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confiscated ivory
confiscated ivory Confiscated black-market elephant tusks await disposal in 2013.

poaching

crime
Also known as: illegal hunting
Written and fact-checked by
Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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•History

poaching, in law, the illegal shooting, trapping, or taking of game, fish, or plants from private property or from a place where such practices are specially reserved or forbidden. Poaching is a major existential threat to numerous wild organisms worldwide and is an important contributor to biodiversity loss. Until the 20th century most poaching was subsistence poaching—i.e., the taking of game or fish by impoverished peasants to augment a scanty diet. In medieval Europe feudal...

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