All eight pangolin species face severe welfare threats from illegal trade, habitat loss, and the traumatic conditions of live capture and transport.
The suffering of trafficked pangolins is acute and prolonged. Captured by hand or snare, they are often held in cramped, dark conditions for days or weeks before sale. Many die before reaching markets. Those that survive live transport face confinement, unfamiliar food, and the stress of human contact — against which their only defence is rolling into a ball, a behaviour that increases their vulnerability to capture. Rescued pangolins are extraordinarily difficult to rehabilitate; they refuse to eat in captivity without painstaking diet training and rarely thrive. The best welfare outcome for pangolins is preventing capture in the first place through demand reduction and stronger enforcement.