Following catastrophic mass die-offs, saiga antelope recovery programs balance protection with traditional use across Central Asian range states.
Saiga welfare is shaped by the periodic catastrophic mass die-off events caused by bacteria in specific temperature-humidity conditions. Individual saigas dying in these events experience severe hemorrhagic illness. Anti-poaching protection prevents direct killing welfare harms. Traditional use hunts conducted in regulated seasonal windows cause acute deaths but are managed at lower levels than historical commercial hunting. Climate change increasing mass die-off risk is the most significant long-term welfare threat.