Saiga antelopes experienced catastrophic mass mortality events from Pasteurella multocida, with welfare implications for surviving animals in fragmented steppe habitats.
Saiga antelopes dying in mass mortality events experience acute bacterial septicaemia causing rapid physiological collapse. Survivors of mass die-offs live in depleted populations with disrupted social structures affecting welfare through loss of learned migration routes and social bonds. Poaching for horns causes direct welfare impacts through injury and death. Climate change creating conditions for further Pasteurella outbreaks poses an ongoing existential welfare threat to the species.