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March 3 is World Wildlife Day. More than 4,000 animal and plant species worldwide are victims of illegal trafficking.
The illegal wildlife trade affects 162 countries and involves emblematic species such as pangolins, elephants, rhinoceroses, crocodiles, parrots, orchids and precious woods, generating profits estimated at over 20 billion dollars a year.
A report underlines that these crimes undermine the stability of ecosystems, aggravate climate crisis, reduce essential resources and compromise collective security, showing that the destruction of nature is no longer just the consequence of economic models, but is often the result of organized illegal activities integrated into international criminal networks.
Sophisticated techniques, from electronic bird calls to the theft of young animals from their nests, are systematically employed to supply national and international markets. Trafficking in exotic fauna adds further dangers: turtles, ornamental birds, tropical reptiles and small primates end up in illegal circuits.
The use of poisoned bait and arson are other weapons against wildlife and ecosystems. Poisoning not only affects predators and domestic animals, but also has cascading effects throughout the food chain, endangering human health.
But the causes of this phenomenon are not confined to criminal networks and multi-billion-dollar businesses: superstition, ancestral fears and pseudo-science also kill. Alongside organized trafficking, there's a less visible but equally devastating front: that of beliefs that turn animals which are essential to ecosystems into targets to be slaughtered.
Bats are among the most emblematic victims. Associated with epidemics or dark forces, in many parts of the world they're massacred on the basis of beliefs that have no scientific basis whatsoever. And yet, their role in pollination and insect regulation is crucial to the nature.
The same fate befalls on snakes, often killed indiscriminately, even when they're not venomous, as well as owls, which in some cultures are associated with witchcraft. During health or social crises, the search for a natural 'scapegoat' accelerates these persecutions, transforming misinformation into a very real threat to biodiversity.
The case of pangolins is one of the most dramatic: today, they're among the most trafficked mammals in the world. Their scales are used in traditional medicine without any clinical validation. The same applies to rhinoceros horn and tiger bones, which are sold on illegal markets. This is not harmless folklore. When these practices result in the capture, killing or trade of protected species, they become true environmental crimes. This is a system that thrives where access to information, effective controls and sustainable alternatives are lacking.
Fighting these phenomena does not mean attacking cultural traditions, but promoting dialogue based on scientific data. Environmental education and the reinforcement that critical thinking is a powerful preventive tool, just as is the law. Where awareness grows, the space given to irrational fears and illegal markets shrinks. On this day dedicated to wildlife, the message is clear: protecting animals also means fighting the ignorance that condemns them. We all pay for every species eliminated in the name of an unfounded myth, and by pay we mean in terms of balance, climate and future.
(©GreenMe.it 2026 / Managing Editor: Julie Morgan - The Press Junction / Picture: ©Unsplash)