Pangolins are trafficked in greater numbers than any other mammal, facing extinction from demand for their scales and meat despite international protection.
Pangolin welfare encompasses both the suffering of trafficked individuals and the conservation emergency threatening all eight species. Trafficked pangolins endure extreme stress during capture, transport, and storage — they are stressed to the point of curling into defensive balls, deprived of food and water, and transported in overcrowded conditions with high mortality. Those who reach destination markets may be kept alive for freshness, extending suffering. The conservation welfare framework recognizes that species extinction is the ultimate welfare harm — the irreversible loss of all future individuals of a species. Preventing pangolin extinction requires both demand reduction and enforcement action against trafficking networks.