Poaching

Poaching is the act of stealing animals or plants from areas in which they are protected. The motive for poaching may be food or economic gain. The latter reason has gained in significance since the beginning of the 20th century, when international trade in animals and plants was stimulated by rising demand and prices and, concomitantly, falling supply of the creatures involved. The intensive poaching of, for example, elephants and rhinoceroses, for ivory and horn respectively, have led to the almost catastrophic decline in numbers of those animals. This has had a broad negative impact on the environment in which they live.

Poaching may provide a profitable living for many people but, in addition to its illegality, it is not a sustainable practice as market forces ...