The international wildlife trade causes massive welfare harm at every stage — from capture and collection through transport and sale — affecting millions of animals annually.
The welfare harms of wildlife trade begin at capture — where netting, trapping and collection methods cause injury, fear and often death — and continue through transport, holding, selling and final keeping. For every animal that reaches the end consumer, many more die along the way. Even surviving animals typically experience severe psychological harm from the radical change in conditions. Both legal and illegal trade require urgent attention, with demand reduction in consuming countries and enforcement at source being equally important.