Poaching has also had a catastrophic impact on rhinos, with more than a thousand slaughtered a year for their horns. Most wild animals eat specialized diets found in nature, and they need space to fly, roam, and swing from branches. Captured animals are stuffed into boxes, suitcases, or sacks, and even if they survive transport, they often suffer in their new, unnatural situations. In Africa, nearly rangers charged with protecting wildlife were gunned down by poachers between and while in the line of duty.
In addition to providing on-the-ground protection for animals, many countries make poaching an offense punishable by prison or monetary fees. Because poachers in Africa and Asia are often impoverished local people who make small profits in comparison to traders and kingpins, penalties for poaching wildlife are generally less severe than those for trafficking wildlife.
There are also numerous nonprofits around the world working to end wildlife poaching. Some of these groups have helped to promote alternative, more sustainable ways for poachers to earn a living. Another way people are working to end poaching is by trying to decrease demand for illegal wildlife and wildlife parts. If no one's buying the products, there will be no need to kill the animals.
All rights reserved. Why animals are poached Poachers sometimes kill or capture animals to sell them locally or for the global trade in wildlife. Read more about poaching and wildlife crime at National Geographic's Wildlife Watch. See all of National Geographic's videos about poaching here. Mobile Newsletter chat close. Mobile Newsletter chat dots. Mobile Newsletter chat avatar.
Mobile Newsletter chat subscribe. Prev NEXT. Outdoor Activities. Traditional Hunting Methods. Who Owns the Land? This reflects the determination of the landowners, who made up most of the rulers of the country, to keep the animals they regarded as theirs out of the hands of poachers. Other people, however, hated the poaching laws.
Who owned wild birds and animals after all? The ivory tusks of African elephants, for example, are carved into trinkets or display pieces. The scales of pangolins, small animals that eat ants, are ground into a powder and consumed for their purported healing powers. The meat of apes, snakes, and other bush animals is considered a delicacy in parts of Africa.
Poaching is now usually done for sport or commercial profit, both in legal and black markets. Poaching can be a serious threat to many wild species, particularly those protected in wildlife reserves or national parks. Many animal species have been limited in range or depleted in numbers, sometimes to the point of extinction, by the depredations of market hunters and unregulated sportsmen.
Some animals are poached because people want to stop them from encroaching on farms, and poaching is also a sport for some people.
Although poaching is mostly under control, the illegal poaching of many of animals is leading to the mass extinction of some species of animals. In Africa, the difficulty of enforcing game codes has led to the critical depletion of the rhinoceros, which is hunted for its horn, and of the African elephant, which is slaughtered for its ivory. The Bengal tiger of India and the gorilla of central Africa have similarly been threatened with extinction by hunters operating illegally.
Asian and African pangolins are heavily poached for their meat and for the organs, skin, scales, and other parts of the body that are valued for use in traditional medicine; as a result, populations of all eight species have fallen dramatically during the early 21 st century, and they are listed as endangered or critically endangered species. Many species of parrots are in danger because of the pet trade, as are much tropical fish collected illegally for aquaria. River poaching has been a problem in some countries, causing the depletion of stocks of fish in many areas.
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