Poaching is the illegal hunting or capture of wild animals, and wildlife trafficking represents the unlawful trade of these specimens, their parts, or products. This global criminal enterprise generates billions of dollars annually, pushing countless species toward extinction. Determining the single “most poached” animal is complicated because the answer changes based on the metric used, whether it is the sheer number of individuals killed, the total commercial value of the trade, or the impact on a species’ conservation status. The gravity of the crisis is undeniable, affecting creatures across the globe.
Defining the Most Poached Animal
The animal most widely recognized as the world’s most trafficked mammal, by the sheer number of individuals seized, is the Pangolin. These unique, scaly anteaters are trafficked by the millions, with estimates suggesting an annual poaching rate of up to 2.7 million African pangolins between 2000 and 2014. All eight species of pangolin—four in Asia and four in Africa—are now threatened with extinction, with several listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN.
Pangolins are defenseless against humans because their primary defense mechanism, curling into a tight ball, makes them easy for poachers to capture. This high volume of trade contrasts with the poaching of other iconic species. While African elephants are targeted for their ivory tusks and rhinos are hunted for their horns, the total weight and value of these seizures do not equate to the astronomical number of pangolins taken from the wild.
Economic Drivers of Illegal Wildlife Trade
The illegal wildlife trade is fundamentally driven by consumer demand for specific animal parts, which are valued for cultural, medicinal, and luxury purposes. Pangolins are primarily targeted for their scales and their meat. Their scales, which are made of keratin, are sought after for use in traditional Chinese medicine, where they are falsely believed to treat ailments such as rheumatism or relieve skin diseases.
Pangolin meat is also considered a luxury delicacy in parts of Asia, particularly in China and Vietnam, where it can fetch high prices. Similarly, rhino horn is prized in some cultures for its perceived medicinal properties, despite being composed of keratin, and elephant ivory is valued as a material for carvings and status symbols. The high price commanded by these products creates a powerful economic incentive, fueling the entire supply chain from the impoverished poacher to the international smuggler.
The Organized Crime Network
The illegal wildlife trade operates as a sophisticated, transnational criminal network. The process begins with local poachers, who are often impoverished individuals hired to hunt the animals in source countries in Africa and Asia. These poachers then sell the raw product, such as scales, ivory, or horns, to regional consolidators and middlemen for a small fraction of the final market price.
The wildlife parts are then moved through complex supply chains that mimic those used for drug or arms trafficking. These routes often utilize established corruption channels and transit hubs, including major ports and airports, to reach end-user markets. These syndicates are highly adaptive, often shifting their routes in response to law enforcement efforts, such as the recent shift in smuggling corridors from the Nepal-Tibet route to the North East-Myanmar corridor for trafficking into China. The sheer profitability of the trade attracts large organized criminal groups that are often also involved in arms dealing, human trafficking, and money laundering.
Global Conservation and Enforcement Responses
The international community has established several frameworks to combat poaching and wildlife trafficking, most notably the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). This multilateral treaty, signed by over 180 countries, regulates international trade in threatened species through a system of permits and certificates. All eight pangolin species, for instance, are listed under CITES Appendix I, which prohibits all commercial international trade.
National and local efforts complement this regulatory framework through intensified anti-poaching patrols and intelligence gathering. Anti-poaching units focus on protecting animal populations on the ground, while national agencies work to disrupt the criminal networks. Demand reduction campaigns are also crucial, aimed at changing consumer behavior in end-user markets. These campaigns seek to debunk myths about the medicinal value of items like pangolin scales and rhino horn, thereby reducing the economic incentive that drives the illegal trade.