In 2022, a Netherlands-based conservation group, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), helped the government of Malawi truck 263 elephants from Liwonde National Park in the south, which had too many elephants, to Kasungu National Park in central Malawi, which had far fewer. The 280-mile relocation was part of the country’s broader conservation efforts. “The goal was to ease pressure on Liwonde and help rebuild a viable elephant population in Kasungu,” an IFAW spokesman said.  The 2022 effort tripled the elephant population in Kasungu park, boosting Malawi’s tourism industry with it. IFAW used images of elephants being lifted by cranes to raise money for further wildlife-protection projects…

Within 24 hours of their release, elephants strayed out of the park, crossed the border into Zambia and trampled two farmers to death.  The toll on the human side over the between 2022 and 2025: 26 villagers dead, scores injured, $4.5 million in crops destroyed and hundreds of homes damaged, according to Warm Heart Initiative, a Zambian nonprofit…The resulting anger, according to villagers, has had broader consequences for conservationism in the countries. Many locals no longer report poachers to wildlife authorities; instead, they hunt down and kill stray elephants…Victims of attacks, meanwhile, have threatened to sue IFAW, according to British law firm Leigh Day, which is representing potential plaintiffs.

Excerpt from Nicholas Bariyo, A Plan to Save Elephants Sparked a Deadly Conflict, WSJ, Jan. 29, 2026