Pangolins are the world's most trafficked wild mammal. Their capture, transport, and use in traditional medicine cause extreme suffering. Understanding this crisis is essential for effective advocacy.
Pangolin trafficking causes welfare harms at every stage. Capture using snares causes lacerating leg injuries; animals may remain trapped for extended periods before collection. Transport in sacks or crates deprives these solitary, nocturnal animals of all environmental cues. Stress-induced anorexia means that captured pangolins often refuse to eat entirely, causing starvation during transit and in holding facilities. The 50%+ mortality rate in transit means that for every pangolin that reaches a market alive, at least one more has died in suffering. Even pangolins rescued by wildlife authorities rarely survive rehabilitation: their specialised diet and extreme stress-sensitivity make captive care enormously difficult. Each trafficking event represents profound individual suffering at scale.