The illegal wildlife trade causes severe welfare harm along every step of collection, transport, and sale, affecting millions of animals annually across hundreds of species.
Wildlife trafficking inflicts suffering at industrial scale. Animals captured from the wild are often restrained in ways that cause injury, confined in spaces that prevent movement, deprived of food and water during transport, and exposed to temperature extremes. The majority die before reaching their destination. Those that survive may be in such poor physiological and psychological condition that rehabilitation is impossible. Stopping trafficking requires simultaneous action at multiple points: reducing demand in consuming countries, strengthening law enforcement in source and transit countries, and improving conditions for confiscated animals. Individual consumer choices — never purchasing wildlife products of uncertain origin — remove the demand that makes trafficking profitable.