Musth in male elephants causes heightened aggression and increased human-elephant conflict. Understanding and managing musth is important for both elephant welfare and community safety.
Musth management raises genuine welfare tensions between the welfare of individual male elephants, the welfare of animals and people they may injure, and the conservation value of ensuring reproductive males contribute to wild population genetics. Restraining working elephants during musth using chains and inadequate food prevents normal behavior and is an obvious welfare harm. In wild populations, management responses to musth males entering settlements range from translocation to lethal control — the latter representing severe welfare harm. Community-based alert systems that warn people when known musth males are in the area allow voluntary avoidance without interfering with the animals. Conservation research on musth cycle length, predictors, and individual variation helps management programs make more informed decisions about intervention.