Illegally traded wildlife endures some of the most extreme welfare conditions of any animal movement — darkness, cramped containers, dehydration, and physical injury during transport to markets or buyers.
Wildlife trafficking imposes extreme, sustained suffering from capture through transport. Animals are removed from their social groups, confined in tiny containers, denied food and water, and exposed to extreme temperatures for journeys lasting days or weeks. The majority die before reaching their destination. Those that survive arrive in severely compromised physical and psychological states. The welfare cost of the illegal wildlife trade is among the greatest per-animal of any human activity.