Elephant culling was historically practised in southern African reserves to manage populations beyond habitat capacity. The welfare and ethical debate around culling versus alternatives illuminates key principles of wildlife management ethics.
Elephant culling welfare encompasses both the acute welfare harm of killing and the long-term psychological impacts on surviving populations. Research following culls in southern Africa documented elevated cortisol levels, abnormal aggressive behaviour, and disrupted social structures in surviving elephants persisting for decades after culling ended. Orphaned elephants from killed family groups show severe psychological trauma as documented in sanctuary settings. The population-level psychological damage from culling represents a welfare harm extending far beyond individual death events. Alternatives including immunocontraception, translocation, and range expansion address population management goals with dramatically lower welfare costs. The southern African culling experience provided crucial data demonstrating these long-term welfare impacts that now informs more welfare-positive management approaches.