African elephants face threats from poaching, habitat loss, and human-elephant conflict. Conservation requires addressing all three simultaneously at landscape scale.
Elephants killed by poachers die from gunshot wounds, spear injuries, and poisoning — all causing acute suffering. Surviving family members witnessing deaths show lasting trauma responses including behavioral changes and elevated stress hormones. Human-elephant conflict retaliatory killing causes suffering to individuals who entered human-modified areas often because natural habitat has been destroyed. Crop-raiding elephants shot non-lethally with rubber bullets suffer injury and distress without addressing the underlying human pressure. Conservation approaches that provide adequate space and reduce conflict protect both individual elephant welfare and population survival.