The illegal wildlife trade is the fourth largest illegal industry globally, causing severe animal welfare harm from capture through transport to captivity or consumption.
Illegal wildlife trafficking welfare harm is extreme throughout the trade chain: capture using snares, live collection, and poaching causes immediate injury and death; transport in cramped, airless, dark containers causes mass mortality from stress, dehydration, and suffocation; and destination conditions in unregulated collections and markets provide no welfare care. Survivors of trafficking arrive physically and psychologically traumatized and often cannot be released to the wild. Demand reduction, law enforcement, and customs detection technology are all essential intervention points.