Wildlife trafficking is the fourth largest criminal enterprise globally, causing immense individual suffering to captured animals and threatening populations of endangered species.
Wildlife trafficking causes welfare harm at multiple stages — capture using inhumane methods, transport in cramped and stressful conditions with high mortality, and eventual sale into captivity or for body parts. The scale of wildlife trade means individual suffering is multiplied across hundreds of millions of animals annually. For many species, the welfare harm of trafficking is inseparable from population-level conservation threats — the two crises reinforce each other. Effective response requires both law enforcement actions targeting trafficking networks and demand reduction strategies that address the consumer behavior driving the trade. Every purchase of wildlife products creates market incentives that cause welfare harm across the supply chain.