The practice of illegally hunting wild animals continues to cause concern in many countries, particularly developing countries. What are the causes of such hunting? What are the effects on the animals, and on the wider human society in these countries and beyond?

Poaching is a phenomenon with a variety of causes, both commercial and cultural. The effects can be extremely serious for animals and the community, as we will discuss now. Possibly the most common cause of people turning to poaching is the profit which can be made from animal materials. We see this in the high prices attached to illegal ivory, furs and hides, which are highly sought after by a small but wealthy group of unscrupulous global collectors. In turn, these prices may be the result of novelty or rarity value, or connected to imaginary medicinal properties, for example in the illegal trade for bear and gorilla body parts. A secondary cause is the more basic pressure of hunting for food, which forces some local people to kill animals purely for meat. The roots of this tend to be in localised famine or drought, or in political instability which disrupts the food supply, as we see in central Africa currently. Turning to the effects of poaching, the most serious is the threat of extinction posed to species which are already rare or endangered because of habitat loss or other environmental factors. The resulting consequences of extinction may include damage to the food chain and the eco-sphere, in addition, of course, to the loss of a precious form of life. A further effect is the further erosion of a country’s natural heritage, which comprises its animals, landscape and natural resources, all of which may be under pressure already. Few could doubt, for example, that Siberia would be vastly poorer without its few remaining Siberian tigers. Overall, the factors behind poaching tend to be commercial or connected to regional instability. The effects may include final extinction, with the damage to ecosystems and loss of heritage that this involves.