Wildlife Crime and Animal Welfare

Wildlife crime — poaching, illegal trade, and habitat destruction — causes direct welfare harm to billions of wild animals annually and undermines conservation at population scale.

Key Facts

Wildlife crime is estimated to be worth 23 billion dollars annually globally
Poaching kills an estimated 20,000 elephants and 1,000 rhinos annually
Live animal trade inflicts welfare harm before, during, and after capture and transport
Wildlife crime proceeds often fund other criminal enterprises including arms and drug trafficking
UK Wildlife Crime Unit, TRAFFIC, and WWF work on enforcement and demand reduction

Welfare Considerations

Wildlife crime welfare harms are systemic: wild animals caught in snares suffer prolonged injury before death or rescue; poached elephants die traumatically leaving orphaned calves to suffer; live traded animals experience transit conditions causing mass mortality. The welfare harm is immense by any measure of individual suffering. Addressing wildlife crime requires a multi-level response: enforcement against traffickers, demand reduction among consumers, community-based conservation that makes wildlife more valuable alive, and political commitment to treating wildlife crime with the seriousness it deserves.

What You Can Do

Never purchase products derived from endangered or illegally traded species
Report suspected wildlife crime to the National Wildlife Crime Unit
Support WWF, TRAFFIC, and Wildlife Justice Commission enforcement campaigns
Advocate for treatment of wildlife crime equivalent to other serious organised crime
Donate to anti-poaching and community conservation programmes