination rather than culling, and on habitat corridor restoration, provide better welfare outcomes.