Pangolins are the most trafficked mammals in the world, with all eight species threatened by poaching for scales and meat, causing significant welfare harm and population decline across Africa and Asia.
Pangolin trafficking causes severe welfare harm at every stage. Wild pangolins are torn from trees or dug from burrows, injuring themselves and their capturers in the process. During transport, stressed pangolins may stop eating entirely. Those that survive transit to markets or processing facilities die by drowning or suffocation. Others are skinned alive for their scales. The suffering of individual pangolins throughout the trafficking chain is extreme, and the scale of the trade means this suffering is occurring across a million animals per decade. The high mortality rate in captivity means that even pangolins rescued from trafficking often cannot be successfully rehabilitated and released.