Northern elephant seals have made a remarkable recovery from near-extinction and face ongoing welfare challenges from entanglement, ship strikes, and the brutal natural competition of breeding season.
Male elephant seals engaged in breeding competition experience violent interactions resulting in deep lacerations, broken ribs, and occasionally fatal injuries. These natural welfare costs are the price of reproductive competition in a polygynous species. Entanglement in fishing gear and plastic debris creates additional welfare costs - animals with loops of monofilament or packing bands around their necks develop wounds that deepen progressively as they grow. Ship strikes cause traumatic injuries. Malnourished pups that fail to accumulate adequate blubber before their first solo migration face starvation. Conservation success does not eliminate all individual welfare challenges.