Pangolins are the most trafficked mammals in the world, suffering severe welfare abuse throughout the illegal wildlife trade supply chain.
Pangolin trafficking causes some of the most severe wildlife welfare abuse documented. Captured animals are tightly bound, often with wire around their rolled-up bodies, causing circulation damage and wounds. Transport in crowded containers without food or water causes starvation, dehydration, and suffocation. Pangolins are so physiologically specialized that most captured animals die before reaching their destination. Those that survive face further suffering in holding facilities before slaughter. The combination of acute physical suffering and the devastation of wild populations makes pangolin trafficking a major welfare and conservation emergency.