The international wildlife trade causes enormous welfare harm through capture stress, transport mortality, and conditions in captivity, requiring urgent reform.
The wildlife trade causes welfare harm at multiple points in a complex supply chain. Wild capture involves trapping, handling, and holding methods that cause severe stress and injury. Transport conditions are often wholly inadequate for the species' physiological and behavioral needs. Mortality during transport is frequently extreme - for every animal sold alive, many more die before reaching the market. Animals in end destinations - as exotic pets, in traditional medicine markets, or in tourist facilities - often endure chronic suffering from inappropriate housing, nutrition, and social conditions. The welfare harm is inseparable from conservation harm: the same trade pathways that damage welfare also drive species toward extinction. Addressing both dimensions requires demand reduction, regulatory enforcement, and community-based alternatives.