Pangolins are the world's most trafficked wild mammals. Their capture, transport, and scale removal for traditional medicine causes extreme acute suffering. Conservation efforts must centre on welfare alongside population recovery.
Pangolin welfare in the illegal trade represents some of the most acute suffering associated with wildlife trafficking. Captured pangolins are transported in cloth sacks or crates, often for thousands of kilometres, during which they cannot thermoregulate effectively, receive no appropriate food, and experience extreme chronic stress from confinement and handling. Mortality during transport is high. Pangolins that survive to market face further handling and, in some cases, live-animal scale removal — among the most painful wildlife trade practices documented. The physiological stress of captivity — even in well-resourced facilities — typically proves fatal: pangolins are highly specialist feeders on specific ant and termite species that are difficult to replicate in captivity, and stress-related immunosuppression rapidly causes fatal infections. Effective welfare intervention must focus primarily on prevention: disrupting trafficking networks before capture occurs, rather than attempting to rehabilitate trafficked individuals whose survival prospects are poor.