African buffalo face welfare challenges from bovine tuberculosis, foot-and-mouth disease management, human-wildlife conflict at park boundaries, and trophy hunting — all intersecting with their complex social lives.
Buffalo welfare encompasses both infectious disease suffering and human-caused harms. bTB causes progressive respiratory disease with significant suffering over months to years. Infected animals lose condition, struggle to keep pace with herds, and eventually die from respiratory failure or secondary infections — a prolonged welfare harm affecting a significant proportion of some populations. FMD causes acute lameness and oral lesions but is rarely fatal in buffalo. Fencing designed to contain diseases eliminates natural movement patterns, causing social and nutritional stress. Trophy hunting, when conducted legally and with experienced hunters, typically involves clean kills — but wounded animals that escape cause significant suffering. Human-wildlife conflict at park edges leads to snaring, poisoning, and shooting of buffalo with variable welfare outcomes.