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Habitat Loss
One problem for the wild Asiatic water buffalo is the loss of habitat. The reduction of the animals' preferred lowland, floodplain habitats is partly due to humans using these areas for agricultural purposes. Another human cause of habitat loss is urbanization. Roads and buildings have been constructed in the wild Asiatic water buffalo's natural habitat. The development of hydropower systems has also altered the nature of floodplain habitats by changing local water systems, further reducing the amount of suitable habitat for these buffaloes.
Hunting
Hunting poses another threat to the wild Asiatic water buffalo, particularly in Cambodia, Thailand and Myammar. These animals are hunted for trophies and meat for traveling laborers working in areas inhabited by these buffaloes. Some groups of people in India also hunt these wild animals for meat as part of community tradition.
Interbreeding
According to the National Geographic Society, humans began to domesticate water buffaloes more than 5,000 years ago for purposes such as transporting heavy loads and for the use of their meat and milk. Domesticated buffaloes, or Bubalus bubalis, pose a threat to the survival of wild Asiatic water buffaloes, or Bubalus arnee, through hybridization. As farmers use the wild animals' natural habitat for domesticated herds to graze from, wild and domesticated buffaloes breed with each other, producing hybrid species. Feral water buffaloes also breed with the wild species. It is difficult to tell how many water buffaloes are purebred Bubalus arnee animals. It may even be possible that very few, if any, truly wild Asiatic water buffaloes that have not been hybridized at some point in their ancestry still exist.
Disease
Wild Asiatic water buffalo numbers have decreased as the result of disease and parasites. Diseases are caught from domestic animals inhabiting the same areas, particularly domestic water buffalo herds. One particular problem is a viral disease called rinderpest. According to the Wild Cattle Conservation Project, several hundred wild Asiatic water buffaloes had been killed as a result of this disease by the mid-1990s.
Competition for Food and Water
A further problem that domestic water buffalo pose to the survival of their wild cousins is the competition for nutrition. With the loss of habitat and scarcity of water during the summer months, wild and domestic water buffaloes must compete for these limited supplies.