A systematic review of the success and unintended consequences of management interventions on African elephants

With elephant numbers increasing in some parts of their range, and related conservation concerns including elephants' impact on vegetation and human-elephant conflict, management interventions have been used to artificially reduce elephant numbers, to stabilize populations locally and regionally, or to affect their spatial distribution. Interventions may have environmental, demographic, or social impacts, often unintended. We evaluated elephant management interventions, including both direct (contraception, vasectomy, translocation, hunting, culling) and indirect interventions (fencing, range expansion, corridors, water provision, and fire management). The study draws on evidence from across the range of African and Asian elephants, but with a focus on South Africa, through a systematic literature review using Science Direct, Web of Science, Scopus, Google Scholar, and Google from 2007 onwards, i.e. covering the period since the publication of the 2008 Assessment of South African Elephant Management. We focus on the effects of management on elephants, and present information on success of each method, as well as its demographic effects. We also identified unintended consequences of the interventions, such as increased human-elephant conflict, irruptive growth rates, social disruption, inbreeding depression, truncation of migratory routes, excessive vegetation damage, and breakdown in social structure. Culling and trophy hunting had the most unintended consequences, and evoked the most negative sentiments among tourists. There was a large disparity in the research effort directed towards different interventions, and we highlight gaps where additional research is needed. Elephant management can be contentious, with polarized views, and the broader social and economic elements need consideration. Disservices such as human-elephant conflict need to be reduced, and increased attention paid to animal welfare, and the broader expectations of society in this regard. Despite the review not being restricted, our study is informed mainly by research carried out in South Africa, drawing in large part on the base created by the 2008 assessment, as well as the norms and standards for management interventions formalized in South African regulations. Furthermore, the aim of the review was to produce information that could be used to update current approaches to elephant management in South Africa. The review draws on publications outside South Africa where they are available, as knowledge gained elsewhere is crucial for improving management decisions. We believe that our study has wider application for use throughout the African savannah elephant range.