Poaching by Country 2024

Poaching is defined as the illegal taking or killing of wildlife and occurs in any country or area with a substantial wildlife population. It is considered different from licensed or regulated hunting during an approved 'season' or for sustenance. Poaching is a big international business, $5 to $23 billion annually.

The endangered animals at risk are African elephants, mountain gorillas, imperial zebra, tigers, giraffes, and rare black rhinos. But poaching also includes smaller game killed out of a designated hunting season.

The animal most poached worldwide is the internationally protected Pangolins. This unusual mammal looks like a cross between an armadillo and an anteater and is often called a 'scaly anteater.' They are valued for their tender meat. Pangolin scales are used in folk medicine. Only six countries maintain accurate poaching figures. These include South Africa, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Botswana, and India.

Most agree Zimbabwe has the largest poaching problem - over 100 rhinos are killed each year for their ivory tusks. Kenya is infamous for its giraffe hunting for their hair, meat, and bones. Elephant tusks are also a commodity, valued for their ivory.

In South Africa, elephant poaching reaches up to 100 elephants daily. And in Botswana, 35,000 elephants are killed each year. Uganda has seen a rise in hippo deaths, as well as a healthy trade in illegal elephants and rhinos. Cameroon poaching has killed over 450 elephants annually. And in Angola, giraffes are the key commodity, with roughly two dozen adults killed each year.

In Mozambique, over 90% of the African elephant population was decimated through poaching and war. This destruction has led to a unique evolutionary response - a rise in the incidence of the tuskless female African elephants.

Illegal elephant kills in Thailand supply an estimated 50% of the ivory on sale in the country. Tigers and rhinos are also in danger on the sub-Indian continent. In Laos, poachers focus hunting parties on pangolins and tigers.

India's poaching industry revolves around the tiger. The big cats are killed for their fur, meat, and bones.

China has the world's highest rate of pangolin trafficking - roughly 3 million annually. But the animal most killed in both China and Vietnam for its horn is the rhino.

Poaching is also common in the United States for meat, trophies, and folk remedies. Deer, elk, and bears drive the illegal trade.

Poaching is not exclusive to land animals. Over 100 million sharks are killed for delicacies such as shark fin soup and a wide range of folk remedies, including cancer. The small country of Nepal, in the Himalayan Mountains, has the least number of poached animals - achieving over four years without any illegal hunting.