The Indochinese tiger (Panthera tigris corbetti) has been reduced to approximately 250 individuals, primarily in Thailand's Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai Forest Complex and Myanmar border areas. The Malayan tiger (P. t. jacksoni) has fewer than 150 wild individuals. Combined, mainland Southeast Asian tigers are among the world's most endangered large mammal populations. Poaching for traditional medicine markets — particularly tiger bones — remains the primary welfare threat.
Pangolins — the world's most trafficked mammal — are found across Southeast and South Asia. All eight species are threatened; Sunda and Chinese pangolins are Critically Endangered. Welfare conditions in trafficking are horrific: animals are live-captured, stored in cramped, stressful conditions, and typically killed by boiling alive or suffocation at destination markets. Tens of thousands are trafficked annually despite CITES protections. Pangolin welfare rehabilitation is extremely difficult — the animals rarely survive captivity.
Southeast Asia has experienced some of the world's highest deforestation rates, primarily from palm oil, timber, and agricultural expansion. Each cleared hectare kills or displaces resident wildlife. Myanmar alone lost approximately 24% of its forest between 2000-2020. The cumulative welfare impact — millions of individual animals displaced, injured, or killed — is impossible to fully quantify but represents one of humanity's largest ongoing welfare harms to wild animals.
Approximately 12,000 Asiatic black bears and sun bears are held in bile farming operations in China, Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar. Bile is extracted through permanent catheters causing chronic pain, infection, and severe welfare compromise. Animals are typically confined in "crush cages" preventing natural movement. International campaigns and domestic animal welfare laws have reduced operations in Vietnam; China's industry persists. Animals First and Animals Asia operate bear sanctuary programs rehabilitating former bile bears.
Southeast Asia — particularly Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand — is a major hub for illegal wildlife trade connecting African and Asian source populations to primarily Chinese end markets. Individual animal welfare in trade includes: capture trauma, transport in cramped conditions with high mortality (estimated 80-90% of some species die before reaching end market), and poor captive conditions at temporary holding facilities.