Human-elephant conflict causes suffering and death for both elephants and people. Coexistence strategies that protect both communities are essential for elephant conservation and welfare.
Human-elephant conflict generates acute welfare crises for individual elephants killed or injured in retaliatory actions, and chronic welfare stress for elephant populations living in contested landscapes where human pressure is constant. Elephants shot or poisoned as crop raiders die painful deaths. Those involved in increasingly frequent encounters with humans show stress indicators including heightened vigilance and disrupted movement patterns. Coexistence solutions that reduce the economic harm elephants cause to communities address the root cause of retaliatory killing. Beehive fences — where elephants avoid hives they associate with painful stings — are particularly effective and generate additional income for communities from honey sales.