Elk are North America's second-largest deer species. Their welfare is affected by chronic wasting disease, hunting practices, and habitat fragmentation across their range.
Wild elk welfare is significantly affected by CWD, which causes one of the most protracted, debilitating disease progressions of any wildlife condition. Affected elk deteriorate over months, losing body condition, cognitive function, and eventually the ability to feed or avoid predators. The welfare cost per individual is severe and the disease is spreading rapidly with no effective treatment or vaccine. Hunting welfare varies enormously: clean shots causing rapid death have minimal welfare cost, while wounding shots that result in prolonged pursuit and slow death are a significant welfare concern. Fence entanglement during migration causes deaths that are often slow and unobserved. Wildlife crossings and fence modifications that allow elk passage significantly reduce migration-related mortality and welfare harm.