The welfare and conservation challenge of elephant-human conflict over crops and evidence-based approaches to coexistence.
Elephant-human conflict creates welfare harms at both ends: farmers face food insecurity and property loss, while elephants face lethal retaliation, stress from aversive deterrents, and habitat fragmentation that forces them into agricultural areas. The root cause is habitat loss that removes natural food sources, pushing elephants toward farmland. Welfare-focused conflict management prioritizes non-lethal deterrents, maintains elephant movement corridors, and provides genuine economic support to affected farming communities. Community-based conservation that gives local people a stake in elephant presence through tourism revenue and fair compensation creates positive incentives for coexistence alongside practical deterrence.