Saiga antelopes have suffered catastrophic mass mortality events killing hundreds of thousands of animals in days, representing some of the worst welfare events in recent wildlife history.
Mass mortality events in saiga represent acute welfare catastrophe on a scale rarely seen in any species. Animals die from hemorrhagic septicemia within hours of symptom onset, involving high fever, respiratory distress, and systemic collapse. Calves die alongside mothers, and surviving animals are subjected to the trauma of mass death events in their aggregations. The climate-linked nature of disease dynamics suggests these events will increase in frequency and severity. Welfare responses include rapid carcass removal to prevent secondary scavenging exposure, but the primary intervention must be climate mitigation reducing the environmental conditions that trigger bacterial activation.