Saiga antelopes have experienced catastrophic mass mortality events. Conservation efforts focus on habitat protection, anti-poaching, and disease surveillance.
Wild saiga welfare is dominated by the welfare impacts of mass mortality events, disease outbreaks, and illegal hunting. The 2015 die-off caused immense suffering on a population scale as hundreds of thousands of animals died from hemorrhagic septicemia over days. Climate change is predicted to increase the frequency of the warm, humid conditions that trigger Pasteurella outbreaks, raising the prospect of repeated mass mortality events. Anti-poaching enforcement protects individual animals from the acute welfare harm of illegal hunting while preserving population viability. Habitat loss and degradation reduce the availability of high-quality forage needed to maintain immune competence. Long-term conservation requires addressing the demand side of the saiga horn trade alongside supply-side enforcement.