what animals are poached?

Poachers are interested in any marketable animal that is available. Antlers of animals may be sold as trophies or sent to Asia where it is ground up and used in traditional folk medicines. The gall bladder on one bear can bring as much as $18,000 in Asia. This does not include the paws, claws and teeth, used in the taxidermy and folk art trade. Eggs from paddlefish are processed and sold as caviar. Shells of mussels are cut and shipped to the south pacific to be used in the cultured pearl industry. This makes a single large fresh water mussel worth as much as $20, and a truckload worth several hundred thousand.