Pangolins are the most trafficked mammals globally, taken from wild populations for meat and scales. Their welfare in trade and captivity is extremely poor, and farming is not a solution.
Pangolin welfare in the wildlife trade is catastrophically poor. Live pangolins in transit experience extreme stress from confinement, handling, and unfamiliar conditions. Their specialist diet of specific ant and termite species cannot be replicated in captivity, causing starvation. Most pangolins die within days of capture. Dead pangolins are traded for scales used in traditional medicine and as bushmeat. The trade causes immense individual suffering and threatens the extinction of all pangolin species. Pangolin farming has failed as a conservation solution because their welfare needs cannot be met in captive conditions. Consumer demand reduction is the most critical intervention needed.