Pangolins are the most trafficked wild mammals in the world, with millions killed for their scales and meat each year, causing immense individual suffering and threatening all eight species with extinction.
Pangolins captured for trafficking experience extreme suffering during transport, kept alive in cramped, stressful conditions without food or water for days or weeks. The stress and injuries of captivity cause high mortality in transit. Those that survive to market endure further suffering before slaughter. The welfare of individual pangolins is inseparable from the trafficking crisis — effective law enforcement, demand reduction, and international trade bans are both conservation and welfare interventions.