The illegal wildlife trade causes immense suffering to individual animals through capture, transport in appalling conditions, and confinement in inappropriate settings, in addition to driving species toward extinction.
Wildlife trafficking inflicts individual welfare harm on a massive scale. Animals captured for the live trade experience the acute trauma of capture, frequently using cruel methods including glue boards, wire snares, and live capture nets. They are then confined in containers designed to hide them during transport, without food, water, or temperature control. Many die before reaching destination markets. Those that survive face confinement in wholly inadequate conditions. Confiscated animals recovered by enforcement authorities face the additional welfare challenge of holding facilities and, in many cases, cannot be successfully rehabilitated for release.